On the April 12 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh criticized Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson for refusing to apologize to three former members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team who were accused of rape in March 2006 -- all charges were dropped on April 11 -- and asserted that “minorities never do anything for which they have to apologize.” Presumably referring to the decision by CBS Radio and MSNBC to stop airing Imus in the Morning following controversial comments by host Don Imus, Limbaugh stated: “Everybody's demanding that everybody apologize in this country for simply breathing. It's getting to the point some people are not allowed to breathe or exhale, or make syllables.” Limbaugh went on to complain about the protests Sharpton and Jackson led condemning Imus' remarks, saying: “They're members of the minority. Don't ever forget that this is the case. Minorities, victims, members of groups, are allowed to do anything to address their grievances and to get noticed, because ... they're so oppressed.”

Limbaugh later read from a January 24, 2001, WorldNetDaily.com article to suggest that, when Jackson admitted to an extramarital affair in 2001 that resulted in the birth of a daughter, he “escaped from the same moral judgment that [he] mete[s] out against everyone else.” Limbaugh quoted from comments by Rev. Jesse Peterson, which were featured in the WorldNetDaily article: “The black community will accept and defend Jackson's sexual escapade as they did with Bill Clinton. And this is the reason black Americans are suffering today -- not due to racism, but rather because of the lack of character.” As Media Matters for America has noted, Peterson, the founder and chairman of Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, has made a career out of attacking Jackson.

From the April 12 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Oh, my golly gosh! Listen to that! As though these women are members of a slave troop -- they are in bondage and they are dragged out before the poles at the “Bada Bing.” They're dragged out at all these strip clubs and they are forced to dance nekkid -- and it's the first step toward domestic violence.

Dirty little secret here is that some of these women dancing nekkid -- and I'm not talking about this babe. Ah, might be -- a lot of them are single mothers. They're divorced, and they can earn 100 grand a year at a good club doing this sort of stuff. And they're protected. But this is the hypocrisy: The Reverend Jackson will climb all over everybody who violates his boundaries and his rules -- but he has no boundaries. He has no rules. He never has to apologize. Like I told you, minorities never do anything for which they have to apologize.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Andrea Peyser today in the New York Post: Will The New York Times apologize? Will the Raleigh News & Observer apologize? Everybody's demanding that everybody apologize in this country for simply breathing. It's getting to the point some people are not allowed to breathe or exhale, or make syllables -- and some people who make syllables are being told they'd better apologize in advance and after they make those syllables.

But the media seems to get a free ride here. The Reverend Jackson wants a free ride. The Reverend Jackson and Reverend Sharpton both want a free ride. They never have to apologize, because they can't be racists, folks. They're members of the minority. Don't ever forget that this is the case.

Minorities, victims, members of groups, are allowed to do anything to address their grievances and to get noticed, because they're just -- they're so oppressed. And so they can't -- they have no power. They cannot act on whatever 'ism they have: racism. They can't be bigots. They can't be sexists. They're -- they don't have the power to be. Only racism, bigotry, sexism, homophobia -- those things are reserved for the majority, because they're the only ones that have the power.

Now, here's the Reverend Jackson talking about how nekkid women being forced to dance in front of men is the first step toward domestic violence, and they know it's wrong and nobody should be doing it. Does anybody remember -- have you forgotten this?

The Reverend Jackson himself has fathered a lovechild. This is from World Net Daily in 2001: "According to the Reverend Jesse Peterson, head of the Los Angeles-based civil rights group BOND, or Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny -- 'it's not a big surprise that the Reverend Jackson has committed adultery,' and that his actions are unfortunately 'all too typical' of 'black ministers and politicians in the black community.' "

“The black community will accept and defend Jackson's sexual escapade as they did with Bill Clinton. And this is the reason black Americans are suffering today -- not due to racism, but rather because of the lack of character.”

This was a blistering statement released by the Reverend Jesse Peterson: “Last week, the national media filled with details” -- again, this is January 2001 -- “Last week, the national media filled with details of the Reverend Jackson's long-term extramarital affair with a top aide working for his Monochrome Coalition, which resulted in the birth of a daughter in 1998” -- the aforementioned lovechild. “The Reverend Jackson, at the time 59, has reportedly been paying the mother, who headed the Monochrome Coalition's D.C. office, 10 grand a month after DNA tests determined he was the father of her child.”

Now, I know we're supposed to forgive. I mean, this happens to a lot of people, too. A lot of people engage in infidelity, a lot of people have lovechilds -- lovechildren, and -- but it's wrong. It shouldn't happen. But all these people escaped the same moral judgment that they mete out against everyone else. They seem to be immune from it.

You know what's funny about all this, though? I have to tell you, and I think it's ironic as hell. Why do you think -- this is a simple question -- of all the people in this country, why is it that two of us -- or two of them -- the Reverend Jackson and the Reverend Sharpton -- have become the final arbiters of what's OK and not OK to say on the, quote-unquote, “public airwaves”?

By the way, the Imus situation: MSNBC's not public airwaves. It's cable. None of it's on the air. They're not subject to FCC regulations on this kind of thing. The whole argument here that we've got to clean up and detoxify the airwaves -- well, cable's not the public airwaves. It doesn't apply. That's why all the raunch and rotgut in culture is on cable. You get away with it there. The FCC has no purview.

At any rate, why is it those are the two guys who are set up here as final arbiters? Well, who created them? The left; the liberals; the Democrat Party [sic]. Jackson and Sharpton have seats at the Democrat Party table of power 'cause they deliver votes. They're the ones who have legitimized them, and what's ironic and funny about this is, now they've got to deal with them. Guess who it is that Sharpton and Jackson are trying to shake down? NBC and CBS. And those two organizations -- ABC as well and The New York Times -- they've all created this monster.

They've set them up. And now these guys are turning on them. For now. They'll go elsewhere after they get their love donations or whatever they want. But it's hilarious to see this. The left created its own monster, its own Frankenstein, and Frankenstein's attacking the doctor. The monster's attacking the doctor here. It's just -- it's amazing to see.