Ken Blackwell defends Saltsman's Barack the Magic Negro CD

The former Ohio vote bag man Secretary of State and contender for the head of the RNC, Ken Blackwell, had this to say about the holiday CD sent to committee members by fellow candidate for the job, Chip 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," said Blackwell, who would be the first black RNC chairman, in a statement forwarded to Politico by an aide. "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."

What is the proper context for something like this, Ken? Paul Shanklin's song is sung in the voice of "Al Sharpton," who frets that Obama isn't a real black man, you know, like Sharpton or Snoop Dogg.

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

Unfortunately for shuffling Ken Blackwell, one of the three black RNC members, using reality-based thinking, slammed the use of the song, leaving Blackwell twisting in the wind. Dr. Ada Fisher:

It is time we all grew up and exhibited some sophistication in how we act as it relates to this Republican party we supposedly love and support. Racist actions and deeds have no place in the party. The lack of sensitivity in understanding the historical election we just had and the challenges this nation faces as we must bind our wounds as well as bring our people together requires that we set aside our biases and search out those constitutional principles inherent in our nation's foundings and our parties operation which must undergrid us as we move forward.

This is the party of Lincoln and it was founded on the backs of the oppression of blacks. If we are to be the leading party we had better understand that and act responsibly in addressing the needs of all of the citizens as we strive for more inclusiveness.

More after the jump. Paul Jenkins at Huff Post had this to say about the state of the Republicans, with "The GOP's White Supremacy":

The current Republican party is so absurdly out of touch demographically (and, of course, politically) that the election of just one Asian-American Congressman in a fluke special election in New Orleans had the leadership gushing for days that the "future is Cao," a creepy play on the name of the new member of Congress. Left unsaid was that Ahn Cao's success came after the Democratic incumbent's corruption-related problems became too much for even this overwhelmingly Democratic district, and that the Republican is unlikely to survive electorally in a 2010 general election.

...As it shrinks, the GOP is becoming ever-whiter, more male, more Southern, more Christian-centric, and increasingly unable to appeal to voters, or potential candidates who do not fit its narrow mold. Besides the Cao novelty, the party's hopes seem to be resting on Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, and on Sarah Palin, which says a lot about the GOP's difficulty in recruiting diverse talent, partly because of the party's stringent litmus tests on social issues. Toeing the line, Jindal and Palin are both religious extremists, one of whom veils his social views under the guise of business-like competence, the other behind her down-home manner.

And this bit smacks down the usual suspects, including Blackwell, hard.

Even non-white members of George W. Bush's cabinet appear to have turned on the party: people like Colin Powell, who heartily endorsed Obama, or Condoleezza Rice, who seemed at her very happiest the day after Obama's victory. The last African-American GOP member of Congress, J.C. Watts, who retired in 2002, is equally as disillusioned, not to say anything of potential candidates such as Charles Barkley, a one-time Republican with aspirations to Alabama's governorship, who says the Republicans "lost their mind." And so the GOP trots outthe same sad losers, Michael Steele of Maryland, and Ken Blackwell of Ohio, who have achieved little more than secondary elected office in their respective states, both losing in landslides when they sought a bigger job.

Ouch.

Related:

* Candidate running for RNC chair distributes CD with ‘Barack the Magic Negro’