Multiple Republican leaders in Colorado have condemed Delta County GOP Chair Linda Sorenson for sharing a Facebook meme comparing Obama to a Chimpanzee, but they've stopped short of asking her to resign, according to reports in the Grand Junction Sentinel and Colorado Statesman.
The local NAACP called for the Sorenson's resignation last week.
U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO) condemned the racist incident, which occurred in his district, telling the Statesman through a spokesperson that racism has no place in the GOP. But he did ot call for Sorenson's resignation. Nor did U.S. Senate candidate Jack Graham, who denounced the meme
The Sentinel's Charles Ashby reports that Colorado GOP Chair Steve House does "not believe [Sorenson] should have had that stuff on her Facebook page," and House will be meeting with Sorenson and other Delta Country GOP officials on Monday to talk about it. Ashby:
House said the party is not a racist group, but added that there is a difference between racism and racial insensitivity.
"The Republican Party itself, we're anti-racism every day of the week," House said. "But if there are racial insensitivities out there, we need to bring them up, we need to talk about them, we need to make sure everyone is educated about it, and then we need to go forward. Burying our heads in the sand or not talking about it is not going to help anybody. There's no room for racism in our party."
The location of the meeting, or whether it is public, was not disclosed.
Still unknown is why Sorenson told me she posted the Chimp meme, but then Delta County vice chairman Vic Ullrey told the Sentinel that the meme was the work of a hacker. It appears Ullrey has not been asked directly about the contradiction.
In addition to the Chimp meme, Sorenson shared or liked a handful of posts in the same vein last year. See them here.