White House Assails Tom Tancredo for Suggesting Obama Go "Back" to Kenya
The White House slammed former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado today for his recent remarks suggesting President Obama was not born in the United States.
"If his wife says Kenya is his homeland, why don't we just send him back?" Tancredo said at a South Carolina Tea Party rally over the weekend, the Greenville News reports.
The so-called "birther movement," questioning Mr. Obama's origins, began during his presidential campaign. It has steadily persisted through Mr. Obama's presidency, in spite of overwhelming evidence he was born in the United States -- including his 1961 birth announcement, printed in two Hawaii newspapers.
Tancredo is known for making incendiary remarks, particularly with respect to immigration, and has used extreme rhetoric to talk about the president before.
When asked today about Tancredo's recent remarks, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he had no comment.
"I could probably fill the better part of my afternoons responding to the general lunacy of somebody like Tom Tancredo," Gibbs said.
A number of Tea Party supporters have adopted inflammatory rhetoric to talk about the administration and the federal government in general. On the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, some are saying the vitriol could lead to another home-grown terrorist attack.
