19 March 2012By Juan Cole
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is
amping up his language on President Obama's faith and
his relationship with Muslims. Gingrich told ABC News
Friday that that he takes the president at his word
that he's a Christian, but finds it "very bizarre"
that Obama is "desperately concerned to apologize to
Muslim religious fanatics."
Gingrich said the president's apology to the Afghan
president for the burning Korans by U.S. soldiers
happened last month "while they are killing young
Americans," referring to the two Americans killed
during protests over the burned books. Gingrich said
at the same time, the administration is "going to war
against the Catholic Church and against every
right-to- life Protestant organization in the
country."
Asked by a member of the press if it concerns him that
a large portion of the electorate believes Obama is a
Muslim, Gingrich replied, "It should bother the
president."
"Why does the president behave the way that people
would think that? You have to ask why would they
believe that? It's not because they're stupid. It's
because they watch the kind of things I just described
to you," Gingrich said.
Gingrich said Thursday that "Obama's Muslim friends"
would not be reported on by the "elite media," in a
radio interview with Sandy Rios. Gingrich was asked
about Rios called the Washington Post's "two page"
report on Rick Santorum's ties to Catholic
organization, Opus Dei. Gingrich used the question to
say that the elite media was protecting Obama from any
religious scrutiny.
"You have to understand that the elite media is in the
tank for Obama. They are going to do anything that
helps re-elect Obama," Gingrich said. "Do you think
you are going to see two pages on Obama's Muslim
friends? Or two pages on the degree to which Obama is
consistently apologizing to Islam while attacking the
Catholic Church?"
On Wednesday, in Port Charles, La., a man asked
Gingrich a question and stated that Obama was a Muslim
and a student of Saul Alinsky. Gingrich did not
correct the man and later said in an interview with
Fox News that he didn't "have an obligation to go
around and correct every single voter about every
single topic. I also didn't agree with him."
He calls Chicago home, with a house on the city's
South Side. He represented the state of Illinois in
Congress, and now the President of the United States
is a Chicago Bulls fan. Still, Illinois' Republican
voters aren't too sure about this Barack Obama guy.
Public Policy Polling surveyed 506 likely GOP
primary voters March 17 and 18, and found that 39
percent of them believe that Obama is a Muslim. There
are still quite a few "birthers" in the state as well,
as 36 percent of GOP voters believe the president was
not born in the United States. An overwhelming 89
percent of the GOP voters disapproved of Obama and
more than half disapproved of the city of Chicago
itself.
More from the survey (hat tip, Capitol Fax Blog):
Q25 Do you believe in evolution, or not?Believe
in evolution
.. 41%
Do not
. 43%
Not sure
. 16%
Q26 Do you think that interracial marriage should
be legal or illegal?
Legal
75%
Illegal
.. 16%
Not sure
. 9%
While the numbers pale in comparison to a similar
poll conducted in Mississippi where 52 percent of GOP
voters classified Obama as a Muslim and 36 percent
said they were "not sure" it does highlight the
differences between Chicago Democrats and downstate
Republican voters.
Obama has previously said that he doesn't let the
Muslim and birther rumors bother him."I'm not gonna be
worrying too much about whatever rumors are floating
on out there," Obama said. "If I spend all my time
chasing after that, then I wouldn't get much done."
"I can't spend all my time with my birth
certificate plastered on my forehead."
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