He just can't help himself:

Is this an appropriate phrasing considering the attacks from Fox News, Andrew Breitbart and other Republican candidates this week? Does Romney actually want to try to "hang" Obama with what he's acknowledged is a deep recession that was started under George W. Bush? Mitt Romney in a forum sponsored by oil companies( AFP is funded by big oil companies including Koch Industries) tonight declares that he wants to "hang" Obama on the high oil prices from which the AFP's sponsors are raking in record profits. I realize that Mitt Romney is not good at picking his words, but let's agree that hanging metaphors aren't responsible, especially at the end of this week. Update: The Boston Globe notes that Romney tread on dangerous ground before he corrected himself.

Honestly, I don't want to make that big a deal of the use of the phrase "hang that (misery) around his neck" because I think it's less a lynching reference than an albatross, which has had a long and colorful literary life. However, Romney proves by his backtracking that he knows that "hanging" has a loaded meaning for most African Americans and he is clearly not ready for prime time.

But I am continually reminded and dismayed by the complete double standard we have in this country in how we refer to the President of the United States. When Bush was POTUS, half the country lost their nut over the Dixie Chicks simply pointing out that they didn't like being from the same state, prompting CD bonfires, crushings, and death threats (and frankly, a really fantastic follow up album). But Obama can endure overt and veiled racism, questions about his parentage, his education, his qualifications, his alleged socialism/Marxism/communism/fascism, his honesty (and in the middle of his State of the Union address no less) and this is perfectly healthy debate and dissent. Because, you know, IOKIYAR.