During a town-hall meeting hosted by Rick Santorum in Florida today, one of his supporters was given the chance to speak and what she had to say sounded awfully like something out of the 2008 election.
Woman: I never refer to Obama as President Obama because legally he is not. Okay. And, well, he constantly says that our constitution is passe and he totally ignores it as you know. He does what he darn well pleases. He is an, uh, avowed Muslim. And my question is why isn’t something being done to get him out of our government? He has no legal right to be calling himself President.
Santorum: Yeah, well, I'm doing my best to get him out of the government. And you’re right about how he uniformly ignores the Constitution. [...]
He does as he darn well pleases? I could barely transcribe those few short sentences without cursing or breaking localized objects.
I couldn't help but think of this moment from the 2008 campaign while listening.
At least John McCain had the sense, and the decency, to quickly cut the woman off and correct the record that then-candidate Barack Obama was not a secret-Arab, Muslim terrorist.
Obviously President Obama -- and yes, he absolutely should be referred to as President Obama -- is not an "avowed Muslim," nor does he ignore the constitution. In fact, President Obama regularly reiterates the need to avoid constitutional conflicts as witnessed in recent executive statements. And let's not forget that he taught constitutional law before running for office.
Rick Santorum should be embarrassed by not setting the record straight, and for the shit-eating grin on his face while she spoke, because what that woman said was outright inflammatory and grossly inaccurate. It's also an ugly reminder that birtherism, and the notion that the president is some secret-Muslim, is still with us four years after electing him.
(via ThinkProgress)