My RedState colleague Leon Wolf looks at the fabricated quotes being used to smear Rush Limbaugh – seriously, when national columnists like Jason Whitlock are quoting things found only on Wikiquote, there’s a problem – as well as Chris Matthews wishing on air for somebody to shoot Rush in the head.
All this out of fear of Limbaugh buying a stake in the St. Louis Rams. What, are they worried that he’d go say something about Obama while accepting a Super Bowl trophy? Oh, that’s right, that already happened.
17 thoughts on “Climate of Hate and Lies”
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I’m not really a fan of Limbaugh, but I’m not sure how I feel about the efforts to keep him out of the NFL. And regardless, there ought to be some effort to stick to the (numerous) controversial things he’s actually said.
Crank,
At this point I worry about you. Are you really that far off the deep end that you equate an owner endorsing Obama with the kind of hostile language that comes out of Limbaugh on a daily basis? Regardless of whether the league should stop a group that includes Limbaugh from buying the team (for the record, I do not).
I thought you reached a post-inauguration low (I hope you never get as bitter as you were in the months immediately after the election) when you failed to see the irony in your complimenting Bono for his willingness to do something you never do – compliment someone you almost always disagree with poltiically. But here you make an argument alleging paraphrasing Chris Matthews, but a simple click on the link and viewing of the video makes clear that Matthews never wished anything of the sort. He joked that he thought it would happen, but he did not say anything about wishing it to happen.
In other words, you spend time bitching about people misquoting in the same sentence where you misrepresent someone.
A vacation is calling Crank. I think you ought to pick up the phone.
Hostile language-please give real examples. BTW- I just get a kick out of people on the left complaining abput Conservative radio hots after the insanity spewed by the left over the preceding 8 years
the insanity spewed by the left over the preceding 8 years
Examples please? Preferably ones made by entire news networks or radio shows with millions of listeners. Extra credit for the names of leading Democratic politicians who endorsed those views.
[crickets]
BTW, all I’ve heard is some black NFL player voicing concerns and the NFLPA issuing a statement. IS there some grand conspiracy beyond that the endangers the deal?
My money is on a less-controversial buyer getting the nod, not out of some sort of imagined liberal bias in the League, but simply the fact that the NFL is notoriously risk-averse and p.r.-paranoid.
Furious, you do have some severe amnesia. You forgot Durbin comparing American troops to Nazis and Pol Pot? Byrd, Guido Calabresi and Keith Ellison comparing Bush to Hitler? Lautenberg with that stupid chickenhawk poster? Ted K and Obama claiming the Iraq war was cooked up by, variously, Rove, a conspiracy in Texas, or sinister neocon Jews with their own agenda? Damn near everything said by Pelosi and Pete Stark and Charlie Rangel? I have better things to do than go back and re-dredge the obvious, but with a little more free time we could go on like this for days.
all I’ve heard is some black NFL player voicing concerns and the NFLPA issuing a statement
I’m guessing this means that, like most Americans, you don’t watch MSNBC.
Crank, don’t forget the various lefty’s that openly suggested the assasination of W.
If Rush wants to buy the Rams he should be allowed to. As for the players that say they wouldn’t play for him, so what, they probably wouldn’t make the team anyway.
Furious, the commission himself said he wouldn’t allow Limbaugh.
The same league and pundits that don’t want Rush in the NFL because he said, “the media hypes black QBs because it wants them to succeed” is the same league and pundits that allow or don’t criticize a mascot called the “Redskins.”
*commissionER
I don’t have any respect for Limbaugh as a political commentator, but I can care less whether he owns a football team.
What happened to free speech? Does it only apply to liberals?
Rush Limbaugh is an American citizen. He has the right to speak his mind like anyone else. For anyone to deny him the right to own a business is a violation of all of our rights.
If he was black or a woman, no one would even use these type arguments as a reason for him not to own a NFl team. Holy hell would be rain upon the NFL if they tried this. But it is OK to do it to him just because he thinks different than them?
Where is the ACLU when they really do have any issue?
Preferably ones made by entire news networks or radio shows with millions of listeners.
We’ll start with the Dan Rather TANG memos and “war for oil”.
What happened to free speech? Does it only apply to liberals?
Yes.
The NFL is one of the most exclusive clubs in America. It is no different than an exclusive Country Club that pick and chose their members. Just because you have the money does not automatically give you a right to ownership. There are 32 franchises in the NFL 31 can have owners, quite a few others are family owned with with plans to remain family owned. Knowing this means these owners what to be seen and not heard as they feature there crown jewel every Sunday. The other thing to consider one a person is a minority owner they move up on the path to ownership. In short Rush runs counter to the image sensitive NFL. Funny thing is I never knew owning a NFL team was a right.
“What happened to free speech? Does it only apply to liberals?”
Um, Lee, no one is stifling Limbaugh’s speech (though it would be nice if someone did). Rather, he is being held to account for things he has said. Even assuming the First Amendment applied here, it would not prohibit that.
As Jerry noted, there are well-documented instances of him saying “controversial” (I would say “stupid”) things, so attributing to him things he (apparently) has not said, is unnecessary.
He can say whatever he wants and, if those who hear him, don’t like it, they are free to prevent him from owning an NFL franchise, something about freedom of association (Lee, see Amendments to Constitution, First).
Limbaugh was too controversial (and stupid) for ESPN to be their “outside the box controversial NFL talking head”. The NFL owner’s are about as clubby and insular a group as exists in the world. By their own rules 24 of them have to approve any new owner. While a large portion of them may (and probably do) agree with his political bent they undoubtedly feel itchy about his polarizing nature, his past comments, his willingness to be outrageous and the fact that he has a radio show. The last thing this is about is free speech. The only thing it is about is a small group of guys holding the keys to a super, super exclusive club and their tolerance for someone who has a massive public persona that is equally loved and hated. I don’t see this happening. He should check into the NBA, they’ll just about take anyone they can get these days.
Limbaugh is nothing but an entertainer (paid by a corporate America to confuse his listeners into believing that immigrants and the poor–not the rich and powerful–are screwing them).
I have no problem with him owning an NFL team. I have a problem with him being treated as an honest and ethical commentator, rather than the propagandist he is.