RELEASE: Louisiana Democratic Party Calls on Scalise to Retract False Statement on Pres. Obama

Louisiana Democratic Party Calls on Scalise to Retract False Statement on Pres. Obama

BATON ROUGE, LA – The Louisiana Democratic Party is calling on Rep. Steve Scalise to retract his statement claiming that Republicans “never disrespected the office” while Obama was president. This call comes after numerous instances surfaced of GOP attacks on President Obama while he served as president.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Stephen Handwerk, Executive Director of the Louisiana Democratic Party said in response to Scalise’s claim. “A 5-second Google search can show exactly how patently untrue Scalise’s statement is. Whether it’s a sitting Republican congressman shouting ‘You lie!’ at President Obama during a joint session of Congress, another one saying ‘2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama back to Kenya’, or 47 Republican US Senators penning a letter to Iran in an attempt to undercut his constitutional duties, there are countless instances of derogatory remarks, disrespect, and obstruction toward the 44th president when he served our nation. We don’t know where Rep. Scalise was during President Obama’s presidency but it certainly wasn’t in reality.”

“The congressman needs to retract his comments immediately. It’s clear his claim isn’t based in fact and our state cannot afford dishonesty and deception from our elected officials. If he continues to stand by his comment in spite of all this, Rep. Scalise further shows his priorities are partisanship and obstruction, not the people of Louisiana. We deserve better than that.”

Background

In 2009, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted “You lie!” at President Obama during a speech he gave in a joint session of Congress. It was later shown that the statement Obama made that Wilson objected to was factually accurate.

In 2011, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) called President Obama a “tar baby”, a term that has a derogatory history.

In 2012, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) said at a rally that “2012 is the time we’re going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is,”. This was in reference to the birtherism movement that was also propagated by Republicans, including current president Donald Trump.

In 2015, 47 Republican senators sent a letter to the Supreme Leader of Iran in an attempt to undercut President Obama while he negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran.

In 2016, Sen. Mitch McConnel (R-KY) declared that any nomination President Obama made to the Supreme Court of the United States following the death of Antonin Scalia would be null and void. This was the longest Supreme Court of the United States vacancy in American history.