Well, Chip Saltsman’s racial faux pas didn’t go unnoticed. His rivals weighed in on his racial CD “humor.” Two of them recognized the flashing red siren and voiced strong disapproval. Ken Blackwell instead chose the “blame the liberal media” gambit. (Because it worked so spectacularly well in the presidential election? )

Conservative bloggers are not amused. Erick Erickson remarked:

The rest of the nation must rightly wonder who the hell these Southern white guys are running for RNC Chairman and what their problem is. Let’s face it, the song is really innocuous, but it’ll take forever to explain why. If perception is reality, and it is in cases like this, Saltsman has suffered a very significant self-inflicted wound.

And Newt Gingrich didn’t mince words: “This is so inappropriate that it should disqualify any Republican National Committee candidate who would use it.”

What to make of all this? The RNC race now seems more like a slow motion crash. Bystanders watch anxiously to see if the drivers can avert disaster at the last moment with a quick maneuver. (Watch out for the guy with the CD! Look out — that’s the guy with the whites-only club membership!) You can almost hear the sound of tire squealing and breaking glass.

Now it may be that the heightened coverage of the race has alerted the participants to the dangers ahead. Perhaps the 168 voting members of the RNC will have the good sense to avert a multi-vehicle pile up. Republicans will be bracing themselves for the worst and hoping there is at least one competent figure in this contest who will present a decent image of the Republican party.