Rush Limbaugh baselessly asserted of Sen. Barack Obama: “Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?” Limbaugh continued: “He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American.”
Limbaugh repeats baseless smear that Obama is misrepresenting his ethnicity*
Written by Greg Lewis
Published
On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is “not black,” and went on to ask: “Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?” Limbaugh continued: “He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American.”
Media Matters for America has previously documented that a similar claim was forwarded by Fox News contributor Monica Crowley when she guest-hosted the June 23 broadcast of The Laura Ingraham Show. A caller to the show claimed that Obama is “not really African- American. He's Arab.” In response, Crowley said that “according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African.”
In a February 14 blog entry, “journalist, op-ed columnist, radio news-interview program host” Kenneth E. Lamb claimed -- without producing any evidence -- that “Sen. Obama is actually Arab-American” and that “Mr. Obama is not legally African-American.” Lamb did not cite to any research or government documents, but invited readers seeking “proof” of his claims to "[r]esearch the Kenyan records for yourself," adding: “You will find that his father was officially classified as 'Arab African' by the Kenyan government.”
From the September 22 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: These polls on how one-third of blue-collar white Democrats won't vote for Obama because he's black, and -- but he's not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn't have any African -- that's why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he's down for the struggle. He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. He's not -- his father was -- he's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American. I guess that's splitting hairs, I don't -- it's just all these little things, everything seems upside-down today in this country.
*Clarification: The previous headline read: “Limbaugh repeats baseless Obama smear: 'He's Arab. ... [H]e's not African-American.' ” We have changed the headline to make clear that Limbaugh's smear was his accusation that Obama's background is not what he says it is.