But Priebus earned even wider rebukes when, in the fall of 2010, during an interview regarding Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold — a prime target of the party chair's barbs — he called three times for the "execution" of President Obama during a conference call with reporters.

Priebus was trying to suggest that Feingold was somehow "soft" on terrorism because of his opposition to capital punishment.

"Feingold had mentioned that he thought that it would be good if we captured Obama in the battlefield setting and that he suffered the quote-unquote ultimate punishment there," noted Priebus, who objected that Feingold was "out of the mainstream" because he had advocated for following the rule of law when dealing with terror suspects who are in the custody of the United States.

Note the first reference to "Obama," not the presumed target of the remark: Osama.

"I find this point that (Feingold's) made to be completely disgusting. I think it's offensive to the people of Wisconsin," continued Priebus. "I hope he has an explanation as to why he thinks Obama ought not to be executed and why he thinks we ought to bring Osama bin Laden to the United States that he should be captured alive and actually have a trial."

Note the second reference to "Obama."