Color Commentator
Rush Limbaugh's race obsession.
Jonathan Chait
November 2, 2009
TNR
The saga of Rush Limbaugh and his failed attempt to acquire a piece of the St. Louis Rams may be the quintessential postmodern American racial incident. When word first leaked of Limbaugh's potential ownership, a couple of sportswriters, joined by a handful of cable news talking heads, repeated what turned out to be totally unsubstantiated quotes by Limbaugh praising slavery and James Earl Ray. (Documented outrageous Limbaugh-isms were available but generally ignored.)
This called for an enraged response from conservatives, who rallied to protest a grave racial injustice on par with the trial of the Scottsboro Boys, or possibly even the campaign against Clarence Thomas. Imagine--Rush Limbaugh, as pure an acolyte of Martin Luther King's ideals as can be found, accused of racism! Limbaugh defended his "belief in a colorblind society where every individual is treated as a precious human being without regard to his race." National Review heatedly editorialized, "Baseless accusations of racism are modern Democrats' McCarthyism"--temporarily forgetting, in the emotion of the moment, the NR editorial line on McCarthy, which lauds the long-deceased demagogue as a cold-war hero.
Now, it is certainly true that liberals have an unattractive tendency to casually impugn their foes as bigots. The Democratic primary's war of attrition between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama devolved into a tedious donnybrook of accusations of sexism and racism. If Clinton had won, her supporters would no doubt have spent the last nine months discovering sexist motives among her critics. Since Obama prevailed, though, liberals have busily studied the opposition for signs of racism. "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man," says Jimmy Carter. Buffoonish GOP Congressman Joe Wilson "clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber," asserts Maureen Dowd.
(More here.)
Jonathan Chait
November 2, 2009
TNR
The saga of Rush Limbaugh and his failed attempt to acquire a piece of the St. Louis Rams may be the quintessential postmodern American racial incident. When word first leaked of Limbaugh's potential ownership, a couple of sportswriters, joined by a handful of cable news talking heads, repeated what turned out to be totally unsubstantiated quotes by Limbaugh praising slavery and James Earl Ray. (Documented outrageous Limbaugh-isms were available but generally ignored.)
This called for an enraged response from conservatives, who rallied to protest a grave racial injustice on par with the trial of the Scottsboro Boys, or possibly even the campaign against Clarence Thomas. Imagine--Rush Limbaugh, as pure an acolyte of Martin Luther King's ideals as can be found, accused of racism! Limbaugh defended his "belief in a colorblind society where every individual is treated as a precious human being without regard to his race." National Review heatedly editorialized, "Baseless accusations of racism are modern Democrats' McCarthyism"--temporarily forgetting, in the emotion of the moment, the NR editorial line on McCarthy, which lauds the long-deceased demagogue as a cold-war hero.
Now, it is certainly true that liberals have an unattractive tendency to casually impugn their foes as bigots. The Democratic primary's war of attrition between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama devolved into a tedious donnybrook of accusations of sexism and racism. If Clinton had won, her supporters would no doubt have spent the last nine months discovering sexist motives among her critics. Since Obama prevailed, though, liberals have busily studied the opposition for signs of racism. "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man," says Jimmy Carter. Buffoonish GOP Congressman Joe Wilson "clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber," asserts Maureen Dowd.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
So Rusky gets punked because he does not fact check (Not the first time)? Wow, what a surprised.
Oh, and when contronted that he was punked, he defended himself by saying “we stand by the fabricated quote because we know Obama thinks it anyway” (Yeah good try to save face, what a loser)
After so many years of mis-labeling and mis-characterizing others he gets smacked down by the NFL “Not For Limbaugh”. Way to go NFL, great job!
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