THE NFL IS WORRIED ABOUT A ‘RACIST’ OWNER?’
No, Limbaugh is no racist. He’s a blowhard. He’s a conservative poseur. He’s a racial provocateur. He’s a rabble rousing polemicist.
But Rush, God love him, would find no advantage to being a racist and hence, doesn’t even try to play one on the radio. In fact, it is amusing that as always, Limbaugh knows exactly what buttons to push that sends his enemies into orbit.
Now, it is apparent his foes have gone a smear too far and actually invented some “Rushisms” out of whole cloth - with predictable results, as Limbaugh has been able to use the lies about him to both instruct his listeners in media bias (you’d think after 20 years his audience would get it), as well as generate sympathy from people like me who can’t stand him but hate the rank dishonesty and evocation of nauseating racial politics of some on the left even more.
But the real kicker in this brouhaha over Limbaugh’s purported effort to become an NFL owner is the uproariously funny spectacle of NFL owners and players solemnly opining on Limbaugh’s supposed divisive words and bad behavior.
When did the NFL become the gold standard of tolerance and diversity? And since when did the NFL Players Association and its nearly 200 members who have been charged with felonies in the last decade become the arbiter of moral wholesomeness?
The National Football League was the last major professional sports organization to hire a black coach. Art Shell was hired in 1988 to coach the Oakland Raiders. It took them 4 years to hire a second - Dennis Green of the Vikings. All told, there have been 10 African American coaches in the entire history of the league. That compares to 49 black coaches in NBA history and 22 in Major League baseball.
And these guys are worried about Limbaugh?
The NBA and pro baseball had programs in place to seek out minority hires in management about a decade before the NFL even broke the color barrier. It took the league another decade to reluctantly adopt a policy to promote minorities on the field. It was ordered that any head coaching vacancy would require at least one minority candidate to be interviewed. Predictably, there were loud complaints that the whole policy was a dog and pony show because the number of black head coaches never increased.
It was left to individual do gooders - Bill Walsh was prominent in the movement to increase minority hires - to take it upon themselves to do something about this embarrassingly shameful situation. With no help from the owners, black assistant coaches began to slowly fill the ranks of NFL teams and got their shots at the big chair.
So when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell can actually face the cameras with a straight face and say something like this, my hypocrisy meter starts going off the scale:
Commissioner Roger Goodell said here Tuesday that it would be inappropriate for the owner of an NFL franchise to make the sort of controversial statements attributed in the past to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
“I’ve said many times before we’re all held to a high standard here, and I think divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about,” Goodell said at an NFL owners’ meeting. “I would not want to see those comments coming from people who are in a responsible position in the NFL, absolutely not.”
Limbaugh has acknowledged being part of a group bidding for the St. Louis Rams.
Goodell and several owners said Tuesday that the Rams’ sale process is in its early stages and the league is far from considering a potential bid by Limbaugh and Dave Checketts, the chairman of hockey’s St. Louis Blues.
But any proposed franchise sale would have to be approved by three-quarters of the owners, and Goodell’s comments signaled that it perhaps would be unlikely that Limbaugh’s bid would be ratified by the other teams.
“Divisive comments?” How about Falcons owner Arthur Blank on the prospects for the return of convicted dog torturer Michael Vick?
“If Michael makes a mistake and eats fried chicken and French fries in prison every day and comes out at 250 pounds, he’s not going to be able to play football,” Blank said. “
Now, anyone in public life who utters the words “fried chicken” as it relates to a black man is usually skewered over an open spit. The racialists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton scream bloody murder. But because no one wanted to be in the position of defending the monster Vick, Blank got something of a pass. (As well he should have.)
Well, since he’s part of the club already, Blank doesn’t get called on the carpet. But the fact remains that only liberal universities have a worse record at hiring African American coaches. As of today, there are exactly 4 major college coaches out of 119 schools.
And what of the professional sports criminal element? I’m speaking of the NFL players - 471 and counting have been arrested since 2000. For any of them to open their mouths about Rush Limbaugh and judge him is too absurd for words. The resistance by the NFL Players Association to ferreting out illegal steroid and other drug use puts them in no position to be commenting about anyone’s morals.
Late word is that Limbaugh will apparently be dropped from the Checketts group. Just as well. Limbaugh may very well have embarrassed the league at some point as he pushes the envelope of outrageousness ever farther in search of ratings and ad revenue. But for the hypocrites in the NFL to worry about Limbaugh’s racial agitation when their own sorry ass record is so profoundly disturbing, it gives a whole new meaning to the “pot-kettle” analogy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703790404574473810039848146.html
Consequences, gotta love ‘em…
Comment by BellWeather Bill — 10/15/2009 @ 5:32 am
In describing Limbaugh as a “blowhard…poseur…racial provocateur,” etc., Rich Moran almost reaches the level of pompousness and stupidity of a David Frum or a Peggy Noonan. Well played.
Comment by Brian — 10/15/2009 @ 5:47 am
While you are correct that Limbaugh is a provocateur as opposed to an outright racist, I find it troubling . . . no, make that disheartening that you once again have come to his defense.
Even when people deliberately smear him using made up quotes? Even when the hypocrisy of the NFL and the players fairly drips every time they open their mouths?
ed.
Comment by Shaun — 10/15/2009 @ 7:08 am
Bllomberg News reported on Wednesday that the Checketts group, in addition to including Rush Limbaugh, also had George Soros as an investor in their bid to buy the Rams.
Aside from the weird aspect of Limbaugh and Soros being in the same investor group, and even leaving aside George’s political activities, for a league that is facing an end to its current player contract and has a number of owners deathly concerned that owners like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder are going to try and destory revenue sharing and turn the NFL into a mirror of Major League Baseball — where a handful of deep-pocket teams dominate the playoffs year after year — I’d be far more scared of Soros being in, based on his past history of try to corner and/or destroy foreign markets by using his finances to game the market, than I would of Rush Limbaugh.
Comment by John — 10/15/2009 @ 7:19 am
I wonder if there’s a term equivalent to TV’s “jumping the shark” for blogs. Perhaps, “tossing the little green football.” How long before Moran pontificates himself into the august company of Johnson and Sullivan?
Comment by Balthar — 10/15/2009 @ 7:20 am
[...] higher tolerance for thuggish behavior on the part of great athletes than for prospective owners. Rick Moran notes, too, that the NFL has always been way behind the other leagues in minority hiring. But [...]
Pingback by Rush Limbaugh Dropped from Rams Bid Team — 10/15/2009 @ 7:25 am
Rick:
You further make my point. Limbaugh can take care of himself without your holding his hand. Try not writing about or mentioning this cretin for a whole month. I dare you.
Comment by Shaun — 10/15/2009 @ 7:37 am
NO! You are not allowed to defend Rush Limbaugh. It doesn’t matter that the libs make up the stuff they say Mr. Limbaugh said. To them it’s always the rule of: the ends justify the means. Lying is ok. Accusing people of things they haven’t said is OK, because the libs are SURE you have thought them.
Mr. Limbaugh is laughing all the way to the bank! What a bunch of hypocritical pansies the NFL idiots are!!
What a JOKE!!!! ROFLMAO!!!
Comment by Charlotte — 10/15/2009 @ 7:40 am
Black folks didn’t need any made up quotes to know who Rush Limbaugh is, and the fact that black players said essentially they wouldn’t suit up if the man was one of the owners of the team is a great example of karma, you know what goes around comes around.
Rush’s decades of being a racial provocateur came back to bite him in the posterior denying him his one big dream.
That’s justice.
Comment by Richard bottoms — 10/15/2009 @ 9:30 am
Good to see you coming to Rush’s defense.
Against the kind of deliberately false and untruthful smears that have been tossed his way?
Duh … yeah. Did the same for several liberals over the years.
ed.
Comment by Chuck Tucson — 10/15/2009 @ 9:40 am
“We are being told that we have to hope [Obama] succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles … because his father was black.”
“I do believe” Obama is an “angry black guy.”
“[I]n Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering.”
“Obama’s entire economic program is reparations.”
Obama is “more African in his roots than he is American” and is “behaving like an African colonial despot.”
Obama is “Halfrican-American.”
“Obama has disowned his white half … he’s decided he’s got to go all in on the black side.”
Sotomayor “a reverse racist” appointed by Obama, “the greatest living example of a reverse racist.”
Obama “wants us to have the same health care and plan that he had in Kenya” and “wants to be the black FDR.”
Latching onto LA Times op-ed, Limbaugh sings “Barack, The Magic Negro.”
“God does not have a birth certificate. Neither does Obama”; Obama “has yet to prove he’s a citizen.”
Limbaugh on Gates controversy: “Here you have a black president trying to destroy a white policeman.”
Limbaugh suggests Obama would not have acted on Somali pirates if he’d known they were “actually young, black Muslim teenagers.”
Limbaugh suggests Democrats, media believe “you can’t criticize the little black man-child.”
“The government’s been taking care of [young blacks] their whole lives.”
“The days of [minorities] not having any power are over, and they are angry.”
“[M]inorities never do anything for which they have to apologize.”
Limbaugh: “The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.”
Limbaugh says “NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips.”
Limbaugh declares basketball “the favorite sport of gangs.”
Limbaugh invented “racial component” to Hackett’s decision to withdraw from Ohio primary race.
Limbaugh on Survivor series: “African-American tribe” worst swimmers, Hispanics “will do things other people won’t do.”
Limbaugh suggested Colin Powell only supported Obama because of race.
Limbaugh: Gates is an “angry racist.”
Limbaugh called illegal immigrants an “invasive species.”
Limbaugh repeatedly calls Native Americans “Injuns.”
Limbaugh says Democrats’ interest in Darfur is securing black “voting bloc.”
Limbaugh says that if “feminazis” had remembered to oppose “affirmative action for black guys … they wouldn’t face the situation they face today.”
Comment by More Made-up Quotes — 10/15/2009 @ 9:57 am
Yes, but what about the accurate and truthful Limbaugh quotes?
Why did anyone bother making stuff up? Limbaugh’s perceived as a racist because of what he, himself, says.
Comment by Fred — 10/15/2009 @ 9:58 am
There are other reasons R. Limbaugh should have been barred from owning an NFL Team. The prime reason being if R. Limbaugh were allowed to own a team the team doctors and trainers would have to worry about Limbaugh stealing all the Oxycontin from the locker room.
In addition to being a criminal drug addict, R. Limbaugh is a chicken hawk coward who delights in making fun of people with handicaps.
Limbaugh also hates the Troops and loves to see Americans die in wars, that is from the safety of his EIB studio…
Also god hates Limbaugh because Limbaugh is a god damned bigamist having been married and divorced 3 times…
Comment by Grung_e_Gene — 10/15/2009 @ 9:59 am
The NFL has the right to decide who they want to do business with. No great injustice has occurred, they just decided that doing business with Rush was not worth the bad publicity it would generate. This is a simple business decision made by thousands of business owners every day when deciding if a transaction is worthwhile.
If you don’t like their decisions, you have the right not to buy their product but whining about it is just downright unmanly.
What is unmanly is coming to my site and accusing me of that, hiding behind a made up name, sitting safe and secure at home with the full knowledge that you’ll never have to prove how “manly” you are because you’re too much of a chickenshit to challenge me in person.
And you call me “unmanly?”
ed.
Comment by The Other Ed — 10/15/2009 @ 10:12 am
racial provocateur=race baiter
Arguing that Limbaugh is not a racist because he is a “poseur” an “would find no advantage to being a racist” would seem to fail the logic circle test…and at best puts him in the same category as former Gov. George Wallace, et al., who claimed that he also could not have been a racist when he espoused segregation, because he believed in it only as a means to an end.
Comment by More "Made-up" Quotes — 10/15/2009 @ 10:14 am
Rick -
I’ve listened to Rush for over 15 years. What about the ACTUAL quotes Limbaugh has made over the past 10 years?
“Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it”
“Barack, the Magic Negro.”
“Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?”
“The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”
“They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”
I’ll stop there.
Do you want to defend any of THESE comments (and I could give you 20 more that are similar), or will you continue to defend Limbaugh?
Racist? Absolutely.
You have lowered the “racist” bar to a ridiculously low level - for purposes of skewering a political opponent.
When I hear liberals taking Sharpton, Jackson, et all to task for their outrageously bigoted comments, then you can complain about Limbaugh.
Besides, the only thing I defended Limbaugh against were patently false smears and the hypocrisy of the NFL and players association making any comment at all about one’s behavior.
Maybe you should read the post again.
ed.
Comment by JerryS — 10/15/2009 @ 11:30 am
Rick (and Rush),
What is it you both have against freedom and capitalism?
The NFL ownership group is one of the most exclusive clubs for rich men in America. It’s like Augusta National on steroids.
The members of that exclusive NFL ownership club are within their rights as responsible stewards and shareholders to regulate membership.
If these owners believe Rush is not worthy of membership and/or will be bad for business, then they are entirely right to forbid any bid that Limbaugh is a part of, and only socialists would want to remove that right.
That’s freedom. That’s capitalism. Free enterprise, baby. If Rush doesn’t like it, he is certainly free to go the Vince McMahon route and start his own league.
That’s the American Way.
Semper Fi,
Bob
Comment by Bob Tweed — 10/15/2009 @ 11:30 am
Rick -
Jackson? Racist.
Sharpton? Racist.
Limbaugh? Racist.
I’m consistent. Too bad you aren’t.
Jackson, like Limbaugh, is a provocateur. Sharpton may be a racist - I don’t have your gift for looking into the souls of men to glean what’s in their heart. I look at both as race hustlers.
I would suggest you quit judging people until you understand what race hate really is. Then you may call someone a racist. In your eagerness to score political points (you have no interest in calling out real racism), you have revealed yourself an ignoramus.
ed.
Comment by JerryS — 10/15/2009 @ 11:40 am
Rick -
Words mean things.
I’m 48 years old, and was one of only a few minority kids at my grammar and high schools. As a teeneager, I was taught to not drive into certain parts of town, or to not even go into several nearby towns.
I know what a racist is. Jackson is definitely a racist. Sharpton as well. Limbaugh, no doubt. Here’s a few others: O’Reilly, Hannity, Spike Lee, Louis Farrahkan. Racists all.
I would suggest you start understanding that words have consequences, and that it doesn’t take a history like David Duke’s to make someone a racist. Words and context matters. It’s impossible for any fair minded person to look at Limbaugh’s actual quotes to read them and not see the racism inherent in the words.
Comment by JerryS — 10/15/2009 @ 11:57 am
#14 JerryS.
Can you please provide links, sources, any substantiation that Limbaugh actually said these things? I have only been able to authenticate the quote that he said regarding Donovan McNab and you really have to be thin skinned to see that as a racist comment. I question these quotes because they are the one flying around the blogosphere that no one can seem to authenticate.
Comment by prm — 10/15/2009 @ 12:04 pm
Now, anyone in public life who utters the words “fried chicken” as it relates to a black man is usually skewered over an open spit.
Rick, he didn’t say if Vick “eats fried chicken and watermelon in prison,” he said “fried chicken and french fries.” As in fatty foods that make you fat, and thus, not a very good athlete.
You may not have noticed, as being on the right compels you to spend most of your time fluffing your imaginary victimhood, but black people do not get upset at the mere mention of fried chicken, but rather when people decide to caricature blacks into well known stereotypes. Like when, say, someone like Rush Limbaugh says the “NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips,” or that basketball is “the favorite sport of gangs.” See, black people are all gangbangers! That’s offensive. Saying that a football player shouldn’t get fat if he wants to get back in the league is not racially divisive. It’s not really hard to understand, unless you’re an asshole.
Might I suggest remedial reading course? I’m sure you can find one on the back of a matchbook somewhere:
But because no one wanted to be in the position of defending the monster Vick, Blank got something of a pass. (As well he should have.)
It depends on who makes the “fried chicken” remark. If he is of the correct political persuasion, no problem. If political gain for your side can be achieved by casually tossing around the “racist” charge, the hue and cry ensues.
You just can’t take “yes” for an answer.
ed.
Comment by mantis — 10/15/2009 @ 12:11 pm
Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas is going to own part of the Miami Dolphins and she uses “nigga” with negative intent over and over in her songs. But then again, she voted for Obama.
Comment by Jenn of the Jungle — 10/15/2009 @ 12:14 pm
What is unmanly is coming to my site and accusing me of that, hiding behind a made up name, sitting safe and secure at home with the full knowledge that you’ll never have to prove how “manly” you are because you’re too much of a chickenshit to challenge me in person.
Are you seriously trying to dare a commenter into a personal physical confrontation? On your blog? Wow. When do you finish junior high school, anyway?
Comment by mantis — 10/15/2009 @ 12:15 pm
It depends on who makes the “fried chicken” remark.
No, it depends on what the person said and in what context. If Blank had said “If Michael gets shiftless and lazy and eats fried chicken and watermelon in prison every day and comes out at 250 pounds, he’s not going to be able to play football,” you can be damned sure people would have complained.
But because no one wanted to be in the position of defending the monster Vick, Blank got something of a pass. (As well he should have.)
Just because you make that assertion, doesn’t make it true.
You are oblivious to your own rank, partisanship. Playing the race card is a favorite pastime of some on the left. Apparently, you are unaware of how the term “racist” is misused - either that or you are so besotted with ideological juices that you actually believe you can change the definition of “racism” any time you choose.
ed
Comment by mantis — 10/15/2009 @ 12:20 pm
The point is the NFL is free-enterprise. That is something Rush claims to believe in. Rest assured that if the NFL thought Limbaugh would enhance revenues, they would not object to him. Period. So all the walling and gnashing of teeth is a joke.
BTW, the free speech that he exercises daily was countered by the free speech of his opponents. I think both sides are at best hyperbolic; at worst dishonest. I suggest those of us who find nothing in value of either side sit back and have a good laugh. That is what I am doing.
Comment by Harvey — 10/15/2009 @ 12:32 pm
“I don’t have your gift for looking into the souls of men to glean what’s in their heart.”
When you declare that Limbaugh isn’t a racist, aren’t you gleaning what’s in his heart? You’re giving him a rather generous benefit of the doubt, and I don’t see how you can fault others for not doing so.
That fact is that through what you call “racial agitation,” Limbaugh has become a poster-boy for racism in America. And rather than dispel that notion, he has reveled in it. Regardless of the hypocrisy you see in how this was handled, regardless of the amount of true racism that exists in the NFL today, there is a line that people aren’t willing to cross. And Rush Limbaugh is it. Whether he’s truly racist or not, Rush Limbaugh has made plenty of money from racially-charged statements made within the cocoon of his radio show, and now by being publicly shamed he’s learned that there are real-world consequences.
Comment by Aaron — 10/15/2009 @ 12:49 pm
Oxford English Dictionary
racism:
• (noun) 1 the belief that there are characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to each race. 2 discrimination against or antagonism towards other races.
— DERIVATIVES: “racist” noun & adjective.
Comment by More "Made-up" Quotes — 10/15/2009 @ 12:55 pm
Rick;
With this post you appear to have hit the “Snowe Balancing Point”, a place near that middle that is upsetting to both extremes. Is that worth 50 points or something?
Comment by c3 — 10/15/2009 @ 12:56 pm
You are oblivious to your own rank, partisanship.
What rank is that? Am I a captain of partisanship, or something?
Playing the race card is a favorite pastime of some on the left.
And of some on the right. So what?
Apparently, you are unaware of how the term “racist” is misused - either that or you are so besotted with ideological juices that you actually believe you can change the definition of “racism” any time you choose.
I’m aware of how it is misused. My argument is with your assertion that people gave Blank a pass, and would normally have accused him of being racist for mentioning fried chicken. I never claimed that people don’t accuse others of racism where none exists. And FWIW, Sharpton and Jackson are race-baiting jackasses.
Comment by mantis — 10/15/2009 @ 1:08 pm
Aaron:
Witches float, the innocent drown, eh?
Frankly, I found out a long time ago how easy it is to give up the NFL. I and thousands of others in my hometown did over a local issue that had nothing to do with national politics, race, or mind reading. My guess is that a substantial minority of Limbaugh’s vast audience may discover the joys of football-free TV, or at least boycott sponsors. The former will give up nothing, I have found out, and the latter probably very little as well.
Even if inclined to watch NFL despite how easy it is to kick, pardon the pun, I wouldn’t watch jackshit on NBC because it felt Keith Olbermann a mainstream enough character to bite the heads off of chickens, let alone act as a football color commentator. Forgive me. There is no difference although chicken head biters are less thuggis, criminal, and overpampered than NFL owners, coaches, and players.
Comment by obamathered — 10/15/2009 @ 1:43 pm
These four documented quotes alone are enough to keep him from his dream:
“Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it”
“The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”
“They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”
You can’t insult black people for political and personal gain week in and week out and pay no price, especially when the NFL relies so heavily on the talent of black men for their success.
Poor Mr. Limbaugh can sit in his mansion and console himself with his riches. Maybe he’ll cry himself to sleep over the injustice of it all.
W. E. B. Du Bois and William Trotter are probably having a laugh somewhere in the ether.
Comment by Richard bottoms — 10/15/2009 @ 2:49 pm
Sorry., missed one.
This is from a conversation with a caller on Rush Limbaugh’s program in Spring of 1996 concerning about to be fired KNBC NY radio host Bob Grant over calling Martin Luther King a Scumbag:
Caller:
Just because he called him a scumbag does that make him a racist?”
Limbaugh:
In some quarters it might.
[Laughter]
But not here.
I probaly have the tape someplace. I spent a lot of time taping those guys back then.
My biggest success was when G. Gordon Liddy explained the best techniques for shooting ATF agents in the aftermath of Waco.
I recorded it and personally dropped him in the hottest water of his career.
These guys always hang themselves.
Comment by Richard bottoms — 10/15/2009 @ 3:10 pm
[...] race, or made-up quotes, Mark Cuban hits the nail on the head: The problem with Rush is that its his job [...]
Pingback by PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » The Best Explanation for Why Limbaugh was Never Going to be Even a Minority Owner — 10/15/2009 @ 3:56 pm
Rush is a racial provocateur pointing out the fact that cries of racism are overblown. No one holds truly racist attitudes anymore.
Comment by Richard bottoms — 10/15/2009 @ 5:51 pm
@ Rick:
No, Limbaugh is no racist. . . . He’s a racial provocateur.”
I’m missing the subtle distinction between the two.
Is the difference “what’s in your heart”? What you actually believe? That I can be a provocateur without actually believing in the cause? As you’ve pointed out in many posts in the past, nobody knows what evil lurks within the hearts of men (except of course Lamont Cranston). If you delibrately and intentionally stir up racial dissent (that’s a provocateur’s role, yes? To provoke?) should your actions be considered different if you really hate the darkies, or you’re just doing it for profit?
“But Rush, God love him, would find no advantage to being a racist and hence, doesn’t even try to play one on the radio.”
So there’s no advantage to actually being a racist, but there is an advantage to acting like one?
Guess he overestimated the advantage when it comes to buying into the NFL.
Comment by busboy33 — 10/15/2009 @ 6:57 pm
At least until yesterday.
My heart bleeds.
Comment by Richard bottoms — 10/15/2009 @ 8:28 pm
If Rush had never said that stuff about McNabb, and the “desirous liberal media” wanting black quarterbacks, on ESPN he would own part of a football team right now.
He just doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.
Comment by Melanie — 10/16/2009 @ 12:04 am
Thanks for the common sense analysis, Melanie. He doesn’t know when to stop- exactly.
The tell-tale clue re: Fergie’s ownership is that few knew about it until this controversy. She’s not a lightning rod. Neither is JZ.
Rick’s correct to point out that the NFL’s chock full of hypocrisy, and Rush is free to comment on it daily. Permitting him to buy in, however, would only grant him a catbird’s seat for more drama and self-aggrandizement. The existing owners would buy themselves headaches with no upside.
Comment by kreiz — 10/16/2009 @ 5:06 am
Hello,
I am fairly new to your blog, and been enjoying your writing and perspectives as I make my evening roll after work. Thank you for the thought and time you invest here.
Just wanted to let you know I was disappointed with today’s entry.
Regards.
Comment by Jonah — 10/16/2009 @ 5:09 am
Politics mean nothing to the NFL, money does. That said the NFL didn’t want the firestorm that allowing Rush in would have generated. I heard a sports reporter say that probably 25 of the 32 owners probably AGREE with everything Rush says on his show, they just don’t want to hurt their cash flow. Free markets, everything the rightwing preaches,daily. And anyone with a brain that listens to Rush, knows he is a racist.
Comment by Joe — 10/16/2009 @ 5:16 am
Always question those that accuse others of ‘racism.’
Chances are they are hiding their own prejudices.
Comment by MAS1916 — 10/16/2009 @ 8:23 am
In 2005, a group that included George Soros attempted to buy the Washington Nationals MLB baseball team. Opposition to Soro’s liberal politics helped railroad the bid. One example, “It’s not necessarily smart business sense to have anybody who is so polarizing in the political world,” Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) said. Link to Washington Post, June 28, 2005. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701447.html
Rush Limbaugh is not a racist. He makes millions being provocative. The 1st Amendment protects his speech, as well as that of George Soros. While what you say is protected, the fact that what you say can bite you in the ass in a serious manner, liberal or conservative, is not protected by the 1st Amendment. Man up, Rush. You fouled your own nest on this one.
Comment by still liberal — 10/16/2009 @ 10:34 am
I’m not sure how one accurately accuses another of racism.
Do they have some superior, insightful knowledge of this?
Or does it simply take one to know one?
Comment by TWoPolitics — 10/16/2009 @ 10:53 am
@Twopolitics:
It’s really not that hard.
Let me give you an example — “Man, there are so many Poles in here the average I.Q. just dropped 20 points.” Or how about “Of course the promoted Greenberg. Jews sure are good with money.”
Does that sound racist? How about, “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”
I’m amazed that Conservatives can see the cold evil lurkinmg within Obama’s breast with every word he utters, but $h!t that slaps them in the face doesn’t exist.
Comment by busboy33 — 10/16/2009 @ 1:37 pm
What an overreaction. The man is obviously being a racial provocateur.
Get that man a football team. Or an exorcism.
Comment by Richard bottoms — 10/16/2009 @ 10:32 pm
Rush,
WHEN ALL of the material facts and evidence come into plain focus, sue these bastards until they squeal like the pigs they are. “Malice” is the key prong that must be proven in all liable & slander case[s].
Intentional alterations in aid of the smear job cast upon you is pretty well a 60 yard winning field goal for you.
Wait until your monatary damages can be identified and determined clearly as your financial monatary loss of profit,salary etc. then file a civil Racketeering count[s] against anyone with a computer and the ability to alter your comments or add anything which isn’t true.
Fraud is fraud which is covered under RICO concerning the use of the U.S. Mail or Wire/phone/computer. The best part of civil RICO is the Statute[s] provide for “Mandated Tebble Damages” including “attorney’s fees and costs”.
This would be a game winning touchdown for all your supporters, with the stigma of being a “Racketeering Enterprise” attached and stamped of the front door and foreheads of the defendants forever.
No out of court settlement. No wishie washie “we admit no wrong doing” crap. Take it all the way to a jury for them to rule upon the “preponderence of the evidence” and allow “The Rule Of Law” which we stand for as conservatives teach them a lesson they’ll never forget. The very harsh STING OF RICO IS THE TICKET WITH A FOUR STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS IN YOUR FAVOR TO RUN UP AND SETTLE THE SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!! Its Kickoff Time.
Comment by Chris Pedersen — 10/16/2009 @ 11:19 pm
Yes the country will rise in in one mighty voice at the injustice Rush Limbaugh finally paying the price for having insulted blacks, women, and Latinos for the last twenty-five years.
He just take a break in the Dominican Republican again. Clear his head.
Comment by Richard bottoms — 10/17/2009 @ 12:12 am
@Chris (#46)
Exactly who should he sue? He was dropped by the consortium, not the NFL. A private consortium has a right not to take his money. He has no right to demand that the consortium allow him to join them.
By all means though, rage against the machine. Damn that free market capitalism! Damn it to hell!
Comment by busboy33 — 10/17/2009 @ 12:31 am
I like your AT post.
You are right….this is about free speech.
Comment by Silvio — 10/17/2009 @ 12:26 pm
@Silvo:
Respectfully, this has nothing to do with free speech.
Your free speech rights protect you from the government limiting your speech in certain ways. The NFL isn’t the government. And in this case the NFL never got around to denying Limbaugh . . . the consortium that he was part of that was trying to buy into the NFL dropped him before the bid.
Limbaugh was trying to be business partner of the consortium. They have a right not to do business with him. If you own a store, and David Duke wants to buy into your business, you have a right not to work with him. Your product may be available to the public, but your business does not have to be.
Furthermore, nobody has limited Limbaugh’s speech. He is still free to say exactly what he wants. He hasn’t lost his job because of his speech (although EIB, not being the government, may well be free to drop him if it chooses depending on his contract).
This situation has nothing to do with “free speech” issues. At all.
Comment by busboy33 — 10/17/2009 @ 6:15 pm
Rick Moran: I don’t have your gift for looking into the souls of men to glean what’s in their heart.
Nonsense. You just absolved Limbaugh of racism, & to do that you had to presume to “look into their souls.” You can’t have it both ways: express an opinion about whether someone’s a racist, & then, when someone disagrees w/ you, act like it’s presumptuous for them to think they can know. Do you imagine your readers are too dim to remember that you just did exactly the same thing? That that’s what the commenter is responding to? If you have to look into a person’s soul to know he’s a racist, then you have to look into his soul to know he’s not one.
Seriously, the witlessness is breathtaking.
Comment by K — 10/20/2009 @ 1:16 am
[...] CONSERVATIVE BASE ‘WHY DON’T YOU PASS THE TIME BY WRITING ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING?’ THE NFL IS WORRIED ABOUT A ‘RACIST’ OWNER?’ ‘Bottom Rail on Top’ THE RICK MORAN SHOW: A NOBEL DESERVED? ‘THE FOREMOST [...]
Pingback by Right Wing Nut House » BUCHANAN AND HIS ‘WHITE MAN’S LAMENT’ — 10/21/2009 @ 10:39 am
In all honesty, we are all predjudiced in some way towards people who are different from us. Unfortunately the maxim judge not lest ye be judged is lost on most…
Comment by EJ — 10/21/2009 @ 11:52 am
Oh, and karma is a bitch, ain’t it?
Comment by EJ — 10/21/2009 @ 11:53 am