"One thing I do that you won't find anywhere else in the media: I combine satire with serious commentary. I'm going to go back and forth within a moment's notice."
Yes, I love this about Rush. And it's something I think I do in writing on this blog (unbeknownst to Rush, apparently... at least if I am to be considered "in the media"). It's a matter of expecting your listeners/readers to be pretty smart and alert... to get it. It also means you're dropping quotes all the time that people who don't get you — and probably don't want to get you — can use to make you sound stupid/crazy/evil. I love the way Rush revels in that sort of thing.
(Via Real Clear Politics.)
पोस्ट्स
२२७ टिप्पण्या:
227 पैकी 1 – 200 नवीन› नवीनतम»That is what attracted me to this blog 5 years ago - your writing ability and wit.
It never fails to entertain when you have regular lefties posting here that just don't get it, who are so threatened about the validity or correctness of their talking points that they can't write with even the slightest amount of humor or grace.
Jeeze, those teenage tourists in the window behind Matt were really freaking out about being on TV. They were just spazzing out.
What attracts me to this site is the hybrid of midwestern politeness and dry humor with your own inner Larry David snark.
Keep fighting the good fight against fleshy exposed male thighs!
As well as huge flocks of righties here who are brain dead. Huge flocks.
That Ann pays any attention to Rush turning on a dime between humor and hard hitting bullshit drives me insane. His large audience of dittoheads fairly equates to the morons who loved the last administration and hates this one.
Chase said...
can't write with even the slightest amount of humor or grace."
that's a ten on the bullshitometer.
I think there are probably a lot of loyal readers who are earnestly wanting/trying to get you, Althouse. I enjoy the challenge.
Thank you hd for proving my point!
Shooting fish in a barrel . . .
Rush is having fun and he is also being serious. There is no act here, Rush knows that throwing out tweaks to the media gets him promoted. So he does it. And they love reporting on it. And the circle of jerks goes on and on.
It is a strange symbiotic relationship between Limbaugh and the MSM.
"Chase said...
can't write with even the slightest amount of humor or grace."
that's a ten on the bullshitometer."
You don't think you've just proved his point?
Althouse is more interesting than Limbaugh.
(the other kev)
You don't think you've just proved his point?
When you're that far into the fight, irony is lost on you.
(That sound you heard was hdhouse's head exploding.)
The Althouse blog has been mentioned a few times on the Limbaugh show. You think Ann might be lobbying for a guest host shot? I think she would do a great job! :)
(Lest we forget: Chris Matthews was guest host of the Limbaugh show a few years ago.)
"midwestern politeness"
I actually don't consider myself midwestern, and living in Wisconsin, where I moved when I was 33, I feel like I'm being rude being what is for me normal. I do not have midwesternness inculcated in me at all. I am a stranger and a pilgrim...
"You think Ann might be lobbying for a guest host shot?"
Has he ever had a female stand-in?
A not-too-huge flock of flock quotes
Poor hdhouse: Stuck on a treadmill.
Ann: I know you have your suburban Packanack Lake, Wayne, NJ roots. Stranger in a strange land indeed.
Very good interview for NBC. I'm not that big a Rush fan, but he is extraordinarily talented, sometimes very funny, and often correct.
I don't really see that Ann is very similar to Rush, although she sometimes does a nice job of understated satire. I think she is more intellectually honest than Rush, but he obviously is in a different venue.
The democrats obsession with him reflects more about them than him. I assume they still genuinely believe it is a winning political strategy, but he obviously basks in it and it helps him tremendously.
The democratic bash Rush strategy might be effective, even if it demeans the democrats to intelligent observers. It must kill the democrats to see him fairly and pretty favoably treated on the Today show.
Black people just don't get Limbaugh the way he weaves in and out of serious commentary and satire. The offensive racial stuff is satire!
El Rushbo seldom misses his target. I suspect that the Professor admires his competance in communication, if not agreeing with his positions all of the time. FLASH: Humans are not perfect. Expecting perfection from a man or a woman is a form of cruelty. But expecting a level of truthfulness about intentions is a necessary part of seeing someone as a safe person. Limbaugh is a very safe person. But Obama is the most dangerous person any of us have ever seen. But a new succor is born everyday, said Saul Alinski.
CLEVER SATIRE!!!!
"I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back;
I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.
You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed.
Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?
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?
Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."
Everyone of the quotes provided by MM are either lies or something Rush said 30 years ago.
These quotes have popped up in the last couple years. Its the left using the old Communist tactic. They can't criticize Rush for what he says - so they just lie and make up stuff.
Lenin - Repeat a lie enough and it becomes the truth.
I believe that Ann Coulter has been a guest host on Rush's show.
I think Laura Ingraham or Malkin might have filled in once.
Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."
See now that's clearly satire. LOL!
And if you had only listened 10 more minutes, you'd "get it"!
Althouse, if you include the years you spent in college, haven't you spent the majority of your life in the Midwest?
I feel like I'm being rude being what is for me normal.
That's how it starts.
Hmm. I don't know, Althouse. I'm in the position of living exactly half of my life--24 years each--on the East Coast (Delaware) and half in the Midwest (Indiana, Illinois as a kid; Iowa going on the last 14 years of my adult life [Delaware's the sandwich spread between the two slices of bread]).
You strike me, at least, as quite the hybrid--with the wide streak of individuality that makes you interesting.
reader_iam said...
Althouse, if you include the years you spent in college, haven't you spent the majority of your life in the Midwest?
10/12/09 1:17 PM
You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the girl.
Fred4Pres: I guess I see it differently. I don't see Althouse as a Jersey girl at all. And I don't think she actually lived in New Jersey all that many years ... .
It's a matter of expecting your listeners/readers to be pretty smart and alert... to get it. It also means you're dropping quotes all the time that people who don't get you — and probably don't want to get you — can use to make you sound stupid/crazy/evil. I love the way Rush revels in that sort of thing.
Ann, color me surpised that your not a fan of Fahrakkan's as well.
My gathering, from reading this blog over the years, is that she spent the majority of her growing-up years in Newark, Delaware, and some place in north Wilmington, Delaware, with only latter years in New Jersey. Thereafter, of course, there was New York after college in Michigan, before going to Madison.
Q: How many conservatives does it take to make a witty remark that may be completely offensive to anyone of good will, but could just as easily be understood as a wry take on modern mores, or better yet, a tweaking of political correctness, and which leaves the speaker completely free of having to take ownership of the uglier implications of their ideology?
A: All of them, apparently.
Okay. So we got Ann starting in Delaware, getting some Jersey, a touch of New York, and then transplanted to the midwest. That is a counter clockwise arc.
Rush went from Missouri to New York and then down to Florida. A clockwise arc.
That must be significant.
Whoa! Guess it's time to dip the toes into the racial/Rush thing. Here goes:
Speaking as white American (that statement alone is going to cause trouble, but I do have a point)I am frankly often uncomfortable with a lot of Rush's comments regarding black America and percived black American culture.
Here's the "But": Most White Americans resent the ease with which the label "racist" is applied to them with seeming impunity, even to those who have never spent a second of their lives consciously involved in racist thoughts or efforts. It's counter-productive to the noble cause of ending racism to so quickly play the race card on those who would willingly agree with you. What Rush does find sympathy in is his calling out of the double standard: Why is there no berating on the left of Jesse Jackson and particularly Al Sharpton for their past misdeeds and outrageous remarks? Why is the Republican President Bush criticized for not speaking at the NAACP Convention when it criticizes him during his previous physical presence there, treats him disrespectfully continually, and works against him and his administration - something that is their right - and then openly encourages statements that he and his supporters are racist for not attending? Those are only a smidgen of the double standard examples on this issue.
Rush pointing out through satire the overwhelming hypocrisy on this issue is a service to this country, a nation stuck in racial resolution limbo until the double standard begins to be called out. Most Americans are people who love their country, are willing to seek common ground, and would actually discuss race if a real conversation could happen. But while there are several things regarding race that can done to move forward, one part -the holding of the race card on the left - has got to come down to even get anywhere.
Rush Limbaugh - on the specific issue of the left's politically correct hypocrisy on the race card, and regardless of his other issues with black America, real or perceived - is highlighting through satire what all American's know is today's truth.
Everyone of the quotes provided by MM are either lies or something Rush said 30 years ago.
If Fox News or the National Review didn't say it, it must not be true.
Fred4Pres: Good one. I love that.
The black congressional caucus is the most racist organization in America today.
If you can't cite it, don't expect everyone else to accept it as true.
Fahrakkan's
Satirical?
Please do point out the Honorable one's attempts at satire so that we may give his on-the-face blatantly evil reamrks the benefit of the doubt.
Please hurry, I only have about 40 years left.
Will that be enough time?
There is a quick test to determine this, but no cheating, it has to be your first immediate answer:
What do you call a sweet carbonated non-alocolic beverage?
Soda or Pop?
Soda? Ann has that midatlantic thing still going.
Pop? She is something other than midatlantic.
I do want to be clear: I defer to Althouse's definition of herself. My perception, obviously, is only just that.
wv: examoned
Sheesh!?!
The black congressional caucus is the most racist organization in America today.
Allen, that is almost a direct quote from 2 months ago by my next door neighbor, a black American retiree who voted for Obama, sits politically left-center, and whose son is an attorney who worked in Chicago until last year doing work for the DNC.
Stunning.
Most White Americans resent the ease with which the label "racist" is applied to them with seeming impunity, even to those who have never spent a second of their lives consciously involved in racist thoughts or efforts.
And most Black Americans resent the ease with which Rush and others on the Right seem to want to dismiss racism and bigotry, because they think its unfair to be called a racist. Guess what's also unfair, being treated with racism and bigotry.
You want someone to help point out hypocrisy in race, find guys like Jack Kemp who didn't have a racist bone in his body and showed that stereotyping can be insidious. I doubt your going to listen to Fahrakkan's thought and ideas on racism, about as much as any non-Rush fan is going to listen to his thoughts on the hypocrisy of racism. But enjoy converting the already converted.
Ann - "It's a matter of expecting your listeners/readers to be pretty smart and alert... to get it."
Right.
That must be why they refer to themselves as "dittoheads."
Because they're so smart and alert.
And when the fat man says people should bend over and grab their ankles or that blacks aren't smart enough to be quarterbacks in the NFL or that school buses should be segregated...that's all part of his being a "critic."
Good lord, Ann...why not just get it over with and ask the fat man out on a date. I'm sure Meade wouldn't care...as long as he can get close enough to worship, too.
"Althouse, if you include the years you spent in college, haven't you spent the majority of your life in the Midwest?"
I've spent 30 of my 58 years in Ann Arbor/Madison. So that is more than half, but:
1. The childhood years are much more important.
2. 10 of those non-Midwest years were in NYC, which cancels out a lot of midwesternness.
3. Ann Arbor and Madison aren't really that typical of the midwest and most of the people I knew there were not from the midwest. In fact, a lot of them were from NYC.
On the other hand, 2 key figures in my life are midwestern:
1. My mother grew up in Ann Arbor (and her parents lived there during the whole time I knew them).
2. My adorable second husband is a Hoosier.
Ann - "Has he ever had a female stand-in?"
Pant, pant, pant...oh, if only...
You know, if you're a leftist you just can't enjoy Rush.
Which is too bad. He's got a lot of funny in him.
Fred4Pres: Ha!
Answering for myself: I grew up saying "pop" and then had to reconfigure, after some blank stares and some teasing, to "soda." Then, when we moved here, I had to attempt to go back the other way (without the teasing, since I was an adult, but still with the blank stares).
My son now teases me because I almost always--if I must use a generic for the fizzy stuff at all--use the whole thing: "Soda pop." Which usage he deems "quaint" or "ancient" (as in, that makes you sound ... ), depending.
Allen, that is almost a direct quote from 2 months ago by my next door neighbor, a black American retiree who voted for Obama, sits politically left-center, and whose son is an attorney who worked in Chicago until last year doing work for the DNC.
Satire?
fine with expecting your readers/listeners to be smart enough to get it. My question for Rush though is what is his responsibility as a radio personality if he finds that his listeners are misunderstanding him ... blurring the line between his ideology and satire ?
i was surprisingly impressed w/ rush in this interview.
"My gathering, from reading this blog over the years, is that she spent the majority of her growing-up years in Newark, Delaware, and some place in north Wilmington, Delaware, with only latter years in New Jersey. Thereafter, of course, there was New York after college in Michigan, before going to Madison."
0-8 Newark, Delaware
8-13 Wilmington, Delaware
13-18 Wayne, New Jersey
18-22 Ann Arbor, Michigan
22-33 NYC (with 1 year in the middle back in A2)
33-58 Madison, Wisconsin (with 4 semesters away, in Boston, Boulder, and NYC)
Apologies, couldn't watch the video. The thing is, I've developed an intolerance for News-style editing where the interviewer or the reporter presenting the story interweaves the narrative with clips describing what they've just said, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back an ...
Fugetaboudit.
But speaking of thickness and not getting it, seen any tits lately you feel compelled to criticize?
Invisible Man,
Help me out here (seriously):
I am not seeing the connection between Rush specific satire of Jesse Jackson, Al Shaprton and similar targets and the words of Farakhan.
Here's the asshole Ann thinks is some kind of intellectual giant:
Rush Limbaugh Quotes:
1. I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.
2. You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed.
3. Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?
4. Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela — who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing.
5. 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.
6. The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.
7. They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?
8. Take that bone out of your nose and call me back(to an African American female caller).
9. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.
10. Limbaugh attacks on Obama. Limbaugh has called Obama a ‘halfrican American’ has said that Obama was not black but Arab because Kenya is an Arab region, even though Arabs are less than one percent of Kenya. Despite the fact Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law school, Limbaugh has called him an ‘affirmative action candidate.’ Limbaugh even has repeatedly played a song on his radio show ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ using an antiquated Jim Crow era term for black a man who many Americans are supporting for president. Way to go Rush.
You don't have to be very "smart" or "alert" to catch the fat man's message.
I wasn't TOO far off, anyway.
On an ad by Michael J. Fox - "He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. ... This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."
What a guy.
Jeremy, where did you get your list?
Cite please?
"Creative ideas are often generated when one discards preconceived assumptions and attempts a new approach or method that might seem to others unthinkable."
The choice to balance "ability and wit, humor and grace, politeness and snark" (noted by Chase/Fred 4)is a by-product of creative endeavor, the hallmark behavior that elevates and separates humans from animals.
The "brain dead" have less ability or interest in creative response, as doing so involves left and right brain functioning together. A different process altogether from parroting or throwing out canned accusations.
I had dinner with a friend two nights ago and the subject of voices, speech patters, cadences that we can not tolerate came up. Rush Limbaugh's was on his list. I asked, "Is it the content or the sound?" He answered, "The sound. It's like fingernails on the chalkboard." That surprised me and I don't really believe it. The person is otherwise a relatively tolerant fellow. I think he would analyze the satire seriously by saying behind that satire is a grating disagreeable truth he doesn't care to hear.
Mary Matalin has guest hosted his show a time or two back in the 90's.
Chase:
"Jeremy, where did you get your list?
Cite please?"
He just copied and pasted the post by Monty earlier in the thread.
"He answered, "The sound. It's like fingernails on the chalkboard." That surprised me and I don't really believe it. The person is otherwise a relatively tolerant fellow."
I can't tolerate Rush in audio but in transcript he doesn't bother me at all.
I am not seeing the connection between Rush specific satire of Jesse Jackson, Al Shaprton and similar targets and the words of Farakhan.
Read Jeremy's list. Some of that I can't authenticate, but alot of it I have seen sourced. Rush time after time shows a hatred of black people. I get satire, I like satire, but the stuff he does just provides him an effective excuse for him and his audience. It's great that he's found proper foils in Sharpton and Jackson who make the job easy, but he's said way more about black people that has nothing to do with either of them. And in the end, instead of just criticizing them as charlatans he's does what he does and makes it all about their race. And that's what bigots do.
Why are the Jeremy's of the world so joyless, while the Rush's of the world so joyful? Maybe Rush is just good at faking it, but he really seems to be enjoying himself. Jeremy, um, not so much.
Gosh, Jeremy, it must really suck to be you.
It's interesting that Rush is not afraid to go on Obama's cheerleader network MSNBC, yet Obama is clearly terrified of Fox and is no doubt planning to shut them down one way or the other.
0-8 Newark, Delaware
8-13 Wilmington, Delaware
13-18 Wayne, New Jersey
18-22 Ann Arbor, Michigan
22-33 NYC (with 1 year in the middle back in A2)
33-58 Madison, Wisconsin (with 4 semesters away, in Boston, Boulder, and NYC)
= Jersey Girl
"... thinks is some kind of intellectual giant."
With that asininity in the opening a reader can safely skip the rest of the post.
Okay. So we got Ann starting in Delaware, getting some Jersey, a touch of New York, and then transplanted to the midwest. That is a counter clockwise arc.
Think of it as cyclonic, as in motion around a low pressure system, as in a vortex.
It makes perfect sense.
Let's face it - we are a million miles from MLK's dream of a person being judged based on the content of his character, and not on the color of his skin.
The government is full into the game of judging based on skin color, so are the universities, the press, and the list goes on and on.
And it is frankly quite tiring to a lot of people who are interested in getting along with anyone of good will, regardless of who they are or from where their ancestors came.
Right or wrong - Rush often speaks to that fatigue.
Could he be more temperate? Yes. Would that sell? Probably about as much as an SNL show that didn't joke about sex.
He just copied and pasted the post by Monty earlier in the thread.
Either that or they get identical marching orders.
"Okay. So we got Ann starting in Delaware, getting some Jersey, a touch of New York, and then transplanted to the midwest. That is a counter clockwise arc.
Think of it as cyclonic, as in motion around a low pressure system, as in a vortex.
It makes perfect sense."
but in our hemisphere she should swirl clockwise (coriolis effect).
Jeremy seems to be moving from name-calling, and long strings of two letter words like ME, ME, ME and HA, HA, HA to numbered lists. I suspect bullet points might be next.
It's still a long ways from a pop-up but growth is growth, even if the transition appears slow. At least he seems to be making more of an effort to communicate actual thoughts.
This list is definitely a change from the last one, which involved a 1-3 numerical presentation of the three names he likes to call people who differ from his way of thinking.
It seems even the trolls are stepping up to the window. I see Ethan His Counterpart starting to add "cafes"--not exactly original but getting creatively closer to interesting.
Clockwise (in the northern Hemisphere) is anticyclonic, that is, counter to the rotation of the Earth.
You can have anticyclonic vortices, but often they become inertially unstable and break apart. That's not the case with cyclonic ones.
Althouse's motion in life is rotation around the state of Indiana. Is it any wonder she married a Hoosier?
Jeremy seems to be moving from name-calling, and long strings of two letter words like ME, ME, ME and HA, HA, HA to numbered lists.
The fact that you can say this while defending Rush Limbaugh speaks to your pathological lack of irony.
Invisible,
I'm gonna get myself in trouble again, but I have to say that I am uncomfortable with some of the statements that Rush has made over the years. I stand by my earlier comments that he is correct and frankly to be admired for taking on the race card hypocrisy of the left.
That said - I lived in Kansas City for several years after being raised in South Carolina. I found Missouri to be a much more racially bigoted and intolerant place than the south - shockingly so. Knowing Rush's background, and listening to him off and on over 20 years, he seems like the majority of Missourians I observed - they don't consider themselves racist and are not overtly, but there is rarely a cultural mixing of whites and minorities. And the people there seemed very comfortable with that.
Is it still that way today?
The elementary school that I attended in the 60's, with no black children attending at that time.
Mama - If you think the fat man is some kind of political genius, that's your opinion.
I personally consider him to just be another right wing nutcase who makes millions by feeding far right and racial chum to his loyal "dittoheads."
Much like Ann does right here with her regular sycophants.
The fat man is and will always be the worse thing to ever happen to the GOP, a political party that has lost its way by following and listening to people like this idiot, Beck, Hannity, Savage, COulter, et.
Americans made it clear in the last election, and will again in the next round of elections, that they aren't buying into the garbage being fed to them via Fox and other right wing outlets.
The only people who believe the fat man and the others I mention are less than "smart" or "alert."
They're just following the lead of people who say what they want to hear.
Like YOU.
MamaM - "Jeremy seems to be moving from name-calling, and long strings of two letter words like ME, ME, ME and HA, HA, HA to numbered lists."
I forgot to ask: Where in my comments ado the words "ME" and HA" appear?
HP:
Bingo! Who else would come here everyday to fight and disparage how others think? The American Psychiatric Docs have to create a new clinical diagnosis category just for Jeremy.
Chipper - If Ann doesn't think the fat man is a genius, what do YOU think she means when she says what she does?
Things like:
"Yes, I love this about Rush."
"I love the way Rush revels in that sort of thing." (And obviously dreams of actually meeting the prick or being mentioned by him.)
Rush Limbaugh "revels" in two things: Dittoheads making him feel like he actually has something ore relevance to say...and making millions of dollars rooting for our own country to fail.
It's not surprising that you and others here think that's a good thing.
You all march in lock step to whatever Ann or any of your other heroes say or believe.
*Oh, you look so cute with the bike. Have you learned how to ride it yet?
I also like this page
and this one
But a parent might be concerned about what their child will be taught about spelling with this one.
AJ Lynch - I stop by to counter the lies and distortions spewed forth by the local sycophants.
I provide disparaging remarks in response to the unAmerican garbage you and others post relating to our President and anything you don't want to believe is true.
Keep in mind; you and the other idiots here represent about 35% of the American public so it's not me who is off track...it's you-know-who.
Jeez Jeremy, you got the day off from swabbing the toilets and bathrooms at Santa Monica Junior College?
I guess that means you California liberals have the day off to honor Columbus Day.
wv =underu = what Jeremy says when he has to get scrub behind the toilet bowl.
So Jeremy, you would know the most about this I presume. Does it, or does it not, suck to be you? Cause I'm pretty sure it doesn't suck to be Rush.
"It's interesting that Rush is not afraid to go on Obama's cheerleader network MSNBC, yet Obama is clearly terrified of Fox..."
An interesting observation.
I'm gonna get myself in trouble again, but I have to say that I am uncomfortable with some of the statements that Rush has made over the years. I stand by my earlier comments that he is correct and frankly to be admired for taking on the race card hypocrisy of the left.
Chase,
Since you wrote sincerely, I will try to respond in kind. The reason I use Fahrakkan is that despite what I will agree are his racist views, his movement has highlighted areas that I think many on the right would be suprised by. His speeches on self-reliance for African-Americans would be attractive to conservatives, if from another mouth. He has highlighted things like Apartheid back in the day before they were mainstream causes. But none of this changes the fact that he is still a divisive bigot who often preaches hate.
I can be nuanced about him, but still see that the means don't justify the few ends that make sense. Even if you find Rush's stances at times worthy, it doesn't justify all of the hateful things that he has said and continues to repeat. I realize that Rush speaks to portions of society that feel the way they do, yet still don't see themselves as racist. I get that but it still doesn't excuse it. I wish that people would use the word "racist" more more responsibly, but I also think that that people would also consider why people call a guy like Rush a racist and not so reflexivly defend him despite the evidence.
Rush can keep his money if he thinks it makes him happy. That’s fine. I haven’t listened to him in a long while, but found myself having to get out because I sensed a strong current of anger under most of it. Knock yourself out listening to him – I’m plenty smart and alert, he just doesn’t speak to me.
(And about Meade being a Hoosier, I thought I had read that his formative years were in East Lafayette, which would make him a Purdue townie or, I guess, a Hoosier by statehood or schooling. Those from Wisconsin are ‘from the Badger state’ (or sconnies), while those attending UW Madison are Badgers. Is he a Hoosier Hoosier or does he hail from the Hoosier state? For grins can we get a ruling from the judges.)
Chase - Does it make you feel good or more important pointing out typos you feel make a teacher look bad?
Here are a few of your earlier posintgs:
"I am not seeing the connection between Rush specific satire of Jesse Jackson, Al Shaprton and similar targets and the words of Farakhan." (spelling/grammar)
Here's another one...
"Speaking as white American (that statement alone is going to cause trouble, but I do have a point)I am frankly often uncomfortable with a lot of Rush's comments regarding black America and percived black American culture." (grammar/spelling)
And here's another...
"But while there are several things regarding race that can done to move forward, one part -the holding of the race card on the left - has got to come down to even get anywhere." (grammar - and pure nonsense)
Feel better now?
Synova - "...Obama is clearly terrified of Fox..."
President Obama has no reason to appear on a network that does nothing but disparage literally everything he says or does...while at the same time, rooting for our own country to fail.
He won't be appearing at any Ku Klux Klan rallies either...because he already knows what they think, too.
*And comparing this fat bag of wind to your own President shows just how much of a fool you are.
Ol' Rush might or might not be a fat genius Jeremy, but I wasn't talking about him...I was talking about YOU.
I was encouraging you in the great challenge of allowing your right and left brain to creatively work together. That means actively working to balance truth with grace, humor with anger, snark with wit.
Due to my current life situation, I read almost everything here, including your stuff. I'd honestly like to see you responding with less anger and more personal sincerity.
"1. I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."
Just to take one example:
I'm sure I'm racist for saying so but, I think that statement is basically true although admittedly only part of the story.
If Rush said that, it does not make him racist. Many on the right have been called racists unjustly so much that they simply are past defending themselves every time they say something that is politically incorrect, but true. He knows the evils of slavery and racism. He just no long feels like qualifying every statement or trying to prove his PC bona fides to people who will never accept that he holds no racial animus.
Frankly, I consider slaves my ancestors as well, even if there is no direct line we have convergence somewhere in the distant past. We need to get past the idea that race is a real difference, because it is made up and indistinct at best, and proves nothing beyond the differences we create for it.
If we could grow that small amount, then these slights would be slight, like they usually are between Irish and Germans or Italians and Polish in this country. For the most part we have decided those differences are not worth the anger and that our common values are more important.
Many truths are unspeakable because some cling to their indignation like a toupee. They cannot be seen without it for even a moment.
I thought it was West Lafayette, because I could swear Meade corrected me at some point when I referred to just "Lafayette," during some conversation about our shared state roots.
In another comments section exchange about shared roots, he said, "I'm a natural born Hoosier..."
Even if you find Rush's stances at times worthy, it doesn't justify all of the hateful things that he has said and continues to repeat.
But what would those things be, exactly? Almost of the "hateful" things proffered are (a) made-up, (b) taken completely out of context, (c) not hateful but politically incorrect, or (d) some combination of all those.
In short, I think the vast majority of criticism of Rush - not necessarily yours - is simply dishonest. Most of his critics aren't really opposed to him because he is too insensitive. They are opposed to him because they disagree with his politics! But they know that simply criticizing his politics will not damage him much, since his politics seem reasonable to a pretty large number of people. So they disenguously try to portray him as some kind of hateful bigot, hoping to create a stigma that overrides any actual ideological engagement (a.k.a. "poisoning the well.")
But it hasn't really worked well because it's not at all correct - in fact, it insults the intelligence of anybody who actually listens to the show and understands the concept of satire - and just makes the accuser look like a ridiculous partisan, crying "wolf" over "racism" yet again.
Don't like Rush (though this interview does a good job of making him more likeable) and don't like his radio show (I've only listened a couple of times.)
I do like Althouse blog and see them as very different. Maybe its to the heart of the difference between a blog (throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks) versus radio (doing a show and watching the ratings)
But I still can't figure out why Limbaugh is viewed as a "voice" of the Republican Party but no one on the left, be it any of the MSNBC folks or the few radio personalities or any of the prominent left-bloggers, are seen as the voice of the Democratic Party. (Or have I just foolishly bought into the Democratic Party line?)
bagoh20 "If Rush said that, it does not make him racist."
Which part of what he says?
This?
"For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."
How about this?
"You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed."
Or this?
"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"
How about this?
"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."
This?
"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."
And you couldn't possibly think this is racist:
"They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?"
And here's a nice white thing to say:
"Take that bone out of your nose and call me back(to an African American female caller)."
He's a flat out racist prick and anybody who denies it puts themselves in the same category.
And if Jeremy lived in W. Virgina he would vote for Sen. Byrd.
(Or have I just foolishly bought into the Democratic Party line?)
Yeah, that.
Bottom line, Rush is an entertainer with conservative views, not a representative or leader of the Republican party.
c3 - "But I still can't figure out why Limbaugh is viewed as a "voice" of the Republican Party but no one on the left, be it any of the MSNBC folks or the few radio personalities or any of the prominent left-bloggers, are seen as the voice of the Democratic Party."
Maybe because of this?
6/9/09 - Who speaks for the GOP?
The question flummoxes most Americans, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, which is among the reasons for the party's sagging state and uncertain direction.
A 52% majority of those surveyed couldn't come up with a name when asked to specify "the main person" who speaks for Republicans today.
Of those who could, the top response was radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (13%).
And maybe because the Democrats do actually have real leaders in their party. (Remember the election last November?)
Dogwood said..."Bottom line, Rush is an entertainer with conservative views, not a representative or leader of the Republican party."
Again:
TODAY/Gallup Poll:
A 52% majority of those surveyed couldn't come up with a name when asked to specify "the main person" who speaks for Republicans today.
Of those who could, the top response was radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (13%).
The truth hurts.
And right on cue, the trolls show up with fake Rush quotes. Bravo!
Rush is our ol dirty bastard.
In other words, 87% of those surveyed do not consider Rush to be the leader of the GOP.
I would consider Rush to be a leading spokesman for conservatives, but not the GOP. At the moment, the GOP has no leadership.
At least no effective leadership.
Dogwood said..."In other words, 87% of those surveyed do not consider Rush to be the leader of the GOP."
Yeah, that's exactly how to interpret the poll.
A 52% majority of those surveyed couldn't even come up with a fucking name, yet a fat radio talk show host garnered the most votes as leader of the GOP.
Duh.
Does anyone think that this administration, starting with the campaign, has NOT created more racial tension?
"The guy on the radio, having fun"--that's exactly it. Rush's popularity has always stemmed from the fact that there's this guy who thinks like we (I) think on the radio having a ball and driving our political opponents absolutely bonkers. He's unashamed of what he believes, he doesn't back down and apologize when people try to shut him up, and he sets such brilliant little traps for the other side that we can't help but admire him.
He also exposes his opponents as often being dour, humorless, and condescending sorts. And he succeeds at it because the bottom line is that he understands them, but they don't understand him. They can't bring themselves to contemplate that someone might legitimately believe what he does, and thus out come the racist/bigot/homophobe labels to pigeonhole him. Not real impressive behavior for people who claim to be sophisticated.
It's virtually impossible to disagree with modern liberals about politics or history without being called a racist. This is proven daily on this blog. It demonstrates weakness in their arguments more than anything else. It's kind of like them saying "You're a big fat idiot." When they get schooled.
Hey Jeremy,
Glad you checked my links.
And frankly, if there weren't spell check, what I write might be completely illegible.
Now - did you think I was unfair in making fun of the misspelling on the first grade teacher's site?
Did you think you would hurt my feelings by pointing out my misspellings?
Are you an unhappy person?
yet a fat radio talk show host
He didn't look fat in the interview. Better open your ad hom thesaurus and find something more current.
Americans made it clear in the last election, and will again in the next round of elections, that they aren't buying into the garbage being fed to them via Fox and other right wing outlets.'
Jeez Jeremy what are you going to say after 2010 when the democrat-communist loose the congress?
"hdhouse said...
As well as huge flocks of righties here who are brain dead. Huge flocks.
That Ann pays any attention to Rush turning on a dime between humor and hard hitting bullshit drives me insane. His large audience of dittoheads fairly equates to the morons who loved the last administration and hates this one"
As opposed to the morons and parasites who love and support the current administration?
Ann what this blog needs is a better class of trolls.
exhelodrvr1 said..."Does anyone think that this administration, starting with the campaign, has NOT created more racial tension?"
Great question for the wing nuts here.
Ridiculous.
bagoh20 said..."It's virtually impossible to disagree with modern liberals about politics or history without being called a racist."
Based on what?
Are you saying the liberals who disagreed with George W, Bush and his administration policies...based their disagreement on race?
How about Bush Sr.?
Or Reagan?
Or Nixon?
Your comment makes absolutely no sense.
cubanbob said..."Jeez Jeremy what are you going to say after 2010 when the democrat-communist loose the congress?"
Here we have a perfect example of one of those "smart and alert" Limbaugh listeners throwing his hat into the ring. (A very small and pointy hat at that)
Good grief...
Ann what this blog needs is a better class of trolls.
What this world needs is a decent 15 cent cigar. But I'll settle for world peace.
Invisible,
Thanks again for your reply.
Even the most demonized people on any part of the political spectrum are not completely devoid of wisdom or good works: Jesse Jackson - someone who I despise in because of his numerous outrageous statements regarding evangelicals and others whom I support has definitely done much good work in other areas ( the son of my neighbor who i referred to earlier told us of several laudable and commendable efforts by Jackson personally on behalf of schools in Illinois that he does without fanfare or publicity).
It seems that the current economic climate has made it much easier to take refuge in polarization on all side. All Americans are lacking leadership that can transcend this, and we are all the weaker for it.
Are you saying the liberals who disagreed with George W, Bush and his administration policies...based their disagreement on race.
LOL WUT?
Are you saying that Clinton disagree with hi race...based on policies?
Sofa King - Not that you might read what I was responding to, but here it is anyway:
bagoh20 said..."It's virtually impossible to disagree with modern liberals about politics or history without being called a racist."
What does any of the criticism via liberals of past administration policies, politics in general or history have to do with race?
"Are you saying the liberals who disagreed with George W, Bush and his administration policies...based their disagreement on race?"
How about Bush Sr.?
Or Reagan?
Or Nixon?"
C'mon Jeremy, you know those guys are all racists. And you could not argue with a wingnut for 5 minutes about any of them without to resorting calling the wingnut a racist, even if it was that Uncle Tom Michael Steele.
bago shit - Nixon was indeed a racist and an anti-Semite, but I have no idea what your previous comment regarding liberals calling everybody racist is based upon.
Race has reared its ugly head because we have a black President and you know it, too. Taking the bullshit stand that you just can't understand why people regard Rush Limbaugh as being racist, and that if they do, they must just be liberals (especially considering the quotes I provided), tells me you could care less and are probably less than sympathetic to race relations of any kind.
And I'll lay odds you're a rabid dittohead too.
"Althouse's motion in life is rotation around the state of Indiana. Is it any wonder she married a Hoosier?"
Like a shark circling her prey... or a cougar.
Our president is black? I don't think so. I think he's a socialist, and a poseur. At least more than he is black. Why are you so hateful of blacks that you would say such a thing?
What does any of the criticism via liberals of past administration policies
I can't answer your question because I have no idea what you are trying to say. How do you criticize "via" someone? What administration are you referring to?
Bagoh was simply saying that anyone criticizing liberals was bound to be called a racist in response. Somehow you took that to mean that liberal criticism were based on race. And now you have this incomprehensible gem.
Jeremy has posted 19 out of 123 comments in this thread and they all say pretty much the same thing.
Give the other Limbaugh bashers some oxygen!
bago shit - Nixon was indeed a racist and an anti-Semite, but I have no idea what your previous comment regarding liberals calling everybody racist is based upon.
"Yes those guys were racists and of course the opposition is based on racism, but I have NO IDEA what your previous comment regarding liberals calling everybody racist is based upon!"
This rises to the level of performance art.
C3 said: But I still can't figure out why Limbaugh is viewed as a "voice" of the Republican Party but no one on the left, be it any of the MSNBC folks or the few radio personalities or any of the prominent left-bloggers, are seen as the voice of the Democratic Party. (Or have I just foolishly bought into the Democratic Party line?)
That's because Rush is NOT a voice of the Republican Party. He is a "conservative" voice which may upon occasion have something in common with the Republicans, but more often, and more recently, is completely at odds with the RINOs that have taken over the party.
The ONLY people who are making the claim that Rush is the (or a) voice in the Republican Party are hard line Democrats.
Yes....you have bought into the Democrat Party line.
Just remember this and things may become clearer to you: Conservative DOES NOT equate to Republican. Rush is a Conservative and NOT NECESSARILY a Republican.
I think the cultural differences between the people of Delaware and the people of Wisconsin are probably greater than the differences between, say, the Irish and the English or the French and the Germans. Here in America cultural differences between states are not a fault line. People do not embrace their Delawarean roots and strive to maintain its grand cultural heritage. After they move, they move on....I suppose this causes a certain amount of deracination and alienation, but when you think of all the crap that comes with class, ethnicity, religion and race it's one less bag to carry on our pointless journey to the grave. I wish all our prejudices were so easily disposable....I can appreciate the talent of Tina Fey and, to a lesser extent, David Letterman. Why is it so difficult for a liberal to appreciate any part of Limbaugh? .....I listened to him for a bit on the radio today. He explicitly denied that he ever said some of the quotes that are being bruited about here.....Commenters here are free to define him as a racist, but if he is the worst racist they have ever encountered, I would love to live in their gentle neighborhood.
The anti-Rushers always parrot that quote list. Never with a cite. I've seen them cite each other.
Considering that the man does slip into satire all the time, showing a bunch of quotes out of context is lame.
A little intellectual honesty? Could you anti-Rushers please find some?
Great interview. I may actually watch that show tomorrow.
Thank you Freeman.
"I stop by to counter the lies and distortions spewed forth by the local sycophants.
I provide disparaging remarks in response to the unAmerican garbage you and others post relating to our President and anything you don't want to believe is true."
It's the liberal's burden to always be correct.
Who was the last intelligent journalist in this country? It's been a mighty long time since one existed! Certainly the "Today" crew has none and certainly the interviewer in this "Today" clip is not one.
OBTW: It looks like HD qualifies to be on of the current crop of mind-numb robots! Or, perhaps a gofer for one!
Why are you so unhappy Jeremy? Doesn't it just eat you up that Rush is happy and you're not? That guy is seriously rich and certainly seems to happy. Always laughing and smiling. And I can see why. Man, if he wants something, he just buys it. $50 cigar? $200 bottle of wine? Doesn't even think about the price. And he likes his job! Doesn't have to trudge off to some community college to lecture yet again to a bunch of ingrate slackers, or worse yet, grade their exams. Nah, Rush just gets on his private jet and goes wherever he wants. Man, it must be great to be Rush. Jeremy, um, not so much.
He just copied and pasted the post by Monty earlier in the thread.
Either that or they get identical marching orders.
It's the same guy, with two different blogger names. He thinks that if he says it twice, it's even better.
Right, Gene?
Anyhow, I found photo of him with some friends.
Of those who could, the top response was radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (13%).
Thirteen per cent, representing a proportionate sampling of America's progressives, no doubt, think Rush Limbaugh speaks for the Republican Party.
So? Progressives are not reknowned for their discernment -- except amongst themselves where the Lake Wobegon Effect predominates.
In fact, thirteen per cent represents only about one-third the percentage of likely voters polled by the Rasmussen Reports who strongly disapprove of the job Obama is doing (40%). (And about 1/3 the percentage of Democrats who are truthers.)
The anti-Rushers always parrot that quote list. Never with a cite. I've seen them cite each other..
I could cite literally hundreds, but what good would it do? There would be just another excuse ie: "Oh it's just Media Matters", or "Oh it's just taken out of context". When it reality the context is usually worse than the quote. He did get fired from ESPN for making a racial comment, remember. Does someone need to cite that too? I think it's sweet irony that all his comments about black athletes being gang bangers is coming full circle now he wants to buy a NFL team and some players are already speaking up against it.
Garage--
Go ahead, post a hundred...or 10. We've got time.
Ann - are you going to respond to the racist quotes by Limbaugh as well as the mean thing he said about Michael J. Fox?
I agree that there is no way the NFL will allow Rush Limbaugh to a a part-owner. The black players would all go on strike.
apparently the slavery quote was fabricated by CNN:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2009/10/12/cnns-rick-sanchez-features-dubious-limbaugh-slavery-quote
Jeremy, Invisible - take it back now.
It's interesting that i have to go to all these obscure left-wing sites to find these alleged racist quotes by Limbaugh. You think if they had the audio, CNN would be playing it on a 24/7 loop.
Althouse is definitely not "midwestern". She is far from it. Not an insult.
He she is very East Coast IMO and I make that statement as a compliment.
East Coast is fab.
I lived in Waunakee Wisconsin 17 years and now the East Coast 21 years. I still have some Midwestern qualities but I am mostly East Coast now.
He did get fired from ESPN for making a racial comment, remember. Does someone need to cite that too?
No because I remember that one. And it wasn't racist.
Try again.
I didn't mean to call Althouse he/she. I meant "she".
I enjoy being an urban dweller but I would also like to have country place, a farm or cottage on a lake somewhere in Maine.
Maine is the way life should be-that's there motto.
My British/Indian husband's birthday is October 31 and we are going to stay at a cute B&B on the Vinyard. It is rare clumber friendly, natch.
We are also going to take a day trip to Lizzy Borden's house in celebration of Halloween.
What Halloween programs our on tap for my fellow republicans?
Re Rush's supposedly racist remarks about McNabb: his remarks about Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles. Said Rush: "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well; I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."
Merely pointing out the obvious and it isn't racist any more than pointing out that many in the MSM were/are rooting for Obama because of his skin color. Same thing as Geraldine Ferraro and others pointing out that anyone else with the skinny resume that Obama had would not be in his position.
Affirmative action and over compensation for skin color does no one any real favors. Pointing it out is not racist.
DBQ, they hired him to comment on the game, not be a pompous, condescending ass.
Rush doesn't translate well outside of his radio audience. Quelle surprise.
The deep need to refer to someone as a Bag O'Shit in a conversation about prejudice must be a reptilian brain response.
"The basic ruling emotions of love, hate, fear, lust, and contentment emanate from this first stage of the brain. . .When we are out of control with rage, it is our reptilian brain overriding our rational brain components."
from the Wiki on Reptilian Brain
Merely pointing out the obvious and it isn't racist any more than pointing out that many in the MSM were/are rooting for Obama because of his skin color. Same thing as Geraldine Ferraro and others pointing out that anyone else with the skinny resume that Obama had would not be in his position.
Riddle me this! If this is so obvious, why haven't we seen a litany of black Presidents? And when was anyone, Democrat or Republican, taking there que's from Geraldine Ferraro?
Again, instead of looking at Obama and seeing him for a person, all you can see is a black man through your lens of whether he's qualified or not. Rush didn't extend his qualifications standard to anyone else but a black guy, and then explicitly told us that he did it because he's black. No need to make a similar observation about whether a guy like David Carr was a first round pick because he's a good looking white guy or for you to observe whether George W.'s legacy as a rich white guy is the only reason he would be qualified for Yale, nevertheless the Presidency. But you both share your cynicism for something important like showing that black people have it so easy, despite the fact that you could take this point of view and look at everyone. You go girl.
Invisible, what? you don't think the folks saying "he was stating the obvious" are big time NFL analysts? I'm awaiting their recap of the performance reviews for black head coaches and quarterbacks over the past 10 years. Surely they can point out repeated and obvious pandering to those black coaches and q'backs. After all, no one owning an NFL team wants to make money and win playoffs; they want to be PC!
If only more people understood the nuances of Rush. Football would be a hell of a lot better.
DBQ, they hired him to comment on the game, not be a pompous, condescending ass.
Maybe so Beth, but his remark was not a racist remark and to say it was, is disingenuous at best.
Rush didn't extend his qualifications standard to anyone else but a black guy, and then explicitly told us that he did it because he's black
No. Rush was pointing out that the performance of the entire team was the deciding factor but that the media, because they are vested in promoting the mythos of the black quarterback, whether it is entirely deserved or not, made a big effing deal out of the quarterback.
It wasn't racist in the least to point out media bias. It still isn't
Again, instead of looking at Obama and seeing him for a person, all you can see is a black man through your lens of whether he's qualified or not. Rush didn't extend his qualifications standard to anyone else but a black guy, and then explicitly told us that he did it because he's black. No need to make a similar observation about whether a guy like David Carr was a first round pick because he's a good looking white guy or for you to observe whether George W.'s legacy as a rich white guy is the only reason he would be qualified for Yale, nevertheless the Presidency. But you both share your cynicism for something important like showing that black people have it so easy, despite the fact that you could take this point of view and look at everyone.
Waah! Waah! Why are you talking about A intead of talking about B? Hey, newsflash: Bush isn't President any more. Talking about him is pointless.
After all, no one owning an NFL team wants to make money and win playoffs; they want to be PC!
Be fair. Rush wasn't criticizing the team, he specifically singled out sports journalists who credited the team's success (in his mind) disproportionately to McNabb and overlooking the contributions of the other players.
Those Rush quotes are utterly useless without the surrounding context. He often does voices of other people whom he's mocking and so on. It means nothing. I've listened to the show almost daily for 2 years and I absolutely do not think he is a bad person or racist or sexist or anything like that. And I admire him for taking the risks that he does, putting quotes out there that *can* be presented out of context as horrible. It's part of what's so funny.
It's a big country, Jeremy. There are a lot of points of view.
I've listened to the show almost daily for 2 years and I absolutely do not think he is a bad person or racist or sexist or anything like that.
I think most of his detractors realize this. They're just being dishonest. Rush makes a good Emanuel Goldstein for people on the left.
No because I remember that one. And it wasn't racist.
Here is Limbaugh in 2007 remarking on Rex Grossman "[t]hey're [the media] dumping on this guy, [Chicago Bears quarterback] Rex Grossman, for one reason, folks, and that's because he's a white quarterback,". So Donovan McNabb was getting credit he didn't deserve just because he was black, and Rex Grossman was getting unfarily criticized just because he was white. Which is completely ridiculous on it's face, but it is how Limbaugh thinks. Media bais against white quarterbacks? Get fucking real! Grossman sucks, and has always sucked. McNabb carried the Eagles for years with his legs, to the point where the guy can barely run anymore. Althouse can argue all she wants that Limbaugh isn't a racist. But she knows he is, he is utterly and unnaturally consumed with race. He wouldn't have a show without it.
So Rush Limbaugh shouldn't be allowed to own part of an NFL team because he's racist?
Uh huh.
Get back to me after you've dealt with the Senate seat Robert "Sheets" Byrd has owned since January 3, 1959.
Chase Said...
"I am frankly often uncomfortable with a lot of Rush's comments regarding black America and percived black American culture."
Do you or have you ever experienced any Black Culture- aside from phony books, TV, or other print entertainment- or Motown, rap, or gansta BS? Or did you take some insipid and dishonest Black Culture class in school- Black Studies for Whitey 101- and now you think you are an expert? Did you learn it from the Cosby Show or The Jeffersons?
Have you actually spent any length of time in Black neighborhoods dealing with Black people on a day to day or hour by hour basis? How much time have you spent in housing projects? Have you interacted with the vast array of Black people from the poorest of the poor, the Black middle class, to the wealthiest and/or most powerful?
Exactly how much time have you actually spent with numbers of Black people to make such a stupid statement? Uncomfortable with comments about Black culture or perceived Black culture? What exactly do you know about Black Culture? Or are you one of those typical suburban lily livered liberals who feel guilty they are white based upon some nonsense they have been fed by the entertainment industry- you know MSM?
"Ann - are you going to respond to the racist quotes by Limbaugh as well as the mean thing he said about Michael J. Fox?"
Who cares? Just some bobbleheaded actor looking for sympathy? Ahhhh, poor wittle Michael? Grow up!
"I agree that there is no way the NFL will allow Rush Limbaugh to a a part-owner. The black players would all go on strike."
What's your point? Their union would have to prohibit the strike- no reason for it. The league would have to take punitive action.
Oh, and just so you know- players do not own teams. Contrary to yours and their way of thinking, they are EMPLOYEES! They work for the management. No work, no pay.
BTW, remember the racist Black coach at Georgetown- "As long as I am coach here no White boy will ever play for the Bulldogs? I guess he could get away with an actual true racist statement because he is Black and it is OK.
BTW, remember the racist Black coach at Georgetown- "As long as I am coach here no White boy will ever play for the Bulldogs? I guess he could get away with an actual true racist statement because he is Black and it is OK.
I can't argue with your facts about the "Georgetown Bulldogs". It reminds of that infamous incident when white lacrosse players from the "Duke Turquoise Angels" desecrated black people's graves.
Garage, I went to your link, and it looks like classic Limbaugh satire to me. Media Matters is being silly with the "OMG! He did not say it was a joke on teh same program! It was the next day!" BFD He doesn't even have to have said it was a joke. Anyone with any familiarity with his program would know that.
Maybe so Beth, but his remark was not a racist remark and to say it was, is disingenuous at best.
I disagree, DBQ. This is why when Rush listeners wax on about his double-secret decoder ring satire only dog's ears and super smart Ditto heads pick up, I laugh.
He pulled that comment out about black coaches and quarterbacks precisely - not about other positions. He was making a racist call about the positions that require brains, not brawn or that simple physical ability. Because it's in doubt to people like Rush whether black men have the smarts to run the game, not just run the ball. That's racist.
Who cares? Just some bobbleheaded actor looking for sympathy? Ahhhh, poor wittle Michael? Grow up!
I guess Althouse is right. I don't have the smarts and alertness of Peter V. Bella - if only I got it.
He was making a racist call about the positions that require brains, not brawn or that simple physical ability. Because it's in doubt to people like Rush whether black men have the smarts to run the game, not just run the ball. That's racist.
No, it's not in doubt. He was saying that because the QB is a brainy position and has been held more often by white players (due to chance, racism, whatever), the media especially wants to have a great black QB to talk about, so they were pushing McNabb. And he didn't think McNabb's ability merited it. It was a statement about the soft bigotry of low expectations.
I wonder how many people know that Snerdley is black.
Limbaugh's remark was that the media wanted a black QB to succeed and they overhyped McNabb because of it. Whether this was true or not, I don't know, I don't follow the NFL closely enough to say either way. But he never said that McNabb or blacks in general weren't smart enough to play QB, that's a gross distortion.
due to chance, racism, whatever
Yeah, whatever. Could be any of those.
Rush is obsessed with race. Donavan McNabb is praised? It's the soft bigotry of low expectations! Must be - he's a black guy and the press likes him.
But it can't be racism! Rush works with a black guy. They're friends and everything.
Peter -
What are you talking about? Did you even read the comments I wrote previous to the one you are quoting?
I stand behind no one in my conservative credentials, including you.
What the hell are you trying to say?
Whether this was true or not, I don't know, I don't follow the NFL closely enough to say either way.
But you ought to, because it matters. You're assuming Rush was right about the media hyping him because he's black - but that's the way Rush sees the world. Other people see a quarterback, not a black quarterback. We see the sports press covering a game, not a white press covering a black quarterback playing a game. That's Rush's obsession.
It doesn't play well outside of his bubble. It's a big bubble, so he's very comfortable in there.
I don't pass judgement on the acuity of his comment on Donovan McNabb. I will say that he picked the wrong forum in which to make it. Sports is the toy department of life. Keep the sermons and sociology out of it. I generally watch Sportscenter on mute. I generally don't care about the players or their teams or who's winning--I just like to watch the plays....Limbaugh seems a hearty, good natured man, but I don't take him at his word. The yo-yo weight, quick marriages, drug dependency all point to a personality that is at least as contradictory and complicated as Letterman's. I'm a fan of his grand wit and mostly sympathetic to the points he makes. Nonetheless, I would make an effort to seperate the dancer from the dance. Like many entertainers his greatest creation may be the persona with which he faces the world.....There are many NFL players who have committed much worse crimes than the statements that Limbaugh has been charged with making. That Ravens linebacker left a couple of dead bodies in the street. If the players get on their high horse about this, they will appear not just hypocritical but despicable.
Been watching the first season of Monk. In one episode, Monk shakes hands with three people at a marathon HQ. Now, Monk's a germophobe who fears human contact, so he always cleans his hands with a wipe after shaking hands. In this case, his assistant is slow with the wipes, and the people he's meeting think he's a racist for wiping off the touch of a black man.
See, this is what Limbaugh's defenders feel like sometimes. By that point in the show, Monk's habits and foibles were well established, so audience members knew why Monk was doing what he did. No amount of explanation would work for the offended, though. Likewise, we Limbaugh fans know what Rush is like and why he does what he does. But that doesn't matter to his opponents; they see what they see, they're offended by what they see, and there's no amount of explanation that will change their minds. It's astonishing to see people be so self-righteous and proud while operating from studied ignorance.
(Oh, and in that same show, Monk gets to meet his hero: a black man who was a great marathon runner. Rush has talked for 15 hours a week for more than 21 years, and he's spent a lot of time on who his heroes are. It's pretty telling that people who call him a racist can only get a list of 10 egregious things from that time period, and a couple of those are phony.)
Beth - My point is that right, wrong or indifferent, Limbaugh's statement was media criticism and nothing more.
People who hate Limbaugh want to twist it into "OMG, Rush said that Donovan McNabb and black people are too stupid to be good quarterbacks!!!11!".
He said nothing of the sort.
And your contention that "other people" don't notice race in sports is charmingly naive. America's sporting press obsesses about race just as earnestly as any other segment of the media.
William, I'll agree with you that low expectations abound in professional sports, and in entertainment, when it comes to personal responsiblity and legal responsibility alike.
Sure, Maguro. Unlike Rush himself, the media was too stupid to honestly critique McNabb because he's black. And coaches - Rush was very concerned that this media bias would leave uncritiqued the work of black coaches and quarterbacks. Thank God we have Rush to hold black players and coaches to some kind of standard. God knows how anyone would win a game with black coaches and quarterbacks the media is too cowed to analyze.
Beth, have you considered the possibility that whether or not Rush's opinion is the same as yours, that he could hold that opinion on the media coverage without being a racist?
Beth - Maybe you don't read much sportswriting, but the"This guy is overrated by the media because of xyz" style of commentary is one of the staples of the genre.
It's hardly ground-breaking stuff. The man-bites-dog aspect is that it's unusual to say that media bias is overhyping a guy because he's black. It's more typical to read "The media is overhyping player X because he's white".
Eric, his opinion on the media coverage springs from his assumptions about race, and about the media. It was an idiotic comment, from any perspective, including as William points out, his miscalculation of that audience. He was expecting the usual Ditto, Rush! Wow, that's really insightful, those liberal media folks, they never thought maybe the black quarterback wasn't as good as they reported him being!
Or maybe he was. Who knows? Rush was just floating a possibility. One he'd never float about white quarterbacks or coaches, or the media coverage of them, unless of course to allege they were being unfairly judged by higher standards.
I have no problem calling that racist.
I am getting a much clearer picture of how the whole Ditto! thing works, and how everytime anyone of stature publicly criticizes El Rushbo they're next seen rushing to apologize. Chase - have you apologized yet for your very balanced, oh-so-measured "I don't always agree with Rush on issues of race," comment?
I can't tell you how many times over my life mushy moderates have tried to ingratiate themselves with other people at the B-B-Q, the cocktail party, a lunch, by saying something like:
"Unlike [Inwood] here, I don't get my info from X. Snigger, snigger."
From the 1950s (I'm old) through the 1990s, “X” was "The National Review".
Then beginning in '94, “X” became "Rush Limbaugh" &/or “Rightwing nut blogs”.
My stock answer has always been what turned out to be a paraphrase of Susan Sontag:
"Great. Let’s assume that here we have a guy who reads only the NYT/ listens to one of the TV Nightly newscasts (a redundancy), and a guy who reads only The NR or rightwing blogs & listens only to Rush. Which guy is better informed about what’s goin’ on in the big, bad world?”
I also note that the ½ hourly news breaks during Rush’s program come from the MSM, so, yes, I do get the MSM 2-minute drill propaganda every day.
Actually, I read the NYT vicariously since I read the corrections to it in Blogs. Saves having to read the misinformation in the first place
And most of the derogatory comments come from those who have never actually, you know, listened to Rush but who listen to others who paraphrase what he says. He must be a racist because well he says racist things or criticizes Blacks & minorities, so there. And anyone who listens to him & who doesn’t understand that Rush is a racist/bigot is one himself or an idiot. So there.
And as Prof A noted before the usual robots commented here as expected “It also means you're dropping quotes all the time that people who don't get you — and probably don't want to get you — can use to make you sound stupid/crazy/evil. I love the way Rush revels in that sort of thing.”
I too revel in watching that sort of thing. Even here.
There are many NFL players who have committed much worse crimes than the statements that Limbaugh has been charged with making. That Ravens linebacker left a couple of dead bodies in the street. If the players get on their high horse about this, they will appear not just hypocritical but despicable.
But they aren't trying to own a team. If you think that the standards for being CEO of Wal-mart should be the same as being a checkout girl be my guest. Why would people want to work for a company where the owner has proven that he's going to question their performance based upon race?
Beth, I see that you have no problem calling him a racist. I just don't see why. As I recall McNabb was given coverage he never would have gotten were he a white guy with the same stats. Which was Rush's point.
Now, you can argue my impression was wrong (especially if you're as avid a football fan as Limbaugh), but it certainly doesn't have anything to do with whether or not I think black guys are smart enough to be quarterback.
This is the reason I don't take the racism charge very seriously anymore. It hardly ever holds up under scrutiny.
Sure. Why would the press cover the a white guy who's won 5 division championships, 4 conference championships and played in a Superbowl? Let's not damn him with the soft bigotry of blah de blah (it comes out better with the decoder ring).
I mean, it's just a fair question, asking the media, what's up with all that attention to the black guy? Nothing racist in assuming the media must be playing affirmative action, since he's so obviously such a mediocre q'back.
Chase - have you apologized yet for your very balanced, oh-so-measured "I don't always agree with Rush on issues of race," comment?
Nope. Limbaugh dittoheads don't scare me. I appreciate Rush, agree with his take on many issyes and am often entertained by him (the truth is that I usually check in second hand when everyone is talking about him as I no longer listen regularly for the last couple of years. But I am do not bow down to his image.
Recently, at a backyard potluck for a church ministry that we attended with friends, someone brought up a recent Rush view. When several people agreed vocally with the things said, the person bringing it up asked what I thought. I told him - and it is well known in our church that I am politically active - that what I thought at was really not something to be added to a discussion at what was an extended church function, and that it would be inappropriate to turn something meant for spiritual fellowship into a political discussion. He graciously said that he understood and agreed. That evening I received an email from one of the others standing in our group during that conversation that basically tried to call me to task for being "un-American" for not openly discussing the Rush inspired topic. I wrote back kindly, stating that church and church sponsored functions were not the place to hold politically motivated discussions. That caused the person to write back that Rush Limbaugh is today's most valiant defender of Christian America.
I called the writer of the email the next day (Saturday)and scheduled an appointment to see him at church on Sunday after service. In the meantime, on Saturday, this person sent multiple emails top over 300 other church members that basically equated Rush Limbaugh with evangelical Christianity. ON Sunday, armed with copies of the emails, the Administrative Pastor at our church and I confronted this person and his wife. After explaining to them the difference between promoting the church promoting Christ and the church promoting anyone or anything else at the expense of Christ, the couple still wanted to discuss how Rush Limbaugh fit so well with Christ. Because they did bnot get it, the Pastor removed he and his wife from the children's ministry they had been involved in at the church for the previous 4 years. Subsequent additional tales of Rush-pushing on other ministry helpers by this couple came to the fore in the days immediately following. The couple still attends our fellowship, and have by all reports decided that the overdose of politics in church related functions is inappropriate after all. We meet again with the couple in 2 months to see if they are interested in returning to volunteer service at the church.
Now what happened in that incident was not the direct fault of Rush Limbaugh. But the equation of Rush and his politics with all conservatives, and then the step from there to evangelicals who often have conservative views is a big mistake that far too many both inside and outside of the church are making today.
Chase;
As a former church elder I can confidently say your church is lucky to have you. More churches need folks with the courage you demonstrated.
Beth, that's all irrelevant. All anybody had to go on at the time Limbaugh made the comment was what McNabb had done up to that point.
Was he a decent QB? Sure. Did he become a great quarterback? Sure. Was it clear that would be the case? Not from where I was sitting.
Are you trying to make the argument everybody who didn't realize McNabb would become a great quarterback is a racist? Did you know Favre would become a great QB when he was languishing on the third string in Atlanta?
Chase, that's quite an experience. I'm glad your congregation is aiming for reconciliation together.
Oh, and have I mentioned that I have a Rush autograph? He was gracious to give it to several of us backstage prior to his sitting in as guest host for the Pat Sajak show back in 1990. He wrote it on the back of a takeout menu from Dupar's.
I have it framed. Doesn't make me a dittohead, though. Sorry.
Limbaugh assumed the media had to be inflating their attention to McNabb. Why? Because McNabb is black. That's the mind of Limbaugh, not any problem with sports media. That's the point, Eric. McNabb's career has shown Limbaugh to be a poor judge.
If you think that the standards for being CEO of Wal-mart should be the same as being a checkout girl be my guest.
What, we're now conflating Donovan McNabb with a checkout girl?
Beth said:
"Surely they can point out repeated and obvious pandering to those black coaches and q'backs. After all, no one owning an NFL team wants to make money and win playoffs; they want to be PC!"
Beth, NFL teams face stiff fines if they don't interview at least one minority candidate when looking to fill a head coaching spot.
http://bcasports.cstv.com/genrel/102507aab.html
Limbaugh assumed the media had to be inflating their attention to McNabb. Why? Because McNabb is black.
You can't possibly know that, and, more to the point, you have no evidence of that. You are not being serious.
Feel free to believe whatever you want, but know that they are nothing more than your fantasies.
I suppose that makes me a racist - well, I guess we're all racists now.
McNabb's career has shown Limbaugh to be a poor judge.
Well, it may be Limbaugh is a poor judge of up-and-coming talent. But that doesn't mean he's wrong about the sports press.
But Rick, it's just chance, you know, or whatever, that dictates why so many coaches and quarterbacks are white. Isn't it?
Is it the case that no one EVER, or not even fairly frequently, makes a big deal about a "black" breakthrough in one field or another?
Because that's the issue, isn't it?
Is it really unequivocally untrue that people were talking about McNabb *because* he was black? That Rush was proven wrong about his potential doesn't prove that people weren't making a big deal about him because he was black.
And is this something that CAN NOT BE talked about? Is it racist to say, as Geraldine Ferraro did, that *she* got extra attention because she was a woman, that she'd never have been nominated for VP if her name was Geraldo... and that the same was true of Obama, because he was black?
SHE did not think that was at all racist, and was shocked and appalled when she got called a racist for it. To her she was stating the truth... that Obama's race *benefited* him, the same way that her gender *benefited* her. And obviously *she* thought she was qualified for the job... so she wasn't saying that *he* wasn't.
Rush didn't think McNabb was that great, and suggested something about the probable behavior of the people who were gushing about him... that they were excited as much by his race as his performance. In a sense saying that McNabb was privileged by his race in that situation.
Is the right answer to that to point and shout, "RACIST!!"
Maybe it's to say, "Yes, likely that's part of why people are noticing him. But he's got the skill and potential to deliver the level of performance people are talking about."
Or maybe, "No, I don't think that's it. What about *this* thing or *that* thing he's done. I think he can really do it."
Holder (?) scolded us for not being willing to talk about race.
Well DUH.
Gabe was me...
Grrr... rotten kids.
Darcy, Rush fans will never hear a racist word, phrase or implication leave his lips.
Sorry - I meant Synova (Gabe?)
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