Head of OC GOP says email sender should resign

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Head of OC GOP says email sender should resign
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press

http://www.palmbeachpost.com.nyud.net:8090/multimedia/dynamic/00838/CARS102_838868k.jpg

Marilyn Davenport, who
forwarded an email depicting
President Obama as a
chimpanzee, issues an
apology for those who found
the work offensive but
refuses to resign her
position as an elected member
of the Orange County
Republican Central Committee,
at a news conference outside
her home in Fullerton, Calif.,
Wednesday, April 20, 2011.
(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

http://www.palmbeachpost.com.nyud.net:8090/multimedia/dynamic/00838/CARS105_838845k.jpg

FULLERTON, Calif. — The head of Orange County's Republican Party is vowing to keep up the pressure on a local GOP official to resign for sending an offensive email about President Barack Obama.

Marilyn Davenport spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday and said she considered the email depicting Obama as a chimpanzee political satire — not racism. She reiterated that she will not resign from her elected post on the Republican Party's Orange County Central Committee.

"I feel that it was inappropriate and I offended people," Davenport said outside her suburban ranch-style home. "I think it's only racist when the intent in my heart is to make it that way, and that was not the intent in my heart."

The email depicts Obama's face superimposed over the baby chimp's and the text under the image reads, "Now you know why — No birth certificate!"





Read more: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/nation/head-of-oc-gop-says-email-sender-should-1422124.html

[cutlassmama]

1. she needs to resign. It's quite clear that it's racism.

[Hubert Flottz]

2. Marilyn Davenport ain't real purdy either.

I wouldn't take her to a dogfight if she was fighting.

[No Elephants]

9. She wasn't implying Obama was ugly. Looks are not the issue; racisim is.

[lunatica]

3. What a fucked up self-serving description of racism she uses

If she doesn't get her own overt, obvious, sick racism then she's too stupid to have the job anyway.

[lunatica]

4. victimhood. The last refuge of racists.

[Diana Prince]

5. I think her statement says she knew it was racist...

"Davenport, who is serving her fourth two-year term, acknowledged that she didn't send the email to some friends because she felt they would be offended."

[SemperEadem]

6. she needs to resign because she has demonstrated

a breathtaking lapse in judgment for one charged with the duties she is charged to execute.

"I feel that it was inappropriate and I offended people," Davenport said.

Then why did you do it if you felt it was inappropriate and offensive?

"I think it's only racist when the intent in my heart is to make it that way, and that was not the intent in my heart."

Of course you would. Now, if they had put your mother's or your grandchild's picture where Obama's picture was and said "shave them all... simians, through and through", you'd have been upset and offended.

You need to step down because you don't have the sense God gave you to know what should and what should not be advanced by someone in a statewide, political position. At your age, you should know.

[harmonicon]

7. I don't think she should resign.

The Republican party is a party largely made up of - and certainly one catering to - racists. It's absolutely silly that they lie about it and go to lengths to pretend that it's not the case. I'm all for members of their party staying in their positions once they're exposed as racists. Those who resign will only be replaced by racists who are a little more clever (at least for a time) about concealing it from the public at large.

[yellowcanine]

8. It depicted a black person as a chimpanzee and she sees nothing racist in that?

Sorry lady but it is not intent which determines whether something is racist. Racism is not always at a conscious level.

And of course this should have clued her in: "she didn't send the email to some friends because she felt they would be offended." Why did she think it might be offensive to some of her friends but not others? Doesn't necessarily mean anything - we know people's sensitivities differ, but it should have at least given her pause.

[No Elephants]

10. RESIGN, Ocean County Republicon racist.

[msanthrope]

11. Racism was not "the intent in her heart?" Well, bless her heart. n/t