"Muslim in His Blood"

It's hard to imagine, but Bay Buchanan is way to the right of her brother Pat. Unfortunately no one ever calls her out because she mostly operates behind the scenes and because her brother is so powerful. 

Last year she was the campaign manager for the most rightwing Republican in the race, immigrant-basher Tom Tancredo - just one indication of how rightwing she is.

On Friday she crossed a line that no one in American politics should be permitted to cross - making an issue of a candidate's blood. As Logan Murphy writes,

Buchanan adamantly states that Obama’s middle name should be fair game because it’s a real concern for a lot of Americans and that they have the right to know if he has Muslim in his blood. WTF? This is pure xenophobic baiting at its finest (or worst) and both Meyers and Blitzer call her out on it.

Dee Dee Meyers was terrific in challenging Buchanan right away and not allowing Buchanan's aggressive armwaving to intimidate her. Buchanan adamantly refused to answer Meyers as to why Obama's middle name was relevant, and pretended it wasn't an issue for her but might be for "others."

Attacks on unpopular ethnic "blood" have a long and ugly history and contributed to anti-Jewish pogroms and the Nazi Holocaust. Anyone who tries to bring "Muslim blood" into this campaign should be held fully accountable by the media.