A spokeswoman for First Lady Michele Obama said a racially tinged joke by actor Robert DeNiro at a campaign fundraiser Monday night was “inappropriate” after Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich demanded the White House apologize.
“We believe the joke was inappropriate,” Olivia Alair, a campaign spokeswoman for the First Lady, said in a statement.
While introducing the First Lady at a New York City fundraiser, DeNiro jokingly suggested that America wasn’t “ready for a white first lady.”
“Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?” DeNiro said, to laughter from the crowd. When someone in the audience yelled, “No!” DeNiro continued, “Too soon, right?”
But Newt Gingrich took offense during a campaign stop in Shreveport, La., according to CNN.
“I do want to say one thing, both on behalf of my wife and on behalf of Karen Santorum and on behalf of Ann Romney — I think that Robert DeNiro’s wrong,” Gingrich said. “I think the country is ready for a new first lady and he doesn’t have to describe it in racial terms.”
Gingrich went on to demand that President Obama apologize for the comments.
“What DeNiro said last night was inexcusable and the president should apologize for him. It was at an Obama fundraiser, it is exactly wrong, it divides the country,” Gingrich said. “If people on the left want to talk about talk show hosts, then everybody in the country should hold the president accountable when someone at his event says something that is as utterly and terribly unacceptable as what Robert DeNiro said.”
(Source: The Hill)
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8 Responses
Stupid joke – stupid reaction – stupid all the way around.
I wonder how many of you are old enough to remember when political campaigns were substantive and civil…passionate maybe, but substantive and civil too…have to go back to ’68 or maybe ’72.
The current imbecilic “gotcha, admit nothing, take no prisoners” partisan climate, today being perpetrated primarily by the GOP field of candidates…and wholeheartedly endorsed by many here…I think is doing far more lasting damage to this country than is anything else
Let’s pull a page out of the Obama Zombie playbook and call for a boycott of everything Obama!! In fact, we need to call the ObamaMania sponsors and claim we will boycott them.
#TongueInCheek
Do you think it’s all about race? Do you think the President was elected only because the country was “ready for a black first family?” Come on. Do you really think so? How can that possibly be? I thought we elected a president on the basis of qualificatons, expreience, platform, etc.
1. I also remember when some democrats had saychil. Quit blaming republicans. You sound like your president – a big fat cry baby!!!!!!
#3 well as i see that our last president was not elected on basis of qualification, exprience, platform, ect. so it must be about race! no???
Bsimcha Tamid: Isn’t that what I said?
Our current president was elected because he and Joe Biden presented a better alternative than John Mccain and Sarah Palin. No other reason.
Ya, Moose613 presentation was the key…a very unpopular incumbent and an economic recession were for sure not so important.
DQB 🙂