If he's to survive the rough-and-tumble Republican gubernatorial primary, State Sen. Kirk Dillard is going to have to appease his party's conservative base. That includes providing justification for his appearance in the first biographical television ad produced by then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama. "Sen. Obama worked on some of the deepest issues we had, and he was successful in a bipartisan way,” the Hinsdale lawmaker said in the ad. “His negotiation skills and an ability to understand both sides would serve the country very well.”

At a "tea party forum" in Homer Glen Wednesday night, one attendee wanted to know if Dillard still believed that his former colleague was "serving the country well." Dillard quickly said no before launching into a revisionist attack on the president, claiming that he doesn't like the "socialistic policies" that are being implemented in Washington and that he "warned people back then that [Obama] was a socialist." Watch it:

DILLARD: I disagree with Barack Obama on about 95 percent of what he stands for or is. One of the reasons I'm here tonight is I don't like those socialistic policies and I warned people back then that he was a socialist and took him on on socialized medicine on the floor of the Illinois State Senate.

This clip raises a few questions.

The first is about the ad itself. If Dillard thought that Obama was "a socialist," why would he agree to appear in his campaign video in the first place?  Also, during an appearance on Jeff Berkowitz's show last year, Dillard spent over ten minutes discussing his work with Obama and his decision to appear in the ad.  Not once did he bring up these "socialist" warnings.

Second, Dillard is attempting to position himself as the heir to Jim Edgar, a moderate Republican who can win statewide by picking off independents and Democrats wary of corruption. Denying man-made global warming and calling the state's popular favorite son "a socialist" is not going to get you very far with that bloc of voters.

Finally, Steve Rhodes adds some much-needed snark over at NBC 5's website:

As long as we're talking about red-baiting here, let's play an old game. You say you warned everybody that Obama was a socialist? Name names! We want to see just who was told and sat back and did nothing.