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Limbaugh: Because of Great Society, War on Poverty programs, black fathers "found it necessary not to stay home"

November 24, 2009 4:12 pm ET

From the November 24 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

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Previously:

Limbaugh: "The Democrat Party has destroyed the black family"

Limbaugh on minorities: "The days of them not having any power are over, and they are angry"

Limbaugh: "The government's been taking care of [young blacks] their whole lives"

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    • Author by JLP (November 24, 2009 4:18 pm ET)
      3  
      Wow, this would offend most people I know. I am curious how this man can be considered a legitimate media figure and that people don't call out politicians that appear on his show.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by soze169880 (November 24, 2009 4:22 pm ET)
      2  
      I thought Rush "Take the Bone Out of Your Nose" Limbaugh was colorblind. Maybe he was being literal and referring to a drug-related side effect.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 4:31 pm ET)
      1 15
      I think there are multiple reasons for the breakdown of the nuclear family in the black community.

      Limbaugh mentions one, but there are more factors, such as jobs leaving black communities, and a culture of hopelessness that promotes self destructive behaviors (some of the elements of hip-hop culture, for instance).
      Report Abuse
      • Author by soze169880 (November 24, 2009 4:47 pm ET)
        3 1
        Whoa. You're right. It was all Biggie Smalls' fault. That doesn't explain why country music and metal also tend to be violent, sex-obsessed and misogynistic, and yet white people (and their ambiguous, undefinable "white culture") are still doing all right. Also, you're getting rusty, kydork: I didn't hear a single shriek of "REVEREND WRIGHT!!!!!!"
        Report Abuse
        • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 5:25 pm ET)
          1 6
          Do you think there is a such thing as "black culture?" Most people, including blacks, seem to think there is. So I would ask why is no such thing as "white culture?"

          Also, I don't hear many country or rock songs that encourage criminal acts in the way that rap music does. I'm a fan of rap music, but I'm not going to pretend that it is not overly violent.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by soze169880 (November 24, 2009 5:30 pm ET)
            4 1
            Um, because "white" is way more of an umbrella term. Are you going to argue that Irish culture is identical to Italian culture, for example?
            And your implication, by the way, is that you, being white, recognize that crime isn't okay when you listen to rap, but black people somehow don't understand it, and that's why their communities are going to seed.
            And lastly, this is probably the most violent song ever written, and it's by a white guy. Next.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 5:39 pm ET)
              1 6
              Um, no, they're not identical, but would you say that there are any cultural norms between white enthnicities that could be considered white culture? I'm not trying to argue. I'm just asking you.

              And I'm black. I'm saying that I'm sick of young black kids hearing such crap, and since many have no fathers in the home, they hear such things and think that that is a representation of authentic blackness. I've seen it too many times.
              Report Abuse
              • Author by soze169880 (November 24, 2009 5:40 pm ET)
                1 3
                Uh-huh. You're black. Because any black person anywhere in the world is this obsessed with Reverend Wright. Unless... OMIGOD YOU GUYS K1DORK IS ALAN KEYES!
                Report Abuse
                • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 6:06 pm ET)
                  2 4
                  Sorry, but I have just as many white friends as I do black, and I consider things like "the government created AIDS to kill blacks," and calling white people "devils" to be racially divisive. Sorry.
                  Report Abuse
                  • Author by DellDolly (November 24, 2009 7:31 pm ET)
                    3  
                    Yeah, like your list of black friends and white friends is relevant here.

                    Sighing and shaking my head.

                    Why would you continue to embarrass yourself with nearly every post you make? Have you no shame? Or common sense?
                    Report Abuse
                  • Author by New Frontier (November 24, 2009 8:56 pm ET)
                    1  
                    Sorry

                    You are.
                    Report Abuse
                  • Author by Sharpe (November 24, 2009 9:44 pm ET)
                    1  
                    Heyy you said something i finally agree with down here. I dunno why you got 4 thumbs down for that one. If it helps, I agree. Not with all your statements but definitely with this one.
                    Report Abuse
                    • Author by k1dork (November 25, 2009 12:27 am ET)
                        2
                      I know why. It's because there seems to be far too many these days who are completely beholden to partisan politics, as if they are brainwashed.

                      I tend to lean conservative, so to some, anything I say HAS to be wrong.
                      Report Abuse
              • Author by blk-in-alabam (November 24, 2009 11:59 pm ET)
                   
                The problem today is a struggling mother with no skills cannot not work hard make enough to take care of them and send them to school.Single parent homes have been with black people for a long time.Something needs to be done to raise the skill and wage level of single parents.One of the biggest contributing factors to broken homes is $$broke homes.Black people donot control the media,not even socalled black media.People making records say what people controling entertainment media will let be sold.The problem is not the schools.Learning how to read write and count is still the same.You have to GO to school to learn.Charter schools???Charter a bus to get them to school.
                Report Abuse
      • Author by JLP (November 24, 2009 4:52 pm ET)
           
        You would probably know. What about the jobs leaving white communities (whatever they are) and the associated "hopelessness" associated with poor rural whites that make them flock to extremist ideologies. Nice generalist assessment.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 4:57 pm ET)
        1 12
        Care to elaborate on how I'm wrong, thumbs down folks?

        Sure, some of the social programs help (a bit) but often such programs cause people to become dependent on the government.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by soze169880 (November 24, 2009 4:59 pm ET)
          3 1
          You want us to EXPLAIN why it's idiotic to claim that every problem in the black community is due to rappers and food stamps?
          Report Abuse
          • Author by The New Pilgrims (November 24, 2009 5:24 pm ET)
            3 1
            Go easy on k1dork. He's pre-Bill-O'Reilly in a "hey mo-fo, more iced tea here" kind of way.
            Report Abuse
          • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 5:28 pm ET)
            1 4
            Are you talking about me or Limbaugh, because I'm pretty sure that I state above that there are MANY reasons.
            Report Abuse
        • Author by Sharpe (November 24, 2009 9:47 pm ET)
             
          Very hard to live solely off welfare and food stamps and not at all comfortable enough to deter looking for work. Clinton passed bills to aid the unemployed with exactly this in mind. We must allow the unemployed to survive while still actively promoting them looking for work.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by dabear (November 24, 2009 4:59 pm ET)
        2  
        Dont leave out the fact that during slavery Black Men were forced to leave their famlies, forced to watch their wives get raped in front of them, and forced to be made less than a man. These things started back then and believe it or not tradition is a way of life, but its only a problem now because they need to turn us black folk away from Obama! Divide and Conquer also a tradition!
        Report Abuse
        • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 5:31 pm ET)
          1 7
          Are you suggesting that we are somehow inherently incapable of keeping our families together?
          Report Abuse
          • Author by dabear (November 25, 2009 11:11 am ET)
               
            I am suggesting that many things happened back them that shaped us today....not an excuse just a fact!!!!!
            Report Abuse
          • Author by LKL (November 25, 2009 11:19 am ET)
               
            How on earth did you reach that conclusion based on what he said?
            Report Abuse
      • Author by blk-in-alabam (November 24, 2009 11:41 pm ET)
        1  
        There are many factors.Like a USA army officer trading USA military guns for coacain.The cocain turned into crack and was dumped on black people in the USA.Crack did something all the troubles black people went could not.Crack made many black women stop being mothers.It made many be mothers twice,because they had to raise their grandchildren.Crystal Meth is doing the same thing to white comunities In the USA today.All Music tell a story about something that(has,or is going)to happen.Killing the music that tells the story is not the answer.We have to change the story.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Sharpe (November 24, 2009 4:36 pm ET)
      7 1
      The great society was immensely successful and most republicans have continued to vote to extend almost everything LBJ passed. civil rights act and desegregation - still law. Urban Mass transportation Act - now the FTA. Wilderness preservation act- still law. Food stamps - still law. Economic opportuntiy act - head start and job corps.Higher education act - still law. Social security act- medicare and medicaid still law. Voting rights act - law. freedom of information act - law. Discrimination employment act - no discrimination in workplace, pension and benefits still law. Im not sure if the gun control act is still law but now we have background checks and such. Soooo all of this was passed between 1964 and 1968 - the republicans had total control of congress for decades in between 1968 and today and NEVER REPEALED ANY OF THESE! The Great society was an immense success and had longevity just as much as immediate impact.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by all your eyes (November 24, 2009 10:12 pm ET)
           
        You know, when you put it that way, you make me hang my head at the current state of affairs in Washington. Obama has inexorably scuttled his opportunity to ever be a truly transformative progressive president. Had he exerted his political capital in a morally direct and extremely heavy-handed fashion in the first two months... sigh... sometimes you get the feeling we'll be waiting another45 years for this opportunity. Obama is not only repeating Johnson's mistakes (Afghanistan), he hasn't learned the lessons of Johnson's administration's leadership in the legislative sphere.

        Of course you're right in your refutation of Limbaugh's utterly racist and ignorant statement, but bringing up the tangible progressive legislative victories under Johnson hurts my soul.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Midnight Kevin (November 24, 2009 4:44 pm ET)
      5  
      Limbaugh must be an expert on "blacks" because he loves talking about them...
      -----------------------------------------
      The Midnight Review
      Mum Is The Word
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Max Credits (November 24, 2009 4:51 pm ET)
        4  
        Ever the scholar. I hear he'll soon have his forthcoming "How the NFL Quarterback Rating Favors the Blacks" published in The Bigoted Review.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by pilotshark (November 24, 2009 4:57 pm ET)
      3  
      arrrr yes the EIB coming threw again
      EIB Extreme Ignorant Bigots
      Report Abuse
    • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (November 24, 2009 4:58 pm ET)
      4  
      LIMBAUGH is doing his usual thing here blowing out a lot of hot air.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 5:00 pm ET)
      1 7
      Since Limbaugh has no clue what he is talking about, can anyone give their reasoning for the breakdown of the nuclear family in the black community?

      Any "progressive" suggestions on alleviating this social ill?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by snoopy (November 24, 2009 5:09 pm ET)
        4  
        While we're working on it feel free to elaborate on the conservative " What, me worry?" approach at alleviating this social ill.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 5:14 pm ET)
          1 7
          I don't know what you mean by "What, me worry," but the liberal "if it feels good, do it," hasn't worked out too well.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by snoopy (November 24, 2009 6:48 pm ET)
            5  
            My point exactly. There is no republican plan to fix anything. Their only plan is to work hard to obstruct any democratic plan from succeeding...
            Report Abuse
            • Author by fourplows (November 25, 2009 12:47 am ET)
                 
              That sounds like a good plan. I don't know why the democrats keep harping on this "Republicans' only solution is to do nothing" argument. Why is it a foregone conclusion that doing nothing is the worst option? It really is possible to make things worse (and the government usually does), in which case doing nothing is clearly the better option. If the Republicans are unwilling or unable (for lack of votes) to pass the kind of legislation that would actually benefit the country, then I hope they will obstruct at every turn to at least keep the ship afloat until we get some sane people in Washington.
              Report Abuse
      • Author by soze169880 (November 24, 2009 5:11 pm ET)
        2 1
        How about we don't completely abandon the communities? How about we stop cutting taxes for the super-rich and figuratively letting the poor and minorities drown? How about we stop LITERALLY letting the poor and minorities drown? How about, when we elect a black man president, we don't assume that any attempt he makes to help the black community is "SOCIALIZM!!!!" and "REDIST'ABOOSHUN!!!!" and [something incomprehensibly shrill about Reverend Wright]?
        Report Abuse
        • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 5:34 pm ET)
          1 5
          We agree on some of these points. How about instead of ridiculous stimulous bills that don't create meaningful jobs, we STOP outsourcing all of our jobs overseas?

          Report Abuse
          • Author by soze169880 (November 24, 2009 5:37 pm ET)
            5  
            You know what would help with that? Not shrieking about communism every time the government regulates business practices.
            Report Abuse
          • Author by worrierking (November 24, 2009 5:40 pm ET)
            6  
            They're being outsourced by our beloved free market system, not the current administration. And the job exodus isn't a recent event. It's been going on since at least the eighties.

            I'm sure conservatives would be up in arms if the president were to promote policies that took the right of American companies to export jobs overseas away from private companies.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 5:46 pm ET)
                4
              I would say SOME conservatives, but yes, I tend to agree with you here.
              Report Abuse
              • Author by Sharpe (November 24, 2009 10:15 pm ET)
                  1
                No! Not some conservatives - All of them! That is something i would even consider radical and unnecessary and I am liberal. We should start by breaking up Giant too big to fail banks. Getting them to manageable levels so they can fail themselves without creating systemic risk throughout the entire economic sector. That is the number on priority for economic reform outside of curbing predatory lending and very risky derivatives. Preventing the outsourcing of Jobs is not a priority. The government should use an upcoming enivronmental bill to create an entire private sector industry. Instead of just regulating Carbon emissions which will likely take forever and do NOTHING to get us off our strangle hold of oil as an energy source, we should create a green industry through huge tax credits and subsidies for those companies and entrepeneurs who would like to invest in any of the other energy industries - Im talking creation of many solar panel companies or maybe even a new automobile company that solely makes cars run on alternative resources. With a ton of credits and subsidies, this new economy will not only grow and thrive but it will also create a massive number of new jobs by creating an entire new industry in this country. Furthermore, the US could slacken its demand for foreign oil loosening the iron grip - Repugs always say more domestic drilling. Yea maybe but fact is, the oil on this planet will run dry sometime within the next century or even half century. We must begin to be prepared. We can expand research to find even more alternative energy resources as well funding research and development. Furthermore, this improves pollution and adds to a cleaner environment. Finally and perhaps most importantly, these would not be government jobs. This is the gov uses tax money to create a private industry worth of jobs - dems like the new jobs and conservatives like that they are all in the private industry. Plus, subsidies and tax breaks would likely cost the government a heck of a lot less then creating public companies and paying for everything.
                Report Abuse
          • Author by JLP (November 24, 2009 6:01 pm ET)
            4  
            If you think the gov't has control over job outsourcing then you probably don't have a clue about what capitalism actually means, maybe you prefer to focus on socialist entities like highways, the post office, and medicare, medicaid, etc.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by k1dork (November 24, 2009 6:31 pm ET)
              1 5
              Couldn't the government control it through tariffs and taxes on goods coming in from other countries and on business that export jobs?
              Report Abuse
              • Author by Marker (November 24, 2009 6:49 pm ET)
                4  
                Protectionism, something you repugs are totally against. It's much easier to have the chinese make our goods for a dollar a day.
                Report Abuse
              • Author by Arlea (November 24, 2009 6:50 pm ET)
                2  
                The government could try to control goods coming from other countries but (always a but) where to draw the line. Much of the US oil comes from Canada... which is also the US's largest trading partner... do we tax Canada for sending oil to the US? Much of the lumber the US uses comes from Canada (go to any lumber yard), do we throw a big tax on that tooo... or should we just say no more lumber imports and we can cut down the last trees in Brooklyn! My point is is that much of the imports are items that the US cannot produce in the US. Point being the US could tell Canada that we are going to tax to death all the things we import from you that we could produce here..... as for the stuff we need that we cannot produce here you get a tax pass... hmm a bit of a canundrum no!
                Report Abuse
        • Author by fourplows (November 25, 2009 12:57 am ET)
             
          How about the people who are dissatisfied with their lot in life take responsibility for their own future and take the steps necessary to improve it? Alternatively they can resign themselves to dependence on the government for their well-being, ensuring they will remain poor for the rest of their lives. And all the while those responsible for enacting the very programs responsible for perpetuating the cycle of poverty will pat themselves on the back for their "compassion."
          Report Abuse
      • Author by Sharpe (November 24, 2009 9:59 pm ET)
        1  
        MANY MANY REASONS. But mainly because this country has been racist to its very core. While finally allowing african americans to at least have a chance to compete with the rest of the country in the mid 1960s, many people and often the rich heads of corporations and deans of colleges harbored racist sentiments. It is no doubt getting better but fact is, blacks and whites are still not on a level playing field when it comes to everything in society to help one be successful. We still judge people based on skin color. White people do gets jobs or admissions into schools over blacks. No doubt we have come a LONG LONG way in a few short decades. But you must realize that any african american over 50 may have experienced sitting in the back of the bus or drinking out of different water fountains based on their skin. And if their was segregation in public places, you can be darn sure that there was fierce racism in all aspects of life.

        Lower socioeconomic class for any skin color often predisposes one to crime, gangs, higher dropout rate, violence, prison, unstable marriages, broken homes, premature death, poorer healthcare, etc. Thus, it is a sequence of events and we are slowly breaking from the cycle but if one is disadvantaged based on skin color in the 60s or 70s from college admissions they obviously don't go to college and get a lower paying job. If one is disadvantaged based on skin color for job applications, they obviously get a lower paying job. And thus, are placed in a lower socioeconomic class, live in poorer neighborhoods and are predisposed to one or many of what i mentioned above many of which also lowers the chance of finding a decent job. And this is not centuries ago. Again, we are talking about people who are in their 40s and 50s who were likely at a significant disadvantage and such racism is still somewhat prevelant in some communities to this day. I Hope that helps explain it. I did the best I could in this forum.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by New Frontier (November 24, 2009 7:22 pm ET)
      3  
      No one in the U.S. knows more or cares more about black issues or fatherhood than Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh's really, sincerely interested in helping the black man solve his problems. He would never ridicule black dialect or our first African-American President by playing the song "Barack, the Magic Negro", for instance. Because that would be demeaning and disrespectful to any blacks who heard it. Just as saying "Democrat Party" would be disrespectful to Democratic Party voters.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by mmharris438182 (November 25, 2009 10:35 am ET)
         
      EIB = Endless Inane Babble
      Report Abuse