That said, after the huge kerfuffle about Sarah Palin's daughter(s) being slammed by a late night comedian, I'm wondering how angry the right wing will get about the latest slam against the sitting first lady by some party hack from South Carolina.
A prominent South Carolina Republican killed his Facebook page Sunday after being caught likening the First Lady to an escaped gorilla. Commenting on a report posted to Facebook about a gorilla escape at a zoo in Columbia, S.C., Friday, longtime GOP activist Rusty DePass wrote, "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless."Here's the CNN account.
DePass, former chairman of the Richland County GOP, was an early backer of George W. Bush and co-chairman of Rudy Giuliani's 2008 campaign in Richland County, the state's largest.
"Most of us, of course, particularly in South Carolina, never gave a damn about New Yorkers, but somehow the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made those people Americans again," he wrote in a 2007 Op-Ed endorsing Giuliani.
Busted by South Carolina political blogger Will Folks, DePass told WIS-TV in Columbia, "I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest."
Then he added, "The comment was hers, not mine," claiming Michelle Obama made a recent remark about humans descending from apes. The Daily News could find no such comment.
Eric Davis, the current chairman of the Richland County Republicans, said his predecessor should get a pass. "Everyone says stupid things they regret later. I think the world should move on," he said.
The sad thing about this is that it's so predictable, as is the lack of response from party leaders. Here's a guy who's been a part of a (failed) presidential campaign, schmoozed with George W. Bush, and actually won a past election. He's hardly a nobody in South Carolina politricks, yet the only other GOP official to comment on the situation actually gives him a pass?
I agree that "the world should move on" as well. Too bad schmucks like Rusty DePass can't seem to move on with it.
Question: Why does the GOP keep letting hacks like DePass run amok without ever being chin checked?
GOP activist DePass apologizes after joking on Facebook that gorilla is related to Michelle Obama [NY Times]
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We've taken down our own more than once... see also: Tom Delay admiring Strom Thurmond.
That says more about SoCo than it does about the GOP, but I hope he loses his next primary.
What an ass.
Like I said before, I don't know which is more awesomely stupid, the remark itself or the way he tried to defend it. (She said it first by saying humans descended from apes, he sez!? Oy. I do NOT do well when confronted with MoronLogic. My brain tends to short-circuit.)
Sorry spool, but this IS typical of what the GOP has become, because you don't see this kind of utter tone-deafness, complete lack of self-awareness, and acrobatic stupidity anywhere else. Not this flavor of it. If one were inclined to be generous, they could surmise that these folks just don't care to be "PC", as they'd call it. What they can't understand is, there's "defiantly un-PC," and then there's "Village Retard with Terret's Syndrome." None of these silly gaffes of late have had enough thought behind them to be the considered the former.
(I should add a third category--one for incredibly stupid remarks that DO have thought behind them. Democrat Charlie Rangel has been on a roll with those, lately, tactlessly injecting race into places it didn't have to go.)
Everything happens for a reason; it was time for this idiot to be culled from the wheat and burned, and the Almighty made it so.
On the flip side, I'm sure there are plenty of Democratic babblers who say things just as stupid, and if we started 'checking' people's speech too tightly we could end up like Iran or China. What mature citizens must do is assign responsibility for a person's actions or words TO THAT PERSON versus some group or idea.
Because the institution of white supremacy and it's racist ideology is the oldest and most successful tool used in the polarization of American culture.
This is a shocking comment for sure, and sadly it's not shocking that it comes from the right. Aren't they proud to be Lincoln's party? Why so much racism?? Has Steele commented?
But, I will also say, and I hesitate to do this for fear of seeming insensitive, but humans and apes do share the same descendants, and I'm often referring to my (white) kids as monkeys when they are on the monkey bars or whatever but every time I do I think about how loaded that comment would be if my kids or the the kids around were black.
I think many whites have no idea that referring to blacks this way is shocking and offensive, but I do wish the phenomenon could be aired out a little bit. There are countless ways in which primate terminology is applied to humans in a non-racial way (800 pound gorilla, monkeying around, going ape-shit, etc) but could seem racist if applied to someone who is black.
Bush was caricatured as a monkey incessantly I might add- just google it.
I suppose if whites would stop using the racist connotation the issue could lose some of its charge and the issue is a reminder of racial wounds that are far from being healed.
Regardless of what anyone says or how they spin it, what this d-bag says represents much of the thought of the Republican base.
White Southern males are the most reliable Repub voters, and this isn't that much different than what many (not all) of them say amongst themselves anyway. It's just a way of conveying to his constituency that "I share your values, I'm like you." These morons just haven't figured out that once you put something on the internet, you cant take it back.
Steele may make a token repudiation of this (i doubt it), but he doesn't run things anyway. So who cares.
@ Ezra:
I'm fond of using "li'l monkey" to describe a cute toddler, but if it's a black toddler forget it. No one would ever believe I didn't mean it THAT way. So yeah, there's a million things like that.
(Imagine the awkwardness that might ensue if someone had never heard of the expression "800-pound gorilla in the room"....)
I wish Princess Di and Mother Teresa could come back and clear the field of all these land mines.
Someone not knowing slang can be hilarious. My mom once got in a screaming match with our psycho [white] next door neighbor, and at one point yelled "Lady, will you keep your shirt on!" The neighbor screamed to her husband "Kevin! She just called me a whore!" XD
@ Spool
I'm assuming you meant Trent Lott/Strom Thurmond, right? And let the record show that the GOP only pushed Lott aside long after Negroes complained and he gave that disastrous interview on BET. I don't think they had a choice at that point. They sure as hell didn't push him on their own.
And no, this says a LOT MORE about the GOP than South Carolina. You've had such ignorant incidents occur from California to Tennessee in recent months. Does that also say something about those states?
@ Marbles
Nobody is letting the Dems off the hook here. I still contend that Hillary ran a more racially charged campaign against Obama than McCain. The difference is, the Dems had elected officials (think James Clyburn) INSIDE THE PARTY that put fools in check. The GOP has no such guardian of good taste.
@ Adinasi
Come on, how insane is it for a former elected official and party insider to call the sitting first lady a primate? You honestly aren't defending this nonsense as "free speech", are you?
@ Ezra
The imagery of a white guy as a monkey has no such historical levity as that of a black man.
@ Jay
Steele is a bought man. As long as he wants to pay for those Steve Harvey suits, he won't say a thing. And to date, he hasn't. It's Tuesday, this occurred over the weekend. He's had time.
Look up Lincoln - they called him a monkey, too. And Bush - incessantly.
I would NEVER compare Michelle Obama or anyone else to primates - they're a different species. If we evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
So Michelle, unfortunately, is just plain ugly, not an ape. She's not too bad when she smiles, but that's pretty rare. It's mostly a scowl. Maybe she should research some Jackie Kennedy photo archives on how a First Lady should look.
@Chester
Because of course white women are and always will be the standard bearers...
Black women can never get a break. So what, she's not bubbly and smiling all the time. If you were getting death threats, racist comments and had every inch of your body scrutinized as she is (or many black women, for that matter), you might not smile as much either.
Chester is trolling, folks. Please don't fall for the bait.
They just can't help themselves AB. It's just like when you try to discipline a child for jumping on the neighbors couch. If you don't say anything to your child when they are jumping on the couch at home then you can't be astonished when they jump on the neighbor's couch.
The same principal applies here. This is where Mr. Steele is supposed to come in and flail his arms. So since that isn't happening the GOP will resolve itself to being the party of white men. Not just old white men, young white men are joining the movement too.
@Chester: Michelle should look up pics of Jakie Kennedy to see what a First Lady is supposed to look like? Really? So who did Bush's mother study to see what a First Lady is supposed to look like? Ronald McDonald? Or the California raisins?
GTFOH!!!
I'm less concerned about old, white-haired racists (whose days are obviously numbered)than I am about young people who are re-activating this kind of ignorance for a new generation. I hadn't seen any hyper-racist young people for a long time, until last week when one of the news programs focused on a radical white supremacist group in St. Louis. All I could do was sigh.
In any event, as America gets browner, and as minorities become majorities, and as institutions change, these racist voices on the fringe will lose relevance. I think that the sheer frustration of white supremacists is evidence that this is already happening. They come out of the woodwork the worst when things are changing.
@ AB:
"I still contend that Hillary ran a more racially charged campaign against Obama than McCain."
In the sense that she or her proxies probably mentioned race itself--as opposed to the tur'rists Obama pals around with--yeah, probbly.
@ RiPPa:
Ronald McDonald? Well, the hairstyle's a bit similar....
This is not what the GOP is about. Hell, most of y'all probably don't know more than two Republicans, and I bet you've heard more comments on politics and culture from Average Republicans on this blog than in your real life.
The Democratic echo chamber would surely love to spin it that way though. Take a trip to backwoods East Texas and you'll see more racist Democrats than you could shake a stick at.
@ Spool32
"Hell, most of y'all probably don't know more than two Republicans, and I bet you've heard more comments on politics and culture from Average Republicans on this blog than in your real life."
Actually, I know many, many Republicans. My boss is one...Jewish to boot. And guess what, I'd say about 90% of the Republicans I've known for several years voted for Barry...including my boss.
I married a moderate Republican...who has since completely washed his hands of the party. The one GOP'er he supports, Ron Paul, is shunned and black balled by his own party. And he probably truly lives the "conservative" principals moreso than any of his cohorts.
Why assume we don't know Republicans?
spool32
Most Republicans are not racist.
However, most racists are Republicans.
There's gotta be a reason why your party attracts these people.
Those racist Democrats in East Texas (and elsewhere) have a certain trait in common with black Republicans, methinks. Both groups, in a way, are the most true-blue diehard believers in their party's platforms that you'll ever find. Because both are willing to overlook being in what, for them, must be highly undesirable company (social liberals & minorities for the Dems, transparent bigots for the black Repubs.)
What a stupid ass!
I don't know when white people, especially white Republicans will realize, they can't say the same things as blacks about other blacks and not be challenged to say the least. Is this right or fair? I don't know, depends on whose asking. This is just the way it is- like I can talk about my family but don't you do it. Ignorance is one thing, but a grown ass man fully aware of his language knows better and should do better. The saddest part is he doesn't want to!
I admit to being biased because the media, the politicians, the pundits and other assholes won't stop talking about the President's wife; why stop there then? Jill should be of just as much interest. Some craziness by a 'has been' white man won't influence my thinking about Michelle, it will only raise my awareness when I interact with other whites- male and female.
Conservatives aren't funny.
personally, I've heard black girls say Michelle looks like a monkey as well, so I'm not offended by it all that much.
I think he did mean it in a racists way though, as all black people are monkeys. What's strange to me is that the scientist, who are often white, who believe in evolution, say that we ALL came from monkeys. Why is that white people never co-sign that theory when it comes to their own race? Why just blacks?
@undressingHER
White scientists are not typically considered Christians. Christians, in this case white Republicans, assign themselves of being created by God, not derived from primates. Since primates are of a lower form than humans, Black people can not be considered human either.
@vlatte:
Since you're the only one who piped up, I'm gonna guess you're the outlier and I'm basically right.
@ Spool
I don't think VLatte's an outlier, nor do I think you're "basically right". I think most people just ignored the bait.
Perhaps so ;)
I guess on average, a little less than half the people you know are Republican.
But I don't know whether the commenters here represent a solid cross-section of society...
@Cherish:
It's chicken-and-egg... do racists gravitate to the republican side because Democrats court minorities? Or do minorities vote Democrat because of the racism? Not sure I have an answer to that... but now's a good time to remind people that equal rights for blacks came over the objections of the very party they now so strongly support... funny how things change.
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