I think it’s an absolute shame that Rush was basically (from what it sounds like) compelled to resign by a couple of his co-stars just for discussing race in any way that didn’t just consist of blind adherence to the liberal line. If the certain other members of the crew who were made uncomfortable by his remarks did in fact…strongly encourage…him to resign over this, then they’re morons. Insecure, idiotic, unreasonable morons without the sense God gave a rock. Those fucking babies need to go crying home to mama, because clearly they aren’t fit to react like rational adults. For ESPN to call the resignation “appropriate” to the circumstance is absolutely ridiculous. It’s anything but appropriate, it’s overblown and extreme when viewed by any rational impartial observer.
I swear, sometimes it seems like talking about race in this country, in any context at all, is like walking on eggshells. Nobody cares about what words mean anymore, all they seem to care about is the connotations of the words, what those words make them “feel”. Bah! I guess any white sportswriter who says anything other than “blah, blah, blah, it’s a travesty there aren’t more black QBs and coaches, clearly this is a result of racist, bigoted, old white men who run the teams, I’m ashamed for myself and the entire white race, harrumph, harrumph, whine, whine whine” just has to expect to get some bad attention anymore.
I really wish people would grow the fuck up and not go hunting for racism where it clearly ain’t there, and would have the fucking good sense to look at discussion of race-related issues rationally rather than with knee-jerk reactions.
Dude, cry me a river. Why bring up race in assessing Donovan McNabb at all? Stick to the issue at hand. You are all over the place. Rush brought up the issue of race, not Tom Jackson, or Michael Irvin (yeah, he resigned because Tom Jackson leaned on him…please… ). Hell, they only disputed his football take.
Rush could have made the argument that Donovan McNabb is overrated. He could have said that the Eagles defense carried him. But, no, he said that the media overrated McNabb because he was a black quarterback. The media (aka THE LIBERAL MEDIA) has a vested interest in promoting black qb’s according to Rush. Like a lot of what Limbaugh says, this is demonstrably untrue. Now, if you have followed, well, any NFL football for the last 20 years you could find a graveyard of black NFL quarterbacks in media coverage. Where was the big conspiracy in the media to promote Akili Smith, Rodney Peete, Andre Ware, Ray Lucas, or Shaun King? Have you read, say, a Dallas paper after a Qunicy Carter start in the last few years? They aren’t pumping him up there, believe me.
What it comes down to is this: if Rush Limbaugh is too stupid not to make racially insensitive remarks about a sport that is predominately African-American then he deserves the hell he’s catching. The cabal of liberals that runs the media didn’t do this to Rush, Rush did. This all comes down to one of the most fundamental virtues of conservatism: taking responsibility for your own actions. Rush at least did so and resigned.
How the fuck were Rush’s remarks “racially insensitive”!!! He was accusing the media of being race-conscious. He may be right, he may be wrong in the particular case. But the remarks don’t indicate any racial bias on his part, they indicate only that he perceives such a racial motivation on the media’s part.
That McNabb acted as if this were racist in his press conference today, just goes to show that he is an idiot too. All these people are reacting to how it makes them feel to hear race discussed, and not paying attention to the actual substance of the remarks, what the remarks really meant. They hear a well-known conservative mention race and just jump to the conclusion that it must be racist.
Anyways, Rush’s remarks might have been off-target in respect to the black QB issue, but would have been right on-target in respect to the issue of black coaches in both the NFL and NCAAs. All you need to do is listen to how the media discusses the success of any coach who happens to be black, like he’s the great hope for paving a trail for the black community. The media is definitely race-conscious on this issue, and when somebody calls them on it, he gets drummed out of the club.
(To a black caller) “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”
–Rush Limbaugh, Newsday, 10/8/90
“They are 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?” has been attributed to Limbaugh repeatedly (links here and here, for instance), but I haven’t found a specific date.
Other Limbaugh racisms:
[ul]
[li]“The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.” (radio show)[/li][li]“Have you ever noticed how all newspaper composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?” (Newsday, 10/8/1990)[/li][li]“They got a light rail system to East St. Louis where nobody goes?” (East St. Louis is 98% black, and has over 40,000 residents. Radio show, 6/27/1994)[/li][/ul]
So yeah, Rush does have a track record here. Sorry Dittoheads.
To me, he seems to be saying that McNabb is there as a transparent attempt by the NFL to appease a left-leaning media by hyping a black quarterback.
I DO see a bit of racism in that.
If he wants to claim that McNabb is overrated, fine. If wants to argue that McNabb could never live to the hype and that his contibution the teams success wasn’t all that, that’s fine too. To claim that he’s only being hyped because he’s black, though, isn’t.
I just think Rush was trolling and wanted to generate some contoversy.
I started my own thread about this in IMHO, which I don’t think has gotten any responses - but I was curious to see people’s responses to this incident, so here’s a very shortened version of my take:
What Rush said wasn’t racist in and of itself, but the first line of the quote implies that black QBs couldn’t make it without attention by the white liberal media. That’s absurd, as Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham were stars long before McNabb. Likewise, while the media HAVE hyped Vick up a great deal, I don’t believe they would have treated him differently if he was white.
Rush isn’t intelligently pointing out that the league is race-conscious, which it is; he’s accusing the media of pandering to blacks. The heart of the matter, to me, has been stated by others: he could have made all the same criticisms of McNabb (he’s overrated, the defense carried the team) and plenty of people would’ve agreed. Instead, he made it a race issue because he’s got an axe to grind. He pushed buttons and got what he deserved. My question is “Did ESPN really think this wasn’t an inevitability?”
Ask for McNabb, I can’t disagree with his response. What could’ve been a criticism of his poor play was turned into a skin color issue by Rush, and Rush alone, because of his political agenda.
RexDart, I am not going to lecture you on comprehending the english language, but you do know the difference between “racially insensitive” and “racist,” don’t you? If saying a black quarterback is overrated by the media because he is black is not racially insensitive than what is?
Forget that McNabb has carried that fucking team more often than not (they have almost no other weapons on offense...Duce Stayley and Todd Pinkston are their top two skill position players after McNabb!), just think about how you would feel if someone at your job said that you get more credit than you deserve by your bosses because they want white people to succeed in your business. Think about a person telling your daughter that she gets better grades than she deserves because she is a woman, or is white, or whatever label that has nothing to do with her accomplishments. Now imagine the people making those bullshit judgments on you, or your daughter get paid millions of dollars to say all of this shit on television. Sure, Rush has a right to say whatever he wants, but ESPN doesn't have to pay him to say all of that worthless drivel.
You cannot ignore history, either. Rush has had problems with making racist (not merely racially insensitive) statements in the past and black quarterbacks have had to deal with bigoted assumptions about their talents for years. You would have to be a drug addict...oh..wait...nevermind. Maybe that explains why Rush would even bother to go there in the first place. Damn liberal media.
I think that the comments were at least insensitive, but I think that he should stay. I’m not a Limbaugh fan, mainly because he comes across as pompous and arrogant with no substance on his radio shows. But he does generate conversation, and no matter what people here may think, there is a sizeable portion of the American population that thinks and believes as he does. If it doesn’t get said out loud then people tend to think that this has gone away. It hasn’t.
I can understand why many sponsors wouldn’t want to be associated with him, but he does give a voice to some of the population. Hopefully not the majority, but instead of pretending that people that think like him don’t exist it, his presence gives us the ability to address his (and his dittoheads’ ) ignorance.
You know, there doesn’t need to be an explicit agreement among sportscasters for there to be a conspiracy in the technical sense.
If everyone commenting on sports avoids criticizing the performance of a player because of his racial background, then everyone is following an unwritten law, an understanding that this player should be treated differently because of his skin color.
Rush is a moron. This comment, however, was neither moronic nor racist.
That happened faster than even I could have hoped. Apparently our friend from the Cape Gerrardo Eleven is not bullet proof. Let the second guessing now begin.
Rush exhibited the same kind of bigotry that the boys in my 4th grade class did; they maintained that the only reason the girls got better grades because the teachers liked girls better. They used as proof of this as the fact that girls seldom got their names on the bad list. Nevermind that the reason was that boys in our class did usually get worse grades even on objective tests, like math and spelling. Never mind that the reason the boys were in trouble more because they engaged in class disrupting behavior more often. The boys would insist that it was all just the teacher playing favorites; that they were really smarter and better than girls.
So the consensus of evidence is that Limbaugh did indeed utter the “bone in your nose” quote … Is this compelling enough evidence to charge racism yet? I sure think so.
Here’s the Limbaugh drug story. Wild stuff: “I don’t care how or what you do, but you’d better - better! - get me some more!”
Time to investigate Limbaugh’s position on drug criminals! Bwahahahah
But Rush’s position was that the QB’s performance didn’t seem to match the media’s treatment of him.
Whether that’s the case or not is an interesting objective question.
It may also be the case that Limbaugh is a tremendous racist (which I find quite plausible, actually). But this comment alone does not seem to be sufficient evidence for such a conclusion. Now, if it can be shown that the quarterback’s performance really was better than quarterbacks that have been criticized, Rush’s statement becomes more suspicious.