Racist 'Obama Waffles' Sold at 'Value' Voters Summit

Over the weekend at the Values Voters Summit, conservative activists eagerly bought boxes of "Obama Waffles" that featured several racist caricatures of Sen. Barack Obama on the front, back and top flap. The Democratic presidential nominee is depicted with "popping eyes and big, thick lips" and another image depicts Obama wearing an Arab-like headdress on its top flap. "Point toward Mecca for tastier waffles!" reads the instructions.

The simpletons behind this are Tennessee freelance writers Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss--should we say aspiring Klansmen?--who claim the novelty was "political satire." The products were briskly sold for $10 a box from a booth at the event sponsored by the social conservative, anti-gay nutjobs at the Family Research Council. The same group is trying to use the discredited "ex-gay" myth as a wedge issue in black churches.

Speaking of right-wing extremists: CNN's Lou Dobbs stopped by the booth and laughed, "My wife will love this!" A photo shows Dobbs with a box of the racist waffle mix in his hand but was scrubbed from the Obama Waffles website after Think Progress reported the story.

In a video interview, the good old boys claim they were just "having a little fun during the election season" and denied the caricatures were racist or offensive. Whitlock sais, "'We had some people mention that to us, but you think of Newman's Own or Emeril's--there are tons and tons of personality-branded food products on the market."

Fools. Take a memo. Newman's Own features an image of Paul Newman, not someone else morphed into a racist caricature. At least this incident confirms what we have said many times: The so-called "family values" right wing believes racism is a "family value." It is not. Racial and ethnic intolerance are not American values.

Forum Sells Obama Waffles [NYT]
Obama Waffles Featuring Racist Images [Think Progress]

Some Background ...
TX Repubs Ban Vendor of Racist, Anti-Obama Button [R20]
Racially Charged, Stuffed Monkey "Sock Obama" Toy [R20]
TX GOP Convention Button: "If Obama is Elected President, Will We Still Call it the White House?" [R20]

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