Barack Obama’s visit to Cape Fear BBQ and Chicken in Fayetteville, N.C. on Sunday afternoon drew some nasty responses from patrons, according to a report from Politico. While many diners applauded his arrival, Diane Fanning began yelling “socialist, socialist, socialist” at the Democratic presidential candidate.

Later, Obama came to the long table where Fanning and other members of a local First Presbyterian church were gathered. He held out his hand to her and asked, “How are you, ma’am?” but she declined to shake his hand.

Fanning asked Obama about a North American union, and Obama responded: “Well, you know, I am opposed to it if it were happening. But it doesn’t seem to be actually be happening. The truth of the matter is there is no plans. I’ve talked to a lot of people, including folks down in Texas. There’s no plan to create a common government between Mexico, U.S. and Canada. That’s just not … that’s just not happening. I know some people have been hearing rumors about it. But as far as I can tell, that’s just not something that’s happening. We would never give up our sovereignty in that way. Any other questions?”

In an interview, Fanning said, “I still think he’s a closet Muslim.”

I heard the socialist meme repeated many times last week while tracking Todd Palin across the state. But NBC’s First Read blog doesn’t believe the charge “will pass the smell test” beyond the GOP base.