Sender of offensive Obama email calls it satire

FULLERTON, Calif. — An Orange County GOP official who sent an email depicting President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee said Wednesday she considered the email political satire — not racist — and would not step down, even as local party leaders called for her resignation and launched an ethics investigation.

Speaking publicly for the first time outside her suburban ranch-style home, Marilyn Davenport read from a written apology she first issued two days ago and said her constituents were urging her not to resign her position on the Republican Party's Orange County Central Committee.

The press conference came as Obama arrived in San Francisco for a three-day visit that will also bring the president to Los Angeles on Thursday for a fundraising event. Shortly after her remarks, the California State NAACP demanded that she apologize to Obama and asked GOP officials to begin recall procedures against her.

"I feel that it was inappropriate and I offended people," Davenport said, flanked by her husband and by longtime GOP activist Tim Whitacre, who organized the press event. "I think it's only racist when the intent in my heart is to make it that way, and that was not the intent in my heart," she said.

Davenport, who is serving her fourth two-year term, acknowledged that she didn't send the email to some friends because she felt they would be offended. She added, however, that she only saw the image as political satire about "all that's going on with (Obama's) birth certificate."

Some voters have maintained since the latest presidential election that Obama is ineligible to hold the nation's highest elected office because, they say, he was actually born in Kenya, his father's homeland. Obama's mother was an American citizen.

Hawaii officials have repeatedly confirmed Obama's citizenship, and his Hawaiian birth certificate has been made public. Courts have rebuffed lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility.

Davenport said she's not sure if that birth certificate is real or not and said she felt uneasy about the president's background.

"My position would be I am concerned, knowing what the responsibility is of a president," Davenport said. "I guess we should know his origin, shouldn't we? ... I guess I wonder why he doesn't tell us."

Until Wednesday, Davenport had not publicly addressed the firestorm created by her email, which depicts three chimps dressed in human clothes sitting as if for a family

Rate This Article: - Excellent Good Average Poor Terrible