earlier in this broadcast, we told you about republican congressman mike coffman of colorado. coffman told a group of conservatives at a fund-raiser that he didn t believe president obama is an american at heart. i don t know whether barack obama was born in the united states or not. i don t know that. but i do know this that in his heart, he s not an american. he s just not an american. coffman then issued a statement claiming he misspoke, but when asked to elaborate, coffman refused. not once, not twice, but five times, repeating this weak response. i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. i am joined tonight on our panel, chris kofinis, krystal ball, and steve dais. great to have all of you with us. chris, let me ask you first.
and to handle it like this? i stand by my statement that you have and i misspoke and i apologize. reporter: was it that you thought it would go over well in elbert county, where folks are very conservative and you d never say something like that in the suburbs? i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. reporter: is there thing that i can ask that you ll answer differently? i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. thank you, congressman. he speaks like a prisoner of war, name, rank, and serial number. folks, this goes beyond birtherism. this an elected official saying that the president of the united states is not an american, in his heart, he s not an american. this is not just a fringe element of the republican party. in fact, he s representing a prime congressional district. colorado s sixth district is one of the wealthiest districts in the country, with a median income of more than $73,000 a year. this isn t just the middle of nowhere. m
moderate republican. but earlier this month, he told conservative fund-raisers what he thought about president obama. i don t know whether barack obama was born in the united states or not. i don t know that. but i do know this that in his heart, he s not an american. he s just not an american. in his heart, he s not an american. coffman didn t know he was being recorded. four days later, he released this statement. i misspoke. i apologize. i have confidence in president obama s citizenship and legitimacy as president of the united states. i don t believe the president shares my belief in american exceptionalism. exceptionalism? don t you have to have the facts to be exceptional? or that s gone too? oh, he misspoke. how do you misspeak when you say, i do know this he s not an american ? it sounds like coffman said exactly what he wanted to say. coffman laid low after releasing this statement. he just kind of wanted the whole thing to go away.
days, tried to get a comment from him. you wanted to interview him, and we just saw a tape, you finally tracked him down, how did that happen? we don t ambush people, we schedule interviews. so for five days we talked to the campaign and said he needs to clear the air, we can do a scheduled interview, or we can have an unscheduled interview. they didn t return our call sos we had a closed door interview. that s how he kept going with this robotic response, how surprised were you at his response? i was very surprised. you have to keep in mind that while congressman coffman may not be known well nationwide, he is the face of the republican party in colorado. when president obama comes to down, it s congressman coffman that delivers the republican response. he informs denver yesterday and
they leadership needs to stand up and do something about it. my commentary is ahead. the teachers unions don t fight for our children. that s our job. the republican assault on public education has gone national. we will dissect the romney education plan he unveiled today. paul ryan has some new fighting words for the president. we face not just a failed president, but a failed ideology. tonight, we ll remind the congressman what failure really looks like. and the countdown to recall continues. the race in wisconsin is tightening. we ll go live to the badger state for the latest. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the republican strategy of casting president obama has un-american is going strong. yes, it s a republican strategy. this is not just the birthers. this is not just the tea party. this is the republican party. the gop can t run away from this pattern. the latest example comes from congressman mike coffman in colorado. coffman presents