Limbaugh: "Democrats will bend over, grab the ankles, and say, 'Have your way with me' " to African-Americans and gays

On the June 23 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh was asked by a caller: "I want to know how the Republicans don't need Christians and conservatives, and they think we're 30 percent. Twelve percent black people in the population. Ten percent -- they claim -- homosexuals in the population. Rush, honey, when did 30 percent get to be a small number?" Limbaugh responded, "Let me see if I can get your question right. You want to know why the Republicans are willing to say, 'Screw you,' to 30 percent or more of their voters and yet Democrats will bend over, grab the ankles, and say, 'Have your way with me,' for 10 percent and 2 percent of the population?" He later stated: "There is an answer to your -- basic question is, 'Why don't the Democrats say, "To hell with you, you wacko nuts in the base," like Republicans do?' "

Purporting to answer the caller's question, Limbaugh said, "[T]here's a complicated answer to this and I'm going to have answer some of it in the monologue in the next hour, but one of the simple answers that will require some elaboration is that a lot of money is coming from these kooks -- and I'm not talking about just the blacks -- I'm talking about a whole kook-fringe base because George Soros is running it and they need the money."

Limbaugh later returned to the caller's question, saying, "So her question was, how can it be that the Republicans are willing to just throw away 30 percent of their base and the Democrats will do everything they can -- they will grovel, do whatever they can to make sure their base hangs in with them. One of the multiple answers to this -- but one of the first answers is money. ... [T]he politically active gay community on the left is worth a lot of money. These people send the Democrats more money than you can possibly imagine. A lot of it from Hollywood, and the arts and entertainment." Limbaugh later asserted: "But in addition to the money aspect of this ... is the anti-war kook fringe. And it is huge."

Limbaugh has invoked the "bend over, grab the ankles" image on his radio program before, as Media Matters for America has noted. On his July 14, 2005, broadcast, Limbaugh blasted former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman's plan to apologize for the party's race-based Southern Strategy at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Limbaugh asserted, "Republicans are going to go bend over and grab the ankles."

From the June 23 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Kathy in Fort Worth, Texas, you are next.

CALLER: Hello. I want to know how the Republicans don't need Christians and conservatives, and they think we're 30 percent. Twelve percent black people in the population. Ten percent -- they claim -- homosexuals in the population. Rush, honey, when did 30 percent get to be a small number?

LIMBAUGH: I don't -- I think it's actually larger than 30 percent. But let me see if I can get your question right. You want to know why the Republicans are willing to say, "Screw you," to 30 percent or more of their voters and yet Democrats will bend over, grab the ankles, and say, "Have your way with me," for 10 percent and 2 percent of the population?

CALLER: Delicately, yes.

LIMBAUGH: Well, I -- nothing delicate about me on these matters. These are just innocent figures of speech --

CALLER: I understand.

LIMBAUGH: -- that I was using. There is an answer to your -- basic question is, "Why don't the Democrats say, 'To hell with you, you wacko nuts in the base,' like Republicans do?"

CALLER: Mm-hmm.

LIMBAUGH: The -- there's a complicated answer to this and I'm going to have answer some of it in the monologue in the next hour, but one of the simple answers that will require some elaboration is that a lot of money is coming from these kooks -- and I'm not talking about just the blacks -- I'm talking about a whole kook-fringe base because George Soros is running it --

CALLER: It's true.

LIMBAUGH: -- and they need the money. We'll be back after this. Stay with us.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: We had a caller with an interesting question just before the conclusion of the previous hour, and this -- in fact, grab sound bite number one because sound bite number one today is what spawned her question.

As you know, ladies and gentlemen, I have been warning you that the Republican Party, especially as currently constituted, is doing its best to deemphasize the importance or the influence of the traditional conservative base, which is not just the so-called evangelical Christian Right or the pro-lifers or whatever. But you have all kinds of people in the Republican base that are conservatives, from values conservatives, social conservatives, even fiscal economic conservatives. Conservatism has been the base of the Republican Party and because the conservative base does include pro-lifers and because many of them are from the South, there are many in the Northeastern corridors of power in the Republican Party who are embarrassed to be in the party with those people.

[...]

And the caller said, look, the black population totals 10 percent, don't know what the voting population is. The gay population -- what is it? One percent, 2 percent -- that's -- 12 percent, and we're not even factoring out the adult population, the voting population there. So her question was, how can it be that the Republicans are willing to just throw away 30 percent of their base and the Democrats will do everything they can -- they will grovel, do whatever they can to make sure their base hangs in with them.

One of the multiple answers to this -- but one of the first answers is money. The far-left -- and don't -- I'll tell you something, the politically active gay community on the left is worth a lot of money. These people send the Democrats more money than you can possibly imagine. A lot of it from Hollywood, and the arts and entertainment. They're not -- money -- you know, key number one, you might be saying, well, don't the pro-lifers donate a lot of money to the Republicans? Yeah. Yeah, they do. But it still embarrasses them. It still embarrasses a lot of the country club Rockefeller types.

The Democrats -- what are they embarrassed about? They're not embarrassed about anything. The Democrats have never set any standards for themselves. As far as they're concerned, everybody's a victim, even on their side. So, I mean, yeah, these victims are just fighting to be heard. Fighting for their rights, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The conservative rights -- conservative right is viewed as trying to deny people rights, blah, blah, blah, you see.

But in addition to the money aspect of this -- and don't forget, the left-wing base is not even talked about by Mickey Edwards there -- is the anti-war kook fringe. And it is huge. From MoveOn.org to Think Progress to My Base Book -- whatever these things, these things -- well, maybe not MySpace or Face, whatever it is. But, there are so many of these 527 groups out there that are just raising money left and right and the Democrats are scared to death if these people take their money and go away or go to a third party or what have you. And so they will cater to them left and right.