Tennessee Republican Chip Saltsman apparently doesn’t understand the difference between satire and poor taste.   Saltsman is (or was, prior to this gaffe) a candidate for the RNC chairmanship.  He sent out a CD with “humorous” songs including “Barack the Magic Negro,” “Ivory and Ebony,” and “The Star Spanglish Banner.”  Are you kidding me?

The self-destructive streak in certain Republicans as power slips away is truly remarkable.  Or perhaps Tennessee is so in the grips of decades-old good-old-boy thinking that this type of behavior is not seen as reprehensible or outside the norm.

Is Saltsman just some anonymous buffoon?  Well, he’s not anonymous.  He was that national chairman of Hillbilly Huckabee’s presidential campaign, and worked on staff for Bill Frist.

Disgraceful.

Here’s what CNN had to say:

(CNN) — A candidate for the Republican National Committee chairmanship said Friday the CD he sent committee members for Christmas — which included a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” — was clearly intended as a joke.

The title of the song about President-elect Barack Obama was drawn from a Los Angeles Times column.”

“I think most people recognize political satire when they see it,” Tennessee Republican Chip Saltsman told CNN. “I think RNC members understand that.”

The song, set to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” was first played on conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh’s radio show in 2007.

Its title was drawn from a Los Angeles Times column that suggested President-elect Barack Obama appealed to those who feel guilty about the nation’s history of mistreatment of African-Americans. Saltsman said the song, penned by his longtime friend Paul Shanklin, should be easily recognized as satire directed at the Times.

The CD sent to RNC members, first reported by The Hill on Friday, is titled “We Hate the USA” and also includes songs referencing former presidential candidate John Edwards and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, among other targets.

According to The Hill, other song titles, some of which were in bold font, were: “John Edwards’ Poverty Tour,” “Wright place, wrong pastor,” “Love Client #9,” “Ivory and Ebony” and “The Star Spanglish Banner.”

Saltsman was national campaign manager for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential bid in 2007 and 2008. Before that, he held a variety of posts, including a number of positions under former Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee.

Andy Borowitz

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition  established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama’s appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday witnessed the  president-elect’s unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama’s decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might  find it “alienating” to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language.

“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon. “If he  keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may    find itself saying, “Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate — we get it, stop showing off.”

The president-elect’s stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

“Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can’t really do there, I think needing to do that isn’t tapping into what Americans are needing also,” she said.

Sarah Palin is praying that God opens some doors.  And if He opens up some national doors for 2012 (even a crack), she intends to walk through those doors.

As for me, I’m going to continue to view with great suspicion anybody who expects God to talk to them.  Where I grew up they called people who heard voices telling them what to do schizophrenic.

Palin is attempting to use the residual glow that she still enjoys to improve her now-tarnished image by giving multiple interviews with reporters like Matt Lauer and Greta Van Susteren.  Alessandra Stanley of the International Tribune writes “But so far, viewers have mostly witnessed some of the very traits - disarming candor and staggering presumption - that drove some McCain campaign aides to leak damaging accusations about her.”   In those, Sarah opines that the loss of McCain-Palin was due to:

• Hispanics
• Obama’s money advantage
• The “R” next to their names (backlash against Republicans)

I guess she had nothing to do with the loss of the ticket.  I think the McCainiacs have gone overboard trying to blame poor Sarah for all of their woes, but to claim that her presence on the ticket or the extremely poorly executed campaign had nothing to do with their loss sounds like magical thinking.  But then again, Sarah is expecting God to tell her what to do next, and if that isn’t magical thinking, I don’t know what is.

Updated

I first saw President Obama at the Los Angeles Democratic primary debate with Hillary Clinton.  I went in neutral and left an Obama supporter.

The single thing that struck me then and has stayed with me ever since was his consistency in never making this election about himself, but about restoring the hopes and dreams of the people.

I attended the debate because it was being sponsored by and broadcast on CNN, and I run marketing for a company that spends a lot of money advertising on CNN and Headline News.  A colleague was with me whose brother-in-law is an ex-Republican turned Obama ward captain.  I thought that Obama held his own in the debate, and displayed a trait that in the end helped him win the Presidency more than any position or talking point - his cool but engaged temperament.   Hillary was also very impressive, and her candidacy was historic in so many ways.  But in the end the Clintons had, to my mind, simply done too much to win the nomination at all costs and they used up all of the good will they had built up with me, and then some.

My colleague’s brother-in-law waded down to the front afterward where Obama stayed for quite some time interacting with anyone who waiting around long enough.  He shouted out to Obama “I believe in you,” and Obama said something back that he has repeated time and time again to supporters - “No, I believe in you! This is about you.”

Obama has inspired the hopes of a new generation.  While Obama won the support of most of the identifiable groups used for polling, there is no denying that symbolically this contest was about race.  While Obama never made race the main thrust of the campaign, if anything his campaign was the anti-identity politics, because of our nations history the campaign was about the ability of an African-American man to become President in a country that continues to struggle with a legacy of racism.  His nearly monolithic support in the black community (over 90%) and his very strong showing with Hispanic voters (70%) were most certainly deciding factors.   While the Obama win is undoubtedly about race, it is equally about the passing of the torch to a new generation.  Obama won in the 30 and under age groups by a huge margin (in most states well over 65%).  In addition to his lopsided support, Obama energized new voters - especially among racial minorities and younger voters.  A few times every century leadership passes from one generation to the next.  We have witnessed that hand-off.

Race continues to be an entrenched and horribly difficult issue (just look at the vote tallies in the South), and racism continues to block millions of Americans from equal opportunity.  We must not fall victim to the naive belief that the election of Obama means that racism has been defeated.  But neither should we underestimate the enormity of this achievement and of this moment.

And yet all is not rosy.  Virtually every anti-gay ballot measure on State ballots across the nation passed.  Most denied gays and lesbians the right to marry, by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.  Some denied the right of single people to adopt as a way to discriminate against gay people.  While one barrier to equality has fallen, others are being reinforced by the small-mindedness of the self-righteous.  Anti-gay discrimination is now on the front lines of ensuring equality of civil rights.

One telling contrast struck me last night.  McCain’s concession speech was gracious; the reaction of his audience was as ugly and petty as the campaign had been, booing at the mention of Obama.  By contrast the crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park listening to Obama’s declaration of victory applauded the mention of McCain.  It’s always easier, I suppose, to be gracious in victory than in defeat, but I was struck again by how rhetoric and tactics reveal character and are replicated in the reaction of supporters.  One seeks to unite and break the politics of division and rancor.  The other sees only its own loss.  Let us hope that we all seize this historic moment as a time to renew our commitment to stay involved, to improve our nation and our communities, and to unlock the potential of all of our citizens by providing the basics of a society of opportunity:  education, health care, and economic mobility - especially if it means self-sacrifice.

Obama has a steep hill to climb.  Two wars going badly and a military overstretched.  An economy in decline.  Nationalized mortgage institutions.  Huge amounts of public money pumped into a failing banking system.  An equity market that has lost over 35% of its value.  A world of disappointed allies and emboldened adversaries.  And yet climb we must.  And hope is the one thing that can bring us through this tough time.

Congratulations to Obama-Biden and their steady, disciplined campaign.  The hard work is over, now comes the even harder work.

It now appears that Proposition 8 in California will pass 52% to 48%.  That proposition will change the State constitution so as to deny marriage rights to same sex partners.

Proposition 8 was headed for a defeat with just 48% of the vote in favor of the proposition going in to the election.

So I call the Faggot Effect at 4 points.

No on Proposition 8 had the highly visible support of A-list Hollywood.  Yes on 8 had the bigots in the Mormon and Catholic churches preaching from the altar and funneling money in from across the country.  Given the opposition to Proposition 8 by “culture-makers,” I suspect that there were a large number of people who didn’t want to say they were for 8, but voted for it.  At least there is some solace in the fact that some people feel that supporting discrimination is shameful.

Ironically, the large turnout for Obama of church-going African-Americans, who generally were in favor of Proposition 8, may have helped push Yes on 8 over the top to victory.  Obama was against Proposition 8 (although Yes on 8 sent out a direct mail piece implying otherwise), as was Governor Schwarzenegger, but neither used any political capital to oppose the measure apart from their public position.

It’s a shameful day when we amend the constitution to deny people civil rights that in no way infringe on the rights of others.  This vote makes the sweet success of Obama bittersweet, and reminds me that while we have traveled far, we have so much further to go, and little time to rest.

What an odd feeling to have your civil rights, and somehow your very value as a person put to the popular vote.  And to lose.

The good news is that a similar initiative several years ago passed with 61% support.  The trend toward tolerance is in our favor.

In the words of Joe Solomonese, Executive Director of HRC:  “Remember, our marriages didn’t begin with a decision of the court, and they will not end with a vote of the people.”

While McCain attempts to keep up a brave face, Karl Rove has publicly predicted a  landslide of Obama-Biden at 338 electoral votes to McCain-Palin’s 200 (270 electoral votes needed to win).   This would be the most lopsided win since Clinton’s 1996 379-159 slaughtering of Bob Dole.

And in what has to be the oddest comment ever by a Vice Presidential candidate known for her odd comments, when asked outside the polling place in Wasilla - Sarah Palin answered that she wasn’t telling, but would exercise her right to privacy.  Huh?

And instead of a release of medical records, we get a note from her doctor saying that she’s A-OK?  Remember it was Sarah herself who said that she’d release her records.  What’s up with that?  And she does it right on the eve of the election so that it gets buried in the election coverage.  What is Sarah hiding?

In addition the Personnel Board in Alaska released its own findings that contradicted the conclusion in the Branchflower Report.  If you’ll remember the independent investigator found that Palin had violated Alaska’s ethics laws by using the power of the Governor’s office to try to get her ex-brother-in-law fired as a trooper (Troopergate).  This second report says that she did not violate ethics laws.  The only problem is that the members of the Personnel Board - you bethca’ - appointed by the Governor.  So the Governor rejects the finding of the independent investigator appointed by the bipartisan legislature as biased, but says that the report from people she appointed is unbiased.  Huh?

Now that the Philadelphia Phillies have won the World Series, it only seems fitting that we just let Pennsylvania pick the next President.

Think about it.  It would save a lot of money.  Both in running all of those polling stations and in legal fees.  The Republicans wouldn’t have to go through the nasty business of challenging and disenfranchising voters.  And the Democrats wouldn’t have to bring in Mickey Mouse to vote.  We wouldn’t have to go through the agony of post-vote challenges, missing ballots, court cases, and finally waking up the Supreme Court Justices from their afternoon naps to pick the winner.

It just seems so much simpler somehow.

But I suppose this being a “democracy”  and all (see McCain and his famous air quotes), we need to let everyone vote.  Instead, I’m just going to assume that whoever wins Pennsylvania on election night (and since it’s on the East Coast, we should get the results early here on the Left Coast) wins the whole sha-bang.  Given the “many paths to victory” of Obama-Biden we may all get a good night’s sleep, which would be a nice change for the large group of people who will remain nervous right up until January.  And beyond.

I’ve heard rumors that there have been another five assassination plans/attempts on Obama’s life in addition to the two bumbling rednecks that were recently announced.  It’s sad that at a moment when we all - regardless of who we support, or our political outlook or party affiliation - ought to be celebrating a milestone in the history of this great country - the election of a black man to the highest position in the land - we are instead worried about the worst happening.  So clearly we’ve come a long way, and we still have a long way to go.  Some have further to go than others.

So congratulations to the Phillies, from far and wide.  Well played.

Now go vote.

The Bud Wassup boys have moved on, and now believe in some change. Watch the video:

Watch the ad here:

Poor Sarah Palin.  She has gone from approval ratings as Governor that once soared like an eagle.  Now they’ve plummeted as if she’d been shot from a helicopter.

And now this.  The Alaska newspaper with the biggest circulation, the Anchorage Daily News, has looked past Palin’s ticket to endorse Obama-Biden.

Sarah’s popularity in her own state has been hurt by the negative style of campaigning of the McCain-Palin ticket, the concern that she looks foolish and unprepared in the harsh glare of the national spotlight, worry that she reflects badly on Alaska, and the revelations of petty vindictiveness from the Troopergate scandal.

Republican pundits like Ed Rollins believe that after a presumed McCain-Palin loss that Sarah Palin will work the national rubber chicken circuit to raise money for Republican candidates, and gain some seasoning that could position her for a run again in 2012 at the top of the ticket.

Personally I think there’s little chance of that.  I still think that the Republicans will bundle her off back to Alaska.  I’m sure she’d continue to play well to the Christian Right, but that the establishment wing of the party will see her only as a reminder of one of the main reasons that the party lost the White House.

But I’m willing to concede that I may have (in the words of George HW Bush) misunderestimated her.  For the sake of more material about which to write and continued interest in this site, I almost hope she sticks around for a while.