Kansas House Speaker decides to apologize for forwarding email calling Michelle Obama ‘Mrs. YoMama’
Last evening, The Lawrence Journal-World reported that Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal forwarded an e-mail disparagingly comparing First Lady Michelle Obama with the Grinch. See, it was a photo of Obama with windblown hair that sort of looked like the Grinch’s hairdo. So it was meant to be funny. O’Neal was apparently tickled by the image and forwarded it — using his personal e-mail account — to some pals. Now, he’s learning the elementary lesson that Wisconsin Rep. Jim “Large Posterior” Sensenbrenner learned a couple of weeks ago: It’s not good form to make fun of Obama’s appearances.
The J-W reports that O’Neal’s forwarded message came with the subject line “Twins separated at birth?” and the body of the message (which O’Neal did not write) read, “I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Mrs. YoMama a wonderful, long Hawaii Christmas vacation — at our expense, of course.” It was a less-than-creative dig at the First Family spending its Christmas in Hawaii. O’Neal reportedly wrote to his buddies, “Sorry, just had to forward this latest holiday message! I’ve had worse hair days but this is pretty funny.”
Last night, O’Neal’s spokeswoman, Alyson Rodee, defended the e-mail. “Political cartoons are a part of American culture. It’s hard to see how Mike O’Neal poking fun at himself and forwarding a lighthearted political cartoon about the first lady’s extravagant spending of taxpayer funds during a time when many Americans are financially struggling is newsworthy,” she said. Later, however, O’Neal apologized.
