There are few political activists among the social conservative set with a bigger cachet than Ralph Reed, which is why his comments yesterday about conservatives who spend time talking about birth certificates and the President’s ties to people like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Conservative activist Ralph Reed, who runs the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said on Friday that “it isn’t enough to be anti-Obama,” and dismissed the fringe elements of his party, despite answering a birther question during a breakout session.
A Faith and Freedom Conference attendee named Robert Dickstein asked Reed why conservatives don’t go harder on Obama, saying “his birth certificate which is clearly fraudulent, they never mention that allegedly he’s had homosexual affairs, where drugs were involved, his whole Columbia situation is as vague as anything” and “even his name is a phony, his real name is Barry Sotero.”
Reed nodded slightly throughout Dickstein’s question, but said he disagrees.
“I think he was born in the United States,” Reed said.
“Allow me to, as your friend, and I mean this in that spirit, to disabuse you of the notion that there is something about Jeremiah Wright or Bill Ayers or his personal life that’s going to win this election,” Reed continued. “It’s not going to happen.”
Asked about the exchange later, Reed said he didn’t think that extremists would be an important part of this election cycle.
“Well, I don’t really think it’s a significant number of voters,” Reed said. “I don’t think it was an issue in 2008 and I don’t think it’ll be an important issue in 2012.”
One wonders how long it will be before Reed is called a RINO.
