When will these government officials learn? I can just see the smirk on Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal’s face as he crafted what I’m sure he thought was the most clever email ever, sending warm wishes over the holiday season.

The subject line of the email reads “Twins separated at birth?” and the body of the message includes side-by-side pictures of Michelle Obama and the Grinch with hair that’s been blown into a similar position. According to the Lawrence World-Journal, the forwarded part of the email reads:

“I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Mrs. YoMama a wonderful, long Hawaii Christmas vacation — at our expense, of course.”

The email was sent to House republicans along with the text, “Sorry, just had to forward the latest holiday message! I’ve had worse hair days but this is pretty funny.”

As these things usually go, Mike apologized for the email, claiming that he missed the ‘YoMama’ text in the body of the message, however, the picture “made me laugh.” Prior to that, his communications director defended him, saying that political cartoons are a “part of American culture.”

So is racism. Doesn’t make it OK does it?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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