Note: I'm going to play a number of Limbaugh's most racist comments on my AM760 radio show this morning. Tune in at www.am760.net. - D
"Numerous sportswriters, CNN, MSNBC, among others, falsely attributed to me statements I had never made. Their sources, as best I can tell, were Wikipedia and each other...I never said I supported slavery and I never praised James Earl Ray. How sick would that be? Just as sick as those who would use such outrageous slanders against me or anyone else who never even thought such things." - Rush Limbaugh, 10/17/09
Forget the double standard of Rush Limbaugh, a free marketeer, now decrying as outrageous the NFL corporation's logical business decision to protect its brand from his taint. In all the hullaballoo about whether or not the NFL should have allowed Limbaugh to invest in the St. Louis Rams, the most telling narrative is the radio host's victimization narrative.
In the Sunday Wall Street Journal (and on his radio show), Limbaugh insists that there is no concrete proof that he uttered two quotes about race - one trumpeting Martin Luther King's assassin, another trumpeting the virtues of slavery - that a book attributed to him and that the media then echoed. Limbaugh is correct - there is no proof, and Nate Silver is also correct in suggesting that anyone who has publicly attributed those to him should correct their mistake (BTW - I corrected the record about 5 minutes after I made the mistake on my radio show on Thursday).
However, Limbaugh is now using this misattribution as supposed proof that he is not a racist, that he is, in fact, being unduly persecuted for his conservative beliefs and that actually, he is one of America's leading voices espousing a "belief in a colorblind society where every individual is treated as a precious human being without regard to his race." You can't make this shit up.
This is part of the broader conservative grievance ideology - no matter how much power conservatives have, they will constantly insist they are the ones under attack and under persecution, particularly by black people who supposedly mislabel all conservatives as "racist."
But this time, the diversionary tactic really insults everyone's intelligence. Not only have the majority of NFL owners' political contributions gone to the Republican Party Limbaugh so strongly supports, but more importantly, Limbaugh has made a whole series of racist comments that he does not and cannot deny - comments that prove he is a pretty blatant racist not the enlightened voice for "a colorblind society where every individual is treated as a precious human being without regard to his race."
Here's the Huffington Post's Matt Osborne recounting just some of the most disgusting ones:
The wingnutosphere insists: Rush has never, ever made a racist comment! Ever!...Except for this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, and this one and this one, and this one, and this one and this one.
Sure, Limbaugh didn't make two racist comments attributed to him, but he made a bunch of others that we can verify. That doesn't mean those who attributed the two comments to him shouldn't correct the record, but it also doesn't mean Limbaugh and his dittoheads should be able to get away with citing the mistaken attribution as wholesale proof that Limbaugh isn't a racist. If you listen to those clips linked above, it's clear that he is - and frankly, if you can listen to those clips and still insist that he's not a racist, then you probably are a racist yourself.
Indeed, there was a good reason so many people believed Limbaugh might have made those two statements misattributed to him. As St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell says:
The quote was so in character with the many things that Limbaugh has said before that we didn't verify it beyond the book...Let's play along for the time being and take him at his word that he was inaccurately quoted in the Huberman book. Heck, let's go along for the full ride and believe that it was all a horrible "fabrication." So what are we left with? Well, essentially, I think we just threw a deck chair off the Titanic.There is still a huge pile of polarizing, bigoted debris stacked up on the deck of the good ship Limbaugh that he can't deny or even remotely distance himself from.
Limbaugh, of course, is within his First Amendment rights to have made these comments. However, as Digby notes, the First Amendment guarantees one only the right to free speech - it doesn't grant anyone the right to evade the consequences of one's speech. In this case, the consequences are a private corporation - the NFL - saying it wants nothing to do with Limbaugh.
Certainly, you can certainly disagree with that business decision for various reasons, some of which have nothing to do with political ideology or Rush worship at all (one argument I've heard is that if the NFL is going to let Michael Vick play, they should also let Limbaugh invest). However, the decision has nothing to do with the First Amendment or political persecution and everything to do with a private corporation wanting to steer clear of branding itself to an overt racist - a billing that even the dittoheads shouldn't be able to deny.
Bob Cesca: Keep Going, Republicans! You're Doing Great!
If recent polling is any indication, people don't want to be associated with the party that elevates the self-satirical wackaloons. Especially when they refuse to be honest about who they are.
But for the other things he said, it is clear, the man has a problem. Sadly, he is not alone in this. I think for some people, racism begins and ends with the n-word. I'm willing to believe he doesn't sit around using that word... but his statements clearly show a lack of compassion for the African-American experience. Saying "the media wants to see a black quarterback succeed" is ridiculous. I get it that you want success to be based on performance... and really, it should be. But he doesn't understand the desire and expectation blacks have to see another black in a role historically denied to them. Many African-Americans can remember a time where it did not matter how good their performance was; black meant "unqualified."
What continues to make Rush Limbaugh offensive is his intolerance towards the experiences of others that are differnt from his worldview.
Wouldn't you say anything for a $400 million contract (Rush), or $23+ million a year (Beck), or a warm seat in h.ell (Savage)? Sad to say, I probably would as well, but I would do it from the other side of the spectrum.
The NFL has every right not to sell a franchise to Rush, especially with all the negative public relations he would bring to the league. But what I think we should all keep in mind is that Rush (and his spawn Beck) are your typical mud slinging bullies, who will say anything to their chromosome missing listeners for a buck.
Ok using your definition, how is any of those comments racist. Rush obviously doesn't have a problem with the above because he hires blacks to very high paying jobs and has black friends, including some black football players and coach's. By your definition he would consider them beneath him .
Poor excuse, especially since Rush simply played records back then, no political commentary at all.
and ASSumed the man was Black. "
His first name does sound a bit African, but how does that mistake make Rush a racist?
Apparently that is true. However observing the fact that many black NFL players behave like gangstas is not racist.
What do you call - gansta behavior DUI's? That is the overwhelming majority of arrests are for - guests what the DUI rate among NFL players is actually lower than for the general population.
Furthermore - Did you know that most NFL players either graduate from college or have 3 years or more of college education - that is more than the general population.
Everyone is not taking basket-weaving either....
the same year 3 Black quarterbacks were ranked in the top 10. Where was the media?"
Saying that the media desired a black quaterback do do well is not racist, especially since he had no problem with them desiring a black quaterback doing well. He was simply explaining why they do that.
While we're on the subject, if the "liberal media" is so invested in the success of black quarterbacks, why did the media in Philadelphia orchestrate the massive booing that McNabb got when he was drafted?
the same year 3 Black quarterbacks were ranked in the top 10. Where was the media?
Equating the NFL players with Bloods and Crips is not a good idea for wannabee NFL team owners. .
Limbaugh tried to make race an issue during the Sherrod Brown campaign
until he found out that Sherrod Brown was not Black. He saw the name Sherrod Brown
and ASSumed the man was Black.
More examples of Limbaughs racially charged comments.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200910130049
You are correct that Rush does not have a right to get involved in a private business such as the NFL but he does have a right to not be slandered by a vast portion of media with completly false comments and then be forced to prove a negative.
He`s half-white.
He`s half-white.
He`s half-white.
He`s half-white.
There. Feeling better?