The writer charged that Rush Limbaugh was "shamelessly playing the race card." As a non-racist, regular listener of Rush (I listen to podcasts of nearly every minute of his program while driving), I wondered what Rush said or did to merit the accusation of playing the race card. So I clicked on the link and found a transcript of Rush's commentary on the incident where a white child was beaten on a bus by black students. It was a legitimate news story, and anyone who listened to Rush (as I had) or who actually reads the transcript can see that it is really a satirical critique of those who actually play the race card. I am not sure where the writer saw Rush "playing the race card," but I know that others latched on to his comment that we need segregated buses, no doubt as evidence that Rush wants to go back to the "good old days" of segregated buses and "colored" drinking fountains to keep blacks "in their place." That is not what Rush was suggesting, as a fair reading of the transcript shows. Read this, Limbaugh critics, and see if you can detect the none too subtle mocking of those who see racism everywhere (but only on the part of white people). As a little hint, Rush speculates on the racism of the white child who was beaten, which "provoked" the other (black, but undoubtedly non-racist) passengers to beat (justifiably) the "racist" white child.

RUSH: Well, did he say why, in Obama's America, that incident with the white kid getting beat up on the black school bus was not racially motivated?

CALLER: I hear him comment about that. No, sir.

RUSH: Because we've seen the videotape. Have you seen the videotape?

CALLER: Oh, yeah, sure.

RUSH: We can't hear what's being said.

CALLER: No.

RUSH: So we don't know what obvious taunts this lone white student was dishing out to the whole bus.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: We don't know what obvious taunts.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: Worse than the obvious verbal taunts, we all know the racism that was in the kid's mind. I mean Newsweek magazine says he was born a racist. So you know the white kid is sitting there thinking N-word and all kinds of things being surrounded by these black students. They knew that. They knew that and so they just descended on the kid and beat him up. We've seen the videotape. What did the police chief investigate?

CALLER: He did not comment on anything other than he said more investigations shows that it was not racially motivated.

RUSH: I think the guy is wrong I think not only was it racism, it's justifiable racism.

CALLER: True.

RUSH: I mean, that's the lesson that we're being taught here today. Kid shouldn't have been on the bus anyway.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: We need segregated buses. It was invading of space and so forth. This is Obama's America.

So, here is Rush, illustrating the adsurdity of those who see racism (white racism, that is) everywhere by "agreeing" that the white child was a racist, and that the black children, reading the white child's mind and "knowing" that the white child was a racist (Newsweek said white children are born racist, didn't they and isn't that the unending message put forth by the liberal media?), were justified in beating up a racist white child who shouldn't have been allowed on the bus, invading the space of innocent black children and "threatening" them with his racist thoughts. Rush's suggestion of segregate buses is a stinging critique of those who REALLY play the race card every time a person of color is attacked, criticized, or otherwise questioned. In context, one would have to be completely dense to see that he was mocking "race card-ism" by suggesting the need for segregated buses, to protect black children from (supposedly) racist white children who invade the space of, and "threaten" black children who just want to "get along."

In "Obama's America", whites are the only people who can ever be racists, and there are PLENTY of blacks and guilty whites (mainly guilty white liberals, like Jimmy Carter) who are more than willing to "shamelessly play the race card" at any mere disagreement with Obama's policies----without even a hint of any reference to Obama's half black, half white heritage. They will not allow the possibility that there may be grounds for legitimate policy disagreements with Obama that have nothing to do with race. The charge that conservatives like Limbaugh are "racists" or are "playing the race card" is merely a tired way of trying to shut them up. It might work with some people, but not with Limbaugh. The charge of racism is just the last refuge of those who cannot win a debate on policy differences on the merits.

Sure, Lush Limpballs is a paragon of tolerance!!!!!

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

"Take the bone out of your nose and call me back" he once ranted at an African American caller!

(that was back in the 1990's).

Limbaugh's bigotry has always been in pretty plain sight. He used to make speeches about how he didn't tolerate racism on his program, while flogging most of the more common stereotypes.

But the inplicit bigotry has always been there.

Tom

You are obviously someone who would never be caught dead actually listening to Rush. Admit it, you get all of your "information" about Rush second hand, don't you. You don't know what you are talking about.

.

Racist 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?

John Wayne Gacy

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.

There can be no excuse for such statements. Mr. Limbaugh has the right to say whatever he wants, but ABC and ESPN have no obligation to sponsor such hateful and ignorant speech. Mr. Limbaugh should be fired immediately.

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. Since mainstream America has become more accepting of African-Americans, Limbaugh has decided to play against its new racial fears, Arabs and Muslims. 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.

So Rush Limbaugh has managed to make racist attacks on four of the most admired and respected people of African descent in the past one hundred years, in Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Colin Powell and Barack Obama. He has called for the assassin of Martin Luther King to be given a medal, and said slavery was a good thing. He has claimed that Joe the Plumber, who isn’t even a plumber is more important in this election than Colin Powell, a decorated military veteran who has served honorably in three administrations. How can the Republican party stand by this man and let their candidates appear on his show? Rush Limbaugh’s comments are so racist, they’re funny, in a Borat, Archie Bunker kind of way. What is not funny is the millions of dittoheads who listen to him, who take in and re-spout all the racist rhetoric that he spits. Limbaugh’s statements are echoed in the racist, angry Palin/McCain supporters who shout ‘kill him,’ ‘terrorist,’ ‘communist,’ ‘traitor,’ ’socialist’ and ‘off with his head.’

I lited those quotes from:

By Casey Gane-McCalla October 20, 2008 9:45 pm

TomFitz:

Sure, Lush Limpballs is a paragon of tolerance!!!!!.

You want to talk "tolerance?" Limbaugh is all about doing your own thing - even (gasp) smoking cigars -- and not letting others intimidate you into living your life in cowering subjection. There could be no more tolerant message than Rush's. He never rips anyone, black or white, who's just minding their own business. You'd have to get all your information about him second or third-hand for you to miss this.

From what liberal web site did you cut and paste the Limbaugh racist quotes?

Obviously, you do not listen to Rush either.

Please enlighten me on where Rush was "shamelessly playing the race card" in the transcript that was linked in the article.

Having a discussion with you about Rush's alleged racism would take all day and would be fruitless, anyway. I heard the song "Barack the Magic Negro" (to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon). Rush did not invent that title, it was given to Obama in an article by a black writer in the LA Times (Google "Magic Negro" and "LA Times" and you should find the story that led to the song----which is actually a parody about how liberals view Obama).

I am not a liberal and I listen to Rush Limbaugh can he say anything else more stupid and he is clearly racist. I think he is a complete joke. LOL

I meant that I listen to him to see if he will say anything more stupid than he has previously said. He is clearly a racist and anyone who doesn't thinks so is either fooling themselves or don't have a clear understanding of what racism is about. Rush is a joke.

To ctcadguy

Here is a fair discussion of the "Magic Negro" flap, in Media Matters, no less (so you can trust it!!)

<link>

To Taylor Ryan

Sure, I get that you and other liberals "think" that Rush is a joke, but I repeat the question that I posed to ctcadguy:

"Please enlighten me on where Rush was "shamelessly playing the race card" in the transcript that was linked in the article."

It amazes me that Racists never think of themselves as Racists.

Save America - Mock a Rethug

IT doesn't matter what "liberal website" he cut and pasted them from.

They're all accurate.

I have listened to Rush Limbaugh over the years.

No, I do not listen to him regularly. And I certainly don't listen to him for more than about fifteen minutes at a clip (after all, he ususally only flogs one or two points relentlessly all day long anyway. If you want to hear the talking points, you can usually get them inside of five and not more than fifteen minutes). The rest is his fawning audience calling to tell him what a genius he is.

Anyone who has a disagreement or a real argument gets cut off, doesn't get on the air at all.

Rush plays his audience well. That's his talent.

Rush never debates (at least not in a forum where he doesn't control the microphone). There is no discussion, and no dissenting views (unless they're being used as a straw man).

And he lies with such impunity, that he get fact checked every day by a variety of people who most of Rush's audience will never see. Rush knows he can lie to his audience, bucause his audience takes everything he says at face value, no matter how proposterous.

And the audience is loyal. No matter how many times Rush get caught lying. No matter how many times his predictions turn out to be totally wrong, No matter how many times the Republican he's shilling for gets disgraced, indicted, convicted or defeated. No matter how many times Limbaugh's open hypocricy is exposed.

The faithful keep coming back for more.

You will never see Limbaugh on a panel discussion on television, nor will you ever see him write and op ed piece.

He's a disc jockey. He plays his audience the way a disc jockey works a playlist.

He's the merchant of Archie Bunkerism.

His corporate clients have made him rich selling their interests to you.

To ctcadguy

Here is further information about the "Magic Negro" that you pointed to as evidence of Rush's racism. Mocking "rethugs" is easy, but engaging them on the facts is hard. That is why, liberals routinely descend to name-calling and cries of "racism". It is their way of saying, I don't like your facts, just go away you big bad "rethug" "racist".

RUSH: You must be talking about the very popular parody, "Barack the Magic Negro" as sung by Al Sharpton through the bullhorn. Is that the one?

CALLER: Yes, sir.

RUSH: Well, let me tell you about the roots of this. There was a columnist in the Los Angeles Times named David Ehrenstein, and on Monday, he wrote a piece about Barack is the "magic negro." He claimed that there is, in the black culture, this term "magic negro." His point in this column was that Barack Obama is not authentic. He hasn't been down for the struggle. Plus he's not been around long enough for people to know what he actually stands for substance-wise, and so white people who are supporting Barack are simply doing so to assuage their white guilt over the transgressions in the past in this country, such as slavery and so forth. So his theory is that Barack coming along, he's black and that's all that matters. Nobody cares what he stands for. Nobody knows what he stands for.

It was a column, essentially, accusing white people supporting Obama of being racist because they don't care what he stands for and don't care what he's going to do. The fact that he's black is enough for them, to make them not feel guilty as long as they say they support him, and that was the definition of "magic negro." Now, on this program, we made it a big point to point out that it was -- and this columnist is black, by the way, David Ehrenstein is black, and he used the term, which is why it says so in the lyric line of the song. So we're just highlighting what the left says. I believe they're the true racists. I believe they're the ones that look at people and notice whatever is different about them from white liberals. Either they're black or they're gay or they're Hispanic or whatever. They immediately group people, and most of them happen to be victims. Yet we conservatives are the ones, Uriah, who get tarred and feathered with these allegations.

CALLER: Yes, sir.

RUSH: So this song is to illustrate that point.

CALLER: Okay. That's the first time I've actually ever heard the term "magic negro."

RUSH: Well, me, too. I never heard of it, but this guy says it's out there. It's part of black folklore.

So before you continue to embarass yourself by repeating the "Magic Negro" "Rush is racist" charge, you might want to first acquaint yourself with what the "Magic Negro" story and parody song were really about.

Here is the link to the portion quoted above:

<link>

It clearly was not about Obama or his race, it was about guilty white liberals. Maybe it was about you??

If you truly want to fully acquaint yourself with FACTS, then there is more than you would ever want to have right here (but that would disturb your "comfortably numb" state of consciousness based solely on what you can find on liberal web sites or blogs)

<link>

I too, am amazed that Racists never think of themselves as Racists. You aren't a racist, are you? No, liberals can never be racists.....or can they?

While there is no doubt in my mind that Lush Limpballs is a bigot (especially given the mountain of evidence to support his overt racism), I never took the "magic Negro" thing particularly in that light.

I was disappointed in it, too. I expected it to be a lot more witty than it actually was. It was kind of lame.

But I love the "Magic Negro" phrase. I use it all the time!