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Defending comments he made Wednesday suggesting President Barack Obama did not love America, former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani said his criticism couldn’t be racist because the president’s mother was white.

Yep. That happened.

According to the New York Times, Giuliani first criticized the president at a New York fundraising event for Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

“I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,” Mr. Giuliani said at the event. “He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up, through love of this country.”

Giuliani said he made the remarks after being asked what kind of president he wanted to see in 2016. In addition to describing a leader who was Obama’s opposite, he said this:

“I want an American president to raise our spirits again, like a Ronald Reagan.”

Yep. That’s pretty opposite.

After backlash for his racially-tinged comments, Giuliani told the Times that he wasn’t being racist, instead, he was “describing the worldview that had shaped Obama’s upbringing.”

“Some people thought it was racist — I thought that was a joke, since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people,” Mr. Giuliani said in the interview. “This isn’t racism. This is socialism or possibly anti-colonialism.”

“I’m happy for him to give a speech where he talks about what’s good about America and doesn’t include all the criticism,” Mr. Giuliani said.

Giuliani also criticized Obama’s remarks on religion — at the National Prayer Breakfast this month, Obama said that people have “committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ” in an effort to divorce Islam from extremist behavior.

“Now we know there’s something wrong with the guy,” Mr. Giuliani said of the president. “I thought that one sort of went off the cliff.’’

He added: “What I don’t find with Obama — this will get me in more trouble again — is a really deep knowledge of history. I think it’s a dilettante’s knowledge of history.”

On Thursday, deputy press secretary Eric Schultz responded to Giuliani’s comments with this statement:

“Mr. Giuliani test-drove this line of attack during his fleeting 2007 run for the presidency.”

“I was obviously not at the dinner last night, nor did I watch the remarks, so I’m going to leave it to those at the dinner to assess whether or not they were appropriate,’’ Mr. Schultz said.

“But I will say I agree with him on one thing he said today, which is that it was a horrible thing to say.”

He added that suggesting Obama doesn’t love America is a “horrible thing to say.” The president has not responded to Giuliani’s comments.

SOURCE: NYT | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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