Saw this in my local newspaper the other day and thought others might be interested in what this crazy man had to say. Aanestad is a former CA State Senator currently running for California's 1st Congressional District so he is not a newcomer to the political scene around these parts of Northern California. The seat was redistricted and takes over some of CA-04 from Tom McClintock. It's an open seat since incumbent CA-01 Rep. Wally Herger (R) has thankfully retired. You can read the article here http://www.theunion.com/... but I'll provide a synopsis below.
Aanestad is an oral surgeon in Grass Valley and was a State Senator for a while. He is one of several Republicans vying for this open seat. A Rancher named Doug La Malfa is the favorite since he is currently a State Senator. All of them are certified tea-party whackos so, apparently, Aanestad was making a bid to distinguish himself from the other nut-jobs. The Democrats running for this safe Republican seat are Nathan Arrowsmith and Jim Reed. Here's the district's breakdown from Calitics last time around.
Presidential Data: Obama 42%, McCain 53%
Gubernatorial Data: Brown 37%, Whitman 53%
Demographics: 12% Hispanic, 79% White
Safe Republican
Anyway, in amazing tea-party speak here's what the good ole boy had to say
I made no comment on the President's religion... I was simply asked at a Tea Party (event) by a Tea Party member whether I believed the President was a Muslim and I answered ‘yes.' That was the extent of my answer.
A Jim Reed supporter at the meeting told the
Chico Enterprise-Record a woman at the meeting told Aanestad she was concerned about "Muslim extremists" getting into the higher echelons of American government... Aanestad indicated he agreed with her and suggested the inroads extended to "the Oval Office."
On Monday, when Aanestad was in Chico holding a press conference, two reporters asked him about the Obama comment. Aanestad said he did think Obama was a Muslim. He said Obama's father was a Muslim, and that he was raised in a Muslim culture. Now, Obama says he is a Christian, and Aanestad said he has no choice other than to believe that he is a Christian today.
Last week, Aanestad was interviewed by Marc Albert, who does local news reporting on Chico radio station KZFR. Albert told the Enterprise-Record he asked Aanestad about the Obama-Muslim comment and whether he thought Obama was a Muslim.
Albert said he provided Allen with some recorded excerpts from the radio interview. Allen emailed those to the Enterprise-Record.
In one of the radio clips, Aanestad says, "I was asked (at the tea party meeting), do I think he (Obama) is a Muslim. Do I think he is a Muslim? And the answer is yes. That is his background. That is his beginning.
"He may be a Christian today. There's no way you or I can tell that. But his background, his upbringing, his tradition, his holiday observances — all from the Muslim background. Does he practice Islam, the religion of the Muslims? I don't think
so."
So there you have it. Just another tea-party crazy looking to represent a Congressional District. Like I said, La Malfa is the favorite and as far as I know hasn't said anything about Obama's religious preferences, but he is in a long tradition of ultra-conservative Republicans who have held this seat.