In a Fox News appearance last night, Sarah Palin reiterated the complaints she had aired on Facebook and Twitter about the White House decision to host the rapper Common at a poetry event this week. The former Alaska governor said that Common's appearance was an affront to "class and decency."
"You know, the White House's judgment on inviting someone who would glorify cop killing during Police Memorial Week, of all times, you know, the judgment--it's just so lacking of class and decency and all that's good about America with an invite like this," the former Alaska governor said on Fox's "On the Record." "And you know, it's just so easy to assume that they're just inviting someone like me or somebody else to ask, 'Come on, Barack Obama, who are you palling around with now?' "
Palin was one of several critics earlier this week who assailed the Obama administration for including Common on the roster of performers at Wednesday's "Evening of Poetry" for students at the White House.
During her Fox appearance, Palin also noted Common's criticism of interracial relationships. "Of all the wonderful talent that's out there all over the country, why a rapper who would glorify a sense of racism and all those things that I've already named, with the inciting the violence and the cop killing--why of all people to invite--why put him on a pedestal in the White House?" she asked.
White House spokesman Jay Carney addressed the controversy earlier in the day at a press briefing, saying "the president ... opposes the kinds of lyrics that have been written about," noting that Obama has spoken out against the glorification of violence and misogyny in rap lyrics. The White House spokesman also reaffirmed Obama's support for law enforcement.
Carney defended Common--whose birth name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr.--saying "within the genre of hip-hop and rap, he is what's known as a ... conscious rapper." Carney went on to explain the broader reasoning behind Common's inclusion at the event: "I think that one of the things that the president appreciates is the work that Mr. Lynn has done with children, especially in Chicago, trying to get them to focus on poetry, as opposed to some of the negative influences of life on the street."
So what did the rapper end up performing Wednesday? The piece focused on Common's life struggle and those he sees around him, as well as offering a hat tip to the president, whom the rapper has long supported.
It began: "I woke up with the sunshine. A sunshine I had never seen. There was light at the end of it. Reminded me to forever dream."
"You know, the White House's judgment on inviting someone who would glorify cop killing during Police Memorial Week, of all times, you know, the judgment--it's just so lacking of class and decency and all that's good about America with an invite like this," the former Alaska governor said on Fox's "On the Record." "And you know, it's just so easy to assume that they're just inviting someone like me or somebody else to ask, 'Come on, Barack Obama, who are you palling around with now?' "
Palin was one of several critics earlier this week who assailed the Obama administration for including Common on the roster of performers at Wednesday's "Evening of Poetry" for students at the White House.
During her Fox appearance, Palin also noted Common's criticism of interracial relationships. "Of all the wonderful talent that's out there all over the country, why a rapper who would glorify a sense of racism and all those things that I've already named, with the inciting the violence and the cop killing--why of all people to invite--why put him on a pedestal in the White House?" she asked.
White House spokesman Jay Carney addressed the controversy earlier in the day at a press briefing, saying "the president ... opposes the kinds of lyrics that have been written about," noting that Obama has spoken out against the glorification of violence and misogyny in rap lyrics. The White House spokesman also reaffirmed Obama's support for law enforcement.
Carney defended Common--whose birth name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr.--saying "within the genre of hip-hop and rap, he is what's known as a ... conscious rapper." Carney went on to explain the broader reasoning behind Common's inclusion at the event: "I think that one of the things that the president appreciates is the work that Mr. Lynn has done with children, especially in Chicago, trying to get them to focus on poetry, as opposed to some of the negative influences of life on the street."
So what did the rapper end up performing Wednesday? The piece focused on Common's life struggle and those he sees around him, as well as offering a hat tip to the president, whom the rapper has long supported.
It began: "I woke up with the sunshine. A sunshine I had never seen. There was light at the end of it. Reminded me to forever dream."