Apparently, my commentary on the GOP was more on the mark than I realized.
In my last post I feature the "Barack, The Magic Negro" video and included a link to the NY Times article that suggested that there was actually dissent from within the GOP.
However, that dissent smacked of opportunism, and it struck me as more telling that it took so long for some Republicans to even come out against it.
Now, as it turns out, the core of the GOP doesn't really have much of a problem with a tasteless song, sung with a stereotypical black accent.
According to an article in Politico, the parody may help Chip Saltsman, the Tennessee GOP chair who gave them out as holiday gifts, achieve the leadership position in the party.
As written in Andy Barr's story:
Four days after news broke that the former Tennessee GOP chairman had sent a CD including a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” to the RNC members he is courting, some of those officials are rallying around the embattled Saltsman, with a few questioning whether the national media and his opponents are piling on.
“When I heard about the story, I had to figure out what was going on for myself,” said Mark Ellis, the chairman of the Maine Republican Party. “When I found out what this was about I had to ask, ‘Boy, what’s the big deal here?’ because there wasn’t any.”
Alabama Republican Committeeman Paul Reynolds said the fact the Saltsman sent him a CD with the song on it “didn’t bother me one bit.”
“Chip probably could have thought it through a bit more, but he was doing everyone a favor by giving us a gift,” he said. “This is just people looking for something to make an issue of.”
“I don’t think he intended it as any kind of racial slur. I think he intended it as a humor gift,” Oklahoma GOP Committeewoman Carolyn McClarty added. “I think it was innocently done by Chip.”
You have to hand it to the GOP, they are alarmingly out of touch with the mood of this country. If they feel that perpetuating racial stereotypes, instead of at least making an attempt to rally around our new leader in these difficult times, is good strategy, than they will go the way of the abacus, Betamax tapes (pictured above) and the Whig party.
That would be fine by me.
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