This has gotten a tad ridiculous. For starters, as I’ve previously stated, Chip Saltsman gave this CD as a private gift. It had 41 tracks on it and Saltsman  probably forgot that “Barack The Magic Negro” was even on the CD.

Second of all, the song was a parody of a column by an African-American LA Times reporter, David Ehrenstein, in which he referred to Obama as a “Magic Negro” in the title. I happen to think that Erhenstein’s column was a tad offensive and stupid; however, I had no problem with Rush making a parody of Erhenstein’s column. But, what’s really mind boggling to me, is that neither the original column, nor the parody by Rush, generated much outrage at the time. However, now, some Republican official (Chip Saltsman) giving a CD that contains the Shanklin parody of the Ehrenstein column (along with 40 other tracks) is somehow way out of bounds? Gimme a break. This is insane!

(Linked below is the Erhenstein column, along with the words to the Shanklin parody.  Anyone with an IQ above 70, that reads both the Erhenstein column and the song lyrics, can clearly see that the Shanklin song is simply a parody of the Erhenstein column, and is mocking Al Sharpton–it is not a deliberate attempt to be racist towards President-elect Obama.)

David Ehrenstein’s column

Lyrics to Shanklin’s song

Third of all, Tommy, are everyone’s Christmas gifts, from now on out, going to undergo this much scrutiny (or just conservatives’ gifts), because I didn’t get the memo. Like say, for instance, can a liberal politician give his friends a subscription to The New Yorker, or would that be considered racist because The New Yorker did have a cover several months ago that some people thought was offensive (even though they were just trying to PARODY the whole “Obama is a secret Muslim” nonsense)? Can I give someone a DVD of Jon Stewart’s parodies, even though he did have one with a character called “The Race Genie” making fun of Bob Herbert falsely accusing the McCain campaign of racism (with the “Paris and Britney ads”) and of Obama with his “Dollar bills” comment–or would I be called a “racist” if I tried to run for office later?  My mom and my step-dad love Jon Stewart, and I was thinking of giving them some Daily Show DVDs next year, but maybe I should think twice about it.  Oh, and can I give my friends a DVD of Saturday Night Live parodies, even though one of the parodies shows Al Sharpton getting shocked by a dog collar, or would someone call me a “racist” for that if I tried to run for office later?  I already own a bunch of DVDs of SNL parodies, but maybe I should get rid of them.   Anyway, Tommy, can you please give me your address so that I can mail you my list of Christmas gifts next year before I send them out, so that I might not offend your tender sensibilities and have you accuse me of “giving the gift of racism”?

(Linked below is a picture of The New Yorker cover discussed above, along with two embeds of the Jon Stewart video and the SNL video.  Also, I have a link to a diary that I wrote about Bob Herbert falsely accusing the McCain campaign of racism that has embeds of his embarrassing performance on Morning Joe when he first brings up the “phallic symbols”).

New Yorker cover

Jon Stewart’s “Race Genie” video

Bob Herbert, There You Go Again

And finally, Tommy, I just thought of one other thing.  Barack Obama publicly admitted to having Ludacris on his iPod, and Ludacris even wrote an extremely offensive song calling Hillary a b***h and saying that John McCain should be paralyzed, and we’re obsessing about “Barack the Magic Negro”? Please! Obama was a presidential candidate and is, now, the President-elect (not some party official), and he admitted to listening to a guy who regularly uses the words “b***h” and “ho” to refer to women, not to mention the “n-word”–and that’s OK. However, Chip Saltsman (a party official–not a presidential candidate) privately gives his friends a Paul Shanklin CD (Shanklin is not even in the same ballpark as Ludacris) with one track making fun of an offensive column, and all hell breaks loose?! The hypocrisy of this whole situation makes my head want to explode. I can’t believe that we’ve even been suckered into playing along with this.  Oh, and on a side note, can you all even imagine what would have happened if Saltsman had given his friends and co-workers a Ludacris CD, instead of a Shanklin CD, or had called Ludacris a “great talent” like Obama did?  Saltsman would have been read the riot act, but I digress.

(Linked below are two columns about Obama’s relationship with Ludacris.  The Jake Tapper column, which is the first link, even has the words to the infamous Ludacris song (as well as a link to the Youtube video of the song) that was written in honor of Obama’s White House run.)

Jake Tapper’s column with Ludacris lyrics and video

MSNBC column about Obama and Ludacris

You know Tommy, come to think of it, I don’t think that I want your address after all.  I’ve decided, after much thought and careful consideration, that I should be able to give my friends and family members whatever they want for Christmas without worrying about what some self-righteous, judgemental, race-baiting weasel thinks.  Tommy, write it down, take a picture, do whatever floats your boat–I DON”T CARE!  If one of my friends happens to want a New Yorker subscription, then I will get it for him.  If my parents want Jon Stewart DVDs, then I will buy them some.  If my husband wants SNL DVDs, then I will buy him some.  And yes, if some of my friends and co-workers happen to want a Paul Shanklin CD for Christmas, then I will give it to them (even though I’m not a regular Rush listener), because I buy Christmas gifts to give my friends and family members some joy and to make them happy Tommy, not to win your–or anyone else’s–approval.  By the way, I hope that you had a Merry Christmas.

Sincerely, Susannah

PS–Barack Obama would probably never find himself in the same situation as Chip Saltsman, because he doesn’t even give Christmas or birthday gifts to his own daughters.

This diary is cross-posted on the The Minority Report.