Michael Steele in January in regards to the “Magic Negro” song about Obama:
TP: A big theme on the panel today was how to get the GOP to embrace minority voters. Do you think that Mr. Saltsman’s CD that he released to the RNC members helps or hurts that effort?
STEELE: Oh it doesn’t help at all. Absolutely, it reinforces a negative stereotype of the party. […] And so now we have a opportunity to step in the breach and clear that up and make sure that people appreciate and know that look, this is not representative of the party as a whole, this is not a direction that we want to go in or a system that we believe.
And now:
CALLER: It’s just like the LA Time said last year or two years ago: He is the magic Negro.
STEELE: Yeah he — [laughing]. You read that too, huh? [still laughing]
CALLER: Oh yeah. I read that too. Even when things go wrong, he still manages to come out smelling like a rose.
STEELE: Well, yeah.
