CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien and a panel of guests questioned a leader's tweets. Tea party leader under fire on CNN

CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien and a panel of guests sharply questioned a Tea Party leader Tuesday after she wondered whether President Barack Obama “loves America.”

“I think he is more about a global, being a, oh, what’s the word? Being more one-world, global, with, you know, other countries, and it’s not about the shining city on the hill, the greatness that has always been America, that our founding fathers were about,” Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer said on “Starting Point” after O’Brien asked her about a tweet she sent out last week that said people who “truly” loved the United States would vote for GOP nominee Mitt Romney. “I do believe that. I absolutely believe that.”


Kremer then listed a series of criticisms of Obama’s leadership, including his handling of the “fiscal cliff,” his energy policy and his lack of executive experience, while praising Romney’s time running Bain Capital and the state of Massachusetts.

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“I just never understand what any of that has to do with loving the nation,” O’Brien said. “Honestly, I just feel like that’s a code word for something else.”

“What is the basis for questioning the president’s love for this country?” Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter asked Kremer. “How can you say that?”

“I just don’t believe that he loves America the way that we do,” Kremer said.

O’Brien later said she believed Kremer’s comments were a “dog whistle.”

“Is our goal really with this administration to be the leader we always have been?” Kremer said. “To be the shining city on the hill?”

“What does that have to do with loving the country?” O’Brien interjected. “You’re saying Mitt loves this country and President Obama doesn’t.”

“If you love this country and want to restore our heritage and that sort of thing, you go out there and you lead,” Kremer responded. “You don’t wait on others to tell you what to do, and you take those bold steps. I mean, I don’t think that’s what the objective of this administration is.”

Kremer, a former flight attendant who helped lead the Tea Party Patriots before founding the Tea Party Express, defended her comments in a series of Twitter messages Tuesday afternoon.

“The left screams racism if u say anything negative abt the pres,” she wrote. “Has nothing 2 do w/race, but everything 2 do w/policies. Gets old. Let me say this loud & clear, any1 tht wnts 2 fundamentally transform America instead of restoring her 2 greatness doesn’t luv this country. Anyone that wants 2 turn US into another European socialist country, doesn’t luv this country. Our heritage is free mkts & capitalism.”