UPDATED with new information.
If you’ve ever listened to Rush Limbaugh, you know his show is filled with fun parodies written and sung by Paul Shanklin. From Jesse Jackson to Hillary and Bill Clinton to Harry ‘The Body’ Reid, no one is spared. It seems his parody about Barack Obama is now causing controversy. Read more about it below, listen to the song ‘Barack the Magic Negro’, get the lyrics to the song, and watch a video of Rush defending it.
‘Barack the Magic Negro’ Parody
UPDATED 12/27/08: It seems the RNC are NOT dittoheads after all. Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan issued a statement Saturday distancing GOP leadership from Chip Saltsman, who had distributed a CD containing ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ as part of his campaign to be elected chairman of the Republican National Committee next month. Here’s Duncan’s statement:
“The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party. I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction.”
Give me Michael Steele please, for RNC Chair.
Parody. Satire. I guess you just have to have a sense of humor to appreciate them. Hopefully the members of the RNC do. Chip Saltzman, formerly with the Huckabee campaign and now a candidate for the Chairman of the RNC, sent a Christmas gift to all the RNC members. It was a CD that included the parody of ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ on it from the Rush Limbaugh show.
“I think most people recognize political satire when they see it. I think RNC members understand that.” Saltzman said.
The ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ parody, set to the tune of ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’ by Paul Shanklin and sang by an imaginary Al Sharpton, was first played on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show back in 2007 and is included on a CD called We Hate the USA. It received it’s title from a Los Angeles Times column that suggested that then candidate Obama appealed to those who feel guilty about the nation’s great sin – the mistreatment of African-Americans.
The CD also includes parodies about former presidential candidate John Edwards and the Reverend Jeremiah ‘KKKofA’ Wright, among other targets individuals. And most noteable of the parodies include: ‘John Edwards’ Poverty Tour,’ ‘Wright Place, Wrong Pastor,’ ‘Love Client #9,’ ‘Ivory and Ebony’ and ‘The Star Spanglish Banner.’
Buttering up the RNC members is a good move if you want the Chairman’s job, but how does he know they are all ditto-heads?
Lyrics to ‘Barack the Magic Negro’
SHANKLIN (Sharpton impersonator): Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s not authentic like me.
Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper
Said he makes guilty whites feel good
They’ll vote for him, and not for me
‘Cause he’s not from the hood.
See, real black men, like Snoop Dog,
Or me, or Farrakhan
Have talked the talk, and walked the walk.
Not come in late and won![refrain] Oh, Barack the Magic Negro, lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s black, but not authentically.
Oh, Barack the Magic Negro, lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s black, but not authentically.Some say Barack’s “articulate�
And bright and new and “clean.�
The media sure loves this guy,
A white interloper’s dream!
But, when you vote for president,
Watch out, and don’t be fooled!
Don’t vote the Magic Negro in –
‘Cause — ’cause I won’t have nothing after all these years of sacrifice
And I won’t get justice. This is about justice. This isn’t about me, it’s about justice.
It’s about buffet. I don’t have no buffet and there won’t be any church contributions,
And there’ll be no cash in the collection plate.
There ain’t gonna be no cash money, no walkin’ around money, no phoning money.
Now, Barack going to come in here and –
Rush Limbaugh Defends ‘Magic Negro’ Parody Video
December 26th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
[edited: hate speech]
December 26th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Its a very sad day for America that we have a President that we aren’t allowed to criticize or make fun of. That’s a genuine and uniquely American custom. Now we’ll just be like every dictatorship in the world – criticize the President and you’ll be destroyed.
December 26th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Pathetic.
December 26th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Hey Beth, You may not recall what the critics of Bush had to suffer or maybe you do not care. The problem with this CD Christmas greeting is the rasc*st tone of it. Their is no substance to it beyond that. The sad thing is it is all the republicans have left, and I am sure we will hear a lot more of it. So do not worry, no one will be destroyed for it, just held accountable. Matt
December 26th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
oh please, please, please elect the dullard. he will insure minority status for the republicans for years to come.
December 26th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Matt – what have the critics of Bush suffered? I know they claim – loudly – to have been put away in secret prisons and forced into silence. If only they would be just a bit quieter. They give me a headache from all their whining.
Re: the r*cist tone – that’s the problem. Any criticism of the man is deemed rac*st. Its a real problem. It marginalizes any criticism and is an effective method of quieting his opponents. We MUST be able to criticize any politician. Period. Without accusations that will shut up his critics.
December 26th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
democrats just have no sense of humor…among other things.
December 26th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I recall that some people were up in arms for the supposed Michelle Obama “Whitey” tape that never was. You can make fun of anyone but I do not consider ra@#$l slurs “jokes”, no matter what the race of the person making the supposed “joke”. I don’t recall anyone calling President Bush a “cracker” or “redneck”. Perhaps, I was not paying attention. There are tons of things to joke and even insult Obama about but I doubt ra@#$l slurs make good “jokes”. But I am excited if that is what the Republicans want to do. “Spanglish” and “magic Negro” will certainly not endear Hispanics, African-Americans and other minorities to the GOP. So that is a very excellent strategy for the GOP if it does not wish to be inclusive.
Republicans are very smart and I am not convinced that they cannot come up with jokes not involving ra@#$l slurs.
December 26th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
This is a really ra@#$t song. Rush Limbaugh is a ra@#$t for propagating it.
December 26th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Yea, its O.K for Obama use race as an element in his election but moonbats cant handle it when we mention the sublime rac*sm that he used in his campaign.
During the campaign I ran into more moonbats that were all lit up because if Obama were to be elected it would show the whole world how diverse we could be by electing a black man.
And then at the same time get all upset and call us rac*st when we say that he got votes just because he was black.
As soon as anyone on the right suggested that Obama should get his votes based on his merits and not his color, or that voting just to display diversity was stupid, we were called rac*st.
Leftys, you cant have it both ways.
The video/song is right on.
It shows exactly how Obama played race and at the same time made it an off limit discussion for everyone else.
Bush critics suffered ?
December 26th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
From it’s origin as an LA Times/Sharpton Parody, it’s sorta funny. Not the kind of humor I would forward around and it does belie a certain racial mode of thinking, but it’s not worth getting warped over. HOWEVER, from the perspective of a candidate for the RNC chairmanship… it just proves how f@#&ing tone deaf the Party has become to modern reality. You can’t be a serious political leader and think you can just thrust this crap in people’s faces. Leave that to the rednecks in your base. If you don’t have tact as a party leader, the party is going to suffer. Glad I dropped out of the GOP – it’s going to take a generation – maybe longer – to rehabilitate it. Heck, even Ron Paul had the misfortune of allowing a racially tone-deaf, quasi-insulting, comment to be published in his newsletter several years ago. It’s going to take a generation of Constitutionalists with a sense of Racial Progressiveness to create a meaningful Conservative movement again. Meanwhile, immigrants – legal or otherwise – and racial minorities are going to be raising a generation of Democrats. Get used to it. The GOP has lost all relevance to these folks – Constitutionalism, Civil Rights, Fiscal Responsibility… the GOP has simultaneously espoused these ideas and shat upon them for the past two decades. BAH!
December 26th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Why do the Republicans have no jokes about Obama that don’t involve his race? I think most Americans have a good sense of humor. Say something funny and I’ll call it a joke.
December 26th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Let’s face it. Most of us republicans are pig f**k ra@#$ts.
December 26th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I prefer Bush the Urban Cracker now that he’s moving to Dallas.
Bush the urban cracker lives in a fancy loft
Drinking johnny and smoking blunts now tomorrow never comes
now that he left the white house and no more to do
he threw laura out and got some hoes so he can screw and screw
he’s just another cracker ex pres-i-dent
who wallows in his misery cuz he ran out of good weed
December 26th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Beth, Your whining! But no, you do not give me a headache.For what is worth, the republicans lost because they have f@#cked up EVERTHING. Talk about the touch of midas in reverse, it borders on the supernatural. Don’t worry, Obama et al., will save you from your ignorance. Matt,
December 26th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
“a Christmas gift”
Hmmmh! Let’s see, A long time ago only Jews were God’s chosen people, then comes Jesus and teaches people about the love of God for his creation, he is crucified, dies and rises from the dead and promises to come back to judge humanity, his 12 disciples convert people regardless of race and ethnicity and we have a universal church.
Then we get the Christian(followers of Christ) right and they judge people by the color of their skin, they talk to God daily but do not have the humility that the saints had after talking to the Lord of time, space and creation, they think he is their personal genie, they become increasingly xenophobic and spread their hate around the world even on Christmas day the birth day of the aforementioned saviour who died for the sins of the world. It is indeed a shame. “And Jesus wept.” For this reason there will be final judgement when humanity will realize how we have wronged God through his creation.
December 26th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Beth, how have I suffered?
Hmmm… a decade of stagnant wages, a decade of increasing pollution and toxic contamination of our food/air/water, a decade of Wall Street’s “self regulation” that has now crashed in upon itself, a continuous and dangerous erosion of Liberty as the definition of “terrorist” has now come to mean anything the President wants to say it means, I could go on.
Some of these things have impacted me directly. Some things are only abstract to me while concrete to a small number of individuals who were needlessly wiretapped or prevented from air travel.
So, Beth, either educate yourself about the issues beyond your Dittohead echochamber and allow yourself some human empathy or keep voting for the fascists with your eyes closed.
December 27th, 2008 at 12:22 am
from the song:
“Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper
Said he makes guilty whites feel good”
Sorry to dissapoint but this liberal wanted to vote for the smart, ethical, and even-tempered candidate.
You can keep your winking fools.
December 27th, 2008 at 5:49 am
There is no parody in this piece. It is meant to contrast Obama’s sophistication and education with the uneducated ghetto blacks.
It is a sad commentary on the state of American conservatism. Like the recent campaign the GOP is unable to talk about issues like fighting two wars at the same time and a tanking economy.
Instead we hear how those other people are not like us – they are dark – muslim and unpatriotic. Keep it going and the GOP will lose another 20 seats in the next election.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:20 am
[...] http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=2584 [...]
December 27th, 2008 at 8:34 am
WARNING: unpopular opinion ahead -
I can’t figure out why so many people are up-in-arms over this kind of humor. There are a lot of black comedians that have made a ton-O-cash mocking and demeaning white people but that seems to be acceptable to most people. Shouldn’t turnabout be fair play?
Besides, every black person that I can think of who is, or has been, associated with the Bush administration have been called house negros, Uncle Toms, Aunt Jemimas, and other derogatory terms and I don’t remember much outrage being expressed over those insults.
December 27th, 2008 at 9:00 am
there is going to continue to be a rac@#t undertone for both pro and con obama-ites and its not going away. Maybe if we made fun of it a little it would put it in persepective as not the real issue. So many people pretend they are not rac@#t at all, when everyone is to some degree if you live and move about in this society. So make some fun of it, lighten it up. I think we can agree the white people running the white house have made a nice mess of things and left much undone, so what are black people going to do? turn it into a ham hock and collard green store? Obama’s cabinet and staff is ethnically diverse, mostly white last I looked. Obama is not african american the way most are from the history of slavary in the US. He comes from an kenyan exchange student and white mom, so his family backrgound is totally different so the messages he recieved as a child are different and hawaii where he spent some childhood and indonesia are very ethnically diverse and differences are kind of embraced there as long as your not a howley. Children from families like that are very bright and tolerant of differences which is a good thing, and also creative. Creativity is something the white rulers of our white house have lost in their adoption of party loyalty and ideology. He’s likely to be just as he promised, focused on the practical, and a problem solver with an eye to job creation and tax limitations for the middle class.
December 27th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Please, keep shining the light on this ignorance that controls the RepubliCON Party.
The more play time this song gets the harder the b@#ch-slap RepubliCONs get at the polls.
In fact, I think Barack The Magic Negro should be the GOP theme song from here on out.
December 27th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Actually it’s very easy to criticize, ridicule or otherwise make fun of Pres’ent ‘Bama without coming close to using racial loaded context. I don’t think Barack The Magic Negro is that racially charged, but I see that some will see otherwise. Its easy to avoid these areas, so I don’t see it as a need to come that close to something offensive to make your point.
Wikipedia (by no means the final authority on anything) has an interesting view of Magic Negro and states even the use of ‘Negro’ is archaic and offensive to some. I doubt Rush was particularly racially motivated as he was more poking fun at other black leaders that have something to lose by Barack becoming President.
December 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Is he so ignorant and dim-witted that he does not know he just torpedoed his chance at party leadership? This is like reverse PR. “Barack the Magic Negro?” You know full well that every black person sees this and thinks they are really saying ‘Ni****.’ Well, It’ll take an act of God for me to vote republican in this lifetime.
This will come back.