Ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said that Obama doesn't love America. But you know who actually doesn't love America? Secessionists don't. And it wasn't too hard to figure that one out.
At a fundraiser for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, here's what Giuliani had to say about Obama, according to Politico.
"I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America," Giuliani said during the dinner at the 21 Club, a former Prohibition-era speakeasy in midtown Manhattan. "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 then tried to walk back his comments with a series of backhanded compliments, claiming Obama was technically a patriot, but added "President Obama was brought up in an atmosphere in which he was taught to be a critic of America," Giuliani told CNN. "That is a distinction with prior American presidents."
Giuliani, who looked to be a promising presidential candidate before flaming out dramatically,
missed a really obvious group who, unlike Obama, actually hates America. They're called secessionists.
A former Giuliani opponent from 2008, ex-Texas Rep. Ron Paul, recently addressed a pro-secession conference, calling secession "good news," according to MSNBC. But he's not the only one extolling the virtues of leaving America.
Ex-Reagan aide Dennis MacKinnon, now a conservative columnist, told a radio show that he wanted several Southern states to secede and form a new country called "Reagan," to exclude gays, according to Salon. He also said he wouldn't admit Texas because it had too many Mexicans.
As the Huffington Post points out, there are a lot of secessionist groups in America. They range from the Alaska Independence Party, liberals from Vermont, Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans, and, of course, Texans. Though they range from the very liberal to the very conservative, they all have one thing in common that separates them from Obama: they want to leave America. It's what secessionists do.
Giuliani could have taken shots at Senator Rand Paul over his dad's comments, to boost Walker. Here he would have had actually anti-American comments. But he went after the term-limited lame duck Obama over unsubstantiated claims of unpatriotic beliefs, instead of the low-hanging fruit neo-Confederates offer.
It's sad to see how Giuliani has gone from being "America's Mayor" and darling of moderates (Democrats and Republicans) to becoming the Westboro Baptist Church of pundits.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Ga. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu.