And let's not overlook Rick Santorum's comments on a radio show, where he accused the president of ?pouring gas on our racial fire," adding, ?It?s clear the president has been not a uniting figure on an issue that, I think many Americans thought he would be."
White House aide Stephanie Cutter couldn't stomach the candidates' remarks.
"I think it's abysmal, despicable, that people like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are trying to make this a divisive issue," adding that "on the campaign trail, on their last desperate hopes, as they're moving through the primary process, they should watch their own words."
How about conservative commentators?
On Fox's Fox & Friends on Wednesday, former Justice Department employee and right-wing activist J. Christian Adams claimed Obama "injected himself" into the case using "racial code."
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Besides Eric Holder, is there a fear of inflaming race relations if you crack down on people who want to inflame race relations like the Black Panther Party.
ADAMS: Well, there's a fear among some, but there's no fear among people like Al Sharpton. He doesn't care about inflaming race ?
KILMEADE: He was there in a matter ? in hours.
ADAMS: That's right. And even the president has inserted himself in a racial way saying that Trayvon looks like he might be his ?
KILMEADE: You think wrongly?
ADAMS: Absolutely wrongly. No president in our country's history would have injected himself into a criminal matter using racial code like Barack Obama did.
And on Fox Tuesday night, contributor Dr. Keith Ablow reacted to Obama's comments by claiming Obama's "got it in for this country" because of his remark.
ABLOW: It's time, probably ? it's been overdue that we believe the data. Like as a psychiatrist, there is a certain point when you get a diagnosis. You say, "OK, look, absent something that refutes this, this is the diagnosis." A president who hangs around with Reverend Wright, whose wife said she was never proud of this country, has an edge. He's got it in for this country. At moments when there is an opportunity to fracture the unity, he does.
Then there are the conservative talk show hosts you can tune into in the Tampa Bay area, or if you're fortunate enough to have satellite radio, hear them quoting tweets allegedly made by Trayvon that they were able to obtain from the blog called Wagit, which postulates, "Was Trayvon Martin a drug dealer?"
At one point in his post, the blogger adds: "Hopefully this info paints a somewhat different picture of Trayvon than the one the media has been forcing down our throats for the last several weeks."
