Barack the Magic N.... WARNING: POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE LINK!

These parodies were originally from the Rush Limbaugh show which I thought an appropriate place for them. It fits his shows genre. Personally, I can see how the material is offensive to many people. Barack the Magic Negro is only one track. The Star Spanglish banner is about Mexican immigrants hopping the border illegally. Depends where you sit if it is offensive and racist or just a good political satire. I am going to bet that the majority of the minorities that it is satiring are not amused.

Here is my thing about the Republicans defending Chip Saltsman decision to send this CD as a Christmas present. One there was a huge outcry a year ago when the CD was on Rush Limbaugh so there was not doubt that many people found it offensive. Two, the Republican party has been lamenting not having minorities and pledging to do better outreach. Three, one of the candidates to lead the RNC makes a decision to send out a CD that has already proven to be offensive to many people and sterotype minority groups. Now, defending a stupid decision to send this CD out, some Republicans are citing the liberal media, double standards or hypersensitivity to satire. Sorry, but Chip knew it was controversial, Chip sent it out and Chip should stand by his decision without trying to shift the blame to anyone or anything else. You made a decision guarenteed to alienate many African Americans and Hispanics in a year you should be doing all you can to outreach to minorities. He has perpetuated the sterotype that Republicans just don't get it. I don't know him personally or even about him so I can't say what he was thinking sending such a Christmas gift but it was his decision to send a controversial, seemingly to some people racist CD and it was his alone. Not liberals, the media or anyone else.

Here is a CNN link to the story if you do not want to watch the video.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/...ong/index.html

I've always said that the worst racists are the one's that can justify their bigotry in their own minds, and become offended when someone points it out to them. Sadly, it's apparent that we still have quite a few of these types of racists in Government.

My goodness. Before we go condemning Saltzman, Rush Limbaugh, right wingers, and the GOP, perhaps we should get the full story.

This musical parody is old news. It's been out since May 2007. Why is this a controversy now? Millions of people, government officials and otherwise have already heard it, including Obama.

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/tim...ck-magic-negro

Where did the title of this parody come from? Why, a black, liberal writer by the name of David Ehrenstein (yes, he's black), who wrote an article titled "Barack the Magic Negro" published by the LA Times on March 19, 2007.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...opinion-center

The song parody took it's inspiration from that title. If you listen to it you will understand that it's less about Obama than it is about Al Sharpton, failed presidential hopeful. A Sharpton imitator sings through a megaphone, doing a great impression of the good "Rev" who in real life is often found inciting hatred from behind a megaphone. Sharpton bemoans the fact that Obama's not an "authentic" negro, like he is. Obama didn't grow up in the hood, has no slave blood, is only half black, etc. If you'll recall, early in his campaign, these were criticisms leveled at Obama by some African-Americans.

"Barack the Magic Negro" is a clever parody that is neither racist, nor offensive once you actually listen to the lyrics and understand what it's about.

How is it that the origin of something racist and offensive is supposed to make it less racist and offensive?

Exactly. It's not even meant to be about BHO as much as it is about Sharpton and a mockery of his arguments.

Listen to it in context. Going into it thinking "some rich white dude said this was funny" isn't the right approach.

It actually reinforces the statement I made earlier;

And it would appear that I'm far from the only one that thinks so;

http://features.csmonitor.com/politi...issue-for-gop/

I know the full story. It is not old news when a candidate to lead the republicans into the next elections thinks this CD is a good Christmas present. A CD that was proven to be controversial when it came out and is still controversial with its rerelease. No excuse can be given that does not make the fact that Saltzman sent it out any offensive. YOU may not think it is racist but that does not make it any less offensive to black people. BTW Barack the Magic Negro was only one song on the CD. Care to weigh in on the other tracks. And I tell you what go out on the street and start calling black people negroes and see what happens. It is offensive.

I guess nothing says Merry Christmas in the true spiritual meaning of the season than this mean spirited drivel.

I am only saying Saltzman is an idiot and only the part of the GOP that defends him as idiots. Rush Limbaugh, this sort of stuff is his bread and butter. And that is where it belongs. With politicians that are going to speak for me and represent me, not so much.

Umm. So what if he is black or liberal. Does that somehow absolve any hint of incorrectness.

So the Republicans want to keep this steroetype going. And now be the one to trumpet it from their bullpits. That is going to attract alot of minorities.

It is racist and it is offensive. Not just to blacks but to those whites that voted for Obama. It might be funny to some but it is still offensive. It is a stereotype that by defending it prolongs the stereotypes it is portraying. And it is the reason the Republican party cannot attract minorities. Oh, you will get a few but not anywhere you need to to win elections. For us moderates that are conservatives in many ways especially fiscally this is just too disappointing. The actual fact it happened which I could excuse to someone being just an idiot to the defending which I can't quite understand.

Drat it looks like I can't figure out how to break up the quote.

Sorry, El Wrongo, it was, originally, from the good old LA Times, that is where Rush got it from.

Personally, I, as a white person wouldn't send it out as a CD, but it is okay if a black dude does because he is black, right?

Umm. No, the title may have been from taken from the LA times but the song itself was originally played in 2007 on Rush Limbaugh show. The song, was penned by longtime friend of Saltsman, Paul Shanklin.

Did a black dude send it out? Not that it matters if you are white or black but the question is do you care if the potential leader of your party believes it is an appropriate Christmas gift, thereby giving validity to the sentiment of Barack the magic negro. And let us not forget all the other satirical tracks including The Star Spanglish Banner. Do you think this is the inclusive message the GOP has said it wants to have? Trying to deflect the sending of the CD on other groups is not the point. Chip Saltsman sent it out and some in the GOP are defending the decision. No one else to my knowledge thought it an appropriate thing to do.

Nope, that is where Rush got it, the LA Times, published in the LA Times, March, 2007.

Yep, the black dude did send it out, he made it, it is his, he owns it.
Not trying to excuse the Pub at all.

Saltsman isn't running for any office, the Head of the RNC just leads the party when they pop up every 4 years for elections. And he's likely not got a chance against Michael Steele anyway, so this isn't a huge thing for the RNC.

We will have to respectively disagree on this. I have no idea who the black dude is you are talking about and I can't see how it has a bearing on Chip Saltsman sending out the CD for Christmas.

Oh, you are are talking about the article. I was talking about the actual song that was written based on the title of the article. It is the song that is on the CD.

Offensive and racist? Blame the black guy that made it. He is the offensive one. The only thing Saltsman is guilty of is very poor judgement.

I find it interesting that nothing was said about it until the Saltsman thing. So, it was okay before that?

The guy who made the recording, that sings the song. The Reverend Al impersonator, he is black. He did it, he owns it as far as I am concerned.

I thought the whole deal is a parody or satire as the Reverend Al impersonator singing a song to Barack because he (Rev Al) is jealous of Barack because Barack is getting more attention than him (Rev Al)

Since a black dude made the recording I don't even think it was meant to be racist at all. It was supposed to be funny and IMO, it is kinda funny, I admit it, I laughed when I listened to it.

Yes, offensive and racist! To use that title on the LA Times article was offensive. To write and record a song with that title was offensive. It takes a racist to think that it and several other tracks on the CD are funny. And it isn't at all realistic to think that because it was addressed the first time it was offensive, that it can't be offensive now.

And a great deal was said about it before now. There was an enormous outcry about it when it was played on-air months ago. It's just that we were sadly mistaken to think that those that thought it was funny the first time would have had the decency to throw away all the copies of it; not make more and give them to friends.

How can one be racist to one's own race Skippy. Good grief, it wasn't a white dude that made the recording. The name of the article was the name of the song. I think there is an over reaction here.

And I do think Saltsman showed poor judgement to send the CD.

But I think the actual author and recorder of the song and the song's actual content needs to be considered.

FTR, I like the Reverend Al Sharpton, I see him quite a bit on Fox, he is a good guy.

I agree with this. And, honestly I had never heard of the song until it came up in IMO forum but I don't have hours a day digging up every news story on the internet.

I do agree it was in VERY bad taste sending the CD out to people, but the song itself I see as a parody and not really offensive, unless you take offense to race mentioning race. Now, race isn't supposed to matter right? BUT, Obama is such a big deal because he's the first African American president....and the media is going crazy with that angle. "African American" didn't fit in with the song, so another word was chosen. Now, it could have been worse, and that WOULD have been offensive, but from what I understand it's ok for one african american to call another that in fun and all is good. And, it was a song sung by another African American and it doesn't bust on the race, it is a parody. Maybe I just don't get it.....

Where are you getting this from? Paul Shanklin, who creates impressions of dozens of people, and both wrote and performed this little ditty, is entirely Caucasian. He also wrote and performed several other offensive tracks on the CD, such as "The Star Spanglish Banner" and "The bank of Amigo".

This is wrong. Here is the website of the fellow that both wrote and performed all the tracks on the CD. Plus, those that may be inclined can order the CD from here
http://www.paulshanklin.com/

The writer of the article wasn't directing it at Obama OR Sharpton. He was implying that most of Obama's white supporters were doing so because of "white guilt", and to depict the entire Obama campaign as a racial anomaly. So yes, racist, and as I said, he used an offensive title for his article. The writer AND performer of the "song" is white, the man that thinks it's funny and giving it out as gifts is white. So, yes, I stick by my view that it's offensive and racist.

You don't have too You can set up RSS feeds, or something like Live Bookmarks within the Firefox browser, and have the news delivered right to your desktop. You can also sign up for email alerts at most of the news outlets, and they will send you emails hotlinked to the top stories in whatever categories you choose.

It's not one word or the other, it's the phrase "Magical Negro". As a phrase it indicates that the black in question has some kind of magical ability, but it can only be used to aid or support whites. Think Will Smith in "Bagger Vance".