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Magic Man: Race and the Republican Party
Human Events ^ | 1/1/09 | D. R. Tucker

Posted on 01/01/2009 6:27:26 AM PST by MartinaMisc

I’m afraid I must disagree with the great conservative writer Larry Elder, whose January 1 column (“Barack the Magic Negro-gate”) on the controversy surrounding would-be Republican National Committee chairman Chip Saltsman misses the point about why Saltsman’s actions were so misguided.

Elder correctly notes that it was a black liberal writer, David Ehrenstein, who originally started the “Magic Negro” controversy with a March 2007 Los Angeles Times piece attacking Obama as a candidate whose hopes for victory depended upon exploiting white guilt.

“The article produced virtually no outcry,” Elder writes. “Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh then aired a [Paul Shanklin] song parody—set to the music of ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’—called ‘Barack the Magic Negro.’ Referring to the L.A. Times article, an Al Sharpton-like ‘singer’ called Obama inauthentically black. Why, complained the singer, should white folks vote for Obama rather than a true black man ‘from the hood’ like— me.”

Elder continues, “Chip Saltsman, a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee, sent the song on a CD with 40 other songs, in a Christmas mailer to committee members. Doesn't the mailer, asked several cable news programs, expose the Republicans—yet again—for their tone deafness on the issue of race?…Never mind the parody actually satirized Al Sharpton. The song implies that Sharpton hoped against an Obama victory, for it crushes Sharpton's argument about America's alleged institutional racism, a force so potent in a country so racist that Obama could not win. An Obama win threatens to reduce the significance of Sharpton-like black leaders. And never mind a black liberal—who started the whole thing—called Obama a ‘Negro.’

“When will the GOP—on the issue of race—go on the offense?”

The answer: Never, because it can’t.

(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: magicnegro; obama; rnc; saltsman
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1 posted on 01/01/2009 6:27:26 AM PST by MartinaMisc
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To: MartinaMisc

So true....it won’t because it can’t.


2 posted on 01/01/2009 6:33:13 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: MartinaMisc
Barack The Magic Negro [sung by Al 'not-so' Sharpton]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZyPaivOARM
3 posted on 01/01/2009 6:40:01 AM PST by ETL (Smoking gun evidence on ALL the ObamaRat-commie connections at my newly revised FR Home/About page)
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To: MartinaMisc

The only near-term solution is to encourage any and every conservative black or minority Republican leader into the forefront, and have them become the face of the party.

Yes, it may be pandering in the absolute sense .... which is sometimes an insult to some.

But it is critical for the GOP to spread pro-American conservatism.... and if it takes some moving around of RNC leadership... then so be it.

As long as those new GOP leaders maintain a pro-business, values centered, Pro-Life, low-tax, conservative platform. values.....


4 posted on 01/01/2009 6:41:35 AM PST by Edit35 (.)
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To: anniegetyourgun

But wait! I though racism was dead since the media coronation of 0bama.


5 posted on 01/01/2009 6:44:56 AM PST by cowboyway ("The beauty of the Second Amendment is you won't need it until they try to take it away"--Jefferson)
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To: MartinaMisc
Called 0bami a negro? Shame.


I guess I am still safe from prosecution for what I call him ... under my breath ... and out loud when I am alone.

At least until the commies can read thoughts.

6 posted on 01/01/2009 6:47:29 AM PST by G.Mason (Duty, Honor, Country)
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To: MartinaMisc

This is GREAT! We have Obama now! We are all RICH! No one has to work ever again! The check is surely in the mail!


7 posted on 01/01/2009 6:48:27 AM PST by buffyt (Have a Wonderful FREEPIN' New Year!)
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To: MartinaMisc
Thus, Republicans must be careful about not giving the mainstream media the tools with which to bash the party.

Tucker missed this in his final proof before submitting the piece. This is certainly not a serious line.

The MSM will use whatever tools they can stir from their slime barrels. If necessary they will simply fabricate some tools. I know Tucker knows this!

8 posted on 01/01/2009 6:53:27 AM PST by stevem
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To: MartinaMisc
Maybe they should Read a Book. (Warning Vulgar Language). An actual BET PSA.
9 posted on 01/01/2009 6:53:33 AM PST by rawcatslyentist (Proud non productive worker under directive 10-289)
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To: MartinaMisc
Like I've been saying, conservatives desperately need to develop our own institutions parallel to those dominated by the liberals, so as to provide an alternative to the left-wing dominated MSM. Then we can get our message out by simply doing an end-run around the leftist media blockade. THAT'S the failing of conservatism and the GOP.

I still think that white, middle class values are the winning message - they HAVE to be unless we want to discard America on the ashheap of history and admit that we're destined to become another ethnically-Balkanised, kleptocratic failed state like they have in so many places in Africa and Latin America. We have to push those values aggressively now, so tnat we don't have to fight the inevitable civil war provoked by black and Hispanic ethnic separatists later on. True Americans - those who are grounded in the traditional civi ethos of this nation - need to firmly take the reins of power, even if we have to give a boot to the face of the Democrat coalition in the process.

Did you know that if McCain had increased his share of the white vote by 5%, we'd be talking about President McCain today? Yep. Guess what? The GOP doesn't need to reach out to minority voters as badly as many think. The GOP needs to FIRST solidify its standing with white voters, many of whom left this year because they didn't like McCain, and thus didn't vote, or else voted for Obama because of the economy (Hint - saying the economy is "fundamentally sound" while millions are losing their jobs, is flat stupid).

Further, it's inaccurate to say that Americans have rejected "white, middle class values" (i.e. conservatism). They were never presented with that option this year. McCain certainly didn't represent it, even despite his feeble attempts to link President-elect Soetoro to socialism and talk up tax cuts. Frankly, I doubt McCain even understands why we needed tax cuts, and was reading off a script that he had printed up in desperation. He wasn't convincing. If we present people with a convincing conservatism that rests on individual liberty, economic freedom, and traditional social values, we WILL win. We DID win on just that platform, back in 1994, and held onto that majority using that platform all the way to 2000 (which is when Bush fundamentally altered the message). I simply do not believe that "demographics" (or whatever other excuse people use) have changed so radically in eight short years. Simply doesn't happen.

10 posted on 01/01/2009 6:55:22 AM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (Nihil utile nisi quod honestum - Marcus Tullius Cicero)
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To: MartinaMisc

Don’t pander period. The GOP should not “reach out” to Blacks or whites or browns or us Cajuns or anyone, cher. (Pronounced ‘sha’) Every year more tradionally dems are abandoning liberalism as they grow econimically. The problem is that there is no place for them to go. Yes, it will take many years but too bad.


11 posted on 01/01/2009 7:05:15 AM PST by HChampagne (I am not an AARP member and never will be.)
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To: MartinaMisc

The answer is to sell the basic conservative values and how we all of every race benefit as Americans to those values. We definitely need commercials that incorporates America as it is statistically represented when it comes to race. The problem is that even though blacks historically have been 12% of the US population the liberal media tries to populate them and push for them as if they were 85% and shoved in corners. They are not and they often shove themselves in their own corner, not whitey. Conservatives are just more based in reality. Liberals live in their own special hypocritical fantasy world and have the blacks all tied up in their lies. It is the job of conservatives to penetrate this group with fundamental conservative values and how they can benefit. Bottomline. We ALL can benefit. Black, white, red, green, yellow, whatever God birthed us to be. Period.


12 posted on 01/01/2009 7:08:06 AM PST by GOP Poet
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To: MartinaMisc

We have let the left, including the media and the Democrats, frame the argument for so long we no longer see a clear choice in elections. Conservatives are always urged, by their own consultants and this author, to move to the center while the liberals have moved so far left the center is now center left. Yet the population is mostly center right.

When the slightest word of sanity is uttered by the conservatives, or in this case a humorous parody, the media, the Democrats, in otherwords, the Left, jump immediately on top of it, condemning it and basically killing a gnat with a sledge hammer. This cows conservative politicians and their “advisors”, like this author.

It shouldn’t. They (we) should stand up to them and declare just as strongly how wrong they are. This is especially true of political correctness. PC is designed to stifle dissent and it is working marvelously. The Left and the Islamists use identical tactics. They stifle dissent with threats of destruction, physically or politically. We are cowards not to face them down each time they do it.

Give America a true choice between a conservative, not a watered down one who is wooing the mushy-middle, and a liberal and the conservative will win.

However, the greater threat is the way the Left, through groups like ACORN, have seized the election process. Unless we can straighten that out we will never again have an honest election. In order to do that we must stiffen our spines and demand it.


13 posted on 01/01/2009 7:14:16 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
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To: MartinaMisc

Political correctness has now been exploited to its logical conclusion; we have a president who was chosen for his color. There were, of course, a few minimum requirements he had to meet. For instance, he had to be more affable than Al Sharpton, and more articulate Jesse Jackson. He needed to be black in appearance, but had to act more like a cross between Bill Cosby and Will Smith. It was important that he not scare ‘typical white people’. With the assistance of the fawning media, he was able to hide his Tony Rezko and Rev. Wright inclinations. In terms of white guilt, America feels very warm and fuzzy and what it has done for Barack Obama as a black man. It remains to be seen what he will do now that he possesses the keys to the city, and whether it will be worth the price of fleeting emotional gratification.


14 posted on 01/01/2009 7:17:05 AM PST by Spok (Now is the time to cling to faith and freedom, while we still can.)
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To: MartinaMisc
Conservatives and Republicans will never make significant progress in convincing black Americans to vote for them until black Americans stop lying to themselves.

Republican "racism" is a truism in the African American community; it is preached from the pulpit, touted throughout the news media, advanced by movies, and repeated ad nauseum by black celebrities, educators, and politicians.

Until the black community is willing to take an honest look at what they have "gained" by supporting Democrats and the failure of every Democrat legislative effort to improve their lives; until they understand that they must work for their own support and meet their own needs rather than wait on mana from Lord High Obama, they will not support or even consider supporting Republicans or Conservatives.

What Republicans do matters very little if at all.
15 posted on 01/01/2009 7:20:30 AM PST by Sudetenland (Those diplomats serve best, who serve as cannon fodder to protect our troops!)
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To: MartinaMisc

The song is funny, true, and to the point.


16 posted on 01/01/2009 7:25:02 AM PST by bmwcyle (I have no President as of Jan 20th 2009. No Congress either.)
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To: ETL

THANK YOU for posting the next Grammy Awards winner!


17 posted on 01/01/2009 7:26:47 AM PST by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: MartinaMisc
Good article and spot-on IMO.

There's really only one choice for me in this RNC race, and it's Ken Blackwell because I trust his conservative values.

Mike Duncan -- RINO loser
Chip Saltzman -- idiot for distributing the CD
Saul Anuzis -- loser for screaming wolf about the CD
Michael Steele -- RINO
Katon Dawson -- good man tainted by all-white country club association

Ken Blackwell is the clear choice IMO.

18 posted on 01/01/2009 7:38:12 AM PST by Al B.
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To: MartinaMisc

Walter E. Williams issued all of us whites a certificate of forgiveness or something similar a few years ago; maybe we could ask him to update it to reflect the Obama election, then publish it everywhere!

Dr. Williams, how about it?


19 posted on 01/01/2009 7:46:13 AM PST by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., how many girls did you drown today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: GOP Poet

****Conservatives are just more based in reality****

OUR reality is no longer THE reality. Welcome to the Brave New Animal Farm.

This is the end. May it be swift.


20 posted on 01/01/2009 7:48:50 AM PST by gost2
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