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Peter Yarrow — the Peter in “Peter, Paul and Mary” — lashed out against Chip Saltsman, a front-runner for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, for including a racially charged parody of one of his band’s songs on a CD that Saltsman sent to committee members as a Christmas gift.
Peter Yarrow (Photo: Peterpaulandmary.com)
The song, “Barack the Magic Negro,” is a parody of the Peter, Paul and Mary tune “Puff the Magic Dragon” that was produced by Paul Shanklin, an associate of talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
“This is not only offensive, it is shocking and saddening in the extreme,” Yarrow said in an email interview with the Iowa Independent Saturday. “It flies in the face of America’s deeply held hope for a new era in which common ground and mutal respect characterize the exchanges between our national leaders.”
Yarrow said that he and co-writer of the song Lenny Lipton “have been eagerly awaiting an end to the mean-spiritedness, outright disrespect and bigotry that was commonplace prior to this last presidential election.”
“What might have been wearily accepted as ‘the way it was’ in the campaign is now unacceptable,” Yarrow said. “[Barack] Obama is not a candidate. He is the President-elect, and this song insults the office of the Presidency, the people who voted for him, as well as those who did not — and taking a children’s song and twisting it in such a vulgar, mean-spirited way, is a slur to our entire country and our common agreement to move beyond racism.”
Yarrow said it was “unimaginable” that Saltsman, who was the highest paid Republican campaign manager during the 2008 primary when he served for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, “would seriously be considered” for the RNC top post.
“Puff himself, if asked, would certainly agree,” Yarrow said.
The album is sold as comedy and Saltsman has defended sending it as a Christmas gift. ”I think most people recognize political satire when they see it,” he told CNN. On his own blog, Saltsman said that the media was using a double standard in their criticism of him.
The song has been a programming mainstay for Limbaugh since late 2007. He too, has defended playing the parody, noting that Obama was first characterized as a “Magic Negro” by a liberal writer in March 2007 who likened Obama’s appeal to whites to the appeal of Hollywood actors like Sidney Poitier and Morgan Freeman.
In addition to serving as Huckabee’s campaign manager, Saltsman was the head of the Tennessee Republican Party and worked with former Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee. Huckabee has made telephone calls in support of Saltsman for the RNC position.
Sarah Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor’s chief spokeswoman and daughter, told Marc Ambinder that her father is supporting Saltsman because he believes his former campaign manager “shares his vision on how to move the party forward.”
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