oh give me a fucking break some one says something so you want to throw them out and step on them. Your running a fucking country people wake the hell up if you can't take negativity then get the hell out of office. This is a prime example of WHY wars start, NOT the bs the media feeds, grow up people learn how to take shit especially if you have the worlds eyes on you, remember you signed up for the job so damn it you got it.

I would not liken Obama to a chimp, she looks more like a bull dog to me,

All you uptight politically correct dumbasses need to get over it. Michelle Obama DOES look like a fuckin' ape. Quit acting like she doesn't.

They should have read my book Plain Talk Vol. 1

http://www.amazon.com/Plain-Talk-1-Corey-Washin...

Walt Baker is a fucking moron just like many of the red state remedial bigots that share his sentiment. Such a thing should immediately call of his dismisal. The majority of the nation is sick of these backward regressive idiots.

Many of the comments here show that you people are uneducated, racists and don't have any sense of manners and empathy toward other human beings. The way you represent yourselves shows your low level of intelligence. I feel sorry for the leaders of this country that they have to put up with people like you and create jobs, healthcare, safety and a good place to live in. Be appreciative that wonderful people like the Obama's are dedicating their life to represent the people who voted for them and make life better for all of us. Get out of your little peasant holes and start educating yourselves in a changing world. Start having an interest in what is happening in the world and make a difference yourself instead of discriminating people with a different race - you apparently have a miserable life where you feel miserable about yourself and so many other things that you can only think of bullying other people (it really makes you feel good huh?)... you could start by eating healthier, this is the beginning of getting all the toxic crap out of your system and making a difference!
Walt Baker should get the boot yesterday and start looking in the mirror - he does not look and sound healthy and represent the low EQ people.

What happened to America's sense of humor? It's okay to put a chimp next to George W bush but not Michelle Obama. What a bunch of hypocrites.

If the pictures look alike, why can't we say they look alike?!..Or are you nuts?!

If the pictures look alike, why can't people say they look alike? Don't we have a free spech anymore!!!

I don't think these idiots are punish enough for their actions and behavior. Fire him immediately. He knew exactly what he was doing and already had it prepared to apologize. He just wants attention. Fire him and lets move on. Wow continue giving him what he wanted in the first place ATTENTION!

Truth hurts doesn't it. Look at her hard to argue the facts!

Think I'll skip the trip to Tennessee I was planning, to Maggi Valley and the Motorcycle Museum.

Take your Hospitality, Walt, and shove it.

I don't mean to offend your ignorance but maggi's valley is in North Carolina.

I'm sure someone else has said it better but this guy is much too stupid to be worth anything as an employee. Tennessee Hospitality Association = Tennessee Hostility Association.

THE ----- PEOPLES HAS BEEN MAD EVERY SINCE. THE BLACK PREDISENTAL ELECTION...THEY MAY AS WELL ACCEPT,THAT WE HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT..AND SHOULD THEY SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ALL THEIR RACIAL SLURS..AND PAY WHAT THEY SO SOWET THEY SHALL reep...

what does his wife say his children how can a man in his leading role as "ceo " of a major firm speak of something as degrading as this.. should not his thoughts be of greater impotance of matters that will take his firm or the board of directors to the next level in marketing??? apparently this man has lost his edge and the call of duty of what vision is in a company he shows ZERO LEADERSHIP OR RESPONSIBILITY SHAME IS NOW HIS NAME AND TO HIS FAMILY.

What gives these racists the idea they can insult the First Lady and the President with impugnity? It is an awful shame that Tennessee is afflicted with such fools. Mr. Baker is but the latest in a growing list of ignoramoses from one end of this state to the other who feel they can insult the First Family like this. The memories of those of us on the receiving end of this silliness are long indeed.

I sat in my living room the other day and was flipping through the tv channels and came accross a black comidian and he was talking about whites, "eating mayonase sandwhiches and fucking there sister". I didn't find it funny even thought that through history many races have done so i guess. also, I haven't heard people (of any race, media, or anyone that really cares) clammering and demanding an apoligy on this stereotyping. I would rather be called a chimpanzee (a cute and loveable animal) than i would be a perverted basterd. Mrs Obama is no doubt along with her husband are representitives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND DESERVE THE RESPECT OF THE NATION. What sets me off is the media who run with stories like this and enflame things that should have been buried many years ago. The hatchet cannot be burid if we as a human race keep digging the damn thing up on both sides. Lets discard this crutch and fight for what is good on the things that matter, children, peace and security, the love of your fellow man. My father and his father before him told me stories about being sharecroppers in the 20's and 30's along with people of all ethnic groups and religions. They helped each other to survive and would fight anyone who came in and bothered any neighbor. Bottom line is that they knew in a tough world and in order to survive that they had to stand TOGETHER no matter what. Will we ever learn? To quote a great leader as close as i can remember," From where the sun stands in the sky, I will fight no more, forever. Don't you think there has been enought?

racism will get you nowhere just like a republican or democrat administration

The sad thing is, these folks are certainly a lot closer to chimp-level intelligence than the people they try to denigrate this way. Even sadder that once the public spotlight shines on them they backpedal, say it's a mistake and apologize profusely, like the miserable, two-faced cowards they are.

I'm moving to Nashville despite the callous and racist remark because I know there are good people in that state who will not stand for an official of any public or private concern to throw this kind of garbage into the public forum.

Baker should be fired, as anyone would be for the ignorant email.

I'm moving to Nashville despite the callous and racist remark because I know there are good people in that state who will not stand for an official of any public or private concern to throw this kind of garbage into the public forum.

Baker should be fired, as anyone would be for the ignorant email.

"...sent to to a few friends, the president of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, and several members of the press."

Well, that was his FIRST mistake - sending an offensive email to the press. As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon!"

Not just a maroon... a ULTRA-maroon!

Maybe all those old jokes - (and I don't care who you are, ... this is funny) about the diminishingly small gene pool in W. Va. were wrong - maybe it was really Tenessee.

I am tired of stupid people like Imus and all the others his kind represent thinking that we want their apology. It is time for blacks to unite and use the tactics that our forefathers used during the civil rights movement to get us this far. They never settled for a stupid apology. That is why their kind is always trying to kick against rap and the outspoken hearts of the young generation, because they don't tolerate such foolishness.....Blacks stop taking this mess laying down and yes okay he apologized,it is not okay and we better put a stop to it........I am tired of this group of people thinking that American is theirs, that is the problem,whoever this baker man is we don't want your apology< I know Mrs. Obama can't say it because of her status,so I am going to say it for her we don't want no apology just stop saying and teaching RACISM STUPID PEOPLE & "BLACKS DON'T LOSE THE FIGHT"....THEY ARE ALWAYS FIGHTING AND BLACKS BETTER START TO FIGHT BACK,!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I find that this is a completely ridiculous. The man is losing his job that he has had all his life, and over what? The truth? I guarantee you that they looked exactly the same. Its stating a fact. It isnt racism. How is an ape racist? It's only racism if a black person or white person or whatever person takes it that way. Which I think is a stupid fail safe. We are all equal, yet we are all different. We all have different views and different senses of humor. So poor Michelle should stop pouting and getting all offended and just accept his apology. It's shit like this that continues the circle of segregation. Rightfully so, because ignorant idiots can't take a joke.

Just watch, the next thing we see on the brainwashing tube is Michelle getting offended that the White House is White. :(

I doubt Michelle spends her time scanning the Internet for stories or pictures that are not flattering to her. The reason people get so upset is because the republicans can find every and any reason to object to the Obama's. The whole world can see thru their game. They are too cowardly to admit they don't like a black man in the white house. Everyone knows the tea partiers are just racist at heart and find any excuse to hide it behind. Even the KKK could admit they hated everyone who was different. Why can't the cowardly republicans.

it must be RACIST REDNECK FREAK DAY. welcome to raw story, you pathetic humans.

lots of good karma being produced here. coming back soon.

the parade continues. mind-fucked america is having its day.

Hmmmmm.... Did anyone raise hell when people were emailing pictures of W and chimps??? Nope. Why is it wrong now? Oh, yea. Anything negative about an Obama HAS to be racist. GET REAL.

1) That was an undeniably racist email, although not all criticism of Obama is race-based.

2) We didn't savage Laura Bush, but I've seen the most vile pathetic racist garbage thrown at Michelle.

YOU GET REAL.

Here is Walt Baker's phone number as found on the public website: 6153859970

Give him your opinion.

Here is Walt Baker's phone number. Why not let him know how you feel?
615-385-9970

What's the big deal?

People have a right to their freedom of speech, opinion, and expression.

Whether you like her or not. Some people think she's lovely, and some people think not.

Personally she does have features in her face which I (and many others) think look like a chimpanzee/gorilla-ish.

Besides no one was calling it racist when the cartoon montage of George Bush and the chimpanzee expressions came out. Which was also funny.

America, lets not be hypocritical ok?

I will NEVER go to Tennessee. I really will NEVER Go to ANY red states. Why should I? Who wants to be in that kind of racist, sexist, homophobic atmosphere anyway?

How can I hide or expunge my Tennessee birth certificate?

Too much inbreeding. These people should leave their daughters and sisters alone and look outside for a mate. Better still some states should simply be forbidden from breeding at all. Nothing good can come of in TN. Even their CEO's are lower then dirt.

I have relatives in TN and these kinds of remarks I hear when I visit there are not unusual. I don't know how my family stands living there. It is like being in a 19th century time warp.

When you remember that TN is where the scopes evolution trial was held, you come to understand the level of intellect involved. This man is not sorry, and the apology is as false as any you will ever hear. The Republicans say things like this continually. They actually believe it.

Michelle is a very classy lady. And this kind of rhetoric and the phony apology is something done on a regular basis. But all of us know the BS of it. The members of the GOP cult have a nasty history. And they have earned every bit of it. And no matter what happens, people in TN will never get any smarter. And it must drive them crazy to know that not only is the first lady black, but she is smarter then most of them.

Decency and respect is something they have no conception of. And nothing will change the attitude of these knuckle dragging, racist, Neanderthals. This is not the so called new south. There is no new south. They are bible thumping, backward people who have embraced all the worst attributes of a century ago. And they hold onto them with a vise like grip. There are parts of this country that love ignorance. To them education and tolerance is not a virtue.

Those who don't know you now feel that they do.As for forgiveness, it's as much some thing that is earned by actions as it is something that is given.

Tenesee hospitality - wonder what they are liekd when they're pissed at you?

There didn't seem to be a problem with comparing Bush to a chimp and putting his face on a chimps body. While I don't find the remark racial - I do find it in poor taste. I personally think Michelle is as ugly as a mud fence and in dire need of someone with taste to dress her; however, I think the POTUS family should be off limits (as should Palin's). This kind of outlandish remark just brings the do-gooders out of the woodwork to defend a POS who has far more to defend then his homely wife.

What is truly frightening, is that this person actually thought that there was something funny about those pictures. And that, despite what he thinks privately, he did not understand how vile, offensive and disgusting they were. In what hated infested world does he live in? What scum.

Just another example of WHO WE ARE! We lay claim to being the most diverse melting pot in the world, but its just so much hog wash. We are ALL, in our own subtle way, RACIST....If we can find any humor in current events, its becoming more and more apparent that OUR ancestral lineage is incredibly more interracial then we could ever believe. In truth the minority is truly the majority. Our problem? We can't deal with it!

This person is CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association??? Seriously?

That's the REAL joke here. Very "hospitable" of this jerk, don't you think? Really makes me want to visit Tennessee . . . not. What a jerk.

Racism is alive in Tennessee. I won't visit there even though I have relatives living there.

I live in the South. Its always been this way and it is today...the cold and the recession have not affected the health of Southern Racism. That's why Republicans do well in elections here despite the fact that we have the lowest standard of living outside of Haiti

For what it's worth - here is the "contact us" page from the Tennessee "Hospitality" Association -
http://www.tnhospitality.net/index.php?p=14

I just dropped all the folks listed on that page a polite note to remind them that this is 2010, racist "jokes" are not humor, and that Walt Baker needs to be booted.

I was nearly as offended by the "sorry if anyone took offense" response as I was by the original post Baker made. What happened to taking responsibility for mistakes?

Oh, yeah...not on that side of political discourse..

Walt Baker also works at Merkatus Communications - which also has a "contact us" page -
http://www.mercatuscom.com/index.htm

I sent each person listed - including Baker - a note to remind them what freaking century this is.

Also at their page is a list of CLIENTS, each of which has likewise been contacted. I asked the clients how it made them look to the public to be represented by a media person who has so little awareness or social skills.

Interestingly, the Merkatus site now shows a 404 error and won't open...I would guess it is due to what they refer to as "goes around comes around"...I'd sure hate to be the receptionist.

This article is right, I wouldn't step foot in that god-forsaken bastion of ignorance, mostly because I find it's residents to be stupid, racist, and inbred. Of course not everyone is like that, but they tend to move away once they realize where they are living.

What "bastion of ignorance" are you referring to?......Maybe... San Francisco?

Cowardly conservatism is a mental illness. Minds once used for thinking have become only a provider of personal stimulation and pleasure. Indoctrinated by the bullying tough talk of ambitious and decades of attack the children & women of their 'enemies' have become fair targets to get a laugh.

Michelle Obama has had to work 3x harder to reach her place in the world simply because of her race. Every minority knows a version of the effort required. Luckily for the majority it will be the resiliance and tough slogging waged by both that fixes the mess.

You ill informed dipshit, Without the help of a conservative to explain "mental Illness" liberals would still be thinking it was normal family behavior.

Michelle Obama never has worked. She has an entourage of 300 attendants wherever she goes. She can't eve put her shoes on by herself.

Never worked? She's a lawyer, JoeBob. If you read Joebob, there has been a study done by republicans that showed republicans by and large are followers and have a need for strong domineering leaders who tell them what to think and what to do. It makes them feel safe like having a father figure. That sounds like a personality disorder to me.......I guess it could be inbreeding though.

Your meth lab must have burned down and your crack/ho/cousin/wife must have given you aids. Cheer up, you still have one tooth, one hair, one dog and one leg to stand on while your other foot is up your ass.

What's nice about using your wife's crack is all I got to do is wash it off and I can reuse it.

I thought Ten CEO's all slept with their sisters. Now thats funny.

When Baker and his secessionist/traitor/teagaggers try to start their civil war, some of us Tennesseans will be waiting to tell them to shut up and sit down. If that doesn't work...

Who cares about personal email? In fact, why is personal email subjected to public reveals? Isn't that a more relevent question that does or does not Michelle Obama (or George Bush for that matter) look like a chimpanze. She thinks I look like a hippo because I am overweight. Is that nice? I don't think so. Anyone who says they have never thought an unjust thought or had an unkind remark about someone else is full of stuffing!

Because of the history of the comparison, calling Bush, 'chimpy', is not racism, but referring to any African American the same way is.

For the right wing conservatives to say it's not about race and that it's only a few extremists isn't true. To silently tolerate racists speech and actions within your midst is the same as participating in that hatred.

No one is saying people don't have unkind thoughts floating thru their heads on occasion. These people have them float thru their heads and it becomes a way of life for them. Maybe I missed Michelle Obama's "hippo" remark about you, but I'm overweight too and I don't take her weight loss program for children personally. When I was a kid my friends and I were all skinny because we were outside playing all the time. I think it's good some one is addressing the problem.

That would make you a hippo-chimp wouldn't it?

And that would make you an ass.

you know...your posts read that of an elementary school child. You're very, very childish. Do you sit there in your underwear laughing hysterically when you think you've made some invalid point? Does your little penis get just a wee bit bigger than the teeeny tiny speck that it is? I can only imagine the loneliness of your hateful little world sitting there behind your screen.

Nope, none of the above. It's all for the shear joy of pissing off a liberal. You know how to piss off a liberal?.......Don't agree with them.... Swear to God it's the truth.... works every time.

Ya know those little peepees do them in everytime.

I'm so tired of the racist crap coming out of the republican party and the south I could scream! Didn't I read recently that Tennessee is the best educated in the US? The well educated must have moved there from other states! I wish the south and the republican party could just once admit they are racist and then shut up! The south lost the war! Get over it! Your lives didn't stop then, but your mental maturity obviously did! There is a black man in the white house. Get over it! Hell didn't freeze over! The earth didn't stand still! I have just just two words for the southerners and republicans [especially those elected officials in Washington] GROW UP!

Wrong! There is no black man in the white house. But there is a husband of a chimp in the white house.

Boycott Tennessee

BOYCOTT Tennessee

I am going to toast Tennessee. CHEERS!

The woman is intelligent and has class. Two things that apparently cannot be said of numerous Tennesseans, such as that imbecile.

Her mouth is almost as big as her feet

I bet with the new HD Television stations, your "ears" bring in about 40 stations. Shit, if you were in alaska with "fishy-pants-palin", you could probably watch Russia.

crane, your mama wears high heels so her knuckles won't drag the ground.

Why is fathers day the most confusing day in your whole family..... if you don't know, ask your mother

She's a dumb ass with big feet.

What's the matter, joebo.... she's not subservient enough?
Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find a suitable mate at your next family reunion.

Must have chewed on your cud for a full six hours to come up with that one liner