Giuliani: Remarks against Obama weren't racist since 'he was brought up by a white mother'

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) is defending remarks he made about President Obama's patriotism at a fundraiser Wednesday night for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R).

Critics are taking issue with Giuliani commenting about the way the president was raised. During the event, he said, "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." Giuliani told The New York Times on Thursday that he was not being prejudiced when he made the statement. "Some people thought it was racist — I thought that was a joke, since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people," he said. "This isn't racism. This is socialism or possibly anti-colonialism."

Earlier, White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz spoke briefly about the comments, saying, "Mr. Giuliani test-drove this line of attack during his fleeting 2007 run for the presidency. I was obviously not at the dinner last night, nor did I watch the remarks, so I'm going to leave it to those at the dinner to assess whether or not they were appropriate."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.