Real Americans and the liberals who hate them

A Republican congressman is caught lying about whether he said "liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God."

Published October 21, 2008 9:25PM (EDT)

On Saturday, Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., warned the crowd at a McCain rally that he and others in attendance had to "make sure we don't say something stupid, make sure we don't say something we don't mean." After all, the liberal media might distort such a thing. And then Hayes went on to disregard his own advice, saying "liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God."

That quote was first reported by the New York Observer's Jason Horowitz. Horowitz's report was repeatedly and strenuously denied by Amanda Little, a spokeswoman for Hayes. But on Tuesday, Politico obtained audio of the remark.

In a statement, Hayes said, "I genuinely did not recall making the statement and, after reading it, there is no doubt that it came out completely the wrong way. I actually was trying to work to keep the crowd as respectful as possible, so this is definitely not what I intended."

If you need a little comic relief, considering all the accusations flying around about who is and isn't a "real" American, I think this clip from Monday night's edition of "The Daily Show" does a pretty good job of summing up:


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

MORE FROM Alex Koppelman


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