Santorum Defends Not Correcting Questioner Who Called Obama 'An Avowed Muslim

On Monday GOP presidential contender Rick Santorum said he doesn't believe it is his place to correct audience members with whom he engages when they make misstatements. His comment came after a woman told Santorum at a forum that President Obama is "an avowed Muslim."

“He is an avowed Muslim and my question is, why isn't something being done to get him out of our government?” the woman said. Santorum responded, “Believe me … I’m doing everything I can to get him out of the government.”

After the exchange, the Pennsylvania senator defended his approach to reporters:

“It’s not my responsibility as a candidate to correct everybody who makes a statement that I disagree with,” Santorum said. “There are lots of people who get up and say stuff in a town hall meeting and say things that I don’t agree with, but I don’t think it’s my obligation, nor should it be your feeling that it’s my obligation to correct somebody who says something that I don’t agree with.”

National Journal adds:

The issue has surfaced with GOP audiences in the past. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican John McCain answered an audience member who pejoratively described Obama as an “Arab” by saying: "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man ... [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”

Also at Monday’s event, two Occupy Tampa protestors were dragged out for interrupting the event after they shouted “stop the hate!” and tossed glitter toward Santorum. The protestors were cited for trespassing and detained until the event was over.

Later in the day, Santorum was interviewed by CNN's John King on this very topic. Video courtesy of Mediaite:

Typically, political candidates will attempt to diplomatically correct or amend statements made by supporters that are incorrect or inflammatory. Santorum is clearly not on board with this approach. Is his method correct? Weigh in below.