Today in an interview with Fox News, former Republican senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum sharply criticized Rep. John Murtha’s (D-PA) comments that western Pennsylvania is a “racist area.” Santorum claimed that the real reason people in that area won’t support Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is because he is “condescending to them.” As evidence, he said that Obama “won’t wear the American flag pin”:
SANTORUM: Well, I’m from western Pennsylvania. I grew up in western Pennsylvania. I grew up in a steel town — Butler, PA — and those people are not racist. What they are are people that look at someone who is as liberal as Barack Obama, who has been condescending to them — in calling them clinging their guns and their religion — won’t wear the American flag pin, and he is not in concert with their values. It has nothing to do with the color of his skin.
Watch it:
It’s not clear how not wearing a flag pin makes someone condescending. Regardless, Obama does wear a flag pin. He has, in fact, worn one at each of the three presidential debates. The person who refuses to wear one is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ):
Note that Santorum was not wearing a flag pin during this interview.