Conservatives upset over rapper Common's White House invite

Sarah Palin is among the conservatives who are unhappy that the rapper Common will be part of a poetry event on Wednesday night at the White House.

Their objection stems from a 2007 YouTube video of Common flagged by The Daily Caller. In the video, Common says "tell the law, my Uzi weighs a ton" as well as "Burn a Bush cos' for peace he no push no button."

The Daily Caller story was featured on the heavily-trafficked conservative news aggregator the Drudge Report with the headline "First Lady to host rapper who talks of killing cops, burning Bush," and Fox Nation asked, "Michelle Obama Hosting Vile Rapper at White House?" Palin linked to the article in a Tweet, adding sarcastically, "Oh lovely, White House."

Common has been joking about the attention on Twitter, first writing, "So apparently Sarah Palin and Fox News doesn't like me." Later, in response to another Tweet, he wrote, "It's not funny JP. I'm dangerous!"

Other participants at the celebration of American poetry and prose, which will be hosted by President and Mrs. Obama, include Elizabeth Alexander, Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Kenneth Goldsmith, Alison Knowles, Aimee Mann and Jill Scott.

Common has been praised for his lyrics; as liberal media monitor Media Matters notes, a FoxNews.com reporter told him last October that "your music is very positive."