Over the last week, Republican luminaries including a couple of 2016 presidential short-listers got caught up in an interesting debate over a pressing political question–does President Barack Obama love America? Not in some abstract sense–when that Alan Jackson song about 9/11 comes on the radio, does it make President Obama cry?
Okay, you're right. This is neither an interesting debate nor a pressing political question. Nonetheless, GOP-leaning PJ Media reports that conservative minds want to know:
Every Republican, especially those with an eye on 2016, is now being asked to confirm or repudiate the opinion of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on President Obama’s feelings toward America.
“I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up, through love of this country,” Giuliani said at a Wednesday dinner in Manhattan with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker…
Now, it's been a long time since anybody seriously thought of the once-popular Rudy Giuliani as "America's Mayor," and in truth he's been sliding into irrelevance for some time, apparently trying to compete with fellow washed-up New York blowhard Donald Trump for who can utter the most outrageous statement about black people. Graded on the curve, Giuliani's rant about Obama not "loving America" isn't really all that noteworthy.
What gets a little harder to explain, though, is when much more politically viable Republican politicians, including some who might actually want to be President themselves someday, voluntarily start trafficking in the same shallow invective as the Giulianis and Trumps of the world. Washington Post:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a prospective Republican presidential contender, said Saturday he does not know whether President Obama is a Christian.
“I don’t know,” Walker said in an interview at the JW Marriott hotel in Washington, where he was attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.
Told that Obama has frequently spoken publicly about his Christian faith, Walker maintained that he was not aware of the president’s religion…
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal stood by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s criticism of President Obama Wednesday.
“The gist of what Mayor Giuliani said – that the President has shown himself to be completely unable to speak the truth about the nature of the threats from these ISIS terrorists — is true,” Jindal, a likely GOP presidential candidate, said in a statement to TIME. “If you are looking for someone to condemn the Mayor, look elsewhere.” [Pols emphasis]
As the gratuitous questioning of President Obama's faith and "love of America" ramped up last week among allegedly serious Republican politicians, our thoughts travelled back–to a May 2012 dinner hosted by the Elbert County, Colorado GOP. Rep. Mike Coffman responded to a loaded audience question about President Obama's citizenship, saying "I don’t know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don’t know that. But I do know this, that in his heart, he’s not an American. He’s just not an American."
Within a few days, Coffman was in full damage control mode, and his robotic "I misspoke and I apologize" answer delivered over and over on camera made him a nationwide laughingstock–not a career-ender as it narrowly turned out that year, but without a doubt the greatest public embarrassment of Coffman's long career in politics.
Well folks, so much speculation by high level Republicans about Obama's love of country should make Coffman's views on Obama's American-ness relevant all over again. Don't you think? At the very least, Coffman could give his colleagues a lesson in how not to apologize! Either way, it does appear this strange xenophobic uncertainty about America's first black President is still a problem for Coffman's party.
Which means it's still a problem for Coffman.
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But it has nothing to do with what the GOTP thinks Presdents and their families ought to look like, right?
CPols should really find a way to call these disgusting, ignorant, anti-Democratic Fucking Assholes what they are. Pointing out the political ramifications and the lack of Republican strategery don't quite cut it for me.
Of course it would help if the "both sides do it" crowd would stop with the specious comparisons.
Let's not forget, when they continually question the patriotism and background of a President who has been twice elected, they are also questioning the 135,000,000 (that's 135 Million, AC) Amercan Citizens who voted him in to office those two elections.
And yeah, it's an obvious manipulation by cynical politicians who don't have presentable policies to take advantage of the stupidity and ignorance of their base, but it works – especially if we don't refudiate it.
Their explanation for the 135,000,000 votes he received: illegal immigrants cast most of them!
The official breakdown is 35,000,000 African-Americans and 99,999,998 illegal immigrants. The other two were me voting twice.
There's not much we could say that makes a stronger argument than their own words.
You know, this shows how stupid they really are. I really expected this crap to die out 18 months into his first term, but it hasn't. He's not going to be on the ballot again so why continue to vilify him? If they were smart, they would start trashing You-Know-Who in order to define her before she gets into the race. Or start trolling for 67 votes to override the Keystone veto. Or pass a DHS funding bill. Or name another post office after Bob Dole.
What do they hope to do, stop him in his next election? Whatever the hell that would be for.
Also that they've completely dismissed the idea of expanding their vote among "those" people . They know their base wants no part of "those" people. Don't want any more of 'those " people in their WHITE House. So Rs are only interested in finding just enough of "those" people to fill a few seats and show up on podiums and talk shows so they can tell nice middle of the road people apolitical that they're not racist.
Yes, if 85 or 90 % of some group votes for the other party, sure, among the 10 or 15% left you can find some to do talk shows and and attend events for you. Doesn't prove anything except that some people don't have enough self respect to mind being considered one of the few "good" ones.
I think they'll trash Obama until the cycle really warms up, when candidates are out and about. They'll just transfer all their bile from Obama to Hillary, since she was secretary of state, and to any other Dem who gets into the fray.
Their problem with Hillary is that they have her their best shot for years — and nothing stuck. So they'll try sticking her with Obama.
Hillary? Benghazi!