Chip Saltsman Withdraws From RNC Chairman’s Race
Posted on January 29, 2009 at 4:29 pmChip Saltsman’s letter to the voting membership of the Republican National Committee:
Since November’s election, I’ve had the remarkable opportunity to travel throughout thirty two states, share my vision for the future of our party, and listen to the advice of the nearly one hundred members who took the time to visit with me in their homes, their offices, their airports, and their coffee shops.
I’ve seen how the Clark County Republicans of Nevada are organizing online to defeat Harry Reid in 2010, as we defeated Tom Daschle in 2002.
I’ve heard how Republicans in the District of Columbia have expanded their membership simply by holding their meetings and spreading their message in communities that have long shared our values, but which have never felt welcome within our ranks.
I’ve witnessed how the hard work of Republican leadership in my home of Tennessee has given our state its first Republican General Assembly since 1869.
And I’ve met with Republicans in New England’s blue states who are ready to plant our party’s flag and prove that our coalition is broad enough, strong enough to compete everywhere and win anywhere.
But, while my travels make me confident in our party’s future, I wanted you to be first to know that I have decided to withdraw my candidacy to become your next chairman.
Thank you for your passion for our party and for the principles that make it great. I hope that you won’t hesitate to call on me as we rebuild our majority.
Chip
Always a darkhorse, Saltsman’s candidacy for RNC chair careened off the tracks when it was publicized that Saltsman gave a CD of political satire composed by Memphian Paul Shanklin to members of the RNC as a Christmas gift.
The lightning rod song, ‘Barack the Magic Negro’, a parody sung to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon” and a takeoff on a LA Times article of the same name first aroused controversy when it debuted on the Rush Limbaugh Show last year.
While he was roundly condemned in the media (and by Republican political enemies), Saltsman refused to explicitly apologize for what many saw as a serious faux pas.
Most observers considered his candidacy DOA in the wake of the controversy and there was a question as too whether Saltsman would even qualify for the ballot in tomorrow’s chairman election.
Saltsman is a former chairman of the TNGOP and ran the upstart campaign of Governor Mike Huckabee after his political mentor Bill Frist decided against a run in 2008.
SEE ALSO:
The Other McCain
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Ameripundit
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CNN
Robin Smith Gives Chip Saltsman The High Hat
Posted on January 26, 2009 at 11:34 amTwo Tennessee national executive committee members endorse Katon Dawson for RNC chairman, not hometown boy, Chip Saltsman:
Two Republican National Committee members from Tennessee endorse South Carolina GOP Chair Katon Dawson in his bid to be the next RNC Chair: State GOP Chair Robin Smith and National Committeeman John Ryder. The bid of Chip Saltsman had been facing an uphill climb in recent weeks, and two endorsements of a rival from his home state suggests one more bump in the road.
The third RNC member from Tennessee, Peggy Lambert, has endorsed Ken Blackwell.
SEE ALSO: Whitehouse
Like Getting People To Stop Throwing Around The Term ‘Magic Negro’
Posted on January 19, 2009 at 11:18 amRNC Chairman candidate Chip Saltsman says there is still work to be done before Martin Luther King’s dream is realized:
Although born in Nashville just days before Martin Luther King, Jr.’s tragic death in Memphis, my life and the life of my country have been shaped by Dr. King’s vision of an America that was united by brotherhood and justice and that refused to be divided by race, color or creed.
Since those dark days of 1968, our nation has made tremendous progress towards his noble hope. While more work remains, his life and his service provide an ideal to which we should always aspire and which we should never forget.
One Is The Loneliest Number
Posted on January 11, 2009 at 8:21 pmTennessean Chip Saltsman has only one public commitment for an RNC member in his quest to become chair of the Republican National Committee.
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No Discussion Of Magic Negro Contro At RNC Chairman Candidate Debate
Posted on January 5, 2009 at 5:23 pmFrom National Review:
No mention was made of the racially-tinged controversies that encircled two of the candidates: Dawson’s past membership in a whites-only country club and Chip Saltsman’s distribution of a Paul Shanklin CD that included the song “Barack the Magic Negro.” Asked by a reporter if he felt the story had blown over, Saltsman said, “I think so.” Asked if he felt the story had been hyped during a traditionally slow news period around the holidays, he said, “I agree with that.” (One observer noted that the Saltsman controversy may hurt Dawson as well, as the two reinforced a theme of racial insensitivity that GOP critics love to emphasize.)
Perhaps Saltsman’s best moment came when he pointed out that the country was facing a new economic model in which government in the form of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Reid determine the winners and losers, not the market. He also had a cute point about throwing out leaders who tell young people, ‘you’re the future’; he preferred leaders who recognize that young Republicans are the backbone of the party right now.
SEE ALSO:
Jeff Woods
techPresident
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Naifeh’s “Negro” Rebuke Politically Convenient?
Posted on December 30, 2008 at 8:00 amWhat comments aren’t these days. Rep. Campfield reacts to the outgoing Speaker’s impressions of CHip Saltsman’s actions:
I laugh at the thought that Naifeh is coming out against harsh words in a political campaign. OK so he has had a change of heart, I am sure Naifeh is now going to speak out against Obamas sexest “Lipstick on a pig” comment or Kerrys ageism “McCain wears depends” comments too now, Maybe Naifeh just didnt like the word “Negro” being used. He can start with condemnation of the “United Negro College fund” and anyone who uses the name. I mean “These things need to be brought to the forefront no matter who’s saying them.” Right?
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Mumpower And Ramsey Weigh In On Saltsman Controversy
Posted on at 7:43 amFrom Andy Sher:
“Last month, the voters of this state put Republicans in charge of both houses of the legislature for the first time since Reconstruction and they expect us to work on issues important to Tennesseans,” Rep. Mumpower said. “I am not going to let the politics of Washington, D.C., distract us from that goal, and I would ask Speaker Naifeh to join me in that effort.”
Mr. Saltsman’s use of the Shanklin song has drawn mixed reactions from Republicans. Current RNC Chairman Mike Duncan, whom Mr. Saltsman and other candidates hope to oust, said in a statement he was “shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate.”
Lance Frizzell, a spokesman for Lt. Gov. Ramsey, the Senate speaker, said “obviously Tennesseans don’t believe Republicans are extremists or divisive. They wouldn’t have given us control of both chambers in November for the first time in 140 years.”
As for Lt. Gov. Ramsey’s thoughts about the song, Mr. Frizzell cited public statements he said were made last year by Sen. Obama during a radio interview.
“If the president-elect is not offended and sees it as political satire, then I think that’s on the mark,” Mr. Frizzell said.
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Naifeh Rebukes Saltsman
Posted on December 29, 2008 at 3:43 pmVia Andy Sher:
State House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, today called on Tennessee Republican leaders to “renounce” former state GOP chairman Chip Saltsman for having sent out a musical parody entitled “Barack the Magic Negro” as a Christmas gift in his quest to become Republican National Committee chairman.
“Once again a Tennessee Republican is practicing the art of racial divisiveness in an apparent effort to appeal to what he believes is the base of the Republican Party,” Speaker Naifeh said in a statement issued by his office.
The song, which author Paul Shanklin describes as political satire, is sung to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Mr. Saltsman, a former Tennessee Republican Party chairman, has been criticized by a number of people, including some Republican rivals, for sending out a CD that includes the tune as a Christmas present.
MORE: The AP
“Magic Negro” Creator Weighs In On Saltsman Contro
Posted on at 1:22 pmPaul Shanklin, the creative mind behind the song RNC chairman candidate has been chastised for distributing, comes to the defense of his friend and former business partner:
“They are trying to paint Chip as some kind of racist — which he’s not,” Shanklin said Sunday afternoon.
“Whether he should have sent it out, I’ll let history decide. Is it provocative? Well, most political satire is. What I do for a living is major league provocative….”
…Saltsman is a former partner in Shanklin’s record venture. In talking with The Hill newspaper, Saltsman was quoted as calling it a “light-hearted” gift that would be received in “good humor.”
Current RNC Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan, said in a statement carried by the Associated Press: “I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction.” Duncan is seeking a second two-year term as GOP national chairman against Saltsman and four others.
“Apparently, Chairman Duncan doesn’t listen to Rush Limbaugh or conservative Republicans out here in the hinterlands,” Shanklin said as he listed Duncan’s recent accomplishments: “Let’s see, he’s lost the presidency, the House and the Senate. I’m kinda shocked and appalled he’s still there.”
Shanklin credited Saltsman with laying the framework for how far the GOP has come in Tennessee. Saltsman, he said, “set a tone of leadership that got us” the state House and the state Senate. Under Saltsman as state GOP chairman, Shanklin said the Nashvillian made sure Republicans were running for state House and state Senate seats.
“Chip makes things happen regardless of what people think of my parody work,” Shanklin said.
Keep The Grownups On Speed Dial
Posted on at 12:47 pmKen Whitehouse has a few words for Tennessee politicos in the wake of Chip Saltsman’s recent racial gaffe:
Here’s a simple request to our elected leaders - call it a New Year’s resolution. Shut the hell up. If you are a Republican then concentrate on running the state legislature, finding solutions for the budget shortfall and improving education. There are other Republicans in Washington that can and will attack Obama. Let them do it. That will be their job. If you feel the need to attack a Democrat, go after people like Gov. Phil Bredesen or Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. You have been pretty effective at that and you have shown that typically you don’t screw it up.
Democrats, you aren’t off the hook here either. You got shellacked in November and haven’t done anything lately to take pride in. Find your footing and let Democrats in D.C. defend and praise Obama. They have done it better than you have and maybe you can learn something by listening instead of talking.
If any of you can’t sit on your hands or hold your tongues, call Alexander or Corker if you are a Republican or Jim Cooper if you are a Democrat. They will be in charge of talking you down or helping you refine your message in a way so that you don’t look like a descendent of Bull Connor.
SEE ALSO:
Dan Lehr
Tim Chavez
Mediaverse
Jackson Baker
Silver Linings For Saltsman
Posted on at 8:02 amDespite a recent PR disaster, Chip Saltsman’s run for RNC chair could get new life at a special meeting of the RNC called in advance of the vote for chair at the end of January:
Several RNC watchers who did not sign on to the meeting but who support it nonetheless say the meeting is a victory for those running to unseat incumbent chairman Mike Duncan. The meeting will give the other five prominent candidates an opportunity to campaign amongst the 168 voting national committee members in advance of the election, which takes place during the last weekend in January.
A candidate forum is the sole agenda item aside from procedural matters to call the meeting to order.
When voting begins, Duncan is expected to start the first round of voting with the highest total, though the incumbent is not expected to reach the 85 votes necessary to win outright.
RNC Chair Piles On Saltsman
Posted on December 27, 2008 at 3:17 pmThe man Chip Saltsman is trying to dethrone as chairman of the Republican National committee has added his voice to those denouncing the former RNC chair for including a racially inflammatory piece of political satire in his Christmas present to executive committee members:
“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.”
However, Ken Blackwell, another candidate for chair and an African American, defends Saltsman:
“Unfortunately, there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race. This is in large measure due to President-Elect Obama being the first African-American elected president. I don’t think any of the concerns that have been expressed in the media about any of the other candidates for RNC chairman should disqualify them. When looked at in the proper context, these concerns are minimal. All of my competitors for this leadership post are fine people.”
UPDATE 3:53PM: Saltsman responds:
“Liberal Democrats and their allies in the media didn’t utter a word about David Ehrenstein’s irresponsible column in the Los Angeles Times last March. But now, of course, they’re shocked and appalled by its parody on the Rush Limbaugh Show.
“I firmly believe that we must welcome all Americans into our party and that the road to Republican resurgence begins with unity, not division. But I know that our party leaders should stand up against the media’s double standards and refuse to pander to their desire for scandal.”
MORE ON THE SALTSMAN CONTRO:
The Other McCain
NY Times
Washington Post
J.P. Freire
Moderate Voice
Tim Chavez
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