Steven King's The Stand

Of all the statements on which to dig in your heels and refuse to back down, Steve King (R-IA) is standing by the Muslims will be dancing in the streets if Obama is elected because of his middle name comment. Because, you see, he's given it a lot of thought and he was very circumspect in his remarks:

By the way, I was careful not to say his middle name. But it means something different in the Middle East than it means here. We’ve risen above this in the United States. About 25 percent of Americans will change their religion during their lifetime. To them [Middle Easterners], religion is more hereditary. So it’s harder for Obama to convince them that he’s Christian. He’s convinced me. But I don’t think he’ll convince a lot of the Middle East because it is hereditary.

Note the allusion to the idea that Obama was a Muslim but changed his religion, as the fallback position. It's an Overton wndow kind of thing; make the outrageous suggestion that he is a Muslim now, and when challenged go back to "see, he WAS a Muslim, but he switched" argument, setting up some kind of Manchurian candidate scenario where he turns back on his Muslimhood upon entry into the White House.

Steve King's been a whole lot of crazy for a very long time. He's the guy who said that we should put a fence on the Mexican border because it works on the livestock at his pig farm. So you get the idea. He's a nativist and a racist, and thusly he belongs to the right party. But this will be a problem for McCain and the Republicans throughout this election. Those voices will only get louder.