Wisconsin's largest rightwing talkshow host, Jerry Bader, told his listeners that President Obama was a Muslim that "won't admit to it" in a recently discovered audio from 2010 where Bader was talking about the feasability of an open Muslim ever getting elected President:
"And, by the way, there are Muslims in public, in America today, by the way, none... well... none that admit to it as being President, although 28% percent believe that he is"
This is, of course, only the latest revelations of a long line of race-baiting comments from Jerry Bader. Ramzi Kasem's op-ed in the New York Daily News does a great job of explaining why the baseless"Obama is a Muslim" comments are nothing more than thinly-veiled racism:
The Muslim male, as he exists in America's collective psyche, is today's ultimate "other," a menacing adversary with whom we are locked in existential struggle. What could be decried as hateful if directed at other communities is common currency today for politicians and pundits commenting on Islam. Islamophobia remains socially acceptable where other forms of bigotry have been suppressed.
For those who continue to feel estranged from a President who is not white, labeling Obama as Muslim is the sole available substitute for racial epithets that are no longer tolerated. Where they appear to take issue with prayer, those polled are really fixated with pigmentation.
Bader responded via twitter, saying:
This audio is altered. I never said this. Not even a professional edit job Jud.
Bader has since deleted the tweet.