GOP Congressman: President Obama ‘Just Not An American’

Tea Party Republican U.S. Congressman Mike Coffman from Colorado told a group of supporters last week that President Barack Obama is “just not an American.” He later was forced to apologize for his comments, which included, “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.”

Think Progress notes:

An audio recording of the event was posted online by a supporter, who said, “I’m glad the congressman said it. Not enough have. More should.”

But now, Coffman, who has tried to paint himself as a moderate, is backtracking. “I misspoke and I apologize,” he said in a statement. “I have confidence in President Obama’s citizenship and legitimacy as President of the United States. … I don’t believe the president shares my belief in American Exceptionalism,” he explained.

A spokesperson for State Rep. Joe Miklosi (D), Coffman’s Democratic challenger, slammed Coffnamn’s “outrageous comments,” saying they “once again make clear that Mike Coffman is Colorado’s version of Rush Limbaugh. This kind of extremism is why Washington doesn’t work.” “We need leaders who will work together for solutions, not join the far right birther fringe or attack the President of the United States as un-American,” the spokesperson added.

Congressman Coffman has been in trouble before. When he was the Secretary of State for Colorado, there were some disturbing voter-infringment actions.

Via Wikipedia:

Groups including American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, Common Cause of Colorado, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund accused the Secretary of State’s office of improperly marking 6,400 voter registration forms as incomplete, because they failed to check a box on the form. Incomplete registrations require voters to either re-register or provide extra identification when they go to vote. Soon after the accusations were made, Common Cause filed suit against Coffman, in his official capacity as Secretary of State. The Secretary of State’s office denied wrongdoing, and Coffman said he believes his office was correctly applying the law. On October 30, 2008, the court approved a preliminary injunction allowing purged voters to participate in the 2008 election. Bernie Buescher, Coffman’s successor as Secretary of State, replaced Coffman as defendant in the case in January 2009. The bulk of the litigation was settled in January 2010 after changes to Colorado’s election regulations, and the remaining portions were decided in January 2011.

 

Video from 9News:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1