Adding to his reputation for extreme and offensive rhetoric, Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill. was caught on camera using racially-charged language to insult the African-American president.
"There's something different on the ground, and I think it's going to overtake us all again, think it's going to overtake the political class," Walsh said at a campaign barbecue on Sunday, referring to Tea Party activism. "I think it’s going to respectfully pick this president up and pat him on the head and say, son, son, son, Mr. President, you were never ready to be president, now go home and work for somebody and find out how the real world works."
The advocacy group ColorofChange criticized Walsh's "racially inflammatory remarks" as proof that the freshman Congressman was not fit to lead.
"Once again, Rep. Joe Walsh has decided to stoke racial fears about President Barack Obama in order to leverage support for his own campaign," Executive Director Rashad Robinson said in a statement. "Walsh's attempt to discredit President Obama's leadership succeeds only in demonstrating that he is unfit to lead."
In response, Walsh said his first reaction was to laugh.
“I don’t know who this group was and I would love to look them in the eyes and say, ‘Get a life,’” Walsh said during a local radio interview. "Every time anybody criticizes [Obama], the racist card is thrown out."
Walsh was at it again during a town hall meeting on Wednesday, when he declared that radical Muslims are "trying to kill Americans every week."