Marilyn Davenport, who serves on the Orange County Republican Party’s central committee, sent out an extremely racist e-mail depicting Obama as the child of monkeys, as a way of explaining why he doesn’t have a birth certificate. And this isn’t her first offense when it comes to race.
CBS interviewed former chairman of the California Republican Party Michael Schroeder, who says that this email is Davenport’s third strike. He is calling for her resignation, citing two previous incidents in which Davenport defended the racist actions of two fellow Orange County conservatives.
The first was during President Obama’s inauguration, when Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose forwarded an email depicting a watermelon patch on the White House lawn to several people. According to Schroeder, Davenport defended Grose amidst calls for his resignation.
Schroeder also says that Davenport defended Newport Councilman Richard Nichols when he opposed installing grassy areas at a beach. His reason, according to the L.A. Times: “with grass we usually get Mexicans coming in there early in the morning and they claim it as theirs, and it becomes their personal, private grounds all day.”
Now that she’s been caught, she of course is claiming this was just a “joke”, and doesn’t understand why people are upset about it.
Her non-apology includes the tired old “liberals did this to Bush” excuse, which shows she’s also quite stupid when it comes to understanding American history and the use of depicting black people as monkeys. And she refuses to resign her position.
“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 or 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 no 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.”
Here is the offending image. I had debated whether I should post a copy of it for a while, before remembering what Harvey Milk said about those death threats made to him, that to put it out in the open is better than keeping it hidden.
Now, whether she keeps her job may not be up to her.
“It’s unbelievable,” one high-ranking OC GOP official told me. “It’s much more racist than the watermelon email. I can’t believe it was sent out. I’m not an Obama fan but how stupid do you have to be to do this?”
Another GOP official, who also asked not to be identified, said that Davenport is “a really, really sweet old lady so I am surprised to hear about this.”
Scott Baugh, chairman of the OC Republican Party, told Davenport that the email was tasteless, Davenport–a Fullerton-based political activist–admitted to me during the telephone interview.
“You’re not going to make a big deal about this are you?” she asked me. “It’s just an Internet joke.”
But Baugh believes the email is a big deal.
“When I saw that email today I thought it was despicable,” Baugh said. “It is dripping with racism and it does not promote the type of message Orange County Republicans want to deliver to the public. I think she should consider stepping down as an elected official.”
Michael J. Schroeder, an Orange County resident and former chairman of the California Republican Party, also said he was disgusted.
“This is a three strikes situation for Marilyn Davenport,” Schroeder said. “She was a passionate defender of 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, he said, there were already ‘too many Mexicans on the beach.’ She was also on the wrong side of the fence with the Los Alamitos mayor and his White House watermelon patch picture. Now, she has managed to top both of those incidents by comparing African Americans to monkeys. She has disgraced herself and needs to resign. If she doesn’t, the Republican Party must remove her.“
The latest from the AP indicates that Baugh is looking into starting an ethics investigation into Davenport.
This should be all over the local news tonight. We should see what her Tea Party friends have to say about this. Will they stand by her, or denounce her?