By Todd Gregory
Limbaugh led the show today by complaining about the media's coverage of his comment yesterday regarding George Steinbrenner: “That cracker made a lot of African-American millionaires.” He said that Media Matters had taken the comment out of context and falsely claimed that we didn't note his comment that Steinbrenner “knew when to die” because there's currently no estate tax -- we did. Limbaugh played an audio clip of Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) saying at a town hall meeting that he hadn't heard about allegations that the Justice Department is racially biased because of the phony New Black Panther voter-intimidation “scandal” being peddled by Republican activist J. Christian Adams. Limbaugh connected this to media reports about his Steinbrenner comments, claiming that reporters didn't understand his cleverness because they weren't aware of video footage of one of the New Black Panthers involved in the phony scandal, King Samir Shabazz, engaging in a disgusting rant about killing “crackers.”
Rush spent a good deal of time talking about statements from President Obama and other administration officials that Al Qaeda doesn't “value African life” because of its willingness to use Africans as suicide bombers and the recent bombings in Uganda. Rush used this as a jumping-off point to launch more racially tinged attacks on the Obama administration. He speculated that charges of racism might finally motivate Attorney General Eric Holder to “get serious about going after Al Qaeda now” and declared that the “Democrat Party” is like Al Qaeda because it “targets and recruits black Africans and Americans.” For a guy who claims he's colorblind, he sure does like to talk about race a lot.
The rest of the program was a mish-mash of standard Limbaugh. The stimulus failed; purportedly bad poll numbers for Obama; Democrats wanted the recession; Obama wants Republicans to win the midterms so he can blame them for problems; and, of course, Obama doesn't want to stop the Gulf oil leak.
To sum up, a particularly salient quote from Rush today: " 'Cracker' is the word of the day."
Here are some highlights from today's show:
Limbaugh says Holder “might get serious about going after Al Qaeda now” because of racism charges
Limbaugh falsely claims Media Matters “left out” his comment that Steinbrenner “knew when to die”
Limbaugh again suggests Obama doesn't want Gulf oil leak stopped