Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin said Wednesday she was "mobbed" by fans after a rally on Tuesday protesting President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan and didn't realize a man she posed for a photo with was holding a sign with a swastika.

The photo quickly appeared on the Web sites of several left-leaning groups, which claimed that the Fox News contributor endorsed linking the Nazi emblem to the president.

In the photo, a smiling Malkin is looking up while a man crouched next to her cradles a sign with a swastika inside the O in Obama's name.

Malkin said she couldn't see the part of the sign bearing the swastika and questioned whether the man was a "ringer" trying to discredit her.

"People stuffed themselves in front of me. They shoved in front trying to get pictures, and I obliged. And this is the reward for that," Malkin said. "I don't know who this person is. I would really like to know if he was some sort of ringer or he believed in his sign."

One of the groups criticizing Malkin over the photo is Progress Now Colorado. Michael Huttner, who heads the group, said the organizers of Tuesday's rally should condemn the sign and offer an apology. "As for (the man with the sign) being a ringer, that's kind of a fantasy," Huttner said.

Colorado Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry is a vocal critic of the $787 billion stimulus bill and the "swastika guy" as well.

"That particular sign badly crossed the line," the Grand Junction Republican said.

But Penry also condemned what he viewed as a double- standard by people on the left who drew comparisons between President Bush and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. He said both sides are wrong to engage in those kind of comparisons.

Malkin, who lives in Colorado Springs, said she isn't going to start screening everyone who wants her to pose for a photo.

"That's just not how I roll," she said.