State: Giuliani ‘wrong in every possible way’

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s comments that President Obama doesn’t love America are completely wrong, a State Department official said Thursday. 

“I’m just sorry to hear that. I find it wrong in every possible way that it could be wrong” said Rick Stengel, the State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, in an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

“I think the president loves the country in an extraordinary way. He’s an American exceptionalist, but with a slightly different attitude,” said Stengel. He pointed to Obama’s remarks at the White House’s summit on countering violent extremism as an example of the president seeking to get other countries to follow the United States.

“Our job is not to tell you what to do, our job is to be a partner — that’s a different vision of American power and role in the world and that is the vision for American power in the 21st century,” Stengel said.

His remarks came shortly after Obama doubled down on his terminology regarding the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), refusing to refer to members of the group as Islamic extremists. 

Giuliani said during a dinner in Manhattan on Wednesday night, “I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America.”

“He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up, and I was brought up through love of this country,” the former New York City mayor added, according to Politico.

Giuliani clarified his remarks on “Fox and Friends” on Thursday morning by saying he more often hears Obama criticize America than celebrate it. He also said Obama shouldn’t shy away from referencing Islam when discussing ISIS.

“If you refuse to say there are extremist members of the Islamic religion, well then, it sounds like you’re living on Mars,” Giuliani said on Fox.