A Look at a Chicago-Style Fundraiser for Obama–“Hoes” on the Agenda (UPDATE 1X–AP Picks Up Story & It Is Being Picked Up EVERYWHERE!)

On my blogroll (which seems to be floating to the bottom of the page the last couple of days), you’ll see a link to Lynn Sweet’s blog at the Sun-Times about Chicago politics. Her current entry about last night’s fundraiser is something to read and wonder about.

It’s not inspiring. I’ve always thought Obama himself has very little class and with people like this around him, you can see where he’s picked up some of his attitude.

At Chicago fund-raiser for Obama, a cussing Bernie Mac jokes about “hoes.”

Around 600 people heard Bernie Mac launch into his bit about how Obama would have to watch the Chris Rock movie “Head of State” so that Obama would know “what they’re going to do to you.”

Then he riffed:

He went on to riff about hope and offering himself up as a running mate “and they don’t want me because I cuss.”

Which he did.

“Being a president is tough cause you’re not just running the county. You got to run your family too,” he said. “Having a black first lady is different. You’re still going have to do the dishes and the laundry and all that…you got to pick up the kids. You didn’t pick up the kids? I just came from Korea, talking about nuclear weapons. You were on Airforce One and you couldn’t stop to pick up the kids?”
Mac said he is a Democrat “born and raised” but added that “I’m a Republican at tax time.” He mimicked a mock warning from an imagined staffer: “Don’t kill the message.”

He then talked about his wife who he’s been married to for 35 years, and how she just went through menopause.

“I can’t take it,” he said. “My house is so doggone cold all the time.”

He promised to help Obama and that he would be there “like the Jackson Five” and ended his irreverent riff with a joke involving the women in the families and living with two “hoes”

Mac was heckled in protest, but tried to smooth the way for Obama.

“Calm down,” Mac said, before introducing Obama, “not just a friend of mine but a friend of you all.”

Obama appeared…and notice how he admonishes Mac, but then, in the classic Obama way, apparently softens his criticism:

Obama came on, thanking, among others, “my great friend, one of the kings of comedy, Bernie Mac.”
He then gave an abbreviated stump speech with a quick run-down of his platform, briefly touching most policy areas and using his usual language and jokes before poking fun at Mac toward the end of his 20 minute speech.

“Everybody is concerned about whether the Democratic Party will be unified in time,” he said. “We don’t have an option but to make sure that we are united and make sure that we succeed…we can’t afford to be divided by race. We can’t afford to be divided by religion, or by region or class. Or by gender,” he said, pausing for effect. “That means, by the way, Bernie you got to clean up your act. This is a family affair… I’m just messing with you,” he said.

The Obama campaign quickly issued a statement:

Obama spokesman Jen Psaki issued a disclaimer on top of the pool report by Louis Roug containing some wild and tasteless riffs from comic Bernie Mac, who was listed on the invitation as a “special guest” at the Obama fund-raiser in the Hyatt. Let’s see if Mac’s crack about “hoes” causes some headaches for Obama, who spent the last few days courting the female vote.

” Senator Obama told Bernie Mac that he doesn’t condone these statements and believes what was said was inappropriate,” Psaki said. Obama told the comic “you got to clean up your act.” Did he mean it? Or was he just messing with Mac.

Doesn’t all this bring you back to the days of Camelot and Jackie Kennedy’s White House affairs featuring the likes of Pablo Casals and all those other lovely, cultural events??

UPDATE

Link to AP story….

I did a search and it is being picked up EVERYWHERE in the mainstream media, including overseas in The Guardian! Let’s see what they say on the TeeVee….