Last month, Terry Jones (the "Burn a Qur'an Day" guy) hanged President Barack Obama in effigy on the front lawn of Dove World Outreach Center, the Gainesville church where he was the pastor until late last year. It earned him a few calls from the Secret Service and an IRS complaint that said his church's tax-exempt status should be revoked because the church was participating in obvious political activism.
He told New Times the effigy represented "death -- of course, not to him. To his political career" and that the black guy hanging from a gallows wasn't meant to carry any racial undertones.
Now, he's upped the ante: Terry Jones has dug a grave for Barack Obama.
"Dr Terry Jones says Obama Dead in 2012," reads a statement sent by Jones' political organization, Stand Up America. He's using the same out that he did with the gallows: It's a metaphor, man.
"Dr. Terry Jones calls for the death of Obama's presidency in 2012. America cannot afford another four years of being lied to, and stolen from," it reads. "In 2012, vote Obama out of the White House and bring a death to Obama's political career."
And, if you look really closely, the fine print reveals that the grave isn't technically for Obama but for his presidency:
Jones also posted a YouTube video explaining the move; other than that he's standing next to a tombstone with the president's name on it, his points are pretty sane: He faults Obama for not bringing troops home from the Middle East, for not closing Guantanamo Bay, and for being soft on immigration. Then, though, it gets a little dicey:
"He has closed his eyes to the problem that we have in America with illegals. Twenty million illegals," Jones said. "The illegals and the Hispanics make up the largest prison population -- they are only outnumbered by the blacks. They greatly exceed all other races. We must put an end to President Obama's political career."
In case you accidentally think Jones is correct, don't: In addition to the obvious fallacy in blaming Obama for brown people going to jail, the rate at which Obama is deporting illegal immigrants far exceeds the rate of George W. Bush -- his annual average is double that of Bush's first term and 30 percent higher than Bush's eight-year average. Sure, freak out about his DREAM Act executive order thing, but don't go thinking Obama isn't chucking immigrants out of the country.
In addition, there aren't "20 million illegals" -- it peaked in 2007 at 12 million, and the rate at which they're entering dropped 70 percent between 2007 and 2009, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
But forget about facts -- this is about killing Obama('s presidency). Also running for president and hosting "International Judge Muhammad Day" on September 11.
"Let us learn, never again to vote for someone based upon the color of his skin," Jones said. "Let us put this year a deadening blow, a death to Obama's presidency. Thank you."
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