Dick Cheney's favorite racist has been playing playing the song "Barack the Magic Negro" on his radio show. John Amato has the tape, it's hideous. (Update: The guy who does the song is a white conservative who routinely mocks blacks - Limbaugh often plays his stuff.)
Limbaugh claims he's just repeating a term used in an LA Times commentary. Yes, the LA Times commentary made a reference to the historical term "Magic Negro" - in old films, apparently, the black character, the "magic Negro" as it was called in the trade, would absurdly appear out of nowhere to save the white character. Limbaugh, however, decided to adopt the term, use it over and over again in a mocking way, and even went so far as to make a "funny" song about magic negroes. There's a difference between a historical look at the term - and it's still an iffy proposition using it in a serious op ed - and using the term in a "funny" way to continually mock Obama and, implicitly, black people. Limbaugh is using the term because he thinks it gives him license to say "negro" repeatedly on the air, and "negro" (like "homo" and "ho'" and so many other denigrating words) to Limbaugh is funny because to the GOP base, to Limbaugh's base, bigotry is fun.
Limbaugh is the guy Vice President Dick Cheney interviews with regularly. Limbaugh knew exactly what he was doing - and he didn't care. The current extremists running the Republican party find racism funny. To them, bigotry is a big business. And Rush is one of the biggest. So what does the White House have to say about Dick Cheney's favorite radio host? Will Cheney be going on the "magic negro" show in the future? And will Rush be permitted to keep his job?
Chris in Maine was kind enough to transcribe the song:
(sung by an Al Sharpton impersonator, I assume)
Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times they called him that
cause he's not authentic like me.
Yeah the guy from the L.A. paper
said he made guilty whites feel good
they'll vote for him and not for me
cause hes not from da hood.
See, real black men like snoop dogg
or me or Farrakhan
have talked the talk and walked the walk
not come and laid and won (not sure about this line).
Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times they called him that
cause he's not authentic like me
cause hes black but not authentically.
Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times they called him that
cause he's not authentic like me
cause hes black but not authentically.
Some say Barack's articulate
and bright and new and clean
the media sure love this guy
a white interloper's dream.
But when you vote for president
watch out and don't be fooled
don't vote the magic negro in
cause...
(background singing the first 3 lines, while the singer is saying)
Cause I wont have nothing after all these years of sacrifice and I wont get justice this is about justice this is about justice, buffet, I don't have no buffet there wont be any church contributions there'll be no cash in the collection plate, no cash money, no walkin' around money...
