Posted on 12/29/2008 10:17:27 AM PST by foutsc
The GOP has once again shown why it is the stupid party. Chip Salsman wants to run the GOP, so he plied potential voters with a Paul Shanklin CD that included the song "Barack the Magic Negro." It is a political parody based upon an LA Times opinion piece of the same name. The leadership was caught flat-footed and red-handed, and is now scrambling, crab-like, to defend itself. Here's part of the hollow, vacuous statement from flaccid, ineffectual party chairman Mike Duncan:
"I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction."Yeah, right. Shocked and appalled. Millions of Republicans have laughed their heads off at the song, featured on the Rush Limbaugh Show. So spare us the crocodile tears, Mike. You and your party establishmentarians are intellectually and ideologically bankrupt. Bowing down before the PC gods won't save your sorry hide.
Mike Duncan and the rest of the country club Republicans should apologize not for the song, but for for being so politically inept and clueless that they would let something like this get within 10 miles of GOP Headquarters. Half the country already believes the GOP is just a front organization for the Ku Klux Klan. You'd think the GOP apparatchiks would be a little more image conscious.
The song is based on a 2007 David Ehrenstein opinion piece of the same name in the LA Times. He explores how Guilty White Liberal Syndrome could bolster Mr. Obama's candidacy:
But it's clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the "Magic Negro."So here's a liberal columnist citing the work of liberal sociologists using the now famous phrase. A white conservative satirist picks it up and makes a funny song based on it, and Democrats mau mau the Republicans into apologizing. Once again, the inept Republicans bring a butter knife to a gun fight.The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist," reads the description on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro .He's there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.
As might be expected, this figure is chiefly cinematic — embodied by such noted performers as Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle. And that's not to mention a certain basketball player whose very nickname is "Magic."
Is the song funny? I think so. Is it offensive? Not in my opinion, but I'm not black. Does it belong in the public arena? Yes. It's called free speech, and as satire, it's pretty tame when stacked up against South Park or Dave Chappelle. Regardless of the merits of the song, it is inappropriate for the GOP establishment to be trafficking in this stuff.
They only compounded their sin by gutlessly collapsing before the liberal onslaught instead of owning it and intellectually defending it. Ken Blackwell, an African-American contender to run the party, showed true leadership with his response:
"Unfortunately, there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race. This is in large measure due to President-Elect Obama being the first African-American elected president," said Blackwell, who would be the first black RNC chairman, in a statement forwarded to Politico by an aide.This is the leadership the GOP needs. No politically correct bowing and scraping to manufactured outrage, of which we have an overabundance in this country. Just an acknowledgment of the hoo-ha and restoring it to a rational context.
In fact, an edgy, 20-something GOP leadership could have flipped this back on the so-last-century media and actually attracted the attention of the Colbert and John Stewart generation. But in the hands of the ancient, white GOP upper-crust, this just looks creepy and racist. If this doesn't convince conservatives that the place needs wholesale firings and fumigation, I don't know what will.
The very existence of the Republican party does damage to the conservative cause. Time to burn it down and start over with younger, more intellectually vibrant leadership.
bttt
AMEN!! I don't mind the "Country Club" types running the GOP but not the Country Clubs like Bushwood!
You know - folks who drive "Country Continentals" (Ford F-150's) or a "Country Cadillac" (Chevy Silverado).
Who does that country song about "I'm a member of the Country Club"?
Some things are better left said in the privacy of your own home or at a bar - in the company of an all-white crowd.
We need to cut the legs off this story NOW.
Travis Tritt!! You gotta see him on Country Crossroads with Ray Charles. It's a classic.
The Grassroots of the GOP needs to jettison these over the hill and complacent weasels who want nothing more than adulation from a MSM that hates their guts.
I'm sick of the stupid leadership of this stupid party. Time to clean house and fumigate at the RNC. Fire 'em all!
I think this guy is a Dem operative and knew EXACTLY what he was doing, putting a quick end to anything Republican.
Who nominated this clown?
They knew EXACTLY what they were doing also.
They are not stupid.
The rank and file of the Republican party are the ones who are stupid. They contunially except the status quo and do not rise up and take back the Party.
Yes he is correct and NEWT is a Washington insider.
I’m sick of this topic, but not for the same reasons. Al Sharpton was the one who called BO “The magic negro” and said he was not “authentic”.
I’m sick of the GOP apologizing for this. Playing nice with the democrats never accomplishes anything and they never play nice. Screw them and smack them whenever possible.
The democrat party counts on the GOP “playing nice” while they sling mud and lies. It’s the mud and lies that cling to the public mind and the majority half-wits out there believe it. Play it over and over and when criticized do what the dems do — ignore it and blow it off; it is soon forgotten.
The GOP needs to grow some nads and play politics the way the dems do; down and dirty.
To be more specific, it's run by the Bush family. And they are the ones that put pandering first.
The person (Paul Shanklin) is a local that we all know and love in Memphis. There is not a racial bone in his body.
Well it won't be any longer...so this should give us at least another four to eight years to nominate some authentic Conservative candidates to lead the Party...with all due respect, I do hope we will not see yet another member of ANY dynasty, Republican or Democrat elected to public office. I truly curse the day Campaign Finance Reform was signed into law, and those responsible for it (McCain, Feingold, and sadly, President Bush).
Ahh...what could have been.
We expect free speech, and to stand by a clever satire. We expect people to stop apologizing for getting out of bed in the morning. The proper response is to explain the reason for the parody and let it be. If people voted based on offensive behavior, the POS dems who demonize American troops in battle and behave as they have the past 8 years would not be in power. They stand by their statements and stay on the offensive, while our weak-kneed leaders cower in the corner.
This satire is nearly two years old. It was not offensive until someone decided this week to be offended.
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John McCain is the Democrats' magic RINO. |
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How cute!
I just love her.
I’m sick of this topic. “Barak the Magic Negro” was a stupid idea. Whoever wrote this should be ashamed of himself. And shame on Rush for playing it. It’s the 21st century! What did we expect?!
Some things are better left said in the privacy of your own home or at a bar - in the company of an all-white crowd.
We need to cut the legs off this story NOW.
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NO! This epitath was penned by a liberal in a liberal rag! Whenever it’s brought up, remind EVERYBODY of that fact. Name the writer in every other sentence, ask if its so offensive why it was printed in the first place. Don’t run from this confront it head on verbally, argumentatively, assertively. Don’t run, don’t apologize, don’t hide. It’s there it’s their’s we didn’t coin the phrase, remind every single media outlet of that fact.
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