Steve Pearce
Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Steve Pearce says Barack Obama is the “duly elected president,” and he’s trying to steer the conversation about his race against Democrat Harry Teague back to the economy.
“Harry Teague’s liberal allies at The Huffington Post are attempting to make an issue where none exists,” Pearce said in a prepared statement sent to NMPolitics.net. “Obama’s citizenship is not an issue in this race. He’s the duly elected president and I respect that. This election is going to be determined by who is creating jobs, not blog stories. I will create jobs and cut spending. Teague won’t.”
Pearce’s statement came after I authored a commentary earlier today criticizing him for comments he made about Obama’s citizenship at a forum in Los Lunas. He essentially said there were valid questions about Obama’s citizenship that “need to be asked.”
As I also reported, the questions have been asked and answered: Obama is an American citizen with a valid Hawaii birth certificate.
Pearce brought up the Huffington Post in his statement because that was the media outlet that first reported on the comments he made at the Los Lunas forum.
Pearce can try to steer the conversation to jobs now, but in August he was playing off emotions in some ways similar to those behind the “birther” movement when he sent out a news release challenging Teague to take a stand on a proposal to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero.
Here’s what Pearce said in that release:
“It is disappointing that President Obama has endorsed building a mosque near Ground Zero. The American people do not support this position, and we should not be so insensitive to memory of those who lost their lives on that tragic day.
“While this issue is not a matter of law, it is a deeply personal issue to so many Americans, particularly those who lost someone on that terrible day. The fact that they may have a legal right to build something does now make it the right thing to do.
“I would hope Harry Teague would join me in calling on the president to reconsider his position and state clearly that this location is an ill-chosen one and does not honor the memory of those who died. Furthermore, the location should be moved further away from Ground Zero.”