Christmas cheer for Republicans

Members of the Republican National Committee received a satirical CD titled "We Hate the USA" from a candidate for the RNC chair. The joke, presumably, is that liberals, not Republicans, hate the country. Other jokes concern President-elect Barack Obama's race and his controversial former pastor.

According to The Hill, a newsletter that covers Congress and Capitol Hill, RNC candidate Chip Saltsman sent out the CD, featuring songs by "my friend Paul Shanklin of the Rush Limbaugh Show." The newsletter said:

The CD, called “We Hate the USA,” lampoons liberals with such songs as “John Edwards’ Poverty Tour,” “Wright place, wrong pastor,” “Love Client #9,” “Ivory and Ebony” and “The Star Spanglish banner.”

Several of the track titles, including “Barack the Magic Negro,” are written in bold font.

The song, which debuted on Limbaugh’s show in late March 2007, latches onto an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times of the same title. That column, penned by cultural critic David Ehrenstein, argued that Obama could serve as a balm to whites who felt guilty about past treatment of African Americans.

Limbaugh first highlighted the column the day it ran, according to a contemporary report by Media Matters, the liberal watchdog agency. Media Matters reported Limbaugh repeated the phrase more than two dozen times the day the column ran.

Shanklin told the newsletter he "meant nothing untoward" by sending out the "light-hearted political parodies" on the CD. Others, however, might consider some of the content racist. Added Reid Wilson of The Hill:

Republicans searching for ways to attack Obama have been hesitant to embrace any reference to his race. Limbaugh presciently predicted his allusion to the column nearly two years ago would win attention from left-leaning organizations that would suggest he was using Obama’s race against him.

Indeed they might.

Later: Fox News, which insists it is not an official mouthpiece for the Republican Party, has gone up now with an official statement from RNC Chair Mike Duncan blasting Saltsman's effort at humor. "The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party," said Duncan. "I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction."

Saltsman, among others, is running against Duncan for the chair.