Every Republican should be called on to defend this clown. Let them all go down together with this racist!

I take it that the GOP wants to continue to be the minority party.

I believe there is a difference between being a racist and racially insensitive. I would not go so far as calling this man a racist, but as head of the RNC he needs to be a lore more racially sensitive.

I don't understand why things can't be racially insensitive without being racist.

Racism isn't giving an African American a job because his black. Racial insensitivity is make a joke in bad taste.

I believe there is a difference between being a racist and racially insensitive. I would not go so far as calling this man a racist, but as head of the RNC he needs to be a lore more racially sensitive.

I don't understand why things can't be racially insensitive without being racist.

Racism isn't giving an African American a job because his black. Racial insensitivity is make a joke in bad taste.

I love that the same people who want to hold Al Franken's comedy writings against him when it comes to his political ambitions also think that it's fine for politicians to distribute Rush Limbaugh's "comedy" routines and that they don't have to consider the implications. Idiots!

How long before one of them says "But I played it for my black friend and he laughed!"

BBpdx said "The fact that you don't get what the problem is, is the problem" and I think that nails it.

If you've listened to the song, the subject sings that Obama is not an ig'rant, shiffless, no-count gang-banger "like me," and that's why all them white folks is so impressed with him. Republicans don't get that that's not funny, that it's stereo-typing every black person's accomplishments or hopes of accomplishment as the pipedreams of uppity (insert 'N' word here.)

I want someone to call J.C. Watts. Let's hear his take on this cracker's idea of humor. I'll bet you can't print it without a whole lot of

The woman who was behind that Obama-watermelon-KFC mailing in California during the campaign must be thinking: If only I'd been running for RNC chairman...

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_buck16.3d67d4a.html

The Eherenstein piece, on which the song parody hangs its hat, is about the fictional device known as the "magical negro," a character meant to help white characters in a story without being threatening. The song parody has nothing to do with that, but instead depicts Al Sharpton and other black leaders as angry at what they see as a lack of "street cred" with Obama.

These are two very different things, and must be made clear.

For those interested, Mark Ellis wrote more about this on his blog here.

Today's Republican Party:

Racism R Us

obama isnt offended by this.

why should anyone else be??

personally i would have been but since obama praises warren types, i am taking my lead from him and accepting that i just have a difference of opinion with racists and anti-semites skin-heads, etc etc.

if its good enough for obama its good enough for me.

First the Fox News "Daily Show" rip-off and now this. Have you noticed that Republicans just aren't funny? In fact, they're downright mean. Kind of makes me wonder how they expect to get "raptured." Would be different if they were humble, but they don't get that, either.

The reason most Republicans don't see the CD as wrong is because they don't know many African Americans. First of all "Negro" is SO 1950's. In their social sphere there may be a few blacks, but as it has been pointed out, one candidate for the RNC chairmanship recently resigned from a Whites Only country club -- he didn't see that as wrong until he ran for a national office?

As for the DNC putting out something denigrating Bush -- they haven't done that. There's nothing wrong with parodying someone's actions. If they wanted to do a skit lampooning Obama's oratory, or his thin resume, that's fair game -- it's about what he does, not what he is.

I saw the video and I read the Ehrenstein essay -- it was a nuanced and thoughtful examination of how blacks cope with racial issues to move up the ladder in American society. I doubt that Shaklin who made the parody or Saltsman really understood what Ehrenstein was saying because -- again, they don't know any blacks.

Since one of the other parodies is "The Star Spanglish Banner" we can guess they don't know any Hispanics either.

Anyhow, let them have their fun. I'd like to see how much the laugh when they get creamed in the 2010 election. I'm saving up my money now to donate to any Democrat that looks likely to take down a Repubican.

During the election the Tennessee GOP was by far the worst state in terms of blatantly race baiting against Obama and even Michelle Obama. PATHETIC

Honestly, the problem here isn't that the guy made a racist joke. It's ok to make a racist joke, but before you do it, you should make sure you are at least cool with the people you're making fun of. Racial insensitivity and being totally completely un-politically-correct is fine as long as the people understand its a joke.

Republicans aren't cool with black people, so its not ok for them to make this sort of joke.

If John Stewart made a joke about how Obama might get a pitt bull and a rottweiler and chain them up in the white house lawn as dogs for his girls, people would have laughed at it. It's racially insensitive, but people know John Stewart isn't a racist. People wouldn't wonder in the back of their mind if he really ment it, they would see it on face for what it was, something silly.

On the other hand, the RNC is filled with old rich racist country club white guys that don't even understand that black people really don't care for them... The problem here isn't even really the joke, its the people making the joke.

Hell if it was at least funny people might not have cared as much. Its not funny, its like the Don Imus thing, its just offensive.

Like lemmings, jostling to pitch themselves over a cliff, into the sea. I love Nature.

An interesting fact is there isn't much coming out of the black community on this issue. So I would have to say Saltsman isn't coming across as a racist to them; however, I will say I find him, as well as those who support him on this issue, to be crass . And that's not a desirable quality one should expect to see in members of the Senate. Perhaps the Senate needs to look into the matter and deal with this based on their own Parliamentary rules of order.

I am a beleaguered Democrat from Tennessee and I know some hilarious parodies too!

Chip the Ignorant Cracker
came from Tennessee.
He was running for Grand Dragon
of the good ole RNC.

He knew that Republicans were unhappy,
after Obama it was tough.
So he sent out a CD insulting his race
and other redneck stuff.

Oh, Chip the Ignorant Cracker
came from Tennessee.
He was running for Grand Dragon
of the good ole RNC.

Chip said the songs were satire,
just humorous and all in fun.
When Democrats saw the mess he’d made
they said his campaign was done.

But Chip knew other crackers
would revel in the slime.
The only thing better than being hit by Dems
would be an attack from the New York Times.

Oh, Chip the Ignorant Cracker
came from Tennessee.
He was running for Grand Dragon
of the good ole RNC.

So Chip’s blunder actually helped him
and got him votes, or so they say.
And maybe next we’ll see him running
for president of the USA.

Oh, Chip the Ignorant Cracker
came from Tennessee.
He was running for Grand Dragon
of the good ole RNC.

i will NEVER forget how the repugs have used race as a wedge issue for a long time,what they need to do is figure out if they can find even one shred of humanity

Please don't say Cracker, they prefer to be called Biscuit Americans.

The fact that so many Republicans don't understand how offensive this is shows you how out of touch the party is.

Makes me think of Lee Atwater.

As Maddow said, stay classic, GOP. Stay classic. Don't change. You guys can take Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana Tennessee, Kentucky and Oklahoma (and maybe Texas, though we'll work on that). We'll take the rest - and we won't even have to talk about killing the filibuster in the Senate.

Two men apply for a position in a fortune 500 company. One has ten years of experience, several certifications, and a masters degree in the field. The other has four less years of experience, fewer certifications, and his masters. The second candidate got the job. Why?

The answer is pure and simple: Racism. People associate these "-isms" with all directly negative terms, however when the less qualified candidate gets a position because of a "minority quota", that is most certainly and clearly racism.

-------------------

If I called you an idiot or sang a song that questioned your intelligence, I wouldn't automatically be a "handicapped-ist", I'd just be an insensitive jerk because you're legitimately special.

To quote Obama: “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run,” said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?’"

Noone candidate said anything about his race or heritage. If he was born here in America, he's an American with African heritage. If he was born in Africa and moved here to America, he's an African-American... Just because you're of African (Asian, Italian, Russian, Indian, etc) does not make you a -American. Respect (and if you can't, make respectable) the country that made your life and decisions possible.

With racial pride comes equal opportunity for racial prejudice. Be proud to be an American and make not enemies of your fellow Americans.

It is not that the Republican Party as an organization or Republicans as individuals are racist; indeed that is not the case. Rather the Republican Party as an institutional organization and its officials, candidates and office holders at the state national and local levels, have been willing to at the very least least, turn a blind eye to racism and allowed their operatives to quietly used a less than equal view of race as a strategic tool in campaigns for the past forty years.

From Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy, which trumpeted “law and order” at a time of civil unrest and violence in African American communities it is a hop skip and jump to George Bush-the-Elder’s infamous Willie Horton attack ad and a legislative history of opposition to nearly every proposal aimed at bridging what has been a societal gap between black and white. Mix in the last Presidential campaign when John McCain and particularly Sarah Palin replaced the other N-word with the word Muslim and it is clear where the GOP have stood up until now. It did not work because attitudes about race have undergone basic change of the course of the last generation or two.

This is not the first time the world has changed without anyone in the Republican Party noticing; they campaigned against Social Security, unemployment insurance and minimum wage through the mid 1950’s. Perhaps the results of November’s election will convince GOP policy makers that racial politics is no longer politically viable as a national strategy but then Mr. Saltzman’s little Christmas gift seems to say that such a time has not yet come.

Macaboros
December 31, 2008 10:09 AM I think the repubs did everything in their power to bring out racism and hatred. Hell, even McCain had to tell Palin to tone it down.
So, my question is, what planet do you come from?

Stupid and unnecessary. Just shows dumb these people are.

This reminded me of a sexual harrassment training I had to take.

The main point was that it doesn't matter what the intent was even if it was just a joke. All it takes is for the receiver(s) to be offended, then it is sexual harrassement period. We will fire you on the spot because we don't want the trouble.

In this case, all it takes is one person to get offended, then the song is racially motivated. Techinally the word "negro" is not a racist word. I thought the word came from Spanish language if I remember my high school Spanish correctly. Personally, Saltsman should had more common sense then trying to do this. I mean he is a public figure therefore public image is everything.