It was all high-fives and giggles last week at the 2011 Republican Leadership Conference. The GOP hired Obama look-a-like Reggie Brown, who appeared in character as the president, told a bunch of “black” jokes in a “coon-fest” for the crowd that made the Republicans roar with laughter.
Brown delivered one zinger after another. He opened his set by saying: “During Black Leadership Month … Michelle, she celebrates the full month and you know, I celebrate half,” a thinly veiled play on the president’s biracial background, which got the conservative crowd revved up. The he said the president’s “mother loved a black man, and no, she was not a Kardashian,” which had the crowd in stitches and begging for more. He even said that at the end of the first term, the President and First Lady will look like Aunt Esther and Fred Sanford from the 1970’s sitcom SANFORD AND SON. As more racially tinged remarks flew freely, the crowd grew giddy — cheering, taking photos, leaping to their feet and laughing uproariously.
Oh, the GOP had one great big “hardy-har-har” laugh with the big black Obama impersonator, who was willing to tell all the best black jokes at President Obama’s expense. And it was so entertaining for the ultra-conservatives, that they allowed Brown to go well past his allotted 15 minute performance time — that is, until he switched the jokes from Barack Obama to the current contenders for the GOP nomination for president.
You see, the moment Brown stopped with the black jokes and instead took aim at Tim Pawlenty and Michelle Bachmann, it was no longer funny. The raucous laughter quickly turned to bitter boos, prompting RLC organizers to say “the performance had gone too far and was getting inappropriate.” And so, Brown’s microphone was shut off and he was swiftly ushered off the stage a la “Sandman Sims” from SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO.
So, the black jokes were fine, but the Pawlenty/Bachmann jokes went too far??? Hmmm…
In a last ditch effort to save face once details of the event went public, event coordinator Charlie Davis tried to smooth things over by issuing the following statement: “The RLC is designed to showcase the top Republican leaders and ideas in the country. To talk about limited government, fiscal responsibility and rebuilding the American economy. Had I been in the room I would have pulled him sooner. We have zero tolerance for racially insensitive jokes. As soon as I realized what was going on I rushed backstage and had him pulled.”
And the GOP actually wonders why they have trouble appealing to African-Americans for votes???
