OPEN MOUTH, INSERT FOOT

This was my post after Senator Dick Durbin gave a speech at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum dedication on April 19th:

Senator Dick Durbin, who was in attendance at the formal dedication ceremony of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum on Tuesday, gave a memorable speech. Not because of his tribute to our greatest President, but because of an old joke he decided to tell.

"...they named him Abraham Lincoln Marovitz. It was the highest honor their family could pay such a great President. Judge Marovitz used to say that his mother believed that President Lincoln was Jewish. After all, his first name was Abraham and then to confirm it, she learned that John Wilkes Booth shot him in the temple." (insert rim shot here)

Sure, this joke has made the rounds at dinner tables, bars, statehouses and such. Sure, this joke originated from Judge Marovitz himself; but I question the judgment of the Illinois Senator, second in command for the Democratic Party in Congress, for taking this historic moment to tell it again.

Racist? No. Anti-semitic? No. Inappropriate? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT, and I think the Senator should apologize. Unfortunately, this will get little attention, mostly likely because of the coronation of a new Pope that happened at the same time the dedication ceremony was taking place. On a global scale, POPE TRUMPS MUSEUM DEDICATION.

But what gets me is that we will never hear from the same folks who demanded Trent Lott's head on a silver platter for what they called an "inappropriate comment." We'll never hear from the left who think Robert Byrd is a reformed racist (is there really such a thing?). Instead, I'll get the label of a right-winged wacko who blows things out of proportion.