Unbelievable

The headline of this AP article is "Bernie Mac makes off-color joke at Obama event," though it should be "Bernie Mac makes misogynistic joke at Obama event." And, for my money, it's far less newsworthy that Bernie Mac made the joke in the first place, than the fact that presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama chided him for it, only to immediately assure Mac he was just kidding.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Chicago, the 50-year-old star of "The Bernie Mac Show" joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language.

"My little nephew came to me and he said, 'Uncle, what's the difference between a hypothetical question and a realistic question?'" Mac said. "I said, I don't know, but I said, 'Go upstairs and ask your mother if she'd make love to the mailman for $50,000.'"

As the joke continued, the punchline evoked an angry response from at least one person in the audience, who said it was offensive to women.

"It's not funny. Let's get Barack on," a man shouted from the crowd, which paid $2,300 each to support the Illinois senator.

About 15 minutes later, Obama tried to smooth things over with a joke of his own.

"We can't afford to be divided by race. We can't afford to be divided by region or by class and we can't afford to be divided by gender, which by the way, that means, Bernie, you've got to clean up your act next time," Obama said. "This is a family affair. By the way, I'm just messing with you, man."

Way to convince women you're really on their side there, Obama.

As Lambert points out, another report has Mac making jokes about "the women in the families and living with two 'hoes'," which sounds like an entry for the Michelle Obama Watch to me. Though, because the news reports are so frustratingly vague—"He promised to help Obama and ended his irreverent riff with a joke involving the women in the families and living with two 'hoes'."—it's sort of unclear whether he talking about specific women in his and Obama's families or invented women for a "joke." Nonetheless, it really makes me wonder even more WTF Obama was thinking letting off Mac so easy, especially given that he's "deeply disappointed that John McCain has not spoken out against the attacks leveled against his wife." (Unless he thinks his wife is magically untouched by misogyny, which I sincerely doubt.)

The incident drew response from Obama's campaign, which criticized Mac for his choice of material.

"Sen. Obama told Bernie Mac that he doesn't condone these statements and believes what was said was inappropriate," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement after the event.

Really? Or is he just "messing with him?"

What a disgrace.

UPDATE: It's now up at Michelle Obama Watch. And, as Lizard points out in comments, irrespective of the "hoes" horseshit:

Pretty hard to read this crap as anything but Michelle-Obama-Watch-worthy, though:

"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 Air Force One and you couldn't stop to pick up the kids?"

Ridiculous. Truly beyond the fucking pale.