Barneys creative director and noted gay male Simon Doonan oversaw White House Christmas decor this year, and his trees are an assault on family values, say right-wing bloggers. Then again, does Mao Tse-Tung really belong on Obama's tree?

Andrew Breitbart's star-spangled cranky-blog, Big Government, reports an "EXCLUSIVE: Transvestites, Mao and Obama Ornaments Decorate White House Christmas Tree" featuring an indictment of Doonan and snapshots of the Blue Room's ornaments. One of which has the image and signature of crème de la drag queens Hedda Lettuce:

Hedda's blog explains that Doonan didn't exactly contrive to get her on the tree. Rather, the White House sent boxes of plain bulbs to schools and charities, including a gay community center at which Hedda volunteers, for creative decoupaging. Hedda decorated her bulb as any self-respecting star of stage and reality television guest spots would, by festooning it with images of herself. Hedda's account of discovering her ornament made the tree:

I may never get equal rights, I may never be blond and pencil thin, I may never see Lady Gaga in concert this winter at Madison Square Garden (I could not get a ticket) but one of my balls is hanging in the White House with my name for all to see.

Big Government's post does, however, raise an interesting question: Did anyone screen these balls? Or was it more of a State Dinner "come one come all" thing, because this bulb featuring an image of Mao Tse-Tung strikes me as a bit, um, off:

I get that Warhol's Mao subverts the icon or whatever, but, does it really make sense to put a tyrannical communist leader's visage on the American president's Christmas tree? On the other hand, an ornament that shellacks Barry's face onto Mount Rushmore...

...is just tacky. It's in the guy's living room, for crying out loud.

[BigGov] [HeddaLettuce] [Caucus]