Chip Saltsman’s Curious Idea of Christmas Joy
Over at The Skepticians, James Richardson examines a Christmas gift from Chip Saltsman – an aspirant to the RNC chairmanship – to the various members of the committee. It’s a tasteful gift, providing we remember that “taste” runs a wide range, including “poor.”
In an exercise of political suicide, Republican National Committee Chair hopeful Chip Saltsman distributed a controversial CD by conservative satirist Paul Shanklin to national committee members this month for Christmas.
First played on Rush Limbaugh’s popular, though often taboo, radio show, the 41-track CD, entitled “We Hate the USA,” featured the racially-charged song “Barack the Magic Negro.” After all, nothing says “Christmas” like racial insensitivity…
Advancing a woefully intolerant agenda may help the Party in Saltsman’s back yard, Tennessee, but it stands to reason that it will further marginalize moderates, independents, and the few remaining African American Republicans.
Read Richardson’s full entry for the entire story on Saltsman, but I shall mostly leave that for another day. Suffice to say that Chip should probably abandon his plans to chair the RNC and keep his head down for a while. For me, this story serves as yet another reminder of the nagging question as to why Republicans and conservatives in general continue to keep Rush Limbaugh’s ship afloat. On the day that the song premiered, Rush apparently uttered the phrase in question more than two dozen times over the course of the broadcast. (For the record, the phrase originally cropped up in the L.A. Times, which should be equally scorned.) It’s the sort of thing one unfortunately expects when tuning in to Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show. But isn’t Rush supposed to be a serious political commentator for the conservative Right wing? From his earlier substance abuse problems to incident after incident such as this, Rush has long since become an embarrassment to the party and the conservative movement in general. And yet his ratings remain strong and he garners the support of many GOP pundits and politicians. Why? Is this really how Republicans wish to have themselves portrayed? Is there some case to be made that referring to Obama as “the magic Negro” is acceptable under any circumstances?
Some of you are conservatives, surely. So tell us… how is this guy still on the air?
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7 Responses to “Chip Saltsman’s Curious Idea of Christmas Joy”
[...] The Moderate Voice’s Jazz Shaw weighs in on the matter of the “curious” Christmas gift. addthis_url = [...]
There's a lot of money at stake for Rush Limbaugh. He's telling the exact jokes his radio audience wants to hear.
And then he pats himself of the back for being politically incorrect. Which his audience also happens to enjoy.
It doesn't matter who wins elections. It only matters that he satisfies his audience.
“how is this guy still on the air?”
1: He's highly profitable.
2: He smart enough to straddle the line of what he can get away with without actually crossing it.
It's called satire. It's a satire of the LA Times article written by David Ehrenstein(who is black). Ehrenstein said something stupid and Rush is mocking him as he always does with Liberals who say stupid things and get away with them. Lib outlets like the Daily Show and SNL do the exact same thing, repeating and exaggerating comments made by 'enemy' politicians in skits and segments and usually in a much cruder fashion.
Also I'll add that satire has been an important aspect of of political commentary since the beginning of time.
nornus:
Even with “satire” there are norms, limits and decency. Also, satire, according to one dictionary is “the use of ridicule, irony, sarcasm, etc., to expose folly or vice or to lampoon an individual.”
Unles you decide to include it as part of “etc.” I don't see “to demonize, racially insult, or express intolerance, prejudice, bias against a person” as part of the definition.
[...] Over at The Skepticians, James Richardson examines a Christmas gift from Chip Saltsman – an aspirant to the RNC chairmanship – to the various members of the committee. It’s a tasteful gift, providing we remember that “ taste ” runs a wide range Continue .. [...]