Dittohead Challenge, Day 4
October 23, 2009 10:22 am ET by Eric Boehlert
Oh, so close. I almost got a member of the right-wing media to address the the Rush Limbaugh 2009 quote about how Americans are being told to "bend over," "grab the ankles" and hope Obama succeeds because of his "father was black."
I first issued the challenge on Monday because all last week, as Rush Limbaugh's NFL bid crashed and burned thanks to a football league that wanted nothing to do with his hate speech, Limbaugh and the Dittoheads stomped their feet and claimed Rush had no history of making race-baiting comments. None. Which is like saying Glenn Beck doesn't dabble in conspiracy theories. (Paging OnStar!)
So I challenged the right-wing to address the "grab the ankles" quote and explain exactly what Limbaugh meant by the comment (what mental image he was trying to paint for Dittoheads), and why the rest of us shouldn't consider it to be a race-baiting quote.
Well, up until recently it had been crickets on the right. All hope was lost, until Newsbusters' Tim Graham sauntered up to the plate and looked like he was going to give it a whack.
But alas, Graham's effort was more like a check swing:
Most people would agree that "slavery had its merits" and "hurray, Martin Luther King's assassin" are not in the same universe of racial remarks as "bend over because Obama's father was black." You can be turned off by the last one, but it doesn't suggest blacks deserved slavery or assassination.
But what does it suggest Tim? What does bend-over-and-grab-your-ankles-because-Obama's-father-was-black mean? Grraham doesn't want to go there and I think I know why.
So after a week of beseeching Dittoheads to address the Limbaugh quote head-on, they've all refused. Yet they continue to cling to the Dittohead fantasy that there's no proof that Limbaugh's a race-baiter.
P.S. The central point of Graham's very angry piece (dude, let the whole NFL thing go) is a hollow attempt to tie Media Matters to the two race-baiting quotes that were attributed to Limbaugh during the NFL debate; quotes Limbaugh insists he never made. (i.e. The "slavery" and "assassin" quotes.) The problem for Graham is nobody at Media Matters ever suggested Limbaugh said those things. (Note to Newsbusters: it pays to have a crack research staff.) Graham wants Media Matters to apologize for quotes that nobody at Media Matters ever cited in original reporting. He wants Media Matters to apologize for quotes some big city sportswriters used in their columns.
Nice try.
News Corp. "A Racist Enterprise" is at the Heart of this Trilogy.
David Duke, Rush Limbaugh & News Corp. "The Three Amigos of Hate"
We have got to Nip this in the Bud before a Race Ware is our Fate.
Speak truth to power.
Mr. News
How should Andrea Mackris fight back? Should she become an avid Protester?
Should she go on CNN and tell her story of being Harassed & Humiliated on the Phone?
It must have been a Horrible Experience having to just sit there & Listen to Bill O'Reilly's Sexual Moans?
Speak truth to power.
Mr. News
Some of those who post here may have done so, of course, but that is hardly the same thing in reality. Just like the video submitted to MoveOn.org comparing Bush to Hitler was not promoted by MoveOn.org, regardless of the rightwing noise machine's nonsense to the contrary.
Okay, trolls, feel free to defend this man who dropped out of college, lived on welfare, is a drug addict, an obvious and ridiculous liar and race-baiter, and who champions only himself.
You may be on to something there. The right has always had trouble distinguishing between blog posts and comment threads.
Don't forget... he was once known as Jeff Christie from Pittsburgh, PA... we all know how that turned out.
Google "Jeff Christie" and several links appear that bring up Rush Limbaugh and his ever famous arrest for soliciting a male prositute...
That is at the very bottom of your link capt.
Peddling in misinformation are we? How democratic of you. I would expect nothing less from you.
Having lived in the North and the South (Michigan & South Carolina) I have seen this fuzzy thinking in both places. The people who think that they aren't racist but; make obviously racist comments are only fooling themselves and they live everywhere.
You could argue that there are diffent "types" of racists but; it still all boils down to the same thing. "He looks, sounds, or acts different than I do and that makes me afraid."
Sorry, I know it is off topic but; it always boils me when someone mentions all the racist in the south. That just implies that there aren't any anywhere else and that is so wrong.
In the south, they don't care where blacks live, they just don't want them to be "uppity".
In the north, they don't care what blacks do, they just don't want them to live next to them.
Racism is rampant everywhere. I believe the overt racism has declined, since I was young but; the covert racism seems worse.
I currenlty live in southern Illinois near St. Louis. It is kind of a mix here. The small town I live in has the old town sign still up, at the bottom of which is "GFWC". (God Fearing White Community) I am told that some of the old "blue" laws are covertly in effect, depending on the town you go to. Meaning, blacks aren't allowed in town after dark or after 9 during the summer. That all sounds like stuff from the 50's but; America is still divided. (sad to say)
I think it angers some folks that they can't be overt anymore but trust that all whites feel the same way as they do.
Just ain't gonna happen.
Meanwhile, NewsBusters tries to distract from the obvious 400 pound gorilla in the room (that you, Governor of California!) by attempting to blame MM4A for something that was never posted on this site.
Typical NewsBusters spin.
No poster has taken up the challenge either.
To bite you? =>
*Bites You*
Never dare a guy to bite you when his name is Byte Man.
BTW, I supported you on that by giving the "Byte Man Thumbs-up!"
MMFA didn't use the quotes. Why not?
Did they know they weren't sourced? Seems to me they would've had to have known, because who else has done more research into what Limbaugh has said over the years. Those two quotes in question had been floating around on the internet. Want to harbor a guess as to how many times MMFA had gotten a request to share what they had on those quotes? Do you want to tell me that two of THE most highly racist quotes in existence attributed to Limbaugh would not have been researched by Eric Boehlert and his research staff? The question I have for you is, if they did research it, and they surely must have if people there were doing their jobs, and they could find nothing, why didn't they tell anyone that. Just posting on their website that they had nothing may have prevented CNN and MSNBC and some of the other irresponsible journalists from embarrassing themselves because they would've done a better job of researching themselves.
It's not their responsibility, but it would've been a smart move on their part. As it is now, it looks like they didn't mind one bit that people were out there attributing unsourced and highly damaging quotes to Limbaugh.
Your thoughts?