Minnesota GOP Senate Contender Compared Michelle Obama To A ‘Chimp’ On Facebook
Republican Karin Housley, a state senator running to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate, compared then-first lady
Michelle Obama to a “chimp” in 2009.
In an April 2009 Facebook post, Housley criticized the first lady’s posture when she met Queen Elizabeth II.
“Michelle is soooo far from cool. Don’t we expect our First Ladies to at least stand up straight? (And my dear sister, know the proper etiquette and DO NOT TOUCH THE QUEEN!),” Housley wrote on her Facebook wall.
In the comment thread on her post, Housley said the chimpanzee in the 1951 film “Bedtime for Bonzo,” starring then-actor Ronald Reagan, likely had better posture than Mrs. Obama.
“I do miss Nancy Reagan. Ronald even more. Speaking of Bedtime for Bonzo, I think even that chimp stood up straighter than Michelle,” Housley wrote. “Uh-oh, someone is going to make a comment.”
Comparing African-Americans to apes, even obliquely, as Housley did, has been a longstanding feature of racist American innuendo.