OC Republican official allegedly sent email of President Obama that depicts him as an ape

[alp227]

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — A Southern California Republican Party official is under fire after allegedly sending an email that included an altered photo depicting President Barack Obama as an ape.

An e-mail allegedly sent by party central committee member Marilyn Davenport depicts a family portrait-style image of apes with Obama’s face artificially superimposed on one of them. Text beneath the photo reads, “Now you know why no birth certificate.”

Davenport could not immediately be reached for comment.

The alternative newspaper OC Weekly first reported the story, and was told by Davenport that the e-mail was “just an Internet joke.” She also asked the Weekly, “You’re not going to make a big deal about this are you?”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/oc_republican_official_allegedly_sent_email_of_president_obama_that_depicts_him_as_an_ape/2011/04/16/AFfyOrpD_story.html

[shraby]

1. Proof positive that right wingers are extremely ignorant... with

a big dose of racism.

[me b zola]

12. This crap began during the election

...and has never stopped. Very little mention from the press because when they do bring it up, teabaggers put the media in a defensive mode by saying "what, you calling me a racist?" Yeah, mf'er, you're a freaking racist should be the reply.

[Yupster]

26. I'm off the wagon on this one

Presidents have been depicted as apes at least as early as Lincoln, probably earlier.

There wasn't a day during Bush'ds presidency that he wasn't called "the chimp" here on DU with thousands of pictures posted.

Now all of the sudden you can't call a president an ape?

Sorry. Doesn't fly with me.

In order to be able to call the next five presidents apes, and keep alive that great American political tradition, Obama gets to be called an ape too, just like all the others.

[ronnie624]

29. I have no choice but to agree. n/t

[leftynyc]

36. Which Democratic elected official

did that? THEN you'd have a fair comparison.

[yurbud]

43. good point. Also, it has a different connotation for an African American than a white guy

[CurtEastPoint]

2. I found this...

Reached by telephone and asked if she thought the email was appropriate, Davenport said, "Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people--mostly people I didn't think would be upset by it."

As so often happens with members of the Party of Personal Responsibility when they're caught doing or saying something heinous, Davenport immediately apologized and expressed contrition toward...

Oh, of course she didn't! She blamed THE MEDIA:

But Davenport does not appear ready to concede she has made a mistake. After this story was published, she sent another email to fellow California conservative activists. It demanded to know the identity of "the coward" who supplied me with a copy of her offensive email.

[KeepItReal]

4. I'll bet she didnt forward that email to her "Black friends"

Seriously. I'd put money on it.

[freshwest]

9. It's always just a joke. Check these quotes:

Rush Limbaugh: “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus – living fossils – so we will never forget what these people stood for.”

Senator Phil Gramm: “We’re going to keep building the party until we’re hunting Democrats with dogs.”

http://www.political-discourse.com/category/violence/

That's only one source with that language. They're just kidding folks!

[skepticscott]

10. It was a joke?

Who but a racist would find it funny, I'd love to ask her. By her own words, she obviously realizes that some people WOULD be upset by it.

And I'm guessing her black "friends" are just people she sees where she works, knows the names of, and says hi to, not people she would ever invite to her home.

[freshwest]

13. They might be masochists.

[nevergiveup]

3. The election of Barack Obama to the presidency

is providing some much needed and past due American soul cleansing. It isn't pretty and it provides a certain degree of discomfort but these germs needed to be exposed.

[Bigmack]

5. I posted on another thread about a pic...

of Pres. Obama as a New Guinea highlander about this stuff.

We need to make a collection of these things and make a TV ad showing just exactly what the Repubs stand for and support.

I'm guessing a lot of Americans tell mildly racist jokes, but these go so far as to offend anybody but the worst assholes, and they aren't us anyway.

[greiner3]

6. "photo depicting President Barack Obama as an ape."

Well, actually we are all descendants of some primate ancestor. It is not the ape but a monkey and I only wish it had been the Bonobo rather than the Chimp.

It was soon after Darwin's 'The Descent of Man' that the Southern 'gentlemen' began calling Lincoln by such nicknames. All in all, Barack is in very good company, regardless of the true meaning of the 'insult.'

[OwnedByFerrets]

7. That people can be so fucking stupid just makes the case that

they honestly believe the shit.

[Control-Z]

8. Weird, but this is

in my neck of the woods, and I am doubly sickened and angered because of it. Marilyn Davenport better hope we never cross paths. Ick. I'm ashamed to share the county with her. Orange County may be red but people here are generally polite and actually quiet about their political beliefs.

Yes, Marilyn. We're going to make a big deal about this, you stupid witch.

[nytemare]

11. Who does this look like to you?

This is unaltered, and the book was printed in 1994, years before said person came into the mass public's eyes.

[Bluebear]

14. I'm sure she just misspoke.

That's always the excuse, and usually accepted by media.

[Melinda]

15. "Davenport, a tea party activist, represents the 72nd Assembly District in Orange County...

"Davenport, a tea party activist, represents the 72nd Assembly District in Orange County on the central committee."

"She represents Brea, Placentia, Fullerton and portions of other Orange County cities to the county committee tasked with fundraising, campaigning and debating policy for the Republican Party."

This is how the GOP raises funds.

It's all about the budget! It's all about the budget! My fat ass. Remember, these pricks did NOTHING while Bush* drained our treasury. The budget my ass - and this proves it yet again! K&R :kick:

[newspeak]

47. oh, the party of personal responsibility

didn't OC have to declare bankruptcy at one time? I mean all of those repug conservative politicians sure know how to run a place, business into the ground. Doesn't matter if it's a city or the country, they do a mighty fine job of bankrupting--while shoveling money to their very best friends before it goes down.

[Historic NY]

16. Another racist Repuke.

[somone]

17. Now she says "I'm sorry if my email offended anyone... much to do about nothing"

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-davenport-20110417,0,157428.story

[Tunkamerica]

18. not to minimize, but:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=bush+monkey#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&source=hp&q=bush%20monkey%20site%3Ademocraticunderground.com&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=b7f23e582d7fe3c9&pf=p&pdl=3000

and that's just from DU.

Edited to add: I didn't read the email so I don't know if it goes beyond the ape comparison.

[HankyDubs]

19. oh please

white people poking fun at "curious george" (a white man, for your information) bears no resemblance to white people dredging up these well-worn racist comparisons of black people to monkeys.

I've got to put you in false equivalence jail for that one.

[Tunkamerica]

30. so it isn't the comparison to an ape, it's the history of ape comparisons

i truthfully think there is a difference but if you pressed me to define it I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a logical, honest answer

[sofa king]

44. As I said in another thread on this subject...

...It is the Republicans who practiced a century's worth of racism and hostility to social outgroups, making it a cornerstone of their beliefs and their policy, while at the same time the Democratic party became more populist and less racist.

So there is no equivalence in this argument. One needs only look at the state of Black America today, or to New Orleans, to know that racism is still actually supported and practiced within the GOP, whereas it is not acceptable behavior in our own party.

This issue is a fine example of some unintended consequences of that Republican policy. Now that they're firmly established as not playing well with others, they can't make fun of the other school kids without their remarks being automatically interpreted as further evidence of well established past behavior.

Too effing bad for them.

[Cirque du So-What]

20. There's no racist baggage associated with calling GWB an ape

Is there a long history of racism against white people that includes the comparison of European ancestry to apes? Didn't think so. It's a proud tradition among racists, however, and that's the difference. You can attempt to equate the two until you're blue in the face, but you can't alter the history that's evoked with that image.

[Tunkamerica]

31. so if a black gov. official put gwb's face on a giant cracker you'd be as offended?

[Quantess]

32. You mean, GWB's face on a saltine cracker?

(Facepalm)

Yes, that would be racist, but it didn't happen now did it.
I'll tell you what DID happen, routinely: GWB was routinely compared to a chimp, called the "Chimperor", etc. Comparing a privileged, white, doofus to a chimpanzee has a different connotation than for a black person, simply due to the racist history. It's a racist standby against blacks.

Are you still bitter about Bush being depicted as a chimp?

[Tunkamerica]

34. oh totally, get in the wayback machine and see how bitter I was/am

edited to add: Not at all, my point was merely to get outraged at this, one should check him/herself. I was really interested in how people would defend one and condemn another though the exact same comparison was made. Is it only race? Is it party? My original question (and several others' I might add) was just to remind us where we were a few years ago.

[Quantess]

41. I think we need to look at intent.

The underlying message, the implication in the chimp reference to Bush, compared to the underlying message, the implication in the chimp reference to Obama. It seems to me that while both cases are insulting, one of them is particularly racially offensive.

Sorry for the "bitter" snark.. That was unnecessary.

[JustAnotherGen]

39. Thanks for that spot on analysis

Really? No one at D.U. has ever heard or been called a 'porch monkey' by a jerk bigot? Really?

[Tunkamerica]

42. i honestly have never heard that except on tv from the 70's

i don't think i even know what it means. I love my porch.

[JustAnotherGen]

45. Ahh

I heard it a few times or quite a few times directed at me/my brother growing up in a small mostly white town outside of Rochester NY in the 70's and 80's. That's why when I see the image of a black person as a monkey/ape/chimp - I immediately go to that nasty slur corey bower through around the playground growing up. :rofl: And the nose I bloodied that followed.

[Tunkamerica]

46. I've got a friend that grew up outside rochester in the 70's and 80's

His granddad had a replica western town he'd built on his property.

[Cirque du So-What]

35. If, if, if...

If my aunt had two balls, she'd be my uncle. Get back to me if this straw man ever gets constructed.

[LanternWaste]

37. And this is merely a commentary on White House cuisine

And this is merely a commentary on White House cuisine, nothing more nothing less....

[msanthrope]

21. Hey!!! It Was Not Intended As A Factual Statement. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

22. Try googling Bush chimp and then hit images.

:shrug:

[primavera]

24. Lol - beat me to it! - n/t

[primavera]

23. In fairness...

... we too enjoyed the occasional comparison between the shrub and a chimp.



Of course, in our case, we didn't have to do any photoshopping to make the comparison obvious. :-)

[Trajan]

25. WE did ..... But WE are not holding public office ...

As far as we know - Democratic party members did not shop such images of Bush around ....

We saw them here ... Hell - Most of the Bush=Chimp images were probably created by DUers ...

Even then - This is a completely different issue ...

And - You're right ... Bush didn't need to be photoshopped to appear simian ....

[Paladin]

27. They Just Never Learn. (n/t)

[classysassy]

28. Hate and Greed

continue to do what they do best,destroy.

[Quantess]

33. I can't believe all these DUers basically saying, "so what?"

I really hope they are just being devil's advocates for the sake of argument.

[JustAnotherGen]

40. I'm not

These are the same people that expect us to apologize for being progressive and liberal - to the other side. Step and fetch for the other side. . . But the minute we point out that the other side is chock full of bigots - they get the vapors.

[freshwest]

48. Are any DUers bitter about Bush bashing? Yes, it did hurt the freepers' feelings.

:nopity:

[krabigirl]

38. As someone who lives in OC, I am just shocked that an OC repuke would send out a racist email.

Lol, just shocked!