Sarah Palin and Common have at least two things in common
Sarah Palin expressed displeasure at the White House for inviting hip-hop star and actor Common to participate in a poetry reading hosted by the first lady.
"Oh lovely, White House..," the former Alaska governor tweeted Monday while providing a link to a story on the conservative blog The Daily Caller.
The blog post describes the well-dressed Chicago native, who was born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., as "controversial" while printing out the lyrics to one of his songs, "A Letter to the Law," which protested the war in Iraq.
At issue, it appears, are the lines: "Burn a Bush cos’ for peace he no push no button/ Killing over oil and grease/ no weapons of destruction".
To some it could be construed that Common, a former Gap model, would literally want to set the former president on fire. That, of course, would be a silly assumption because the narrator of the tune, as is common in rap and other forms of public speaking, is far more interested in expressing the joys of gun ownership than pyromania.
"I hold up a peace sign, but I carry a gun," the song concludes.
If the love of sidearms isn't enough to bond Common with the hockey mom, the pair also share this similarity: They both express displeasure toward what Palin calls "the lamestream media."
When in the spring of 2008 the spotlight focused on some of Wright's sermons as Obama ran for president, Common lashed out at the press for being biased, something the former governor also trumpets.
“Obviously, the media has an agenda,” Common told Entertainment Weekly in April 2008 when asked about his pastor. “I don’t follow what the media says. I’m a thinker for myself. And I just encourage people to be objective: When you’re watching, use your inner eye and really try to watch the person and see what you think about them. Because you can never really capture a person in the media blitz.”
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-- Tony Pierce
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Photo: Rapper Common arrives at the 42nd NAACP Image Awards held at The Shrine Auditorium on March 4, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards
They have more than that in common. Go listen to Retrospect for Life, it's pro abstinence, anti-abortion, pro family, pro fatherhood, anti misogyny. It's obvious when they decided to go after this rapper that they didn't do thier homework first. He is the most Anti-Gansta Rapper there is.
Posted by: Peg | May 10, 2011 at 05:59 PM
Is Palin still relavent? LA TIMES: Please stop reporting on her.
Posted by: Jolie | May 10, 2011 at 06:11 PM
Guy rapped in a Gap advertisement. How controversial could he possibly be?
Lame.
Posted by: Yawning | May 10, 2011 at 06:23 PM
Fear of a Black Planet. That's what it comes down to.
Posted by: gerrrg | May 10, 2011 at 06:36 PM
So the Queen of Mean is making nasty comments because she doesn't get to control the guest list for the White House. What an ugly, negative human being. Who does she think she is that she can criticize one person and what they say; but think that it is OK for her daughter to pimp out son to all the reality shows, anything to earn a buck from her mistakes. Apparently the house in Arizona was a sham--just a tax deduction --because "Miss Do As I Say and Not What I Do" is setting up house with her lover next door to Mama Grizzly's other house on the lake. Can hardly wait until we hear the true versions of the Palins' Life from Levi and Frank. If Bristol or Sarah's lips are moving, you just know they are either lying or bullying someone. Michelle Obama handles the Palins with class--Sarah would be whining to the media and trying to get even.
Posted by: Marcy | May 10, 2011 at 07:19 PM
Why is she upset??? Isn't she the one who defended Dr. Laura when said Dr. used word Ni**er on her show??? 11 times....
She told Dr. Laura to reload rather than retreat.
Posted by: Javier Guzman | May 10, 2011 at 09:23 PM
Anything to do with culture, education, art, health, supporting the families of troops, childhood obesity, or anything Mrs Obama does warrants a tweet - from a palmreader from Wasilla who once wanted to know, exactly what it is a Vice President does everyday.
Slow day in the copyroom, quick, put a tweet from a quitter in an article and go with it!
Posted by: Mac | May 10, 2011 at 09:57 PM
Never heard of this guy and I heard too much from her...
She's history but she's to stupid to know it.
Posted by: affableman | May 11, 2011 at 12:45 AM
Please tell us all again why FOX News and its puppet, Sarah Palin, get to decide who comes to the White House? She is trying to pretend that she is the President and issuing the invites. Her nose is out of joint because she was not invited to the White House Correspondents' Dinner and nobody even joked about her. She had to beg her friend, Greta, to get her invited to some of the parties and then she and her husband were so busy wolfing down the free food, that pictures show her with food spilled down her front! Her 15 minutes of fame are up. If she can't handle her own dysfunctional family, why would anyone think she could be President? Even Bristol is getting a reality show so all America can see what a greedy, self centered grifter Sarah Palin is.
Posted by: Stan | May 11, 2011 at 04:43 AM
Sarah Palin wants to bring REAL ARTS in the White House -- like Dancing with the Stars!
Posted by: Hazel | May 11, 2011 at 04:50 AM
"That, of course, would be a silly assumption because the narrator of the tune, as is common in rap and other forms of public speaking, is far more interested in expressing the joys of gun ownership than pyromania."
Ah, so now the press can tell us which assumptions are silly?
Did Andrew Malcolm say the same thing when liberals blamed a political map and Sarah Palin for the shooting for Gabrielle Giffords?
Posted by: Steve | May 11, 2011 at 06:37 AM
"Never heard of this guy and I heard too much from her...
She's history but she's to stupid to know it.
Posted by: affableman"
Wishful thinking, lil' buddy.
Lord knows you Socialists have tried, but it hasn't worked.
Palin will disappear from the National scene when SHE wants to, not when you like her to.
Live with it, you have no choice. There's not a thing you can do about it.
Posted by: RoBoTech | May 11, 2011 at 09:06 AM
After reading this OPINION, and seeing the responses, maybe we should examine in what Palin does NOT have in common with this "rapper"
She never attended a Marxist Church that teaches Black Liberation Theology and it's Pastor hate ranting on White America while living in gated WHITE Community Mansion!
And she never advocated shooting cops.
is that enough to show the difference?
A lot more can be said, believe it.
Posted by: RoBoTech | May 11, 2011 at 09:11 AM
Whatever FOX News says one day, the Sarah the Parrot repeats the next day. Not an original idea in her dumb little head. She couldn't handle the job of being Alaska's Governor-so now she thinks everyone wants her speech writer's opinion on everything. Only would Sarah Palin think that being a Christian means that you are able to line your bank account by taking money for those who are poor and uneducated. Being a mother to a special needs child means that you have round the clock nannies hired. Sarah Palin is scared to death of the stalker from Pennsylvania-but doesn't realize that her constantly criticizing the Obamas is also the same as stalking and bullying. She thought nothing about putting bullseye targets on Giffords and telling all her fans to reload; but whines to the press and her Dad goes ballistic when the mentally ill man sends her a letter or e-mail. Everything the Palin family does is over the top--designed to get them sympathy, money and attention.
Posted by: Clark | May 11, 2011 at 09:23 AM
Listen, Common has free speech, but the White House is not some low life club in a slum in Chicago. The White House belongs to the American people and there should be standards as to who is invited. Why are you teaching our young black men, that belonging to gangs and carrying guns are ok Common? White people don't have to worry, the mass killings are not in their neighborhoods. Obama and Michelle have no class, most of their assosiates are American haters and people who have no respect for law. I can't wait for this trash loving family to vacate the White House.
Posted by: Tfa | May 11, 2011 at 01:01 PM
Why does Sarah Palin and FOX News think that they can tell Americans who can and who can't be invited to the White House. If the Palins had their way, the only books in the library would be written by them; and the only entertainment would be to watch the Palins do their talk shows or speaking engagements. Sounds like Sarah is just jealous because she wasn't invited.
Posted by: Tyler | May 11, 2011 at 01:42 PM
Sarah Palin is the only human in the world that I would find saying..."sphincter says what" appropriate. I wish that she could just sit down and think for one minute before she speaks if she is capable of true thought...probably not...as for Common, I love his music just wish that he could see that racism directed at Caucasians is still racism...probably not...
Posted by: Who cares | May 11, 2011 at 01:51 PM
When Sarah Palin back up Dr. Laura for using the N word. Where was her outrage then and her insults towards Dr. Laura. She begs for attention. She call President Bush a hero. Do she remmeber the thousands of black American people he let die in Katrina. The thousands American soldiers who have died and are still being killed for a lie that the Bush adminstration created Weapons of Mass Destruction. He left this country a MESS!!! Two wars, debt, jobless and Sarah Palin. Where was the Tea Party then.
Posted by: Dan South | May 11, 2011 at 01:52 PM
It sounds like the people being invited to the White House are higher class than the Chillbillies from Alaska. Todd Palin and Track want Alaska to secede from the United States. The Palins don't believe in going to church or even telling the truth. Being a bully and criticizing others makes Sarah feel important. Willow has anger issues, and routinely tells adults off. Bristol wants to give her middle finger to most of the nation and tell them to go to hell. Willow and Track both have histories of vandalism, problems with authority figures, alcohol and drug abuse. Sarah and Todd admit that they have done drugs. Bristol has a child out of wedlock and a reputation for being a tramp. Sarah encourages her followers to shoot and reload on those people she targets. The Palins seek out those who are poorly educated or pro-gun rights or anti-abortion or religious --and con them out of their money. Sarah made numerous promises to the voters of Alaska--and then went rogue and quit her job mid term. She has been caught in lie after lie after lie -- and gets rich from all her scams or questionable ethics. Bristol and Sarah encouraged cheating so that Bristol stayed on Dancing with the Stars much longer than her talent.
Sounds to me that we all would prefer that the Palins not be invited to the White House.
Posted by: Amanda | May 11, 2011 at 01:57 PM
The quitter from Alaska has an opinion? The fundamentalist right will support any nutjob. Goodbye teabaggers!
Posted by: Al | May 11, 2011 at 05:22 PM
He also has songs about shooting cops and defending a cop killer. Free speech is important. The thing is - out of all the good poets in the country, ones that don’t defend cop killers and burning a president, the Obamas picked this one.
He went to their church of reverend Wright, so I guess they know him. The Obamas have not picked the nicest people to be friends with.
Posted by: Bill589 | May 12, 2011 at 02:14 AM
Sarah Palin has made it her personal platform to belittle everything the Obamas say and do. She has free speech and she gets paid a pretty penny to express her opinions on the Fox channel. (Just because they say it's news doesn't mean it is.) Big deal. She hates Obama. Fox hates Obama. They preach to people who hate Obama. Yawn. We get it already.
Posted by: Katie | May 12, 2011 at 08:19 AM
Sarah Palin was so successful as a governor, she graduated early, she real is a “Dan Quayle” in heels. She clearly loves “dishing it out” but real can’t take it because she loves playing the victim card. Poor thing she fail as a VP candidate (her lie that her daughter was engaged was such a farce), her stand-up comic fiasco on the Jay Leno Show, please, her TV show canceled after declining rating, I guess running for Prez is the only thing she can look forward to, but since she is a coward she will only throw small minded rocks, poor thing. Since we already had an idiot “W” that caused our current economic debacle, America knows not to trust in fools who think they are brilliant. One of the reason for “W” failure was his drinking, Palin just has bad genes.
Posted by: Montana | May 12, 2011 at 12:02 PM
Funny how so many supporting Palin claim he has a song about shooting cops yet not one of them have produced it because.....IT IS FALSE. He wrote a song about a woman convicted of shooting a cop. She claims she didn't do it, forensics evidence supports her claim but she was convicted by an all white jury in the 70s...that is what he wrote about. Funny how some can question authority and others can not question the absolute RIGHT.
Posted by: Angela Lewis | May 12, 2011 at 01:38 PM
OK first of all Palin made campaign stops with Hank Williams JR. who has songs that talk about growing your own smoke, making illegal alcohol, and in a roundabout screwing the government and not paying taxes, which if he were a democrat Hank would be called a terrorist or a nazi and would be anti american. Well Ms Palin with your gun sights on our web page targeting Democratic politicians have you really ever listened to Commons music, he is political, and uplifting with most of his songs having a positive message and the occasional party song. In fact even Jay Z says if he could write music the way he wanted he would be more like common. Ms Palin promoter of free speech, do not bee surprised when the liberal media thats spends every waking hour trying to make you look bad (sarcasm besides nobody does a better job of making Palin look bad then Palin) starts finding Hank Jr lyrics and in her circle some of those lyrics will make her look like the anti american socialist nazi.
Posted by: Mike | May 15, 2011 at 12:23 AM