South Carolina GOP activist, Rusty DePass, logged into Facebook and posted a comment about a gorilla that had escaped from Riverbank Zoo in Colombia. DePass described the gorilla as "an ancestor" of First Lady, Michelle Obama.
His words:
"I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless."
If you came across something like this on some random thread it might prompt thoughts of a passing teen troll, but DePass has a fairly high profile in Republican circles in South Carolina. He was former chairman of Richland County GOP and was co-chair of the Rudy Giuliani campaign in Richland - the largest county in S.C.
A screen shot captured by FITSnews put DePass on the spot. He admitted to posting the comment and apologized, but not without digging a deeper hole.
According to DePass his gorilla comment drew its inspiration from remarks allegedly made by Michelle Obama. He claims she said something about humans being descended from apes. Searches by news organizations have failed to unearth evidence of these remarks.
This is a ridiculous defense. So what if she did... it's one thing to speculate about the origins of species and quite another to make a low-end crack about a gorilla on-the-loose being the First Lady's "ancestor."
Bet this type of racist humor is second nature to DePass and his S.C. Republican buds. In his mind he probably did think that it was "just a joke," which goes to show how chronically out of touch he is.
Evidence of flakiness seems to go back-a-ways. In a 2007 Op-Ed piece endorsing Giuliani, DePass had this to say... "Most of us, of course, particularly in South Carolina, never gave a damn about New Yorkers, but somehow the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made those people Americans again."
Guys like DePass don't get it. Sure he apologized, but the mindset isn't going to change any time soon... the mindset behind the type of attitude that prompted S.C. political blogger Will Folks to make this comment:
"'Humor' like this is nothing new for South Carolina Republicans - even as the party claims to be focusing on 'outreach' efforts to minorities. The fact that Palmetto [State] Republicans don't get that this is a serious problem for them baffles us."
Story and video at HuffPo - here.
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