Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Good Idea, Bro!
Labels: Michael Steele, RNC, RNC Chairman
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
RNC, Please
Welcome to the world of GOP internal politics.North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth said he was “disappointed” when he heard about the story and questioned Saltsman’s viability as a candidate going forward.
“There are a lot of things about Chip that would have made a good a RNC chairman, but this has definitely hurt him,” he said in an interview with Politico. “With less than a month to go, Chip needs to be talking about where he wants to lead the party, and he is not going to get
that opportunity.” Not everyone is so sure, with some RNC members contending
that [Michigan Chair Saul] Anuzis and [incumbent Mike] Duncan may have actually hurt their candidacies with their responses. “Those are two guys who just eliminated themselves from this race for jumping all over Chip on this,” one committee member told Politico. “Mike Duncan is a nice guy, but he screwed up big time by pandering to the national press on
this.”While South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele have decided to stay away from the controversy, offering no comment, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who would be the party’s first black chairman, has drawn notice for his vigorous defense of Saltsman.
“Unfortunately, there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race. This is in large measure due to President-elect Obama being the first African-American elected president,” Blackwell said in a statement. “I don't think any of the concerns that have been expressed in the media about any of the other candidates for RNC chairman should disqualify them. When looked at in the proper context, these concerns are minimal. All of my competitors for this
leadership post are fine people.”
As a result of his position, a source close to the race said that at least 12 uncommitted committee members have contacted Blackwell to thank him for his support for Saltsman and have expressed anger toward Duncan and Anuzis “for throwing a good Republican under the bus.”
Just to clarify the chronology of events:
1)Liberal David Ehrenstein writes an LA Times column in May 2007 saying that whites like Obama because he is the cultural "magic Negro" who assuages white guilt -- the safe choice who doesn't remind
2) Conservative song satirist Paul Shanklin, inspired by Times column, writes a song parody to the tune of "Puff The Magic Dragon" (though, as a colleague notes, "Barack The Magic Negro" actually scans better to the tune of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer").
3) Rush Limbaugh then plays the song -- apparently part of Rush's crusade to expose the media silence on the fact that Obama isn't really, you know, black ("Half-rican" is Rush's preferred descriptor).
4) Chip Saltsman, former Tennessee GOP chairman and Mike Huckabee campaign manager -- and pal of Shanklin -- makes a Christmas gift of a CD with a bunch of Shanklin songs, including "Magic Negro."
5) The Hill reports on it. Sh*tstorm ensues.
Oh, some may note that Blackwell's move -- and the reaction of several RNC members to it -- aside from being politically astute, actually proves Ehrenstein's original point: By washing away any perceived racial sin that Saltsman may have committed Ken Blackwell has, for certain GOPers, become their own "magic Negro."
Well, ya can't spell "ironic" without R-N-C.
Labels: Chip Saltsman, Ken Blackwell, parody, RNC Chairman, Rush Limbaugh
Monday, December 29, 2008
Chocolate Chip & Vanilla Fudge
I thought Limbaugh was pretty stupid pushing the parody crap during the campaign. Why play to one's own stereotype (fairly tossed or not)? But, still, Limbaugh, for all his pretensions to being a "serious" political analyst, is ultimately an entertainer and commentator -- and a good and successful one. If he wants to play the parody -- as he's done with other song parodies in the past -- sure, why not?
But Saltsman isn't an "entertainer" or "commentator." He wants to be the mouthpiece and face of the Republican Party. All jokes have context. In the real world of free speech, we may not like the fact that black comics get away with racial humor, whereas white ones rarely do. Unfortunately, that's the way the world works. Furthermore, a joke pushed by a professional satirist or talk show host has a different impact when shared by a professional politician.
Saltsman's move is stupid in another way. He happens to have two black opponents in the race for GOP chair -- Michael Steele and Ken Blackwell. Leaving that song on the CD opens Saltsman up to the charge that he is not-too-subtley suggesting to RNC members that they might want to avoid supporting their own "Magic Negro" candidate (AKA "celebrity") in the RNC race. Blackwell, playing a canny politics of his own, came to Saltsman's defense, while current chairman Mike Duncan and Newt Gingrich -- also discussed as a possible candidate denounced the song. Of course, all candidates have their own reasons for making their statements. Duncan and Gingrich want to look inclusive, while Blackwell can afford to be solicitous -- while picking up support from RNC members who appreciate his towing the conservative view on race ("It's the media's fault for making this a racial controversy.")
Saltsman's action, however, went across the line in a far more basic way: Obama isn't just Top Democrat; he's the soon-to-be President of the United States! Even as a joke, the wouldbe head of the opposition shouldn't be making "Negro" comments about the POTUS. It would be the equivalent of the Democratic Party chair candidate releasing a CD in 2001 calling George W. Bush "The Magic Silver-Spooned Hillbilly." There's a certain level of respect that the president should receive from the head of the opposition party (no, it's not always practiced, but it should be).
If Saltsman doesn't "get" that, well, he's just too stupid to be chairman.
Labels: Chip Saltsman, Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele, RNC Chairman
Friday, December 05, 2008
"Black"-Steele In The Hour of Chaos
Former Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell became a candidate for party chair Friday afternoon, making -- with former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele -- the first time two African Americans are seriously battling it out for the chairmanship of a major party.
This is rather interesting: Blackwell is perceived as more "conservative" than Steele. But both men are pro-life and both believe in "traditional marriage" (then again, so does Barack Obama). Steele's apparent "moderate" public profile has more to do with his inclination to work with often-dissident liberal Republicans like Christie Todd Whitman.
Question: Could a Blackwell-Steele contest ultimately split the black vote, thus allowing a white candidate to slip in? Right.
More seriously, would Blackwell himself also be seen as a "celebrity" candidate -- and thus anathema to some RNC members ? After all, he's never been a committeeman -- nor even been a party chair. On the other hand, could his more conservative profile cause RNC members to back his candidacy as a compromise between the more traditionalist segment of the committee and those who -- in this year of Obama and Palin -- believe the party needs a fresh non-traditional Repubican to promote its policies?
Which way will the "Party of Lincoln" go?
Labels: Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele, RNC Chairman
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Is "Celebrity" the New "Black"?
Curly Haugland, an RNC member from North Dakota and the former North Dakota Republican Party chairman...called on [Michael Steele] to quit the contest for Republican national chairman because he is not an RNC member.
"In my estimation, 168 committed members of the Republican National Committee are a powerful army of qualified advocates for Republican principles; certainly much more threatening to the Democrats than one celebrity spokesman," Mr. Haugland said.
He added that selecting Steele would be an example of the RNC "outsourcing" its leadership. Now, this criticism might be understandable were Steele to have no connection to the party infrastructure. But Steele was once Maryland state party chairman -- thus a former member of the committee. And, selecting an outsider for chairman isn't unheard of. Indeed, in 1990, the RNC selected Bill Bennett as chairman to replace the dying Lee Atwater. Bennett eventually turned it down for financial personal reasons. But Bennett was never a committeman (neither was Atwater, for that matter). In addition, there have also been several "shared" chairmanships in the past, where a committeeman did the day-to-day running of the party, while a slightly more telegenic and -- yes, "celebrity" -- spokesman was the official face of the party. (This blogger makes the point that being a committeeman seems to be some sort of tradition when the party doesn't control the White House).
But even so, attacking a candidate because that individual is a "celebrity spokesman" is still something new.
But then, of course, the question presents itself:
Now, earlier in Thanksgiving week, I was talking to a smart, conservative former RNC apparatchik who I greatly respect: He used the same word -- "celebrity" -- to describe Steele. He's the last person I would consider racist -- and he had solid reasons for why he thought Steele wouldn't be a good choice (he loved the idea of Ken Blackwell as committee chair). When he used "celebrity," it didn't set off any bells for me. But the fact RNC committeman Haughland also used it suggests that this is a meme that anti-Steele forces have adopted (obviously, in politics, you only need two examples to make a trend, not three). My source probably just "got the memo" and passed it along to me, without thinking about the implications.
But the anti-Steele forces better re-think this strategy, because I can't be the only person to make this connection.
Labels: Michael Steele, RNC Chairman
