Minnesota GOP Senate candidate compared Michelle Obama to a chimp in Facebook post

A Republican Senate candidate in Minnesota criticized Michelle Obama’s posture when the former first lady met with the Queen of England and said the chimpanzee in the 1951 movie “Bedtime for Bonzo” had “stood up straighter,” according to The Huffington Post.

Karin Housley, currently a state senator, made the comparison in a 2009 Facebook post, according to HuffPost.

“Michelle is soooo far from cool,” Housley wrote in the post. “Don’t we expect our First Ladies to at least stand up straight? (And my dear sister, know the proper etiquette and DO NOT TOUCH THE QUEEN!).”

“I do miss Nancy Reagan. Ronald even more,” Housley continued. “Speaking of Bedtime for Bonzo, I think even that chimp stood up straighter than Michelle. Uh-oh, someone is going to make a comment.” 

{mosads}Housley campaign spokesman Jake Schneider said the “out-of-context” Facebook post was being used to “manufacture outrage.”

“This is what the radical left does when they are losing — they attack Republicans so they don’t have to come up with solutions to the problems Minnesotans are facing,” Schneider said in an email to The Hill.

“Imagine if the media spent the same amount of energy investigating [Rep.] Keith Ellison as they do digging into candidates’ old Facebook posts and satirical columns from a decade ago,” he wrote.

Ellison (D-Minn.) is facing allegations of domestic abuse made by a former girlfriend, which he has strongly denied.

Housley, who is taking on Sen. Tina Smith (D), has reportedly made a number of other derisive comments about Democrats, including attacking Hillary Clinton’s appearance and suggesting that former President Obama’s pronunciation of “Pakistan” was not said “like an American,” according to HuffPost.

Smith, who was appointed to replace former Sen. Al Franken (D), is leading Housley in the polls by an average of nearly 10 points, according to RealClearPolitics.