The latest way for the MSM and the Democratic Party to portray the Republican Party as home of knuckle-dragging racists was, ultimately, self-inflicted by Chip Saltsman, a candidate to be chair of the RNC. Saltsman is a former head of the Tennessee Republican Party who managed the Mike Huckabee campaign and who recently distributed a Christmas CD containing parody songs, including some from Paul Shanklin which are "controversial". To a good extent, the two songs I've reviewed are only controversial because they were made so. Unfortunately, that's not a full defense of Saltsman's actions because he should have known how it would be received and either selected a different battle or come with more troops.

The first is "Barack the Magic Negro" (link), a take-off on Al Sharpton based off of a Los Angeles Times guest editorial from David Ehrenstein called, ta da, "Obama the 'Magic Negro'" (link). MSM sources bury the genesis of the song at the end or pretend that the genesis is only what Saltsman says rather than what is clearly the truth. And, this has also caused the formation of a circular firing squad and caused Saltsman to go on the defensive and issue PC pieties. For examples of all those, see "RNC Chairman Candidates Split on Charged Stocking Stuffer" (link) from Michael Shear of the Washington Post. This quote from Saltsman is buried at the end:

"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,' " Saltsman said in a statement today, referring to the op-ed article that reportedly inspired the song lyrics... "I firmly believe that we must welcome all Americans into our party and that the road to Republican resurgence begins with unity, not division. But I know that our party leaders should stand up against the media's double standards and refuse to pander to their desire for scandal."

Another track is "Star Spanglish Banner". The lyrics for that are below and you can hear it here. I assume that the person who made that video is unaffiliated with Saltsman or Shanklin, but the images are fitting considering that the topic of the song is political support for illegal immigration. About the only thing somewhat offensive about the song is the kindergarten-level pun on "Jose"/"O say", and perhaps the somewhat inaccurate use of the word Spanglish; regarding the last, see Cheech and Chong.

The rest of the song is a satire on uninvolved citizens and on politicians who support illegal activity, and so because of that it's easy to see why the MSM, the Democrats, and some Republicans would want to portray it in a bad light.

UPDATE: Jim Acosta of CNN offered a report on the "controversy" that completely failed to mention the LAT piece. Not only that, but it included less-than-flattering stills of those involved, and rolling video of a raging Rush Limbaugh without providing any sort of context. And, that's not all: it included Karl Frisch of Media Matters for America referring to the song as "hate", and implied that rightwing radio was full of "hate". But, wait Acosta had even more: he offered a highly edited quote from Saltzman; presumably he cut out any sort of effective defense Saltzman had provided to CNN.

Continuing the idiocracy, the titular MSNBC host said she wouldn't find it funny if someone referred to her as "Tamron Hall the Magic Negro Anchor Lady". Obviously, whatever argument she's trying to make is fallacious, given - once again - the original LAT piece that kicked everything off. Needless to say, idiots are trying to resell her illogical comments, including [[ Nicholas Graham]] of the Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/29/msnbc-anchor-i-wouldnt-fi_n_154107.html) and Ben Armbruster of ThinkProgress (thinkprogress.org/2008/12/29/tamron-hall-magic-negro).

Lyrics to the song:

Jose can you see
By the dawn's early light
Cross the border we sailed
As the Gringos were sleeping

What broad stripes and bright stars
We like red, green, and white
On the day that we marched
We were gallantly screaming

And the rally was where
We waved flags in the air
As proof in daylight
That our flag was not theirs

Jose does that star spangled banner yet wave
For the land of weak knees
In DC, no one's free