Palin Aims Sights at Common
By Staff in News on May 11, 2011 3:40PM
First Lady Michelle Obama and Chicago’s own Common incurred the ire of Fox News, Sarah Palin and the New Jersey Police after the First Lady invited the rapper and actor to the White House to participate in a poetry reading. Yesterday, The Daily Caller posted the lyrics to the poem “A Letter to the Law” alongside Emily Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?,” which was supposed to be read at a 2003 poetry event hosted by then First Lady Laura Bush. Bush cancelled the event after several invitees declined the offer to read, some of which joined poets from across the globe to instead read verses in protest of the war in Iraq.
The Daily Caller’s issue with Common seems to be the line in “A Letter to the Law” that calls out former President Bush, which reads “Burn a Bush cos’ for peace he push no button.” In addition, the DC took issue with “spelling errors,” “death threats” and the use of the term Uzi, which the website seems to misunderstand as “slang,” but is actually the proper name for a family of submachine guns invented by Israeli gun designer Uziel Gal.
After the Daily Caller posted the lyrics, political celebrity Sarah Palin sent out a lovely Tweet linking the Caller post. NBC 5 reports that Palin also criticized the First Lady on her website, after which Fox News picked up on the story, calling Common a “vile rapper,” while the New Jersey Police took issue with the invite today over Common’s song that centers on Assata Shakur.
Common seems to be taking the whole fracas in stride, sending out lighthearted tweets about the whole affair. While conservatives like Palin and the folks at Fox might bluster about Common’s words, ABC points out that the rapper and former governor have a few similarities. Both Common and Palin have an affinity in one way or another for guns, both are Christian, and, as Common has starred in commercials for The Gap and the Lincoln Navigator, he has a very pro business side to him. Somehow though, we doubt that’s enough to bring peace between the Barracuda and Common.