Racial Parody Provokes RNC Controversy

The inclusion of a racially charged satirical song about President-elect Barack Obama in a holiday-themed CD compiled by one Chip Saltsman, former Mike Huckabee aide and current candidate for Republican National Committee chair, has drawn sharp criticism from within GOP ranks, but others have come to Saltsman’s defense.

The Washington Post:

Created by conservative satirist Paul Shanklin, the song puts new lyrics to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” and it is performed as if black activist Al Sharpton were singing it. [Rush] Limbaugh played it after the Los Angeles Times ran an opinion piece with the same title.

“A guy from the LA paper said it made guilty whites feel good, they’ll vote for him and not for me cuz he’s not from the hood,” the song goes. “Oh, Barack the magic negro lives in DC, the LA Times they called him that because he’s black but not authentically.”

The CD accompanied holiday greetings from Saltsman, a Tennessee resident who managed former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s campaign for president. Saltsman announced his bid to lead the Republican Party this month.

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AP photo / Jim Cole

Chip Saltsman, left, shown in February 2006 with then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, whom Saltsman served as an adviser.