The mayor of a small city in Washington reportedly admitted that he called President Barack Obama "monkey man" and first lady Michelle Obama "gorilla face," but says he will not resign over the racist comments. 

"Gorilla face Michelle, can't disagree with that," Patrick Rushing, mayor of Airway Heights, reportedly wrote in a Facebook post. "The woman is not attractive except to monkey man Barack. Check out them ears. LOL." 

The comments led the city council to call for his resignation on Monday.

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However, Rushing insists he will not step down from his role as mayor of the city, which is just outside of Spokane.

“I made a mistake. I owned up to my mistake,” Rushing told the Spokesman-Review. “If I do resign that’s admitting I’m a racist and I’m not.”

He also told local NBC station KHQ that the comments were just "playful back and forth banter that my friends and I do." 

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The Spokesman-Review reports that Rushing told the city council his comments were “completely out of character." Yet The Pacific Northwest Inlander reports that the mayor has a long history of posting questionable and outright racists comments on Facebook.

The newspaper found what it said were at least 75 posts and reposts, including an image that suggests both the president and his wife should "hang for treason."

In some posts, Rushing also claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/washington-mayor-racist_55a71677e4b04740a3defd84