It was a veritable who’s who of conservative leaders at this weekend’s Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. Governors Haley Barbour, Rick Perry and Bobby Jindal made appearances, and so did presidential candidates Rep. Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Sen. Ron Paul, who won the annual GOP event’s straw poll.
Also in attendance at the RLC? Reggie Brown, an Obama impersonator who brought along a plethora of biting and offensive jokes.
For example, the faux Obama explained that he only celebrates half of Black History Month, an allusion to the President’s mixed race. And another punchline showed a picture of “Sanford and Son’s” Fred Sanford warring with sister-in-law Ethel to show what Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will look like after the president’s first term in the White House.
Here it is:
Most of Brown’s questionable punch lines drew robust laughs, while others, like his quip that questions at last week’s Republican debate were “softer than [gay Congressman] Barney Frank’s backside” during the recent Republican debate, and the assertion, “My mother loved a black man and, no, she was not a Kardashian,” garnered more negative reactions.
The crowd and the event’s organizers, however, seemed most appalled when Brown started scrutinizing the Republican Party’s top stars.
Gingrich’s campaign, said Brown, was “dropping faster than Anthony Weiner’s pants,” and a totally failed bit in which he imitated Speaker of the House John Boehner’s famous water works. And people booed more vociferously when Brown claimed candidate Mitt Romney would have a first, second and third lady, as if all Mormons are polygamists. (Those guffaws suggest that the party isn’t as hesitant about having a Mormon president as people would like to believe.)
But Brown apparently crossed the proverbial line when he turned his attention to Tea Party darling Michele Bachmann. He wasn’t even given a chance to get in one gag.
“What can I say about Michele Bachmann that she hasn’t already said about herself? The other day she called me a one-term president,” said Brown, before his mic was turned off and an RLC organizer escorted him off stage.
News reports have cited the racism, homophobia and anti-Mormon messages as the main reason Brown got the boot, but watching the video, it becomes clear RLC organizers and the audience were in actuality offended by the cracks at their own party.
While some attendees grimaced at some of Brown’s off-color jokes, the majority of the audience played along, only stopping when the banter was directed at their own political kind. So, yes, RLC organizers did the right thing booting Brown, but did they do it for the right reasons?
I’m all for off-color jokes — have you heard the one about the three tampons? — but sometimes lines can be crossed, and Brown definitely crossed a few. But one bit I have to admit I enjoyed: Brown showing a picture of Barbara Bush as an aged George Washington. The audience was not having it.