Print edition: 
Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal today is defending an e-mail he forwarded to fellow Republican lawmakers calling first lady Michelle Obama “Mrs. YoMama.”
The e-mail, first reported today by the Lawrence Journal-World, has pictures comparing Mrs. Obama to the Grinch because of their similarly wind-blown hair.
The forwarded e-mail goes on to state: “I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Mrs. YoMama a wonderful, long Hawaii Christmas vacation — at our expense or, course,” the Journal-World report this afternoon.
A spokewoman for O’Neal confirmed the e-mail message, saying it was sent from his personal e-mail account to a “select few” members of the House.
“He did not write any of the stuff,” Alyson Rodee told PrimeBuzz. “He thought it was a funny holiday a message. But he did not draft any of it or come up with any of it.”
Rodee sent PrimeBuzz a statement that addressed the e-mail.
“Political cartoons are a part of American culture,” the statement said.
“It’s hard to see how Mike O’Neal poking fun at himself and forwarding a lighthearted political cartoon about the first lady’s extravagant spending of taxpayer funds during a time when many Americans are financially struggling is newsworthy.”
The O’Neal comment comes just weeks after U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin apologized to the first lady for commenting on the size of her backside.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Sensenbrenner referred to Mrs. Obama’s “big butt” while talking to church members at a Christmas bazaar.
According to the newspaper’s account, Sensenbrenner thought Mrs. Obama was a hypocrite for undertaking a national campaign to fight obesity.
