Leader of St. Louis Tea Party Thinks Obama is a Muslim waging "Stealth Jihad on the White House"

So much for trying to pretend that they aren't conspiracy theorists. Check out what St. Louis Tea Party leader Bill Hennessy (Twitter name @whennessy) tweeted today:

The link takes you to an article claiming that Obama told an Egyptian Foreign Minister that he is Muslim and that:

once he overcame some domestic American problems (Healthcare), that he would show the Moslem world what he would do with Israel.

The article was subtitled, ""Islamic Coup on the White House" and claims that Obama is engaging in a "stealth jihad on the White House."

Wow. What amazingly unhinged nonsense being perpetuated by the self-appointed leader of the local tea party movement, who absurdly claims that his movement represents American values.

I should note that unlike many in the tea party, I'm not a bigot who thinks that there is something wrong with being Muslim. However, the fact that folks like Hennessy are willing to believe such elaborate conspiracies about the President and even claim that he's trying to wage a "stealth jihad" tells you quite a bit about their true motivations. In fact, it might be argued that it tells you everything you need to know.

Update: Yikes! Media Matters catches this nutty quote from Hennessy in Gateway Pundit's post today (in response to a video purported showing students proudly saying they are "Obama scholars"):

Quick quiz: name five countries, past or present, where the youths were required to chant praises to their omnipotent ruler? Any five. Then add together the number of innocent people those regimes slaughtered for political expediency.

I'm starting to think that the tea party is realizing that their extreme economic positions don't really motivate anybody, so they're going back to their bread and butter: trying to rev up fear of the Scary Other Who Wants to Steal All Your Possessions