California GOP Groups In Hot Water Over Obama Images

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 17, 2008 4:45PM

The Chaffey Community Republican Women Federated of San Bernardino County, in Upland, California is in trouble after they ran an altered image (see above) of Barack Obama that utilized stereotypes of blacks and was labeled as a "food stamp." The group used the picture in a newsletter it recently sent out to 200 members, along with the caption, "Obama talks about all those presidents that got their names on bills. If elected, what bill would he be on ????? Food Stamps, what else!" You stay classy, San Bernardino.

As party leaders for both the DNC and GOP expressed outrage, the club's president Diane Fedele offered this apology:

I apologize to anyone who was offended because that was not my intent...It was poor judgment on my part. It was strictly an attempt to point out the outrageousness of Obama's statement that he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills...If I was racist, I would have looked at it through racist eyes," she said. "I am not racist, which is why it probably didn't register.

Riiiiiiiiiight. Further coming to the group's defense was member Kristina Sandoval who said the use of fried chicken and watermelon, foods often associated with black stereotypes (cough-Fuzzy Zoeller-cough), was innocent: "Everyone eats those foods, it's not a racial thing." Yes, everyone eats those foods. I had fried chicken just last night. But to say in this case it's not racist is bullshit. It's called context, people. Of course, not all the members of the club were pleased. Member Acquanetta Warren (who happens to be black), said, "I want a written apology so the public knows that this is not right and this is not representative of the way Republicans think."

The idea that (presumably) educated people would think it's a good idea to circulate such racist imagery kind of makes our brains melt. At least this Sacramento group's sign, while still offensive, was nothing new and simply borderline juvenile.We have to give props to California Republican Party chairman Ron Nehring who expressed the proper amount of rage at both incidents when he said:

Any material that invokes issues related to race is absolutely unacceptable, tarnishes our party, diminishes the hard work of the tens of thousands of volunteers who are working hard every day for our candidates, and must be condemned. This material I've seen inspires nothing but divisiveness and hostility and has absolutely no place in this election, or any public discourse.

Still, we wonder how many more examples of this absurd bullshit we'll have to endure over the coming weeks as November 4th draws closer.