Sheriff Mike Scott defended his use .......

Sheriff Mike Scott defended his use of Barack Obama’s middle name, “Hussein,” while on stage Monday at a rally for vice presidential hopeful Gov. Sarah Palin. “I absolutely, unequivocally don’t regret saying it,” Scott said.

“In order to be a speaker at this event, I had to give my full name — Michael Joseph Scott — to the Secret Service, even though I’m the sheriff of Lee County. So why would I apologize? Is there some kind of double standard here where I have to give my full name, but I can’t use his?”Scott was one of several people who spoke before Palin’s arrival in front of a standing room-only crowd at Germain Arena.

When Scott took the stage, he declared the world had three types of people, “the ones who make things happen, the ones who watch what happens and the ones who wonder what happened. Let’s leave Barack Hussein Obama wondering what happened.

”The arena, about three-quarters full at the time, burst into screams and applause.Obama’s middle name comes from his father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., who was from Kenya.

The name is of Arabic origin and is a common last name in Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa. Obama is a Christian.

Peter Bergerson, a politics professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, said Scott isn’t the first person to use Obama’s middle name, and given that Election Day is four weeks away, he likely won’t be the last. Bergerson said he wasn’t sure of Scott’s intentions, but others have used Obama’s middle name to allude the Democrat might be Muslim. It also reminds people of Saddam Hussein.“It’s been used by some conservative radio commentators and entertainers with a negative twist to it,” Bergerson said. “It could have been designed to remind people of Barack Obama’s father’s heritage, and it has a Muslim name to it.”Scott’s comments immediately became the talk of the cable news networks.

A McCain spokesman, Tucker Bounds, condemned the comments on MSNBC.

Palin’s spokeswoman Tracey Schmidt quickly sent out a press release, while the rally was still going on, distancing the Palin camp from the comment. “We do not condone this inappropriate rhetoric, which distracts from the real questions of judgment, character, and experience that voters will base their decisions on this November.” Scott said that didn’t change his stance.“That’s somebody else’s comment, not mine,” he said. “I have nothing to apologize for.“People have a date of birth, a Social Security number and a name. All I did was say the man’s name.” When asked why he then didn’t use Palin’s middle name, he admitted he didn’t know it. He related there are times when he uses his daughter’s middle name, and this should be viewed as no different. “I just wanted to use his full name,” Scott said. “And frankly, if this is such a hot-button issue, he, as a Harvard lawyer, could have changed it if he didn’t like it.” Scott, who was wearing his uniform, said he was representing his own views, not his office.He defended making those comments while in uniform, though.“That’s what I wear every day,” Scott said. “That’s what I wore to the McCain rally in Tampa with my fellow sheriffs. But at no point did I say I was speaking on behalf of the sheriff’s office.”