[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-Bao4VUQmI]
May 2007
“Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper / Said he makes guilty whites feel good / They’ll vote for him, and not for me / ‘Cause he’s not from the hood.”
Written by songwriter and satirist Paul Shanklin for Limbaugh’s show, “Barack the Magic Negro” was a tune set to the same background music as “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Shanklin, a white conservative, sings from the point of view of Rev. Al Sharpton, a frequent political candidate.
Limbaugh explained the song’s seemingly offensive title was based off of a Los Angeles Times column. But the ditty, which first aired around the time as Don Imus’ infamous racial comments over the radio waves, had politicians up in arms, including Newt Gingrich, who told the New York Times, “This is so inappropriate that it should disqualify any Republican National Committee candidate who would use it.” But Limbaugh defended his use of the song, saying it had been played a number of times in the past without outrage and blamed the media for spinning the story out of control.