During Fox News' New Years broadcast, the network scrolled text messages from Fox viewers, and one of them was a clever, pitch-perfect satire of the LA Times. From HuffPo:
Viewers were allowed to text in messages that scrolled across the bottom in lieu of the news.
One message read: HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LET'S HOPE THE MAGIC NEGRO DOES A GOOD JOB. LOVE JEN AND JOHN C.
This is the same network who brought you that "satire" of Michelle Obama as Barack's "Baby Mama," and on the heels of a variety of conservatives defending the use of the term "Magical Negro."
To be sure, there are some conservatives denouncing the term that is the subject of the Chip Saltsman controversy, and many who have not been heard from yet. It remains to be seen where the conservative establishment comes down on this.
In both cases, the key to the defense of these terms was the fact that a black person had used the terms self-referentially.
As a lover of satire myself, though, I thought I'd contribute my own helpful ditty into the mix. To the tune of "Sexyback," here's "I'm Bringin' Negro Back."
Y'know what else would be really funny and satirical? You could put up "Colored Only" signs at water fountains to mock segregation! Yeah! Wow, the possibilities are endless.
This is a free country, we have freedom of speech, and if you want to say "negro," you are free to do so. But then, other people are free to respond with their freedom of speech. You are then free to whine about it and call it satire. Others are then free to point out that you're no Jonathan Swift, or in any way swift. And so on.
Another reason was the GOP will be the second party for decades to come. They are still living back in the 50's
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LV Drummer
5:25PM Jan 2nd 2009
"This is a free country, we have freedom of speech, and if you want to say "negro," you are free to do so."
Thanks Tom
Negro
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coymoy
5:35PM Jan 2nd 2009
How did I get so lucky? I've just now recovered from my extended New Year, and my eyes are not playing tricks. I'm exactly where I was when I checked out on New Years Eve--a blog on "Magic Negro."
I certainly had more to say on this subject, and my thanks to Mr. Christopher for allowing me the opportunity to toss in another two cents of opinion.
I don't find the word "magic" derrogatory. I find it complementary (i.e. "The night was magical, You've got the magic, Magic Johnson, Give me some of that magic, That old black magic called loooove, Barrack "The Magic Negro" Obama). Let's give the word "magic" some love.
Oh baaa maaa the maaaa gic neeeee gro Livvvvvv ed in DC da da da daaaa da da daaaaaaaaaaaa so he could free throw threeeeee.
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Mindy
5:39PM Jan 2nd 2009
I thought the parody was hilarious. Thanks to Rush Limbaugh for keeping things in perspective with a sense of humor.
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coymoy
5:53PM Jan 2nd 2009
Shit! I guess it's the word "Negro" people are opposed to. Well, off the cuff ... it's archiac, but hardly offensive. It's descriptive of race ... like caucasion. After all ... our ancestors were big on name calling, and just about every ethnicity and religion has had some label attached to it at some point in time. It our ability to make fun of ourselves ... which is saterizing those making fun of us ... which seperates us from the Chicoms, who find little humor in anything (except maybe laughing about how they pulled off a few of those gold medals at the Olympics).
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Cube
6:03PM Jan 2nd 2009
I'd pay big money to see any of you stains go up to Harlem and play the song from a boom box on your shoulder.
Easy to sit behind the glow of a monitor and spew racism. It's sickening. I can only imagine one of you cretins walking up to Ali in his prime, in a dark alley, and try, just try, saying that to him. The grotesque excuses for humanity in part fill this void called cyberspace probably didn't even get the points on the S.A.T. for filling in your names. Hell, I doubt you can spell "S.A.T."
Eat me.
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PCL
6:06PM Jan 2nd 2009
I think this piece says it best:
Bigger Than Bush By PAUL KRUGMAN
As the new Democratic majority prepares to take power, Republicans have become, as Phil Gramm might put it, a party of whiners. Some of the whining almost defies belief. Did Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general, really say, “I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror”? Did Rush Limbaugh really suggest that the financial crisis was the result of a conspiracy, masterminded by that evil genius Chuck Schumer? But most of the whining takes the form of claims that the Bush administration s failure was simply a matter of bad luck — either the bad luck of President Bush himself, who just happened to have disasters happen on his watch, or the bad luck of the G.O.P., which just happened to send the wrong man to the White House. The fault, however, lies not in Republicans’ stars but in themselves. Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision. If the Bush administration became a byword for policy bungles, for government by the unqualified, well, it was just following the advice of leading conservative think tanks: after the 2000 election the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new team to “make appointments based on loyalty first and expertise second.” Contempt for expertise, in turn, rested on contempt for government in general. “Government is not the solution to our problem,” declared Ronald Reagan. “Government is the problem.” So why worry about governing well? Where did this hostility to governmen t come from? In 1981 Lee Atwater, the famed Republican political consultant, explained the evolution of the G.O.P.’s “Southern strategy,” which originally focused on opposition to the Voting Rights Act but eventually took a more coded form: “You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.” In other words, government is the problem because it takes your money and gives it to Those People. Oh, and the racial element isn’t all that abstract, even now: Chip Saltsman, currently a candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, sent committee members a CD including a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” — and according to some reports, the controversy over his action has actually helped his chances. So the reign of George W. Bush, the first true Southern Republican president since Reconstruction, was the culmination of a long process. And despite the claims of some on the right that Mr. Bush betrayed conservatism, the truth is that he faithfully carried out both his party’s divisive tactics — long before Sarah Palin, Mr. Bush declared that he visited his ranch to “stay in touch with real Americans” — and its governing philosophy. That’s why the soon-to-be-gone administration’s failure is bigger than Mr. Bush himself: it represents the end of the line for a political strategy that dominated the scene for more than a generation. The reality of this strategy’s collapse has not, I believe, fully sunk in with some observers. Thus, some commentators warning President-elect Barack Obama against bold action have held up Bill Clinton’s political failures in his first two years as a cautionary tale. But America in 1993 was a very different country — not just a country that had yet to see what happens when conservatives control all three branches of government, but also a country in which Democratic control of Congress depended on the votes of Southern conservatives. Today, Republicans have taken away almost all those Southern votes — and lost the rest of the country. It was a grand ride for a while, but in the end the Southern strategy led the G.O.P. into a cul-de-sac. Mr. Obama therefore has room to be bold. If Republicans try a 1993-style strategy of attacking him for promoting big government, they’ll learn two things: not only has the financial crisis discredited their economic theories, the racial subtext of anti-government rhetoric doesn’t play the way it used to. Will the Republicans eventually stage a comeback? Yes, of course. But barring some huge missteps by Mr. Obama, that will not happen until they stop whining and look at what really went wrong. And when they do, they will discover that they need to get in touch with the real “real America,” a country that is more diverse, more tolerant, and more demanding of effective government than is dreamt of in their political philosophy
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Cube
6:24PM Jan 2nd 2009
11:00 TONIGHT E.S.T. DEBATE TOMMY CHRISTOPHER ON ANY SUBJECT ON UNUSABLE SIGNAL:
"You gonna' bark all day little dogs? Or are you gonna' bite?"
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proud2bwhite
6:31PM Jan 2nd 2009
Wasn't Michael Jackson a negro once?
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proud2bwhite
6:31PM Jan 2nd 2009
I guess I can't contribute to the United Negro College Fund now, since they use a racist word to describe their organization.
Dammit!
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PCL
6:31PM Jan 2nd 2009
Cube--no co-hosting duties tonight?
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Tommy Christopher
6:37PM Jan 2nd 2009
Cube, you're more than welcome to join in. You have that rare ability to remain quiet when its called for.
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proud2bwhite
12:53AM Jan 3rd 2009
Don't blame me. I voted for McCain.
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coymoy
6:52PM Jan 2nd 2009
Krugman has an interesting perspective ... the popular theme of "racism" rings resoundingly. Too bad that isn't what really happened.
What happened is the exact same thing that will happen to the democrats after they're in power--the party "split." The in-fighting is a killer. Each party has factions ... all striving for more power, and most being dissatified. Conservatives disavowed McCain and 14% of them voted for Obama. Not because they liked Obama, but because they believe that Obama will screw things up so bad that they will have a chance to get a real conservative in office. I don't hear anybody whining about it. The republicans never thought McCain had a chance and were blindsided when Palin pulled in as many supporters as she did. It's all about power and money, so in the end the party that sticks ... is the one who sticks together.
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Cube
6:55PM Jan 2nd 2009
T-Will you forward that comment to the judges in my jurisdiction? Also, my folks, girl, ummm, my friends, my dog etc. Thanks.
Everyone should listen. The show's a riot and you learn a lot. There are conservative viewpoints expressed and are insightful and funny.
Tommy, curious if you read Mark I's article re: the "military" poll. I think it merits a response from the logical. I am borderline ready to respond with the scatological but that's not cool. I posted there and will be curious to hear y'all comment on this and particularly Caleb's take. Also, thanks for exterminating the troll and thank Diana too.
Would you folks who think the parody is appropriate actually sing that to an African American's face? If you're gonna talk the talk, walk the walk. Join the "discussion."
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wildflower
6:58PM Jan 2nd 2009
Why is allright to talk trash about Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and John Mac by this tommy christopher guy but he keeps up the race-baiting about barack hussein the magic negro ? Freedom of speech, get over it, negros, magical or not. This has only began and its going to get alot worse.
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PCL
7:05PM Jan 2nd 2009
coymoy6:52PMJan 2nd 2009 Krugman has an interesting perspective ... the popular theme of "racism" rings resoundingly. Too bad that isn't what really happened. --------------------------------------------------------- Take it up with history, and Krugman for that matter.
****************************************************************** What happened is the exact same thing that will happen to the democrats after they're in power--the party "split." The in-fighting is a killer. Each party has factions ... all striving for more power, and most being dissatified. Conservatives disavowed McCain and 14% of them voted for Obama. Not because they liked Obama, but because they believe that Obama will screw things up so bad that they will have a chance to get a real conservative in office. I don't hear anybody whining about it. The republicans never thought McCain had a chance and were blindsided when Palin pulled in as many supporters as she did. It's all about power and money, so in the end the party that sticks ... is the one who sticks together. ----------------------------------------------------------- I agree that in-fighting between both parties works against them, so let them fight on. What the hell is a real 'conservative' these days anyway? (I never get tired of reading this.) Did some exit polling on November 4th yourself, didja? Coymoy, I've said it before and I will say it again: my stand is that I would love to see all in Congress thrown out, but I would keep Obama because we need a great and all powerful Oz. And I do like what I have seen from the man, thus far.
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dannieblue
7:08PM Jan 2nd 2009
coymoy,
LMAO Pretty Funny Stuff. I especially agree with you on the Olympic medals.
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coymoy
7:15PM Jan 2nd 2009
To dannieblue: I appreciate that you're easily amused. I'm fixin' to pack it up ... it's gettin' too heavy for me.
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brntrewesl
7:47PM Jan 2nd 2009
When this topic first appeared on the PM, it was interesting to see the sense of indignation displayed by nanny-state liberals. For shame! That someone could even utter the word, Negro, in this day and age is simply beyond the pale. Never mind the fact that David Ehrenstein, the LA Times columnist who used the term to describe Barack Obama, is a gay, black man and the column was published in March, 2007!
It gets even more complicated when the term is applied to B.O., who is half-white. OK, so he isn’t really magic, he’s an illusionist. That should satisfy the PC libs. How about “Barack, the Half-White Illusionist”?
In a few short days, an African American man will move from his private residence into a much larger and infinitely more expensive one owned not by him but by the taxpayers. A vast lawn, a perimeter fence and many well trained security specialists will insulate him from those that would harm him, but the mere fact that this man will be residing in this house should make us all stop and count or blessings - because it proves that we live in a nation where anything is possible
Many believed this day would never come. Most of us hoped and prayed that it would, but few of us actually believed we would live to see it. Racism is an ugly thing in all of it's forms and there is little doubt that if this man had moved into this house fifteen years ago, there would have been a great outcry - possibly even rioting in the streets.
Today, we can all be both grateful and proud that no such mayhem will take place, when this man takes up residency in this house.
Moving into this house at this time in our nation's history is much more than a simple change of address for him - it is proof of a change in our attitude as a nation. It is an amend of sorts - of the righting of a great wrong. It is a symbol of our growth, and of our willingness to "Judge a man, not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character."
There can be little doubt now that the vast majority of us truly believe that this man has earned both his place in history and his new address. His time in this house will not be easy - it will be fraught with danger and he will face many challenges. I am sure there will be many times when he asks himself how in the world he ended up here and like all who have gone before him, the experience, sadly, will age him greatly.
But I for one will not worry for his sake - because in every way a man can, he worked hard for this. His whole life for the past fifteen years appears to have been inexorably leading him toward this house. It is highly probable that in the past, despite all of his actions, racism would have kept this man out of this house. Today, I thank the lord above that I am an American and that I live in a nation where wrongs are righted, where justice matters and where truly anything is possible.