Maine Senate Democrats have asked Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, to condemn a Republican state senator who last week posted a conservative meme on Facebook suggesting that members of the ruthless terrorist group ISIS are family members of President Obama.

Minority leader Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, and assistant leader Sen. Dawn Hill, D-Cape Neddick, met Tuesday with Thibodeau and Republican leaders seeking a public rebuke of Facebook posts made by Sen. Mike Willette, R-Presque Isle. Willette on Monday apologized for sharing March 1 post that criticized Obama for his handling of ISIS, or Islamic State, and also suggested the president would “deal with them at the family reunion.” However, Willette did not specifically apologize for the the message that the post conveyed or for tapping an undercurrent of bigotry that has followed the president since taking office in 2009.

Additionally, the Democrats’ request follows revelations that Willette had many older Facebook posts showing that the March 1 entry about Obama and ISIS wasn’t an isolated incident. Alfond and Hill described the pattern as unbecoming of a state senator, adding that to ignore it is to accept or agree with it.

It’s unclear how Thibodeau will respond to the request, but he and Democrats are expected to discuss the matter on Wednesday. To this point elected Republican leaders have not addressed the controversy.

The Democrats’ request follows a blog post Tuesday by Mike Tipping, a liberal activist, who published a number of Willette’s older Facebook posts showing that the March 1 ISIS post wasn’t an isolated incident.

In several posts, Willette expresses sentiments or republishes memes aligned with the discredited birther theory — that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. In another he questions whether Obama is part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Some posts express outright disdain for Muslims, while others channel xenophobic beliefs about immigrants. In one post, Willette shares a post from the Comical Conservative that expresses admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2013 speech to the Duma about immigrants. In that speech, Putin says Russia will pursue rigorous policies against immigrants, and Muslims in particular.

In another post, Willette wrote about Muslims, “Round them up and air drop them back into the rubble and hell holes from whence they came.”

Alfond and Hill met with Thibodeau Tuesday seeking a public condemnation of Willette. His Facebook posts, they wrote in a letter released Tuesday evening,  showed a “long-standing, prolific, online history of bigoted and racist remarks by a member of this body.”

“In the wake of our country’s recent tribute to the brave Americans who stood up to injustice, we find ourselves in the position of being unable to look the other way and ignore the unacceptable and less than statesman-like comments made by one of our own,” they wrote.

They added, “As Americans, we ask today that as a legislative body, we unite and not look the other way or tolerate words of hate and racism. To do so, is to condone it, agree with it, and to be complicit in the violence for which it perpetuates.”

Democrats had asked Thibodeau to address the issue but did not specify how.

The Maine Democratic Party had also called for a rebuke from the Maine Republican Party. Rick Bennett, the chairman of the Maine Republican Party, could not be reached for comment Monday, but left a voicemail message stating that Willette’s statement settled the matter.

“We at the party appreciate Sen. Willette’s apology and his expression of regret about a regrettable thing to say,” Bennett said. “That’s all I really have to say on the matter.”

Bennett’s comment came before the revelations that Willette had posted other controversial memes and statements on Facebook.

 

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