That was one of their projections the righties liked to play up. The conservatives were completely bonkers when it came to any possible slight against a "respected" leader. Take President Bush for example. He had an interview on NPR. The interviewer referred to him as "President Bush," then "Mr. President." Afterwards, there was a news story where they talked about other things that "President Bush" did that week, following up with what "Bush" planned to do in the coming days.
They got hit with angry letters saying that calling him "Mr. President" and "Bush" were disrespectful and a sign that the liberals who ran NPR hated the man and everything decent and heterosexual, etc., etc.
I don't expect they calmed down when it was explained that it's the common "style guide" way of referring to any sitting or former president to first address them or refer to them as "President Whoever." If the story is about them, then "Whoever" is acceptable thereafter.
It's like how they got upset when people referred to Bush as "Dubya," even though the man practically went by that name all his life and through his campaign.