Limbaugh reacts to Media Matters item on his use of word "spade"

On the January 16 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh asserted that "Media Matters for America, the Clinton front group, sent out a piece claiming that I used the word 'spade' in my monologue on Monday, knowing full well that [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton (D-NY)], of course, had talked about [Sen. Barack] Obama [D-IL] hadn't done the spadework necessary on foreign policy. It was delicious." In fact, Media Matters did not merely "claim[]" that Limbaugh had used the word "spade" during a discussion of Obama, but documented Limbaugh's use of the word with transcript, audio, and a link to the transcript posted on Limbaugh's website.

Furthermore, in adding that Media Matters "kn[ew] full well that Clinton, of course, had talked about Obama hadn't done the spadework necessary on foreign policy," Limbaugh suggested that Media Matters had obscured the fact that Clinton had used the term "spadework." In fact, Media Matters noted her use of the term in the first sentence of the item, which read: "On the January 7 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show, host Rush Limbaugh said that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) suggestion that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) 'has not done the kind of spadework' that Clinton has done was 'not coincidental,' given, he said, that 'this is the bunch that suppresses black people in the Democrat [sic] Party.' "

In the same item, Media Matters also documented the difference between the term "spadework," which Clinton used and is commonly used among political figures and the media to describe efforts by individuals of all races to lay groundwork for various initiatives or campaigns, and the term "spade," which can be used as a racial slur.

Limbaugh's reference to Media Matters as "the Clinton front group" is also false. Media Matters is an independent progressive organization and is not funded by or affiliated with any candidate or political party.

From the January 16 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: OK, back to the phones on the EIB Network. People have been waiting patiently. We have David on the phone from Columbia, South Carolina. Great that you waited, sir. Thank you.

CALLER: Hey, Rush. How you doing?

LIMBAUGH: Just fine, sir, thank you.

CALLER: Hey, I had a question. I'm a black Republican, not too conservative, but fairly conservative -- my wife, very liberal, and she's a big Obama supporter -- and we get into this big conversation all the time, and I wanted to get your opinion on something. I wanted to ask you if you think that the media's infatuation with Obama is similar to their infatuation with the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Because she and I got into a conversation about it, and I think so, because, you know, so much of what he talks about, you know, are these great, big broad strokes -- nothing really specific, you know -- and I'm like, "Hey, look. You know, anybody can get up here and look good." You know, yeah, the guy's articulate; he's photogenic -- but, I'm like, you know, what does he stand for on some serious issues? And she looks at me crossways, you know, and I'm like, "Well, you don't know." I mean, you know, so, why is he this media darling?

LIMBAUGH: Well, it'd be a tough analogy, here, to the McNabb situation. Let me try this, nevertheless. I think - oh, before -- you've just reminded me of something, here, David. Before I answer your question -- you know, yesterday on this program, ladies and gentlemen, we did our little test. We played "Barack, the Magic Negro" to see if the drive-bys would pick up on it, that I was acting as an insurgent and refusing to allow the truce to go on in the uncivil war. Guess what -- nobody commented about that, but Media Matters for America, the Clinton front group, sent out a piece claiming that I used the word "spade" [laughing] in my monologue on Monday, [laughing] knowing full well that Hillary, of course, had talked about Obama hadn't done the spadework necessary on foreign policy. It was delicious.

Now as to -- here's what David's question is. David's question -- I came along as you know and I said, "I don't think McNabb is playing as well as everybody thinks he is. I think the defense should get a lot of credit for the Eagles. I just think there's a lot of social concern, the NFL, and the drive-bys and the media's concerned very much that a black quarterback do well in the NFL." That caused a three-year firestorm, in fact, in certain places, it's still referenced. So his question is: Are the drive-bys propping up Obama simply -- for the same reason -- "Well, he's the first legitimate candidate -- black candidate with a legitimate chance. We have been -- we've just been so discriminatory in our past, and so forth. We've got to elevate this guy whether he deserves it or not."

I'll tell you who really made that point, David, was a black columnist in the L.A. Times named David Ehrenstein when he started referring to Obama as "the Magic Negro." The Magic Negro, as he meant it, was a vessel for white guilt. A bunch of white people were saying they were supporting Obama -- which Ehrenstein didn't like. Ehrenstein's a Clinton guy. And he didn't like that all these white people were out supporting Obama when they had no idea what he stood for -- the point that you just made.

And so, there were puff pieces early on. But now that the race war, the uncivil war has broken out, despite this so-called truce, the drive-bys were not monolithic in this. In some cases, the drive-bys supported Obama. In other cases, they supported the Clinton side of this. But here's the -- David, here's the point -- and this is what you need to tell your wife. Now you said your wife is an Obama person.

CALLER: Oh, yeah. Yeah, she's a big time Obama fan.

LIMBAUGH: OK, here's what you need to do. Try this as an experiment. Is she a big liberal Democrat, or she just likes Obama for other reasons?

CALLER: She's a liberal Democrat, but one thing she agrees with you wholeheartedly on, is -- she's an immigrant from Barbados. They immigrated to New York, you know, about 30-something years ago, and she and her family had to wait, you know, a good year and a half for the paperwork and all the processing, so, as far as illegal immigration, she's right of you on that issue. But yeah, for the most part, she's a pretty --

LIMBAUGH: Well, then there's hope for you. But here's the thing to tell her. Now, she's from Barbados. Before I give you the little test to run, I need to ask you one more question. She's from Barbados. Is she old enough and learned enough to be familiar with the civil rights struggle in this country?

CALLER: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

LIMBAUGH: She's very -- OK. OK. Well, you know -- how long has she been in the country?

CALLER: She's been here for what -- she's -- 40 years.

LIMBAUGH: Oh! Well, what am I saying? 'Course, she's well steeped in it. Then here's what you tell her. What's her first name?

CALLER: Bowana.

LIMBAUGH: All right. Bowana, here: You've been watching American politics. You've been watching the Democrat [sic] Party and you're obviously a liberal Democrat for all these years. And here, your guy, Obama, Barack Obama, the first black man with a legitimate chance to be the president of the United States, and who's trying to destroy him? The Democrat Party. The Clinton machine is trying to stomp on this guy, he's gotten too uppity. He doesn't know his place. He's taken this too seriously. The Clintons didn't mind him getting in the race, but they don't like the fact he's out-raising her. And they don't like the fact that he's gotten more love than she does.

Now if the Democrats, all of these years of the civil rights struggle, David, had meant what they said, that blacks have been sat on, and they have been discriminated against. They may have been mistreated, and they've been denied equality and opportunity, usually blaming Republicans for this. The Clintons, if they really bought it, if all of liberalism bought what they really tell us, then there would be a mass movement on the part of John Edwards and Hillary Clinton to get out of this race and let Obama have it, simply because this is what they claim they have stood for, for all these years.

And instead, what's happening is that the very people who lead the party on all this civil rights stuff are stomping on him, and denying him, doing their best to deny him -- and they're lying about it. And they're accusing him of race -- and they're putting the rumors out about he was not only using drugs, but maybe even selling drugs -- and then they've got another Clinton crony out there, Bob Kerrey, who went out there, David, and much -- "Look at his middle name, Barack Hussein Obama! He's been to madrassas. His father was a Muslim."

They've done everything they could to destroy the guy's reputation and character: Clinton, Inc. Now that's what you need to ask your wife. Why does she want to be a member of a party like that? If she loves Obama, she's gotta understand who it is who's trying to destroy this poor guy. And it's not us, yet. We'll have our chance if he becomes the nominee. But we'll do it on issues. The Clintons --

CALLER: Absolutely.

LIMBAUGH: The Clintons are not doing it on issues; the Clintons are trying to destroy this man personally.

CALLER: You're absolutely right, Rush, and I will say this: There is one good thing that is coming from Obama's campaign, and that is, he is doing it without the help of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and it is driving them nuts. And --

LIMBAUGH: That's right. And let me tell you something --

CALLER: -- I'm loving every minute of it.

LIMBAUGH: Let me tell you something, David, you're right. You're on to something there. And if Obama wins -- if he happens to win -- worst thing in the world for the Democrat Party. Worst thing in the world for the Reverend Jackson and Al Sharpton. Because how can a racist country elect a black president? I mean the race business would go down sky high. I mean, it'd be over with. There's a lot riding on this guy losing in the Democrat Party. Tell her that.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I don't know how Hillary can say she is where she is because of Dr. King. I really don't know. I don't -- she's just trying to get back in the good graces of people because she's basically out there trashed Dr. King by saying he was nothing without LBJ. And as I pointed out, ladies and gentlemen, in a previous hour of this very program, if LBJ was the key to all this, how come there aren't any LBJ streets all over America? How come there's no LBJ holiday? You got a lot of Martin Luther King Boulevards, a lot of Martin Luther King Avenues, a lot of Martin Luther King schools. You got a Martin Luther King national holiday.

Hillary Clinton did not get anywhere because of Dr. King. She got everywhere because of Mr. Bill. Uncle Bill, as he was appropriately named on this program yesterday, blaming the staff, too exuberant, very, very Oprah-like, but, ladies and gentlemen, you know -- when the staff here screws up, and it happens more than you know, I never blame the staff. And you've heard me. Because if, for example, in their exuberance, if they believe some hoax email that comes in and they give it to me as fact and I use it, it's ultimately my responsibility for not checking it first. I'm not gonna sit there and dump on the staff. I take all the heat and I get all the money. And so -- but here they are, blaming their staffs. Nobody's gonna convince me that there wasn't some meeting here to set this all up. OK, so next up, Brian Williams says "Sen. Obama, next question."

[begin audio clip]

OBAMA: Hillary said it well. We are right now I think at a defining moment in our history.

LIMBAUGH: Yeah.

OBAMA: We've got a nation at war.

LIMBAUGH: We're winning.

OBAMA: Our planet is in peril --

LIMBAUGH: No.

OBAMA: -- and the economy is putting enormous strain on working families all across the country.

LIMBAUGH: Democrats are.

OBAMA: Now, race has always been an issue in our politics and in this country, but --

LIMBAUGH: On the Democrats' side.

OBAMA: -- one of the premises of my campaign -- and I think of the Democratic Party and I know that John and Hillary have always been committed to racial equality -- is that we can't solve these challenges unless we can come together as a people and we're not resorting to the same or falling into the same traps, of division that we have in the past.

LIMBAUGH: Obama, you're taking the high road here and I admire you -- but they're trying to destroy you, my man! Out there with your drug use and your drug-selling and not doing the spadework -- they're trying to destroy you, Obama! By the way, you think Hillary's committed to racial equality? How come she's trying to stomp you into the dirt?