11/05/24
January 26, 2005
Rush the Passer: The success of Donovan McNabb this season can be attributed to Rush Limbaugh, according to the nation's best-known recovered Oxycontin abuser and eight-day NFL Countdown commentator. "There's been a demonstrable change in McNabb's performance ... I think he was motivated, inspired by a whole lot of things."
For those who are too lazy to go back and reference the exceptionally long thread in which we discussed Ole' Fathead's original remarks, here ya go.
posted by wfrazerjr at 05:02 PM on January 26, 2005
If Donovan McNabb was inspired by that fuck at all (and I have no doubt whatsoever that he wasn't), it was because he was a racist piece of shit. Or, to be fair, Rush was saying a lot of the things a racist piece of shit would say on a national cable network if he were given the chance. I'll give him exactly that much. Either way, it's nothing to brag about or take credit for.
posted by chicobangs at 05:37 PM on January 26, 2005
He's not a racist piece of shit, he's a racist piece of shit junkie.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 05:51 PM on January 26, 2005
I stand corrected.
posted by chicobangs at 06:31 PM on January 26, 2005
For my money lbb gives an accurate description of Ol' Fathead. OTOH, he is still the highest rated radio talkshow host in the USA. I would point you to the thematically similar, though otherwise unconnected, opinion piece by Adam Cohen in today's NY Times to deepen your understanding of how well he does in fact represent a majority of Americans (or close to it). Scares the shit out of me (self link).
posted by billsaysthis at 07:01 PM on January 26, 2005
Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot. I've often thought that the prick has a large listening base because his audience includes the normal people that listen for the shock value... waiting to hear more idiocy. I used to listen to him to make myself feel more righteous. It worked for a while. Not so much anymore.
posted by sixpacker at 08:30 PM on January 26, 2005
This is a non-story-another excuse to call limbaugh names. Its another attempt to cause some pre super-bowl hype. They stupid people in this case are the media types trying to revisit Rushes original remarks. I still listen to Rush from Time to time, Like anyting else you have to know when enugh is enough. There are idiots on the other side of the political spectrum who spout garbage from time to time as well. Race is a very touchy subject still and it will be for along time. Rush's comment may have been a little off base, but I doubt if he is the big racist some people say he is. Like I said this is a non -issue and I wish McNab all the luck in the world! I hope the Eagles take care of the Pats. I wish we could play the game tomorrow and not have all of the pre-game hype crap.
posted by daddisamm at 08:45 PM on January 26, 2005
Well, daddisamm, it isn't "hype", in that Limbaugh said what he said, he never retracted a word of it -- and he, not "the media", was the one who put the political spin on it then and now. Think about it: there are plenty of commentators who say that this or that quarterback is overrated, that it's some other aspect of the team that's behind the wins -- for god's sake, how many people have said that about Tom Brady? But Limbaugh, being Limbaugh -- that is, a right-wing political talk-show host, and not a sports commentator of any qualifications whatsoever -- couldn't just say, "It's not McNabb, it's the defense," he had to spout that foolish crap about how McNabb was overrated due to "social concern" and so on. No one put a gun to his head and made him say those words; he said them, and he just stood by them. So, please, don't be an apologist for him: it wasn't the media who revisited anything, it was Rush.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:04 PM on January 26, 2005
Its a non-story--It all hype because its being brought back during this lame week where there is no news--You dont have to try to convince me that Rushes comments about McNab were off. I maintain that bringing the whole ting up again is stupid. Its the Media's way of filling space untill the actual game. The Whole T.O saga is the dame type of situation. The media will beat it until something else comes along. Limbaughs comments have were already over analysed last year, we dont need to relive the whole again. Just because he didnt retract his initials remarks is no reason to bring it up again. He was asked a question on his show and other media picked up on it and ran with it....... these days anyting can make a story.. so for me this is a non-story. It has NOTHING to do with the super-bowl. IT ISN"T NEWS! period.!! So no need to try to re explain everything. Thanks anyway
posted by daddisamm at 09:38 PM on January 26, 2005
Its a non-story--It all hype because its being brought back during this lame week where there is no news No, it's being brought up again -- not being brought back -- because Rush opened his mouth again, and it wasn't "the media" who prompted him. Go read the story referenced by the link. I quote from the article: "Following the Philadelphia Eagles' victory advancing the team to Super Bowl XXXIX, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh returned to his assertion that the media had lauded team quarterback Donovan McNabb because he is African American." IOW, no, this is not "being brought back", it's not a rehash of what Limbaugh said 1+ years ago...it's what he said this week. And it wasn't "the media" who brought it up this week, it was a caller to Rush's own show...and you better believe those callers were screened. If Rush didn't want to go there -- this week -- he wouldn't have gone there. Believe it.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:16 PM on January 26, 2005
Yes he was asked about it on his show. It says that in the article. He has the right to answer questions on his own show. ANd yes he more than likely wanted to comment on it.. Just because he doesnt recant his statement from last year, it no reason for other media to go nuts> ITS A NON STORY. I would even tell that to Rush IT A NON STORY. so shut up about it! consider this quote from Limbaugh from that same radio show/article you quoted--it was after he had declined to make a comment to Leonard Shapiro who was right and aritcle on Mcnab and Vick in the NFC championship game. I did think about calling Leonard Shapiro back, but I didn't, because I knew that no matter what I said, I would still get reamed for what happened years ago. But my only question to him was going to be, "Hey, Leonard, why can't it be that two great quarterbacks are competing in the championship game? Why does it have to be two black quarterbacks who are competing in the championship? Who's seeing that, Leonard? Is it you or me?" But I doubted that the nuance of the quote would be appreciated. And rather it would be seen for something else If somebody besides Rush would have said that ! It would have been hailed as a great point, That doesnt sound too racist me! Hmm Shapirro called Rush get a comment from him. He didnt get one so he used the year old statement! interesting. But then its not as fun when you cant call somebody a @%$^& racist, is it? I am done this horse is dead!
posted by daddisamm at 01:32 AM on January 27, 2005
Well, if daddisamm were still here (and he's obviously not), I would ask him why Rush decided to bring this all back up now if he was so concerned about how the message would come off, and what is it exactly he's dislocating his shoulder to pat himself on the back about all this now? I've heard very little about the "Black Quarterback" aspect of the NFC Championship game. A couple of mentions on ESPN of the "Well. I guess this is worth mentioning" variety, and literally everything else I've heard has been about the relative merits or lack thereof of the QBs involved, and how well they did. I didn't, however, listen to sports radio, so maybe that was all the 790 The JOCK (or whatever) were talking about. I saw no racism in the discussion until Rush dragged his year-plus-dead carcass back into the fray for a little more flogging. Yes, Rush. You were the very first to notice how undeniably black McNabb was. Here. Have some downers. You've earned them. Tool.
posted by chicobangs at 01:46 AM on January 27, 2005
daddisamm: shut up about it! Seems you're a big fan of Limbaugh's rights of self-expression, but not so keen to extend that right to anyone else. Limbaught shot himself in the foot, then he reloaded the gun and did it again, so maybe you should stop blaming it on the rest of the world and "the media".
posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:28 AM on January 27, 2005
Rush Limbaugh screens the callers who go on his show, so place the blame squarely on him for bringing this all back up at a point in time where his idiocy has become most apparent. Donovan McNabb's a great quarterback today, and he was a great quarterback when Limbaugh described him last season with the racist sneer that he benefited from "social concern." Limbaugh made McNabb's race an issue back then, when he was criticizing him for a poor start, and he's telling us now that the media shouldn't make race an issue when complimenting McNabb and Vick last week. Funny how that works. As for the larger issue of whether Limbaugh's a racist, I think his track record speaks for itself. He regularly played the Jeffersons theme whenever discussing Sen. Carole Mosley-Braun and once told an African-American caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back."
posted by rcade at 08:33 AM on January 27, 2005
But do you disagree with the foundation of Rush's original point: the NFL has a vested interest in seeing McNabb and Vick succeed?
posted by yerfatma at 08:56 AM on January 27, 2005
I strongly disagree with it. Limbaugh's viewing something cynically through race that can be refuted easily by looking at how the media has treated other black quarterbacks. There was no "social concern" for Jeff Blake, Akili Smith, Quincy Carter, and Aaron Brooks. Why would anyone think there is any for McNabb and Vick, when it's empirically obvious the latter two players are among the best at their position in the league? I predicted Limbaugh wouldn't last a season on ESPN, and the reason I did was because his loony pronouncements on sports, unlike politics, could be judged by anyone who cared to look at the numbers (and millions of fans do). McNabb threw more than 60 touchdowns in three years prior to Limbaugh calling him an affirmative action project. Anyone claiming he's "not that good" instantly marked himself as an idiot who had no business on the highest-rated NFL show on TV.
posted by rcade at 09:47 AM on January 27, 2005
I'm quite sure it doesn't matter. McNabb and Vick have already succeeded to the point where that interest is served - if it even existed in the first place. This league doesn't have a lot of viewership issues. Did the NFL jump all over Randall Cunnigham and propel him to victory? It's a total red herring.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:51 AM on January 27, 2005
Weedy, it sure doesn't matter in terms of McNabb's and Vick's success, because Limbaugh's comments were so easily and empirically refuted as the nonsense they are. And I thought that McNabb gave the perfect response in the '03 case. My point was sort of an aside, that insofar as there is a flap, it's generated by Limbaugh, not "the media" or some bunch of blue-state Limbaugh-haters.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:55 AM on January 27, 2005
Rush's is and was a dumbass, he acts like the media or a social/political agenda can dictate who starts on Sundays. That wasn't reality then and it isn't now. Rush got on a show where he was no longer preaching to the ditto-head choir and got his ass handed to him. Everyone knows "social hope" doesn't win ballgames...everyone except Rush...still.
posted by chris2sy at 12:30 PM on January 27, 2005
I am still hear --Its a non story period..
posted by daddisamm at 12:38 AM on January 28, 2005
And yet you guys sit there are argue about it. I see Rush for what he is a political commentator who uses shock value to get his point across, He is but one of a number of Radio types I listen to from time to time. They spread the entire spectrum of political thought. These people make comments to generate listener phone calls, email and faxes. You have to weed through alot of garbage to get what they are saying--As alot of it is name calling. Yes I know Ruch Screens his calls, Yes he know the question was coming. He more than likely brought it up for the reaction to what, in his mind, he knew people were thinking. BUT it doesnt matter. I said earlier I would tell Ruch to shut about this whole topic.....Everybody should just shut up. At this point its around solely to fill air and print time. There is no useful discussion going on here about this topic its a dead horse. It would be nice just to be able to look a person for what they and not what color they...We should be talking about football players and what they do on the field, not garbage from 1 year ago. It has NOTHING to do with the up coming game! Its a non story
posted by daddisamm at 01:00 AM on January 28, 2005
And yet you guys sit there are argue about it. Daddisamm, you asserted that it was all media hype, which goes right along with the whole "I'm a victim/cry me a river" line that Limbaugh has used both before and after he was revealed to the world as a junkie. Did that one slip under your radar -- when Limbaugh claimed that nobody with a drug problem but him got treated so badly by the media? The man made a career and a great deal of money out of vilifying what he saw as society's undesirables -- and that most explicitly included drug addicts -- but when the tables were turned, it wasn't fair. He got a lot of audience through racist incivility, but when anyone comments on it, it's all "media hype" and "beating a dead horse". Where were you with your calls of "everybody should just shut up" back when Limbaugh was playing the theme to The Jeffersons? That piece of incivility, it seems, went without comment, but now when Limbaugh blows his racist horn on the subject of sports -- again -- you wait until people call bullshit on him, and then you say "Everybody should just shut up". I appreciate your utterly sincere and heartfelt wish to return the airwaves to the pristine state of civility that they once enjoyed, but if you hope to ever succeed, I suggest you work on your timing. Next tiem, don't sit back in silence while the racists have their say.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 07:04 AM on January 28, 2005
I wanst around here last here when this story broke a year ago, otherwise I would have said something! I'll shut up now!
posted by daddisamm at 08:44 AM on January 28, 2005
Weedy, you're right, but even Randall Cunningham had an solid track record from the get-go, so you can't claim affirmative action there neither. You'd have to go back to, who, Doug Williams? I don't know.
posted by chicobangs at 01:29 PM on January 28, 2005
I stand by my original comments. Donovan McNabb, at the time of Limbaugh's comments, was a good quarterback and Rush Limbaugh, at the time of Limbaugh's comments, was an idiot. Donovan McNabb is now a better quarterback and Limbaugh is a bigger idiot. The two are not related.