Thursday, August 04, 2011

Rachel Maddow points out stupidity of birthers

and she does it in a humorous way on Barack Obama's birthday. Good stuff, Rachel Maddow.

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Update:

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10 comments :

C.H. said...

This just shows how desperate this vitriolic network is. Obama is a disaster and an empty suit, so they distract from his policies by talking about "birthers".

C.H. said...

Its time to reshuffle the deck, Mojo. The race card is worn out...it's not going to help Obama anymore.

Iraqi Mojo said...

It is looking less likely that Obama will be reelected. But Rachel Maddow did a good job of showing how some conservatives use racism to appeal to their demographic. Or maybe they're just being their usual racist selves, and "magic negro" is a regular part of their vocabulary.

C.H. said...

You do know that the "schmuck" who called Obama the "magic negro" is an LA Times columnist, right? That's where it first originated.

Iraqi Mojo said...

Please tell us about the LA Times columnist who inspired Rush Limbaugh.

Iraqi Mojo said...

I'll just quote Wikipedia:

'"Barack the Magic Negro"[2] is a song by American political satirist Paul Shanklin who wrote and recorded it for the Rush Limbaugh Show as satire after it was first applied to presidential candidate Obama by movie and culture critic, David Ehrenstein, in a Los Angeles Times op ed column of March 19, 2007. It was played numerous times in 2007 and 2008 by Rush Limbaugh and appeared on the 2008 album We Hate the USA. It is sung by Shanklin to the tune of "Puff, the Magic Dragon". Shanklin impersonates black activist Al Sharpton, who regretfully sings that white people will vote for Barack Obama for President instead of Sharpton, because Obama is a magical Negro (a term previously popularized by Spike Lee[3]), not a real black man from the "hood".

Limbaugh was criticized and accused by some of racism for playing the song. The controversy eventually died down in regards to Limbaugh. It was reignited in December 2008, when Chip Saltsman, a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee, sent out CDs containing the song to 168 other RNC members as a Christmas gift, hoping to bolster his 2009 campaign for RNC chair. The move backfired, Saltsman dropped his bid to head the RNC, and ultimately African American Republican Michael Steele won the chairmanship.'

C.H. said...

As your link shows you, Rush Limbaugh used "Barack the magic negro" after it was first coined by the LA Times.

You seem to think it was the other way around.

Iraqi Mojo said...

So you're saying it's ok the schmuck called the President a "magic negro" because it was coined by somebody at the LA Times?

C.H. said...

I'm saying that its stupid for Limbaugh to get blasted when the LA Times started the whole controversy in the first place.

Iraqi Mojo said...

David Ehrenstein wrote an article in the LA Times explaining the meaning and history of the term:

'The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist," reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro .

He's there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.'

David Ehrenstein was commenting on American culture and how white America might see Senator Obama as some kind of Sidney Portier, and how some African Americans might see Obama as not black enough. Ehrenstein is not using the term to disparage the President like Rush Limbaugh is. It sounds racist coming out the stupid douchebag's mouth.

I don't expect you or any FOX News employee to understand the difference between the LA Times article and the way the right wing schmucks on radio use it.