Wednesday, January 21, 2009

More Spanglish jokes, please!

Chip "Salty Chips" Saltsman, former Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party and candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, turned a lot of heads last month when he sent his fellow Republicans a gift CD containing a song called "Barack the Magic Negro". However, I think Salty Chips' brave stand against the political correctness stormtroopers remains unappreciated. After all, it's easy enough for Republicans to mock black people -- it's been forty years now since the GOP gave up on winning them over and concentrated on pandering to white racial fears instead, so mocking blacks is practically a rite of passage for Republicans these days.

No, the real display of courage by Salty Chips was demonstrated by another song on the CD called "The Star Spanglish Banner". After all, Republicans have spent a lot of time and effort over the last couple of decades trying to win over Latino voters, and it was actually paying off. Latinos gave Bush his margin of victory over John Kerry in 2004, and brought him within stealing distance of victory in 2000. Latinos are the crucial voting bloc these days.

That being the case, it took a lot of guts for Salty Chips to deliberately mock Latinos. That sort of courage is a rare and precious thing. After all, you didn't hear Sarah Palin sneering at Latinos on the campaign trail -- she reserved her mockery for community organizers. Nor did John McCain venture any Spanglish jokes -- he was satisfied to demonize ACORN.

Salty Chips knows better. He knows that Republicans need to pander to the xenophobes who make up the GOP's base, and that they can't be afraid to alienate an important group of voters in order to do so. So, to my friends over on the other side of the aisle, I give you this important piece of advice: vote for Salty Chips for RNC chair. He's the man you need to lead the GOP back to its rightful God-given status as America's majority party.

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