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Usually the holidays are a dead zone for political news, but we can thank Chip Saltsman and the racist faction of the GOP for showing us the true spirit of the season for his gifting of a political satire CD with the track Barack the Magic Negro.

RNC Chair Mike Duncan released a statement today that tried to distance himself and the party from the controversy, “The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party. I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction.”

Saltsman, who served as the former chairman of Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, and is now running against Duncan and others to be the next RNC chairman, gave the gift of conservative political satirist Paul Shanklin’s CD We Hate The USA to RNC members.

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Saltsman defended the CD to The Hill, “Paul Shanklin is a long-time friend, and I think that RNC members have the good humor and good sense to recognize that his songs for the Rush Limbaugh show are light-hearted political parodies.”

Here is the song:

Duncan gets it. The Republican Party is not going to rebuild itself by becoming the party of white people. The racist attitude of some Republicans on immigration cost the GOP the Hispanic vote in 2008, but there is a wing of the party that would happily embrace being the party of whites.

I disagree with Saltsman’s characterization of the song. A white man impersonating a black man talking about the hood is not light hearted political parody. It is racism. Duncan himself has been very critical of Obama, but has not touched the issue of race. I understand that Republicans are desperate to find a way to criticize Obama, but using race is not the way to do it.

This is the latest shot in a war between the two sides of the GOP. We saw the same issue play out during the 2008 presidential campaign between John McCain and many of his fellow Republicans. The GOP is divided right now between those who think the party must change, and those who believe that everything is fine.