As you say, Puff was written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary and a friend.* (I was told a very different story by someone who was there, and ought to know.)

Which brings up the other, forgotten point in all of this: Rush’s “bit guy” quite illegally stole that song without permission.

So, immoral AND illegal. (Not to mention racist.)

[* Leonard Lipton, according to Wikipedia.]

I’ve been shuffling around in the blogroll today and noted that the original (Puff, the Magic Dragon) was written by stalwarts of the Civil Rights movement of the 50s/60s. The parody is essentially not just an insult to our President-Elect, those who voted for him and the country as a whole, but it is a slap in the face; an insult to the original writers of this hopeful and uplifting, little ditty and not in the least bit funny (something that Republicans are well-known for not being capable of succeeding at).

Having played a politician in another life, I remember how painful it was to realize that in too many instances, fellow politicians were using my race as a shield against themselves being accused of being racists when they said things that would be construed by potential voters as racist in nature. To my shame, I played along for a time until I got fed up and walked away. It’s been several years, but those wounds are still wide open. I get angry when I see career politicians (Blackwell, et.al) placing themselves on the spot as the token that proves “that racisim doesn’t exist”.

I had hoped that after the election we had heard the last of that awful racist parody. But, I fear, this is only the beginning.