On Friday March 8, Michelle Obama will join John Kerry at a special ceremony at the State Department to present ten women the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award. The award, says the press release, is given to “women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk.”
Five of these awards are being given to women from Muslim-majority countries, underscoring the unique plight of women in those countries. The only problem is that one of the women to be recognized is an anti-Semite and supports the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
h/t Blazing Cat Fur
EYE ON A CRAZY PLANET
Showing posts with label Michelle Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michelle Obama. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Newt Gingrich tries to prove that conservatives can be as humorless as liberals
WASHINGTON - In a country that asked itself just four short years ago if it was ready for its first black president, a joke by famed actor Robert De Niro at a star-studded Manhattan fundraiser for U.S. President Barack Obama has caused a curious stir.
"Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?" the actor said to roars of laughter from a crowd that included Michelle Obama.
When someone in the audience yelled: "No!" DeNiro continued, "Too soon, right?"
But in a nation where hot-button race issues loom large, Obama's re-election campaign team was quick to distance itself from the remark while Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential hopeful with a fondness for hyperbole, demanded the president apologize for it.
"We believe the joke was inappropriate," Olivia Alair, campaign press secretary to Michelle Obama, said in a statement.
Gingrich went much further, calling it "inexcusable."
"On behalf of my wife and on behalf of Karen Santorum and on behalf of Ann Romney — I think that Robert De Niro's wrong," Gingrich said at a campaign stop in Louisiana. "I think the country is ready for a new first lady and he doesn't have to describe it in racial terms."
...De Niro's publicist, meantime, said the actor had no intention of responding to the criticism, calling his remarks "obvious satire."
"Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?" the actor said to roars of laughter from a crowd that included Michelle Obama.
When someone in the audience yelled: "No!" DeNiro continued, "Too soon, right?"
But in a nation where hot-button race issues loom large, Obama's re-election campaign team was quick to distance itself from the remark while Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential hopeful with a fondness for hyperbole, demanded the president apologize for it.
"We believe the joke was inappropriate," Olivia Alair, campaign press secretary to Michelle Obama, said in a statement.
Gingrich went much further, calling it "inexcusable."
"On behalf of my wife and on behalf of Karen Santorum and on behalf of Ann Romney — I think that Robert De Niro's wrong," Gingrich said at a campaign stop in Louisiana. "I think the country is ready for a new first lady and he doesn't have to describe it in racial terms."
...De Niro's publicist, meantime, said the actor had no intention of responding to the criticism, calling his remarks "obvious satire."
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