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.

Apparently Bristol’s baby daddy’s momma was arrested for possible manufacture and distribution of Oxycontin.

First Rush, now Mrs. Johnston.  What is it with these people and Oxycontin?

Can the made-for-TV movie be far behind?

In a sign of the cracks in the McCain-Palin relationship, McCain over the weekend said that he wouldn’t necessarily support a Palin bid for the Presidency in 2012.  Instead he said that there were a lot of strong Republican Governors that should be strong candidates.

We can only wish that McCain had done a better job of vetting and selecting his Vice Presidential pick a few months ago.

McCain also went on record against the RNC’s advertisements trying to tar Obama with the scandal now surrounding Illinois Governor Blogojevich.  The Republicans have long practiced the “art” of slander by association and insinuation.  Thankfully we are seeing more of the “old McCain” in standing against the worst of these tactics.

Check out this letter posted on December 6th in the Fairbanks Daily News * Miner (www.newsminer.com) from John E. Zimmerman of Fairbanks:

Dec. 4, 2008

To the editor:

In my September letter to the editor, I predicted the Republicans would lose the presidential election and the selection of Gov. Palin as Sen. McCain’s running mate, however entertaining, was a serious mistake in judgment. I say entertaining, but entertainment was not what I voted for, neither was it for the rest of the country.

More accurately stated, the Republican Party never had a chance, no matter who became its choice for the White House or for vice president. The die of this failed election was cast eight years ago and remains with us today, waiting change.

The Bush administration managed to create an overwhelming sense of distrust from the war in Iraq to a multitude of failed policies and economic problems at home. Unfortunately, it all happened on his watch with little wiggle room for meaningful justification. It would be exceedingly difficult to find any major accomplishments aimed at “for the good of the people” to feel good about.

Gov. Palin’s personal obsession for political exposure could be recognized as a work in progress and nothing more. She spared no effort selling herself and at the same time spared no effort attacking her opponents throughout the national election. Not the best way to win friends or influence people, especially voters.

While our state faces budgetary and other internal problems, Gov. Palin’s secondary focus seemed to have been a self-appointed senatorial position should Sen. Stevens win the election and be voted out by his peers. She called on Sen. Stevens to step down, guaranteeing herself the job. We now know a Democrat won this election while preserving the dignity and honor of Sen. Stevens. Sen. Stevens may not ask President Bush for a pardon, but someone should.

I hope Gov. Palin will now concentrate on being the best governor for our state. How she governs could determine her future political possibilities. Nothing trumps good judgment and experience with a little Emily Post mixed in. 2012 would not be the right time for any Republican presidential comeback. Try 2020.

In records filed with the Federal Election Commission, more evidence of profligate spending on behalf of Palin in her unsuccessful run for the Vice Presidency has come to light.  An amount in excess even of the $150,000 spent on clothing and other accessories for Palin and her family - $165,00 - was spent on stylists for the candidate.

The amount is shocking, and even high-end stylists working in Hollywood have assessed the fees charged by the likes of Lisa Kline of New York ($54,900 paid in mid-October) as seriously out of the norm, even if the sytlist had traveled with the candidate every day.  The campaign also paid Palin’s make-up artist  Amy Strozzi, $68,400.

The image the campaign tried to paint of Palin as just a down-home every-day person is falling apart at the seams, just as the attempt to position her as a “maverick” is seriously faltering.

I continue to hope that the Religious Right believes that Palin and Huckabee are the future of the Republican Party, and are willing to fight their internal holy war in that pursuit.  That just might give Obama the breathing room he needs to make some serious and significant changes to the profligate spending, cronyism, poor decision-making and corporatism that has left us fighting two wars and has nearly bankrupted the country.

In what can now only be viewed as a pattern of a failure to comply with Alaskan requirements to reveal third-party gifts in the form of travel expenses for Palin and her family, the Governor recently retroactively filed the disclosures on November 17th.

Please note the date - well after the completion of the Presidential campaign.

The trips occurred in April and May of 2007, and State law requires disclosures be filed within 30 days.  The State government has said it does not intend to apply sanctions.

The total value of the trips, hotels and other gifts (like cowboy boots) for Palin and her family, including Todd’s travel to the Republican Governor’s convention was $8,000 - presumably just the price of one good DNC-paid suit from Neiman Marcus.

Palin blamed the failure on “staff oversight.”

Read about it in the AP story “Palin files late disclosure for free trips.”

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.

Here’s the video of Palin in a really bad choice of backdrop.  Right after doing a ceremonial pardoning of a turkey, she is interviewed in front of turkeys being beheaded upside down.  The commentator at the end says that she was asked if she was OK with the background, and she said “no worries.”

The announcement on Wednesday that Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich won the Alaskan Senate race over Ted Stevens means that Palin doesn’t have a shot at replacing him, at least in the short-term.

Had Stevens been declared the winner, despite his conviction on felony charges for lying on his disclosure forms to the Senate over gifts made to him in the construction work done on his house, it was clear that there was widespread support in the Senate from both Republicans and Democrats to oust him for ethics violations.  It was slightly ridiculous, and highly embarrassing for Alaskans, that Stevens got enough votes that his reelection was even a possibility.  Had he been elected and then expelled, however, the Governor (Palin) would have appointed a successor.  While unprecedented, it was not entirely implausible that a self-appointment or other political machination would have made it possible for Palin to become the replacement Alaskan Senator, and then avoid the new difficulties which now face her in Alaska.  A position in the Senate would also have given her a greater national platform to continue her quest to become a major national political power.

In addition, the election of Begich puts the Democrats closer to the 60 Senator “super-majority (the number of Senators able to invoke cloture, or the ability to stop a filibuster, which by Senate tradition can be used by a minority to forestall a vote and either kill a piece of legislation or get compromises from the majority.

There seems to be an increasing weariness of Palin’s high visibility in the media, with many calling for her to get out of the spotlight and declaring her 15 minutes of fame over.  At least for now.

Sarah Palin appears close to getting a $7 million to $11 million book deal after her unsuccessful run for Vice-President and emergence as the poster-girl for the Religious Right.  Based on her popularity with her base, there seems to be a built-in market for the book.  Personally I’d prefer that she just dictate the book and have it transcribed, along with a Palin-to-English dictionary, so that we’d get some real insight into her thought processes.  My guess is that a ghost writer will shoulder most of the writing burden.

Unfortunately for Palin she has to go back to Alaska and deal with a reality on the cold frozen ground that is very different than it was in August.

1. Diminished standing of the “Sarah Palin Brand.” All of the national attention certainly brought out home-state pride, but it also highlighted Palin’s inexperience.  Many in Alaska were frankly embarrassed by her performance and the resulting negative image spillover onto Alaska.  Her approval ratings in Alaska have plummeted from their stratospheric heights.
2. Troopergate fallout. There are many in Alaskan government bitter at the way that Palin and the McCain-Palin campaign handled the Troopergate inquiry.  They may even investigate whether individuals urged witnesses to not appear; something that would constitute witness tampering under Alaska law.  The findings of the independent investigator highlighted a Palin administration that did not follow proper disclosure policies (private e-mail for public business) and seemed obsessed by a personal vendetta.
3. Questionable Billings to the State. Palin’s claims for per diem payments for time spent at home and her reimbursements from Alaska for family travel (and failing to report those payments as income) could come under new scrutiny.  The legislature is likely to create rules to make clear that these practices are unacceptable.
4. State Budget. Alaska depends on taxes and fees on oil companies for the vast majority of its budget (no state income tax or property tax exists).  With the price of oil dropping, Alaska’s revenue faces a dramatic decrease.  Palin had governed in a time of easy money; the new economic realities will prove to be a significant hurdle for the Governor.
5. The Pipeline. Palin trumpeted the natural gas pipeline deal with TransCanada with as her crowning achievement, but it has not been built and may never be built.  She led the effort to spend $500 million by the State to plan for the pipeline, but no other private or public money has been committed for the multi-billion dollar construction of the pipeline, and there is no guarantee that it will be built.