What's With the Republican Party?

I somehow brought myself to watch several YouTube.com videos of "Barack the Magic Negro," a CD version of which Chip Saltsman, a candidate for chair of the Republican National Committee, sent out to Republican leadership. One that I can't find this morning made the message of this, I don't want to call it a parody, a too tame description, by Paul Shanklin obvious: to connect Barack Obama with less admirable African American men: Al Sharpton, Snoop Dog, and Jesse Jackson. The parody, aired by Rush Limbaugh, originally came out in the Spring 2007, just at the point when Obama was raising his profile and visibility in the Democratic campaign for president.

It's racist, pure and simple. The visuals available on YouTube might be homemade by others, but the lyrics and the intent of the song are despicable.

When the Obama campaign connected McCain with the wrongs of the Bush administration, it wasn't done by saying both men were white.

And that this racist message is being used in the Republican Party as a tactic to elect its new leadership exposes just what's wrong with that party. Especially now when there are no black Republicans in Congress.

J. Kenneth Blackwell, a former Ohio secretary of state and African American himself, famous for his role in creating a disputed Ohio election in 2004, dismissed the fuss as “hypersensitivity.” Michael S. Steele, another African American who is running for the position, the former Maryland lieutenant government and a frequent guest on Bill Maher's weekly HBO show, said Saltsman’s attempt at humor was misguided. “Our actions and our words are oftentimes used to define who we are as Republicans,” Steel said.

As well it should!