Laughable Limbaugh

(Newser) - When a conservative politician is called racist, expect a backlash. The fracas over Chip Saltsman’s distribution of the song “Barack the Magic Negro” in his campaign to be Republican National Committee chairman has, as per usual, caused compatriots to flock to his defense, Politico reports, and may actually work to his benefit. Committee members are put off by what they see as feigned outrage. “This is just people looking for something to make an issue of,” says an Alabama committeeman. More »

(Newser) - The Republican National Committee’s chairman has scolded a potential successor for distributing a song entitled “Barack the Magic Negro,” Politico reports. “I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate," said Mike Duncan, who is vying for re-election to his post. He is in a tight race with Chip Saltsman, who sent the track to committee members on a satirical CD called “We Hate the USA.” More »

(Newser) - A candidate for chair of the Republican National Committee has included a song called “Barack the Magic Negro” in a Christmas mailing, the Hill reports. Chip Saltsman said, “RNC members have the good humor and good sense to recognize” that the song, written by Paul Shanklin and sung to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” was a joke. It first aired on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show almost two years ago. More »

(Newser) - The GOP needs to listen more to minorities and less to loudmouths like Rush Limbaugh and polarizing figures like Sarah Palin if it's going to have a future, Colin Powell tells CNN. Powell, who endorsed Barack Obama but still considers himself a Republican, said the party's efforts to win votes by polarizing people have backfired. More »

(Newser) - Conservatives are beating their war drums with warnings that the Obama administration will torpedo them by reinstituting the so-called fairness doctrine. If he does—the policy calls for broadcasters to air opposing viewpoints—it could be big trouble for Rush Limbaugh and another denizens of the right-wing talk circuit. But Marin Cogan of the New Republic finds little or no evidence that Obama will do so. More »

(Newser) - Christopher Buckley, having been savaged by Rush Limbaugh for endorsing Barack Obama, fires back at the talk-show host for daring to think he can assume the conservative mantle of his father, the late William F. Buckley Jr. Writing in the Daily Beast, Buckley brandishes French, that tool of the “card-carrying member of the Eastern seaboard, proletarian-despising media elite” in pronouncing Limbaugh “ de trop ”—"a bit much." More »