House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh challenges top state Republicans to 'renounce' Chip Saltsman

NASHVILLE — Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh charged Monday that former state GOP chairman Chip Saltsman’s mailing of a musical parody about President-elect Barack Obama fits into a pattern of “extremist, divisive” acts by some state Republicans.

Mr. Saltsman, 40, recently sent Republican National Committee members a CD by Memphis-born satirist Paul Shanklin. Among the songs was “Barack the Magic Negro,” sung to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Mr. Shanklin appears on conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated program, where “Barack the Magic Negro” first reached national attention.

Rep. Naifeh challenged former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, and House Republican leader Jason Mumpower of Bristol to “renounce” Mr. Saltsman, who is running for Republican National Committee chairman.

“I think it’s an embarrassment to the state when someone sends out something like this,” said Speaker Naifeh, of Covington, noting that all three political figures recently endorsed Mr. Saltsman.

“Here’s Frist wanting to run for governor, Ramsey for lieutenant governor and Mumpower wanting to take over where I am as speaker of the House and then there’s things like this,” the speaker said of Mr. Saltsman’s mailing.

Mr. Saltsman has said the parody refers to a March 2007 opinion column in the Los Angeles Times by David Ehrenstein. It was headlined “Obama the ‘Magic Negro.’” In the piece, Mr. Ehrenstein said that voting for Mr. Obama, who is black, helped white voters absolve themselves of guilt over past racism.

Mr. Saltsman has accused the news media of using “double standards” on the matter.

In a statement issued later Monday, Rep. Mumpower, who is challenging Rep. Naifeh for House speaker, avoided mention of Mr. Saltsman, a top political adviser to Dr. Frist. Mr. Saltsman ran Republican Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign this year.

“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.

Speaker Naifeh earlier likened Mr. Saltsman’s use of the Shanklin song to a Tennessee Republican Party news release earlier this year about “anti-Semites” backing Sen. Obama. The release on the party’s Web site cited Sen. Obama’s middle name, Hussein, and featured a photo of the candidate in traditional Kenyan robes, which it described as Muslim garb.

Speaker Naifeh cited another instance in which former state Rep. Nathan Vaughn, D-Kingsport, who is black, was attacked during the campaign by a GOP mail piece portraying him, Sen. Obama and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as blackbirds. Speaker Pelosi is white.