On Saturday, Republican North Carolina Reps. Patrick McHenry and Robin Hayes warmed up the crowd at a rally for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) by throwing red meat to the right-wing audience. As ThinkProgress noted, the New York Observer’s Jason Horowitz reported that Hayes “accused Obama of ‘inciting class warfare’ and said that ‘liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God.’”
Yesterday, the Politico’s Ryan Grim contacted Hayes’s spokeswoman, Amanda Little, who said that the congressman denied making the comments:
Hayes spokeswoman, Amanda Little, says that Hayes absolutely denies making the comments that appear in the Observer article. She noted that other national reporters were at the event and didn’t pick up on what the Observer reported. [...]
Hayes spokeswoman Little is still denying it and accuses The Crypt of “irresponsible journalism.”
Horowitz stood behind his story, saying that the reason most national reporters didn’t cover the remarks is because they weren’t there; the national media’s plane hadn’t yet arrived. “I wasn’t on the plane,” explained Horowitz. “I don’t know if they were aware the national press wasn’t there, but they were staying stuff.”
Audio of the event recorded by Lisa Miller of WFAE in Charlotte, NC now definitively shows that Hayes has been lying about not saying that “liberals hate real Americans.” Here are his exact comments:
Sarah Palin — she’s a lady that can get ‘er done. She’s been in Alaska. She got ‘er did! Folks, there’s a real America, and liberals hate real Americans that work, and accomplish, and achieve, and believe in God. That’s a great comparison.
Listen here:
In 2006, Hayes said, “Stability in Iraq ultimately depends on spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men.” As recently as 2005, he was still insisting that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
Update
In the face of the audio, Hayes is now admitting that he did make the comments:
“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.”
Previous in TP Politics
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policies as applicable, which can be found here.