Gaston representative sticks his foot in his Facebook mouth

• Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston, asks voters to support REAL American politicians. I think?

Several news outlets have reported that State Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston, posted a picture on his Facebook showing President Barack Obama wearing “Muslim garb.” The picture was captioned: “Next time vote for the REAL American.”

Torbett has since removed the photo and posted a status about its removal:

I have removed an earlier post that some felt disrespected POTUS. As is mentioned In an earlier post I thanked those of us from Gaston for showing him respect during his recent visit.

I’m not quite sure what Torbett wants us to glean from his recent Facebook activity. Is he implying Obama has a Muslim alter ego that’s an American citizen? Is he implying voters should support that alter ego?

Or, does the caption imply that the millions of passport-holding, birth certificate- or green card-weilding Muslim citizens, perhaps even some in his district, aren’t Americans? In that case, I think Torbett is trying to tell us he’s a bigot.

But who knows?

This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2012.