Satire and stupidity

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: December 27, 2008

You might have heard about this dust-up going on within the Republican National Committee about a CD sent to RNC members by a chairman candidate.

Ordinarily, chairman candidates run very boring, very predictable campaigns that are interesting and noteworthy only to those who: 1) Will vote for chairman; 2) Do business with the party; 3) Raise big money for the party; or 4) Spend big money raised by the party.

In other words, they are intra-party skirmishes that are driven by issues that would put outsiders to sleep.

But this year’s RNC chairmanship battle is different.

It was already drawing more attention than usual because of the party’s simply pathetic performance in the 2008 election cycle. Anytime pundits Monday-morning-quarterback your results with phrases like “party without a soul,“ it hasn’t been a good run. This year’s race for chairman is, the trite phrase notwithstanding, quite literally a fight for the soul of the party—not only in the sense of what it is, but whether it even has one anymore.

So that was the backdrop for this week’s version of Stupidity Run Amok.

Enter Chip Saltsman, a former state chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party and former campaign manager for Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign. Saltsman apparently thought it would be funny to send RNC members their own copies of “We Hate the USA,“ a collection of musical satires targeting Democratic politicians and other liberal figures.

One of the songs on the CD was “Barack the Magic Negro,“ set to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon.“

Saltsman offered the following in his defense: “I think most people recognize political satire when they see it. I think RNC members understand that.“

OK, I agree. Political satire is political satire. I haven’t heard “Barack the Magic Negro” or any of the other songs on “We Hate the USA.“ But I’m sure it’s nothing any more off-putting than other political satire.

And let’s remember the lesson we learned from our 11th-grade English teacher when she walked us through the vivid imagery of “A Modest Proposal:“ The more brutal/memorable/impactful the satire, the more effective it can be.

So I don’t take any offense at “Barack the Magic Negro.“ I don’t think Barack Obama would, either.

But in sending the CD as a gift to RNC members, Saltsman erred grievously.

He’s running to lead the national Republican Party. He wants to be charged with resource allocation, candidate recruitment, grassroots development, get-out-the-vote campaigns and a whole host of other party duties.

This is the judgment he displays?

One would think—one would hope, anyway—that someone who hoped to be charged with coming up with a plan to raise his party from the ashes would have better ideas than this.

Then you have current RNC chairman Mike Duncan, whose leadership is being challenged by Saltsman and the others.

Careening head-first into the scrum, Duncan released a self-important, stuffy statement shunning Saltsman’s stroke.

(Like that alliteration?)

“The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party,“ RNC Chairman Mike Duncan said in a statement reported Saturday afternoon by Politico.

“I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate, as it clearly does not move us in the right direction.“

Blah, blah, blah.

Take a chill pill, Mike Duncan. Who appointed you chairman of the PC committee? You should just keep your mouth shut; let your opponents dig their own graves.

This is just another example of how seriously the Republican Party is hurting for leadership. At a time when the party needs to remind the American people—and itself—of its purpose, two of the men hoping to lead it are mired in a scandal over a song that sounds like “Puff the Magic Dragon.“

Somewhere this week, leaders of the Democratic National Committee are smiling.