(Updated) "After White House Invite, Conservatives Get Tough on Soft Rapper" (with video)

UPDATE: Blogger has now restored this "lost" posting from May 12, 2011.


UPDATE:"Common Performs Poetry at the White House," video (01:43).


Ari Melber (The Nation) with video (03:30):

White House poetry night is one of those ceremonial events that you never hear about unless there's a controversy. Or a fake controversy. But today's conservative kerfuffle over a White House invitation for Common—a socially conscious, mainstream hip hop artist and sometime actor (most recently in Tina Fey's "Date Night")—is interesting, since the faux outrage targets an artist who actually embodies many values of his critics. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Ari Melber displays his pop chops.