Posted on 05/19/2007 5:29:09 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
'Today’ Show to Report on Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Barack the ‘Magic Negro’’ Parody Posted by Noel Sheppard on May 19, 2007 - 19:47.
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh reported on air and at his website Friday that NBC’s “Today” show is going to do a segment Monday regarding his musical parody “Barack the ‘Magic Negro’” (audio available here, subscription required):
Now, this first aired on March 21st. This is May 18th. By the time they get around to doing their profile, it will be two months old as a story.
Interesting point. After all, Obama himself shrugged this whole thing off as just "entertainment" weeks ago.
Regardless, Rush continued:
In these two months, I have spent countless minutes on this program explaining the genesis of the parody. I have gone line by line translating and explaining it, demonstrating that everything in it is based on fact and words that were uttered by liberals. In this period of time, Barack Obama has laughed it off and called it dumb. In this period of time, Al Sharpton responded. Just this week we had the audio sound bite where Sharpton was asked about it and said (paraphrased), "Limbaugh has the right to do this. He's attacking individuals. He's not going after gender or race entirely. He's attacking an individual," and so forth. It's all based on Sharpton's admitted jealousy of Obama's being lauded and loved and being called "clean and articulate" by Joe Biden.
Clearly, Limbaugh believes that “Today” will misrepresent the genesis of this parody, and accuse him, in this post-Imus era, of being racist. As such, Limbaugh has posted at his website everything one needs to know about this song here.
For example, will Matt or Meredith mention that the whole thing was precipitated by a column in the Los Angeles Times by David Ehrenstein entitled “Obama the ‘Magic Negro’” (emphasis added):
AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House.
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."
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 .
What’s the likelihood that this article will even be addressed Monday? Next to zero, correct?
Well, as Rush concluded, this is going to be fun.
For those that haven’t heard the song, it comes in minute three of the following audio link (subscription required). The lyrics are as follows:
SHARPTON IMPRESSIONIST PAUL SHANKLIN:
Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C. The L.A. Times, they called him that ‘Cause he’s not authentic like me.
Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paperSaid he makes guilty whites feel good They’ll vote for him, and not for me ‘Cause he’s not from the hood.
See, real black men, like Snoop Dog, Or me, or Farrakhan Have talked the talk, and walked the walk. Not come in late and won!
Refrain: Oh, Barack the Magic Negro, lives in D.C. The L.A. Times, they called him that ‘Cause he’s black, but not authentically.
(repeat Refrain)
Some say Barack’s "articulate" And bright and new and "clean" The media sure loves this guy, A white interloper’s dream!
But, when you vote for president, Watch out, and don’t be fooled! Don’t vote the Magic Negro in ‘Cause... (music stops, Sharpton rants, music returns)
(background vocalists repeat refrain & finish song)
Thanks, much.
Don’t give up on the talk radio format. Not all are Us vs. Them all the time. Many are cultural and thought-inspiring, rather than the daily grind of politics.
Dennis Prager
Dennis Miller
Neal Boortz
It’s one of those phrases where it is perfectly OK for a minority member to use the term, but if a white person uses it, they are considered racist.
another NBC hit job on a conservative.
All-out warfare aginst the right.
Rush better be careful- he might get washed out to sea if the hurricane hits him next.
WHAT? Are you crazy? I LOVED Magic Johnson almost as much as I loved Larry Bird!!
Now that Magic is an old fart, as am I ..
I can finally admit it!
Those 80’s Celtics/Lakers games were the Best Rivalry in history.
That's why we're itching for a fight from someone who can win. I imagine you are too. This could be sweet.
He used it as well, it came from the LA Times article from a black columnist re: Obama, that’s why the parody was done (along with other articles in media asking if he was black enough and Al dissing him for claiming Selma/Obama not really being down for the struggle).
A while back I was on a Chicago blog and checking out a post re: Black Commentary Mag or some black mag, where they accused him of lying three times in each book and the reprint of the old one changed after the Dem Conv. Speech. Two people were on that lived in the area where Obama started out his ‘neighborhood’ work and one complained he had not one black person there (I don’t know for sure), after getting harassed about it, he moved his office to a ‘different neighborhood’, where the wrong people wouldn’t harass him.
Exactly. It was about Rev. Al. I bet all those who’re whining didn’t listen or check their own news from that period. They don’t care, even though they know the slamming Al constantly gave him after Selma.
P.S. the “Magic Negro” term came out of the Supreme Court Decision Brown Vs. The Board of Education. 1954 I learned that in Public School in 1966.
I don’t know how to excerpt so “Wiki” me That!
see rushlimbaugh.com there’s a whole side of that Informative website that is free.
Have good one! I am off to beddy bye...
oh no! that may be construed as rascist too.. should I include bugs or something?
<>
Hugh Hewitt is my current favorite, because he keeps a sense of humor, veers from politics into art and culture every now and then, and as two law professors on every week to debate legal issues — something few talk hosts do. Most of the time, the news doesn’t notice the judicial branch unless there’s a SCOTUS vacancy.
Prager is more reasonable than most. Boortz ... well, I’m from Atlanta, his home base, so I grew up listening to him. I have to give him props for being his own man, in no one’s pocket. But after so many years, the odds aren’t great that I’ll turn on his show and hear him say anything I haven’t heard before.
Dennis Miller isn’t carried in Atlanta, as far as I’ve managed to find. Miller is a smart, funny guy, and he has about enough material for a really sharp hour-long stand-up show every six months — but his talk-show outings, from Fox to HBO to MSNBC, have been pretty weak. Especially on MSNBC, when he decided to have a chimp sidekick and not to have a studio audience, but encourage the floor crew to laugh loudly, like Tom Snyder. You kinda have to wonder what he was smoking.
I haven’t caught his radio show, but with the right co-host and good guests and callers, it might work.
I also don't know how to excerpt something that isn't there. The word "magic" does not appear in the Brown opinion. Where you got the idea that the Supreme Court coined the term, I have no earthly idea.
Hewitt is one of my favorites, too, but suffers from being in the bag for Romney far too early in the cycle.
He does, indeed, have the best regular guests, from the sublime Steyn and Gaffney to the insufferable Campbell and Chemerinsky.
American politics isn’t martinis at Harvard.
As I said, I don’t know how to excerpt.
I have a life that does not allow me time to learn new things.. yet.
Since you refuse to go to the Rush source that I quoted, figure it out for yourself.
I went to the per curiam (unanimous) opinion in Brown v. Board of Education. The phrase does not appear therein.
I’ve figured it out. I’ve figured out that you’re making stuff up.
Well, he's got a book to sell. I'm not sure if he's in the bag for Romney because he wrote the book, or vise versa, but it's definitely irksome. Hewitt is at his best when there's not an active election campaign, and he can focus on the stuff that other folks don't.
He’s still great, and runs a great show, regardless.
I could do without “movie hour” on Fridays, but that’s his thing.
Have a great weekend. I think I might be about to be banned.
Even Al Step-n-fetch said it was no big deal.
Pray for W and Our Troops
The liberals are searching for anyway they can to “imus-cize” Rush.
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