It would be fair to say GOP circles are divided on Chip Saltsman's choice of a way to give RNC Members a Christmas chuckle.
Count this blogger in Jim Geraghty's camp:
One can explain a joke, but one can't save it...but this is an entirely unforced error, giving those who wish to portray the GOP as racially insensitive a cheap and easy example to add to their arsenal.
Exactly. Being in a high profile position, heavy on public speaking, means that love it or hate it, you have to be attune to the public perception of the lay media consumer. That's nice if you can explain away your fumble as a non-gaffe to the junkies, but it doesn't matter when you're giving your broader brand name a black eye.
Rush Limbaugh playing the song is one thing, and actually pretty funny in full context. A white southerner hoping to be RNC Chair sending it out as a gift is fantastically tone deaf. Not exactly what the GOP needs these days it re-making its national image.
We here in the Northwest should be particularly aware of that, given our own challenges in only beginning to win back voters lost in past election cycles.
Posted by Eric Earling at December 29, 2008 07:28 PM | Email ThisIt's funny that when I have the chance to point out to Dem's that the song quotes Democrats they get a dour look to their face.
At first they think it is racist song, then they find out it's Democrat leadership quotes...
I guess being foreign born, I wasn't given the racial guilt gene, but it seems to me this is what is the source of so much of this asininity.
White American's need to understand the the institution of slavery was not an American invention, and Black American's need to understand that their current condition is not all (or even mostly) a result of White American's racism.
ABout 10 years ago a Jewish Canadian writer named Mordecai Richler wrote a short opinion piece that provided the best explanation of racism I have yet seen.
Richler said it was a form of tribalism - something akin to nationalism, and football team spirit - but twisted with irrational hatred to other nations and terams. It is the feeling of sameness that provides comfort when you meet another Washingtonian while on Vacation in Maine, but which is accompanied by evil thoughts for all Oregonians (don't tell me that hasn't happened to you).
In essence what Richler says is that we all have these feelings and that it only by understanding them that we can disconnect the good and bad parts of what makes patriotism different from fascism.
Posted by: deadwood on December 29, 2008 08:19 PMI may often disagree with you on policy, but in this case you are right. One should never show the opposition the easy to hit jaw.
Tone and frame matters in politics, and Saltsman might be rallying the base, but it is necessary to grow that base, not shrink it even further.
Posted by: bedir on December 29, 2008 08:25 PMand in the same vein, the left rarely at all condemns "art" like the famous crucifix in urine--at the same time the left would NEVER try the same stance with "other religions" if you know what I mean...the left dishes it out, but can't take it; double standards galore;
when Christians are involved, there's a noticable MSM sneer; but lo--other religions are "enlightened" despite their perceived bizarre or extreme customs and teachings that we all are supposed to "embrace" automatically as "diversity"
bash us all evenly or bash none--no favorites, MSM; that's why circulations are declining; no even-handedness & lazy research;
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on December 29, 2008 08:50 PMBy contrast, the rest of America has one opinion on this matter. Good luck getting our votes anytime soon.
Posted by: tensor on December 29, 2008 08:59 PMI think Limbaugh and James Golden have made some wry and subtle points about how the Democrats set the stage for a divided society and continued racism. Unfortunately this does not register with the masses of voters, who are like the crowd that can't tell that the WWE match they are watching is all a farce.
All very depressing.
Posted by: russell garrard on December 30, 2008 05:21 AMSo how much COKE have you had today. (3) posts at once. @ 2am..
LOL...
Posted by: Medic/Vet on December 30, 2008 08:04 AM" Count this blogger in Jim Geraghty's camp: "
Eric:
You sound like a 'sensitive guy'.
Your politics fit your 'sensitivity'.
Posted by: Brian Thomas on December 30, 2008 08:07 AMI have never seen anyone, anyone wearing a backwards baseball cap on their head that didn't look like a G'damn booger eating moron. This 40 something wannabe post adolescent horses ass is suffering from the most pronounced case of arrested development I have witnessed in some time. What a pathetic sight, he is on par with the "hip parents" we all witnessed when we were in highschool, you remember - the parents who were about as cool as a frozen dog turd. the harder they tried, the more pathetic they became.
The only good thing to come from his election is that we may finally be rid of John McCain and his back stabbing snake in the grass followers for good.
Posted by: JDH on December 30, 2008 08:08 AMEric:
www.NBRA.info
You being a 'sensitive guy', don't be immediately offended. The 'N' does not stand for -do I dare say it - Negro, it stands for National as in National Black Republican Association.
So relax, let out your breath and uncross your legs. It is OK for you to go to the website even if it is about Republicans.
Posted by: Brian Thomas on December 30, 2008 08:20 AMI really had no idea "1984" would come in 2008. . . .
Posted by: Frank Black on December 30, 2008 10:11 AMDon't you have another race to lose?
Posted by: jimg on December 30, 2008 10:25 AMActually, there are already too many candidates for the office that Saltsman hopes for. His own-goal is a refreshing reduction in the number of dumb candidates.
Now if the rest of them will just refrain from trying to buy votes by imitating the Democrat nanny-staters, there may remain a base to build upon. And the Obama presidency (WITH massive Democrat majority in Congress, AND massive sycophancy from the MSM) should present a lot of opportunities for presenting common-sense alternatives to by-the-numbers leftism.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on December 30, 2008 11:50 AMIt's almost as if the Republican Party has a death wish. Here's Saltsman saying, "I think most people recognize political satire when they see it,".
Where has this guy been in the last 40-years as the left has promoted political correctness in order to entirely change the field upon which we do battle?
It ain't fair. Democrats and their buddies in the media and entertainment can kick Republicans in the groin all they want. It's nothing more than a popular sport for them. We, on the other hand, can't say something nice about a 100-year old Senator at a dinner without creating a race-card playing furor.
Someone who is vying to become the National GOP Chairman and doesn't get that shouldn't be considered for the job.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on December 30, 2008 12:54 PMb. OBVIOUSLY, many people will take it the wrong way. And they did. And there's nothing you can do to prevent that. So either you accept that people take it the wrong way or you avoid it entirely. Doing it, letting them take it the wrong way, and then trying to fix the problem after the fact is pointless.
At this point the guy who passed it out should say "the song is not actually bad at all, but I realize now that people would take it the wrong way, and I shouldn't have distributed it in this way, in light of that. I apologize."
There isn't a snowball's chance in hell of explaining that the song isn't actually bad at all and apologizing that people might have taken it the wrong way.
Conservatives don't get those kinds of breaks.
We are playing against people who have the balls, the bats, own the playing field, and make up the rules. They are beating us to a pulp culturally and politically.
We need people smarter than this Saltsman character in positions of leadership if we ever hope to get out a conservative message.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on December 30, 2008 02:31 PMHow about Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon...
He's always protecting Danny Glover's family. He has no home. He's a screwup who comes through in the end and saves the day. He doesn't get the girl.
How about Bruce Willis in Die Hard?
He's an ex-cop who screws up. He is a drunk and lives in beat up apartment. He can't save his marriage. Yet, he comes to rescue. As in Die Hard IV where he has to save a lot of young folk and the whole town. But he doesn't "get the girl" -- he gets the girl for the other dude.
Arnold Schwarzenegger? Always a Magical White Dude...never fully human. Never gets the girl. Always saves the other people.
Sylvester Stallone in Day Break? He saves some of the other people and they still yell at him. No girl.
I think there are many, many movies about Magical White Dudes who save the world and never get any reward for themselves.
And in real life, we call these men soldiers.
Posted by: John Bailo on December 30, 2008 05:14 PMYes, we have to allow ourselves to be made fun of when we cannot return the favor. That means that freedom of speech only runs one direction in America today. Atheists have no such scripture to shape their character. I think we have to get used to that. Even Rejoice in that.
What are we made of? Are we chickens who can't even take a verbal beating? Can we ourselves not take a criticism /joke and REJOICE about it? If we stand, we become worthy of the criticism! Gear up, folks.
We must. Cause it just may get worse....
Along beside "reviled" is that other word..
persecuted. Let us pray we don't get there.
We need people smarter than this Saltsman character in positions of leadership if we ever hope to get out a conservative message.
"
Under this scenario it would not really help to play by their PC rules. Republicans would still lose even if they followed every jot and tittle of PC-ism.
The real solution is affirmative action (dare I say it?) in the GOP. Republicans need to actively recruit black candidates and leaders. Look at the response of Ken Blackwell in this situation. He can correctly call the situation a case of 'hypersensitivity,' not ignominiously tapdance away like the others.
But of course, affirmative action (the 'A-word'?)is anathema and will be derided by most posters here.
There are plenty of issues where the GOP should be able to appeal to black voters--vouchers, gay marriage, etc. If the black vote were changed from its current 90% Democrat to even 60% Dem, 40% R, the Democrats would be in real trouble.
Posted by: russell garrard on December 30, 2008 07:13 PMYet no one bothers to excoriate the originator of the headline... (note the DATE: March 19, 2007 and the SOURCE, that bastion of conservativism [/sarcasm], the LA Times.)
This is a perfect example of the closed minded hypocrisy of the left. The hear a rumor and scream like scalded banshees without bothering with FACTS.
Well, the toddler IS a magic negro in much (more) the same sense that the current president is the monkey they chose to portray him: a nothing/nobody guy with a background equally hidden and sketchy, elevated to a self proclaimed title of Messiah. Sounds "magic" to me.
The MIA, 9 million dollar vacation toddler is already whining about the constant media attention. Boo hoo. The media whore finally realizes his network pimps are ever present demanding bwhore masters.
Grow the hell up... and work on growing some testicles instead of your ugly pecs.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on December 30, 2008 09:10 PMhow many light bulb, kitty hawk flight, space rocket, kevlar, telephone, computers, or any host of daily inventions came from other "enlightened" countries, continents or cultures?
look--let's call a 'club' a 'club' (in respect for the new p.c. regime); look at TV ads--stupid weak white guy; smart wife or virtually anyone else; anyone paying attention to the theme?
historically, heavy creative invention lifting done by--whom? engineered by--whom? coming from cultures of---whom? then--used and copied all over the world by---whom?
i have no guilt; let's share what we can for world's betterment, morals & honest good---but remember---when bashing time comes--who really makes the widgets? and who just bitches about wanting them? or--"entitled" to them?
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on December 30, 2008 09:24 PMTrue. I used to, back when the GOP ruled my native Northeast, and stood for balanced budgets, reasonable taxes, a strong national defense (by which they meant both active military and diplomatic options), and keeping Big Government out of our private lives. That GOP looked down on Dixiecrats for their racism, their willingness to inject their religion into our politics, and their willingness to have government dictate our private lives. Now that the GOP has replaced the Dixiecrats as the party of the marginalized South, with racist 'parodies' permitted, I'm looking elsewhere, and (sarcastically) thanking them for leaving me in a one-party country.
Posted by: tensor on December 30, 2008 10:30 PMMy son thinks this song if funny,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZDAEWP0hfU
Us racist no way, can't be, we're minorities...
Posted by: EL UNO on December 31, 2008 08:56 AM" Don't you have another race to lose? "
jimg:
No, I don't, I don't run in races.
So I going to assume, in your muddled thinking, you are asking me if I am going to again campaign for public office.
Yes, but I don't know when.
I, unlike your ilk in the King County and Washington State Republican Party, understand the importance of having Republicans campaigning for public office even in Districts that are overwhelming Democrat, if for no other reason than it allows voters to see the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
And, unlike the candidates the King County and the Washington State Republican Party recruit, endorse and support, when I campaign for public office as a Republican, the voters can see a difference between the Democrat and the Republican.
And, unlike your ilk in the administrations of the King County and Washington State Republican Party, it gives the voters a choice. You and your ilk in the administrations of the King County and Washington State Republican Party, under the 'leadership' of Pat Herbold / Michael Young / Lori Sotelo / Chris Vance / Luke Esser, have become accustomed to and comfortable with recruiting 'candidates' that support your own political agenda at the exclusion of all other candidates and are understanding and supportive of having only one candidate for a public office when that candidate furthers your political agenda.
Even when that candidate is a Democrat.
So yes, I will step up and run in ' .... another race to lose', if for no other reason than I am helping to keep alive in Seattle the principles upon which my county, and the Republican Party, is built.
Not something that you and your ilk in the King County and Washington State Republican Party evidently have any interest in doing. Instead, you are more that willing to allow Democrats to run unopposed when that furthers your Liberal agenda.
Posted by: Brian Thomas on December 31, 2008 01:39 PMBoo hoo Frank @ 38 ... take your whine to the L A Times and a fellow by the name of DAVID EHRENSTEIN ... and it wasn't December 2008 that's the source of your ill-placed angst... it was March 19, 2007.