# Limbaugh's Bid to Buy the St. Louis Rams **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 9, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223 "2009-10-09T18:48:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/81 "2009-10-14T21:51:40Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The crips and bloods was totally racist, and Rush is a racist, and plenty of his fans are racist. > > Like I said before. He plays an “I’m not touching you” game. It’s completely deliberate, barely coded and unmistakable. So you prefer the overt racism of our civil rights leaders Jackson and Sharpton? I wonder how many of their fans are also racists. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/82 "2009-10-14T21:53:48Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > So you prefer the overt racism of our civil rights leaders Jackson and Sharpton? I wonder how many of their fans are also racists. Why can’t we hate both, like the late Earl Warren? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/83 "2009-10-14T22:08:07Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > That 2% is the number that visit the website. Hmmm. Well 91% of those who visit air america’s website are Caucasian. I smell smoke! > [http://www.quantcast.com/airamerica.com](http://www.quantcast.com/airamerica.com) > > 96% of those who visit The Nation are Caucasian…more smoke! > [http://www.quantcast.com/thenation.com](http://www.quantcast.com/thenation.com) > > What percentage of non-whites are liberal? I smell racism. I said smoke. Is there fire? Well, we could delve in to Air America and The Nation if you want to see the why’s and wherefore’s of those numbers. In this case we look at what Limbaugh was saying which is distinctly hostile towards minorities. Smoke meet fire. > [@](#): > > Undetermined as in there are no audio clips. There are websites that employ a dozen stenographers to copy every word the right wing talkers say. I guarantee you that these clips would have surfaced if they were real. It looked to me like Snopes could not find records from the early dates. Not one way or the other. If this was all recorded and open to the public to access I suspect Snopes would have got it. They found nothing either way. If they could produce the recordings/transcripts then it would be settled one way or another. It also remains that some of the quotes were verified. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/84 "2009-10-14T22:09:30Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Why can’t we hate both, like the late Earl Warren? Earl warren was never a stripper! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/85 "2009-10-14T22:13:05Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > So you prefer the overt racism of our civil rights leaders Jackson and Sharpton? I wonder how many of their fans are also racists. A predictable, worthless _tu quoque_. Whatever racism you think you see in Jackson and Sharpton (neither of whom has any significant power or influence), that does not stop Limbaugh from being a race baiting demagogue who deliberately plays on the most base fears and prejudices of his audience. More to the point of this thread, if Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson wanted to buy an NFL team, Limbaugh himself would lead the teabagger revolt against it. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/86 "2009-10-14T23:19:04Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > A predictable, worthless _tu quoque_. Whatever racism you think you see in Jackson and Sharpton (neither of whom has any significant power or influence), that does not stop Limbaugh from being a race baiting demagogue who deliberately plays on the most base fears and prejudices of his audience. No, I don’t believe what Rush has said is racist. On the contrary, Jackson and Sharpton have been overt in their racism. And you believe that neither has any significant power?!? Sharpton sayst he talks to Obama on a regular basis. You sound like so many on the Left who have never listened to Limbaugh’s show and know him only through the BS you read on media matters. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > More to the point of this thread, if Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson wanted to buy an NFL team, Limbaugh himself would lead the teabagger revolt against it. Untrue. Limbaugh would not oppose a business transaction of this kind. You would know this if you ever listened to the show. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/87 "2009-10-14T23:27:54Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > No, I don’t believe what Rush has said is racist. On the contrary, Jackson and Sharpton have been overt in their racism. And you believe that neither has any significant power?!? Sharpton sayst he talks to Obama on a regular basis. > > You sound like so many on the Left who have never listened to Limbaugh’s show and know him only through the BS you read on media matters. > > Untrue. Limbaugh would not oppose a business transaction of this kind. You would know this if you ever listened to the show. The last time I heard this douche-bag’s show is when he was playing “[Barack The Magic Negro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-Bao4VUQmI).” Gosh, I wonder why people call him a douche-bag racist? ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/88 "2009-10-14T23:44:51Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I stipulated that this stat, in and of itself, does not indicate that Limbaugh is a bigot. That said I bet when you see smoke you go check to see if there is a fire. There may not be but the smoke makes it worth a closer look. > > According to [this](http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/richard_florida/Gallup.gif) 10% of African-Americans count themselves as Republicans. 22% non-white people do. So, a lot more than 2% which includes all others except Caucasian. > > James Earl Ray one may be bogus. The rest? At best Snopes has it as undetermined. Others are factual. So most of them stand. Thanks for the help. African-Americans are 14% of the US population. So if 10% are Republicans and it’d be 1.4% of all the population. Hispanics (not counting whites) are about the same number) would be similar (maybe a big bigger). > [@orcenio](#): > > The last time I heard this douche-bag’s show is when he was playing “[Barack The Magic Negro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-Bao4VUQmI).” Gosh, I wonder why people call him a douche-bag racist? You do know what a “magic negro” is, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/89 "2009-10-14T23:52:15Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > The last time I heard this douche-bag’s show is when he was playing “Barack The Magic Negro.” Gosh, I wonder why people call him a douche-bag racist? I wonder if you would think David Ehrenstein, a black writer for the LA Times, is a douchebag racist too. He coined the phrase. This from Wiki about Limaugh’s song: \*The title is a reference to the magical negro, a stock character in fiction who commonly helps the white protagonist to get out of trouble. The song builds upon David Ehrenstein’s assertion in the Los Angeles Times that Barack Obama would serve as a “magical negro” to assuage white guilt.[1] The song’s lyrics explicitly refer to this: [sung in an Al Sharpton sound-alike voice] "Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper Said he makes guilty whites feel good They’ll vote for him, and not for me ‘Cause he’s not from the hood.\* I’m not seeing racism myself. Saying that whites will vote for a black candidate in order to assuage their guilt is a condemnation of that type of white person, not the candidate himself. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/90 "2009-10-15T00:10:57Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > No, I don’t believe what Rush has said is racist. It’s hard to think up another interpretation of the “Crips and Bloods” comment. I had some sympathy for Rush as a football fan when this started, but at this point I really don’t have any left. He made his bed and he can sleep in it. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/91 "2009-10-15T00:19:18Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I wonder if you would think David Ehrenstein, a black writer for the LA Times, is a douchebag racist too. He coined the phrase. Did he coin it while impersonating a cotton-mouthed Al Sharpton singing in the style of a southern minstrel show? Rush just takes stupidity into the strange new heights of classic racism. > [@](#): > > This from Wiki about Limaugh’s song: > > \*The title is a reference to the magical negro, a stock character in fiction who commonly helps the white protagonist to get out of trouble. The song builds upon David Ehrenstein’s assertion in the Los Angeles Times that Barack Obama would serve as a “magical negro” to assuage white guilt.[1] The song’s lyrics explicitly refer to this: > > [sung in an Al Sharpton sound-alike voice] > > "Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper > Said he makes guilty whites feel good > They’ll vote for him, and not for me > ‘Cause he’s not from the hood.\* > > **I’m not seeing racism myself. Saying that whites will vote for a black candidate in order to assuage their guilt is a condemnation of that type of white person, not the candidate himself.** (Bolding mine) That’s the tongue-in-cheek point David Ehrenstein was making (watch 1:15-1:40 of my link). Rush was just being his race-baiting/racist ole self (watch 0:25-0:60 of my link). ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/92 "2009-10-15T00:20:52Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I said smoke. Is there fire? Well, we could delve in to Air America and The Nation if you want to see the why’s and wherefore’s of those numbers. > > In this case we look at what Limbaugh was saying which is distinctly hostile towards minorities. Smoke meet fire. Again…you were passing off website data as Limbaugh demographics. Even though I don’t believe the percentage of whites that listen to a program indicates the level of racism, there is no smoke to be seen except that puff that you are blowing out of your hindparts. Also, I see nothing that Rush has said that is hostile to minorities…except your phony quotes. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > It looked to me like Snopes could not find records from the early dates. Not one way or the other. If this was all recorded and open to the public to access I suspect Snopes would have got it. They found nothing either way. If they could produce the recordings/transcripts then it would be settled one way or another. It also remains that some of the quotes were verified. As I said, if there were clips of these quotes they would have been played _ad nauseum_. This is the equivalent of saying **Whack-a-Mole** likes touching young boys. I don’t know when it happened but, if you can’t find documents to disprove it, it remains unsettled. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/93 "2009-10-15T00:22:48Z")
> [@JXJohns](#): > > And [Dante Stallworth](http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3982263) killed someone and he is still allowed to play. I’m sure that he has shown repentance as well, but Mr Reyes is still dead and Stallworth is still playing. > > I’d say that the bar is set pretty low regarding membership in the NFL. He is? Last I checked he was indefinitely suspended. I think his career is over, which is ironic at best, since it never really began anyway. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/94 "2009-10-15T00:23:35Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It’s hard to think up another interpretation of the “Crips and Bloods” comment. > > I had some sympathy for Rush as a football fan when this started, but at this point I really don’t have any left. He made his bed and he can sleep in it. Did you read the transcript I linked to? His comment had nothing to do with race ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/95 "2009-10-15T00:32:04Z")
It had everything to do with race. He is a race baiter. That is what he does. He’s just very calculated about it. The “I’m not touching you” shit does not fool anybody, especially not his fans. They know the code. Let’s not pretend. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/96 "2009-10-15T00:33:59Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It had everything to do with race. He is a race baiter. That is what he does. He’s just very calculated about it. The “I’m not touching you” shit does not fool anybody, especially not his fans. They know the code. Let’s not pretend. Oh, okay…well, since you said it twice it must be true. Have you ever listened to Rush? ---
**Author:** ![pompeybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8c91f0/32.png) [@pompeybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pompeybear)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/97 "2009-10-15T00:47:06Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > A predictable, worthless _tu quoque_. Whatever racism you think you see in Jackson and Sharpton (neither of whom has any significant power or influence), that does not stop Limbaugh from being a race baiting demagogue who deliberately plays on the most base fears and prejudices of his audience. > > More to the point of this thread, if Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson wanted to buy an NFL team, Limbaugh himself would lead the teabagger revolt against it. Well… I imagine he would now anyway… What’s amazing to me is for all this talk of Rush Limbaugh being a scumbag racist, half the quotes are fabricated and the others are removed from context. I mean he’s been on the air for 3 hours a day for 20 years! If he was really a racist scumbag there would be thousands of quotes to use. The comment that got him booted from ESPN was I think very incorrect, but I hardly find it racist. Just because you find the man to be arrogant and misguided doesn’t make him a scumbag. He may be a scumbag, but he might be a saint. I don’t know the man so I can’t say. To me the bigger danger with Limbaugh is that he’d probably have a hard time not intermixing NFL business with his talk show. If I sunk $100M into an investment I think I would have a hard time keeping hands-off. Imagine a guy who is paid to talk about things! And man oh man there would be a lot of things to complain about if you owned the Rams. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/98 "2009-10-15T00:48:39Z")
Yes. Especially when I’m at my in-laws. They listen to wingnut radio all day long. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/99 "2009-10-15T00:49:28Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > According to ESPN, [Rush is out](http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4559454). And I’ll just mention that local (Houston) right-wing talk radio is already spinning the yarn that it was Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Sharpton who forced him out of the deal, rather than the consortium itself that he was trying to join, and, apparently, other NFL team owners. Reverse racism, that’s the winning ticket. Bleat, bleat. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223/100 "2009-10-15T00:50:36Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > Did you read the transcript I linked to? His comment had nothing to do with race I read it before posting. There is no other interpretation that makes even a little bit of sense, and no matter how you take it it’s not something the NFL is seeking in a prospective team owner. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limbaughs-bid-to-buy-the-st-louis-rams/513223.md?page=6)