Being right on the merits doesn't make Saltsman any less of an idiot

Two days ago, we suggested that a potential GOP leader is severely tone-deaf, hitting Chip Saltsman for his foolish decision to include the "magic negro" song on the CD his people sent out.

We were not saying Saltsman was a racist, or commneting on the merits of the song. We were saying he should have seen this firestorm coming.

Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association, just sent out an email defending Saltsman on the merits. Included therein is the following:

If it were not so hypocritical, it would be comical how Democrats and their media allies have created a media firestorm over a parody on racism in the Democratic Party.  The Democrats' display of rank hypocrisy on race is a familiar scenario.  First, Democrats exhibit vile racism.  Then, any Republican who points out the Democrats' display of vile racism is attacked by Democrats as being racist.

The current target of this Democratic Party racial jujitsu is RNC chairman candidate Chip Saltsman.  So, what did Saltsman do to warrant being called a racist?  Well, he dared to distribute a music CD with a parody about the fact that back Democrat David Ehrenstein called Sen. Barack Obama a "Magic Negro" in an article published by the left-wing, Democrat-controlled "Los Angeles Times."   Huh?

None of the people now trashing Saltsman uttered one peep of protest when the article entitled "Obama the Magic Negro" was first published in the "Los Angeles Times" on March 19, 2007 with the subtitle:  "The Illinois senator lends himself to white America's idealized, less-than-real black man."  Below is the . . .

Frances is one of my favorite thinkers in America. Her defense of Saltsman—on the merits—is spot on.

But what do the merits matter? The song has the word "negro" in it. Most people won't hear the actual song, but they'll all read the headlines, and the headlines are all the left, the Dems, and the media need to further their narrative about supposed Republican racism.

Most any observer of politics in America today could have seen this coming. One of those blind fish that live at the bottom of the deepest ocean could have seen this coming.

But not Saltsman. Not the GOP. No, they're still thinking that the truth matters to the media and the left.

Did they not think that the media was going to jump all over this, and use it as a cudgel? Do they really think that the media is going to spend any time trying to make sure—really sure—that the average person knows that this was a parody of the left's racism? Of their own racism?

The people who "buy ink by the barrel" have targeted the GOP and all conservatives for destruction, and Saltsman just handed them the coordinates at which to focus their next artillery barage.

Frances Rice, Ken Blackwell, and every other conservative, black or white, should not be in the position of having to defend this. This mess was inevtiable, as sure as the sun does rise, and it's a sign of how clumsy the GOP is that they didn't realize it.

Is it fair? No. Is it absurdly ironic, given the Democrats' racist record, both recent and historical? Yes.

Oh freakin' well. I live in reality, and in reality, Saltsman just made the lives of all of us more difficult.

• If the GOP would actually fight back against a media that has targeted them for obliteration, I would be defending Saltsman on the merits.

• If the GOP were to do some actual, real outreach to voters in black communities, I would start defending Saltsman on the merits.

• If the GOP were to elect Michael Steele as RNC chair, I would start defending Saltsman on the merits.

Until that happens, I stand by my current position. Saltsman and much of the rest of the GOP have put  blindfolds on and tied one arm behind their backs . . . and they expect the rest of us to help them around.

It's painful and absurd, and seriously lame.

Thanks, Chip.