Will The Republican Party Continue to Follow Talk Radio and Fox News into Oblivion?

January 6th, 2009

The recent flap over a holiday CD sent out by Chip Saltsman, a candidate for Chair of the Republican National Committee, is just one more example of how conservative talk radio and FOX News have goaded the Republican Party into polarizing itself out of business.

The CD is a compilation by Paul Shanklin called We Hate the USA, which includes the Rush Limbaugh ditty, "Barack the Magic Negro."  Not as well known is that the CD also includes "The Star Spanglish Banner" and slams immigrants, women, and a host of other groups in American society.  And thanks to http://www.alternet.org, we know that FOX News allowed a text message on its New Year's Eve broadcast stating, "Let's hope the ‘Magic Negro' does a good job."  Ha ha.

Pandering to the most narrow-minded and angry viewers may be gold in ratings for Limbaugh, FOX, and company, but there is also no question that the demagoguery and scapegoating took a severe electoral toll on the fortunes of the GOP.  With John McCain, arguably the party's most minority-friendly presidential candidate in history, Republicans won just 30% of the Latino presidential vote and 4% of the Black vote, the lowest ever recorded for a Republican presidential candidate from that community.

In fairness, not all Republicans-either out of principle or because they have taken a good look at recent voting trends-are willing to follow FOX and Limbaugh off the cliff.  Both outgoing Republican National Committee Chair Mike Duncan and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich condemned the Saltsman/Shanklin holiday CD.  Yet according to a recent report in Politico, they were assailed by fellow Republicans as wimps succumbing to "political correctness."

We had hoped that the forces for good would have triumphed by now.  No such luck.