Magical Negro Debacle: An Unbiased Assessment

I am publishing one last article about Chip Saltsman's distribution of Rush Limbaugh's the "Magic Negro" CD. Tim Rutten, a pulitzer prize winning journalist, provides an unbiased assessment of Chip Saltsman's actions. What is interesting is, he made the exact same assessment I did:

Chip Saltsman's 'Magic Negro' mistake

Tim Rutten December 31, 2008

Chip Saltsman, the former Tennessee state Republican chairman who ran Mike Huckabee's underfunded but shrewd bid for the GOP's presidential nomination now wants to be Republican national chairman, and, apparently as part of his campaign, he sent his associates a Christmas gift consisting of songs by the satirist Paul Shanklin. The title track, sung in a voice meant to impersonate Al Sharpton, is "Barack the Magic Negro."

It parodies the president-elect as a black man acceptable to whites. Another song, "Star Spanglish Banner," disparages Latinos. Shanklin, who first performed his parody on Rush Limbaugh's radio show (and they say ideologues don't have a sense of humor) said he was inspired by an Op-Ed article by David Ehrenstein that appeared in The Times this year.

Saltsman, who as you can imagine has come in for a bit of criticism for his gift, now characterizes the column as "irresponsible." (We'll leave it to him to explain why he distributed irresponsible ideas.) Ehrenstein, one of whose grandparents was African American, is a sophisticated cultural critic with the reflexes of a street fighter; he can take care of himself in this one. It's worth pointing out, though, that as a longtime scholar of film and politics, his essay borrowed a term of art that long has been used to describe a certain kind nonthreatening black man as portrayed in literature and cinema. Ehrenstein cited a litany of such portrayals on screen and linked Obama's political popularity to the characters' appeal.

The point is, when it comes to discussions of race in America -- and particularly racial or ethnic humor -- context is everything. In fact, racial and ethnic humor are probably the most contextually sensitive of all forms of satire. They work only when everyone is clear that the person making the joke regards the differences and foibles of another group affectionately and as something that makes everybody's life more interesting. Lots of traditional Jewish and Irish humor falls into that category, though even there, it depends on who is telling the joke, and to whom. The right contextual conditions, however, never exist in politics, which is why ethnic or racial references in that venue nearly always offend -- or, at best, fall flat.

It's also perplexing that anyone with a feel for public life would satirize the race of the first African American president. You might be able to do that with the third or fourth black chief executive, but not the first. It isn't funny because there's too much painful history being exorcised here, and there's nothing "politically correct" about saying that. It's simply an acknowledgment of reality. That's not a liberal or Democratic point of view. It's an American one. That's why former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that Shanklin's song was "so inappropriate that it should disqualify any Republican National Committee candidate who would use it."

What Republican leaders choose to make of Saltsman's sense of the antic is an intramural matter. The defense he has mustered isn't. Saltsman is huffing (throwing a tantrum) that "liberal Democrats and their allies in the media didn't utter a word about David Ehrenstein's irresponsible column in the Los Angeles Times last March. But now, of course, they're shocked and appalled by its parody on 'The Rush Limbaugh Show.' ... I know that our party leaders should stand up against the media's double standards and refuse to pander to their desire for scandal."

Oh, what would we do without our shibboleths? The liberal media? Double standards? This being a nostalgic season, whatever happened to the Eastern Establishment? Oh, that's right, the Bushes are card-carrying members. Oh, well. Does Saltsman really believe that Gingrich, current RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and the heads of GOP state committees in places as different as Florida and North Dakota -- all of whom have pronounced themselves appalled by his bad judgment -- are dupes of the liberal media's double standards?

Actually, if he can sell people that one, maybe the Republicans should elect him chairman.

AS I PREDICTED: The Cowardly Lion Limbaugh Cowers to the Media Payback over his "Magic Negro" Lies!

Oh Woe is Rush, Woe is Rush!

He is crying, lamenting, woeing himself! "The drive by media is picking on me! Picking on me!"

Poor Limpbutt!!

I ALMOST feel sorry for him!

As the creator said, "You reap what you sow times 10!"

As for Limpy, I think he is getting it 10 times 10! Yet, he still has not learned his lesson!

Here is what he is saying! waaahhh!!

(I am sharing it so you don't have to go to his website!)

From RushLimbaugh.com:

COLETTA: Rush Limbaugh's latest dust up. The conservative talk king has been playing a song called, "Barack the Magic Negro" and now some critics say he should be fired just like Imus. Limbaugh's staff says he's been using the song parody for months and that the title is a direct quote from the Reverend Al Sharpton and that the uproar is unwarranted.

RUSH: It's not "a direct quote" from the Reverend Sharpton! We have been playing it for months, maybe weeks. It might be a month or a month and a half. Look, folks, here it is from March 19th -- I'm holding it in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers -- "Obama the 'Magic Negro' -- The Illinois senator lends himself to white America's idealized, less-than-real black man." This is the third piece in the LA Times that dealt with Obama not being "black enough." It's the left that's the racists. It's the left that looks at people's skin color and doesn't see it for what it should be or what it is. They notice it. They're the ones that are racists out there. The guy that wrote this is a black man. His name is David Ehrenstein. He "writes about Hollywood and politics," it says here, and the whole point of his piece here is: Who is this Obama guy? He's been around for two years in the Senate. Nobody can possibly know him well enough to be giving him all this idolatry. So he's the "magic negro." He fits white racists' need to assuage their guilt.

Poor Limpy! I almost feel sorry for him. Even his OWN STAFF is mis-informed!!

He forgets that the reference column was written by Ehrenstein in March, 2007, when Obama initially began his Presidential Campaign, long before his brilliant performance in the Presidential debates or his numerous interviews and close up discussions with the American people. The March 2007 article had NOTHING to do with Racism, rather the public's not knowing Obama well enough. (the debates cleared this up)

What Ehrenstein was talking about was the American Public not knowing Barack well.

Ehrenstein was questioning our knowledge of the man.

Limpy changed this question into something else when he had his Soundman make his CD. He made it ugly. He made it evil, ALL FOR PROFIT, right on his website, sold for $$! He introduced RACISM into the picture, and laughs, and ridicule, not only towards the candidate but towards the audience. US. The American People!

Limpy should be ASHAMED of himself!

Here is what he did:

1. He took Ehrenstein's March, 2007 article and twisted it to suit his monologue.

2. In 2008, he had his Soundman make a CD inserting an Al Jolsen "blackface" type racist voice mimicking Al Sharpton, upset with candidate Obama.

3. Limpy attempts to REWRITE HISTORY by suggesting Ehrenstein's article was from 2008 vs March, 2007.

4. His limp attempt at chastising the left for Racism, is actually Racism on his part for putting the racist "sharpton" immitating CD together!

5. The only Racist is Limpy! We know and understand Obama is a knowledgable and well informed, qualified elected candidate. Limpy on the other hand continues to raise these unsubstantiated accusations! He should be ashamed of himself.

I suggest Limpy read my FABLE! Then, perhaps HE will undstand what actually occurred!!