Call it Racist

by: Brad Pilcher

Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 15:10:39 PM EDT

It would seem a Republican activist in South Carolina has gotten himself into hot water. On Facebook (and let's put aside the conversation about how far we've come into the age of new media), Rusty DePass said that a gorilla that had escaped Riverbanks Zoo was "just one of Michelle's ancestors" in reference to the current First Lady, Michelle Obama.

DePass is a former chair of the state election commission, and he's admitted that he was referring to the First Lady. CNN is now carrying video on the story from its local affiliate, but let's get beyond the actual story. It was a clearly stupid comment that probably gets made by any number of white GOP (and non-GOP) activists in the south (and the north, east, west, etc.), but in this case it was made on a public website.

Bob Coble, mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, says in the video that DePass should apologize, and more important that it is a racist comment. Because, it obviously is a racist comment. Imagine, for a moment, this comment being made about a white First Lady. It wouldn't even make sense, outside of the racist bigotry that equates blacks with lower-order apes.

The video kind of glosses over that, and when it comes back to Coble, a rival of DePass', he talks about the long tradition of First Ladies and how none of them deserve that kind of comment. But none of them, up until Michelle Obama, would be on the receiving end of that kind of comment. For obvious reasons. None of them before Michelle Obama has been black.

So let's not frame this in terms of the stature of her office. Let's call this what it is in more explicit terms. A white, southern GOP blowhard called a black woman an ape in order to demean her. It's almost predictable to the point of not being news. Does it even matter that she's the current spouse of Oval Office occupant?

The Week in News: Guess Who Wants to Bone Michelle Obama...

by: Katie Halper

Sat Jun 28, 2008 at 11:16:41 AM EDT

1. Karl Rove wants to bone Michelle Obama

He recently described Barack as "the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by." Looks like someone wants Michelle to be his baby mama. It's OK Karl. This is where the healing starts. 

2. If the caribou could speak, they would say "Build Us a Pipeline!"
Although the liberal media wants you to believe otherwise, the real champions for animal rights are the Republicans, not the Democrats. Look at pipeline-hugger Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and her animal-centric advocacy for oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve: "Some suggestions are that perhaps we would see an enhancement of wildlife expansion because of the warmth of the pipeline..." Bachman argues that the drilling is already providing the social and caffeine dependent caribou with a meeting place, or, as she explains,"coffee klatch."

3. If we talk about torture, we let the CSPAN-watching terrorists win
Vice President Dick Cheney's top adviser David Addington rightly refuses to answer Congress's questions on his involvement in torture memos. He explains to pushy terrorist-enabler Bill Delahunt (D-MA) "you kind of communicate with al Qaeda. If you do--I can't talk to you, al Qaeda may watch CSPAN." Anyone who knows anything about islamofascism and/or cable service knows that Al quada hearts CSPAN, which is one of the few channels you can actually get in Afghani caves. 

4. McCain chief strategist praying for terrorist attack on the U.S.
McCain strategist Charlie Black says of another terrorist attack on U.S., "certainly it would be a big advantage to him." Let's keep our fingers crossed!

5. Scratch that, McCain chief strategist was suffering from a good old fashioned case of delirium-inducing blueballs.
Turns out Black is "a good guy." He was just thinking with his other head, and was distracted by the "tremendous reporter cleavage," according to former McCain strategist Mike Murphy.