A high-ranking, Orange County, Calif., Tea Party activist and member of the central committee of the Orange County Republican Party recently emailed a photo of a family-style portrait of chimpanzees with a graphically altered likeness of President Barack Obama supplanted on the face of the offspring monkey. The caption read, “Now you know why no birth certificate.”
When reached by telephone, Marilyn Davenport defended her actions, “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.”
Michael J. Schroeder, an Orange County resident and former chairman of the California Republican Party, also said he was disgusted and cited several incidences of Davenport’s rants having gone beyond decency. (Davenport was one of several Orange County officials who e-mailed photos of the White House with watermelon growing on the front lawn. She also defended former Newport Beach City Councilman Dick Nichols, who stated that he was voting against putting in more grass at Corona del Mar’s beach because there were already “too many Mexicans on the beach.”)
On Friday, Davenport released an apology, of sorts. Decide for yourself:
“I’m sorry if my email offended anyone. I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth. In no way did I even consider the fact he’s half black when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people tried to make this about race. We all know a double standard applies regarding this president. I received plenty of emails about George Bush that I didn’t particularly like yet there was no ‘cry’ in the media about them. One only has to go to Youtube or Google Images to see a plethora of lampooning videos and pictures of Obama, Bush and other politicians. That being said, I will NOT resign my central committee position over this matter that the average person knows and agrees is much to do about nothing. Again, for those select few who might be truly offended by viewing a copy of an email I sent to a select list of friends and acquaintances, unlike the liberal left when they do the same, I offer my sincere apologies to you–the email was not meant for you. For any of my friends or acquaintances who were the recipients of my email and were truly offended, please call me so I may offer a sincere verbal apology to you.”
Again, a high-ranking Tea Party member goes on the offensive in a so-called apology. Whether it’s cross hairs, misplaced watermelon, or Rush Limbaugh-Glenn Beck rants about the Obama women, this party will continue to demonstrate, regardless of what they say, true conservatism is “out” and racism is “in.”
