Wow.
In their aggressive quest to fully remake the GOP into the all-white all-southern party, GOPers are coming out in supportof Chip Saltsman for giving out "Barack the Magic Negro" CD's for Christmas.
Interestingly, the GOP's few black members seem to have given Saltzman's supporters the courage to stand up for him. Our perennial favorite, Ken Blackwell, downplayed the offensive nature of the song, effectively lending a lukewarm endorsement to Saltzman:
"Unfortunately, there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race. This is in large measure due to President-elect Obama being the first African-American elected president," Blackwell said in a statement. "I don't think any of the concerns that have been expressed in the media about any of the other candidates for RNC chairman should disqualify them. When looked at in the proper context, these concerns are minimal. All of my competitors for this leadership post are fine people."
As the article notes, this retrenching appears to ironically be set to benefit Blackwell and Saltsman the most among voting members.
If Rush Limabaugh thinks something's funny, how do these members believe that most of the country will NOT be offended by it? As their tailor-made right-wing media continues to dominate Republican discourse, I suspect we'll continue to see the GOP deliberately marginalize themselves.
This one, however, surprised even me.
update--others have weighed in, including Huckabee, as noted by TPM, with sort of a non-defense defense of Saltsman.