John Boot and Christian Toto note that the new movie version of The Blind Side, the enjoyable recent football book by Michael Lewis of Liar’s Poker fame, contains a classic Hollywood sucker punch. As Christian writes:
Here’s the scene: Bullock’s character is waiting in line to speak to someone about her new son Michael’s legal status.
Fed up, she cuts to the front of the line to ask a question:
“We have been sitting around here for over an hour and when I look around all I see are people shooting the bull and drinking coffee … who’s in charge here?”
The bemused woman behind the desk points to the wall, where a picture of Bush is hanging.
We’ve all been in long lines before, be it at the DMV or other governmental offices. And it doesn’t matter which party – or person – is occupying the White House at the moment.
So the joke makes no sense. All it does is deflate a feel-good movie for no good reason. Maybe the filmmakers realized with Bush out of office time is running out to throw spitballs at Hollywood’s favorite target.
Hollywood is high school and if you want to sit at the cool kids’ table (i.e. work) you better fit in, and if you’ve been involved in the writing, directing or producing of a film sympathetic towards the most hated demographic (yes, even more hated than terrorists — again, watch the product) in the 9-0 zip code, you had better inoculate yourself.
And that’s what the gratuitous, unnecessary, jarring, take-you-out-of-the-movie shot at Bush is: an inoculation. The filmmakers want to work again; they want to be invited to all the right parties. But if you’re remembered as the perso involved in bringing to life a movie only Glenn Beck could love, no matter how big of a hit, that’s not a good thing on the ole’ resume’.
There are notable exceptions, but working in Hollywood — an industry built on social interaction — means getting along with Leftists, and Leftists are religious, regional and ideological bigots of the worst order. The smart people involved in the making of “The Blind Side” knew the Bush shot was bad storytelling — was what what John Boot described as ”a non-sequitur nonpareil” — they just felt, for whatever reason (their own bigotry or career survival), that it was worth it.
Hollywood is not money or profit-driven. This is an industry engaged in an ideological war with traditional conservative America that doesn’t mind making a profit, but never will at the expense of the cause. Everyone involved in the making of “Blind Side” knew an unnecessary partisan shot at Bush would turn people off. They all knew they were insulting the very audience the film was marketed at for no reason other than to insult them. But there was absolutely no way in hell this thing was going to see the light of day without something for the Hollywood bigots to snicker over.
As John writes, “This is their sandbox, and there’s a ring to kiss if you want to play.”
A reader notes that I wrote recently about the intrusion of politics into sportswriting (here). Then he quotes Peter King of Sports Illustrated, today:
My heart goes out to the victims of the Fort Hood and Orlando shootings and their loved ones. Senseless, senseless incidents. I will not go quietly into the night on this one. America needs to do something about idiots with handguns. How many more Fort Hoods and Orlandos do there have to be before our political leaders have the guts to severely restrict access to murderous weapons?
Our reader comments, “Good point. An Army base is no place for weapons.” And, to add insult to injury, we know what the Associated Press reported, here: “Packed into cubicles with 5-foot-high dividers, the 300 unarmed soldiers were sitting ducks.”
Last month liberal media members armed with false allegations of racism went into a full-court press to prevent Rush Limbaugh from becoming an owner of the St. Louis Rams.
On Tuesday, the owner of basketball’s Los Angeles Clippers settled a multi-million dollar discrimination lawsuit wherein it was alleged that he had for years tried to keep blacks and hispanics out of his apartment buildings.
This is actually the second such suit Donald Sterling has settled in the past four years.
Despite this, America’s television news media, which had a field day going after Limbaugh last month, completely ignored the story.
With one exception, as Sheppard notes. Read the whole thing.
CHICAGO (AP)—Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris was ejected from Sunday’s game against Arizona after just 65 seconds of play for slugging Cardinals offensive tackle Deuce Lutui.
At the end of an Arizona running play, Harris and Lutui ended up on the ground and a replay showed Harris hitting Lutui near the face.
The Bears got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Harris got a quick shower after referee Ed Hochuli announced he had slugged Lutui and was ejected.
“As our administration makes progress on the agenda that Washington has ignored for too long, we expect we’ll get some news coverage of that progress that we like and some tough coverage that we don’t,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “It’s not unlike the New Orleans Saints, who are getting lots of good coverage of their perfect record so far — certainly better coverage than the [2-5] Redskins — but it doesn’t mean the Saints have liked every story that’s been written about them since training camp. It goes with the territory.”
Obama and his team have heaped scorn, blame, mockery, derision, and cheap shots onto the 43rd president. But the ‘Skins? C’mon!
In other news from the intersection of football and DC politics, “Rep Steve King has held NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s feet to the fire over the dishonest smear effort that cost Rush Limbaugh the opportunity to own the St Louis Rams,” writes Brian Maloney at his Radio Equalizer site, complete with video of the exchange.
CNN doesn’t bother to fact check either Limbaugh’s assertions or Sharpton’s. What did Sharpton really do in relation to those old incidents?
I think Limbaugh was baiting Sharpton. Sharpton now has to talk about those old riots and the way he acted back then. If he sues, it will draw intense attention to the details of what happened, and we’ll have to debate about the precise language Limbaugh used and how close to accurate it was. The question of the damage to Sharpton’s reputation will be put in issue, and there will be discovery and factfinding relating to Sharpton’s reputation and how much money it is worth. That’s pretty risky for Sharpton, who likes to pose as an elder statesman nowadays. Meanwhile, Limbaugh, who may not want to begin any litigation, will have the opportunity to counterclaim, accusing Sharpton of defamation.
Look out, Reverend Al, it’s a trap!
ADDED: This whole NFL controversy is a gift to Rush. I don’t think Rush cared much about being one of the investors in the Rams. He wouldn’t have had any serious power running things, and the group of investors came to him about it. Now, he’s the center of attention, everyone’s talking about him, and plenty of them are embarrassing themselves with careless, stupid, and nasty racial pandering — producing audio clips which he will play on his show, accompanied by scathing mockery and insistence that the mainstream media air his side of the story. If they do not, that’s more fuel for Rush’s red-hot critique of media. If they do, then he’s on mainstream media, telling it his way at last.
Note that Sharpton quietly omitted any mention of his disgraceful role in the Tawana Brawley affair. What is striking about the linked Associated Press account, however, is how the AP carries water for Sharpton.
Update: “If Sharpton sues, Limbaugh should propose a settlement that would include buying Al a stake in the St. Louis Rams. The NFL and Al Sharpton deserve each other.”
As Allahpundit notes at Hot Air, “HuffPo, [CNN's] Rick Sanchez retract phony Limbaugh quotes”:
No harm in admitting the lie now that his NFL bid’s dead. First, via the Standard, comes this belated HuffPo postscript to a post that’s three years old:
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post contained quotes attributed to Rush Limbaugh, which Limbaugh has since denied making. As is our policy when a fact in a blog post is called into question, we gave its author 24 hours to substantiate the quote. Since he has not been able to do so, the quotes have been deleted from the post.
And now here’s Sanchez, kinda sorta apologizing — on Twitter — for airing the bogus slavery quote on his show earlier this week:
i’ve know rush. in person,i like him. his rhetoric,however is inexcusably divisive. he’s right tho. we didn’t confirm quote. our bad.
Proof that Limbaugh’s threat to sue people over this is being taken seriously? Eh, I doubt it. As I said before, it’s really hard for a public figure to prove defamation. He’d basically have to show that his accusers knew the quote was false and published it anyway; both HuffPo and Sanchez would reply that they didn’t know and were merely lazy, sloppy, negligent reporters in relying on published sources for a quote that they hadn’t fact-checked. The retractions, I suspect, are motivated less by fear of being sued than as a lame nod to journalistic ethics. “See, we correct our highly incendiary errors. …Eventually.”
Even prior to Sanchez’s belated admission, fellow CNN colleague Anderson Cooper (he of the earlier tea bagging references) was distancing himself, noting that “on this program, we did not use the wrong quotes” — unlike Sanchez. And as Tim Graham writes at Newsbusters, “CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez Is Assembling a Pile of Retractions.”
In contrast to the story that permanently tainted CNN’s reputation at the start of the decade, this was “news” they really should have kept to themselves.
As I am sure you are aware, the fake Limbaugh quotes have been traced to the Rush Limbaugh Wikiquote page, dating from July of 2005 (see the following link to see when the quotes were added). The Jack Huberman book that most people source for these quotes did not come out until the following year.
The quotes were added by a user with the IP address of 69.64.213.146. This address has been used mostly to make changes to the article about Rush, but also Karl Rove, Sean Hannity, Rush, James Dobson and Sara Palin from 2005 until earlier this year.
While others have noted this in various forums, no one seems to have made the connection that this IP address is used as a gateway by the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP (see here, for example) that all users from that IP address come from the pbwt.com domain.)
Given the likelihood that Limbaugh will sue over this, I find it interesting that the source of these bogus quotes is probably a lawyer…
The media was fact checking the SNL Obama skit while preparing the stories on Rush. CNN is literally more interested in “disproving” satire about Obama than bothering to confirm bizarre and scandalous things said by Rush. I am literally amazed.
NFL Commish Roger Goodell said that Rush Limbaugh and his “divisive comments” have no place in the NFL.
What does have a place in the NFL? Here’s a short list of players who were active after being convicted of felonies — I added Michael Vick to a list I found here:
Michael Vick: felony dogfighting charges
Leonard Little: vehicular manslaughter/DUI
Michael Irvin: felony drug possession
Ray Lewis: obstruction of justice in a murder
Plaxico Burress: felony weapon possession (in jail but not yet banned for life from the NFL)
Pacman Jones: technically a felon since he pled guilty to obstruction of an officer case in GA
And what has Limbaugh done? Said some words that some people disagree with — and in some cases he hasn’t said them at all because the quotes have been made up.
As for owners, former wide receiver Tim Brown once accused Al Davis, the owner of the Oakland Raiders, of being a racist. What’s Al still doing in the NFL, Rog? Isn’t the mere accusation enough? It’s certainly enough to exclude Limbaugh from your little club.
Rush himself explores the character issues of those who derailed his efforts at stimulating the St. Louis economy — complete, as he notes, with sources.
Meanwhile, in a press release from the National Center for Public Policy Research, “Jackson & Sharpton Effort Against Rush Limbaugh is an Effort to ‘Get Whitie’ and a ‘Racist Act,’ Says Leading Black Conservative.” And at American Thinker, prominent black conservative Lloyd Marcus asks, “If Rush Limbaugh is a Racist, Are His 20 Million Listeners Also?”
Related: “Welcome to America circa 2009, where loyalty to the ruling class determines private ownership of assets. Sound more than a bit like Chavez’s Venezuela?”
“Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, NFL sources tell ESPN”, according to Breaking News on Twitter.
The NFL is rapidly becoming the equivalent of post-1960s Hollywood: they’ll take anyone’s ticket money, and they’re not very particular about the character of the people they employ in the trenches, but only one ideology need apply to management.
“To summarize: Olbermann is fine as host of ‘NFL Sunday Night Football’, but Limbaugh isn’t allowed to even bid on a franchise.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked Tuesday about the possibility of Rush Limbaugh acquiring a piece of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams, and responded:
“I’ve said many times before we’re all held to a high standard here, and I think divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about. I would not want to see those comments coming from people who are in a responsible position in the NFL, absolutely not.”
Goodell has not yet held up his hand and proclaimed that he is holding within it a list of conservative pundits who cannot be allowed to continue to attend NFL games, but check in next week. It is classic McCarthyism to use unspecified charges of political wrongdoing to blacklist an individual, and that’s what Goodell did yesterday.
It was also a very divisive statement, so by his own standard, I guess Goodell will be turning in his resignation.
Read the whole thing. The Radio Equalizer notes the double-standard at play:
After nearly two weeks of fabricatedanti-Rush Limbaughsmearsfrom thenews media, what kind of scrutiny can be expected now that trashy pop tramp Fergie has also indicated an interest in bidding for a NFL team?
No, we’re not making this up.
At least from the league, we already have an answer: while Limbaugh is judged and potentially blocked based on fabricated, phantom “quotes” from his program, the outspoken left-wing Black Eyed Peas performer instantly passed with flying colors.
MIAMI — Fergie may soon be on the Miami Dolphins [team stats]’ bandwagon as a limited partner.
NFL owners meeting in Boston this week approved the Black Eyed Peas singer as a part owner, but the team has yet to complete an agreement with her, Dolphins chief executive officer Mike Dee said in an e-mail Tuesday.
Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas already have a marketing partnership with the Dolphins. She wears a pink Dolphins jersey in a campaign this month for breast cancer awareness.
[...]
Fergie, whose real name is Stacy Ann Ferguson, is a Grammy-winning singer and also an actress. Ross has said his celebrity partnerships stir excitement and reflect the vibrancy of South Florida, and he envisions the Dolphins as a glamour team.
So what happens when a figure associated with maximum controversy joins the NFL? Pretty much nothing, once the initial storm blows over, admits liberal sports writer Michael Silver: “Fuss over Vick much ado about nothing”:
It has been exactly two months since Michael Vick signed with the Eagles, creating a stir that shook the boredom out of the preseason. Breathlessly, we all pondered what would happen next.
Would Vick, in a Wildcat-type role, emerge as a potent weapon in an already prolific offense? Would he push Donovan McNabb(notes) and, if the veteran were to struggle, supplant him as the Eagles’ franchise quarterback? Would animal-rights activists turn Sundays at Lincoln Financial Field into a made-for-CNN circus?
We now know the answer to all of these questions was a resounding, “No,” and I’m wondering how this notorious and polarizing player turned out to be such an afterthought.
Something to keep in mind regarding how much “controversy” Rush would bring to the NFL.
Jim Irsay, the son of the man who moved the Colts out of Baltimore in the middle of the night, tells reporters he thinks Rush Limbaugh is too “insensitive” to be an NFL owner.
Because that’s what professional football, with its convicted dogfighters, wife beaters, vehicular-homicide perpetrators, steroid and drug abuse, bone-crunching hits, serious risk of injury, and nearly-naked cheerleaders is all about: sensitivity.
“Boys Will Be Boys”, Jeff Pearlman’s fascinating account of the glory days of the Cowboys dynasty is making the media rounds this week and we will happily join in to promote it. It is ridiculously entertaining. Yes, Charles Haley is the star, but there is so much more to it than just his dong-flapping craziness. Honestly, buy it. It’s worth its weight in White House coke. Pearlman has generously offered up another chapter titled “Chapter 24: Super Bowl XXX (AKA: Attack of the Skanks) for the Deadspin readership:
“After the Super Bowl ended, nobody wanted to leave the locker room. It was like being a marine at sea for seven months. You come to land and think everyone wants to run off the ship. But no one wanted to leave. They knew it was the end and they wanted it to last.”—Robert Bailey, Cowboys cornerback
When the Dallas Cowboys prepared to leave Texas for Tempe, Arizona, the site of Super Bowl XXX, they made certain every necessary item was packed and loaded for the 1,056-mile journey.
Helmets—check!
Pads—check!
Athletic tape—check!
Shoes—check!
Playbooks—check!
Skanks—check!
Skanks?
Yes, you read that correctly. Skanks. Lots of skanks.
Being a veteran team with a wealth of Super Bowl experience, members of the Cowboys had learned what they needed to survive—and, indeed, thrive—in the week before the big game. Leading up to the first two Super Bowls, Cowboys players combed the streets, clubs and bars of Los Angeles and, to a lesser extent, Atlanta. Yet such an approach comes with risk. The women, for example, could be stalkers. Killers. They might have STDs. Or older brothers with a quick fingers and loaded XM8 lightweight assault rifles.
Hence, the skanks. Knowing that the wives and family members would not arrive in Tempe until the Thursday or Friday before the big game, several Cowboys—ranging from Emmitt Smith and Charles Haley to Erik Williams and Nate Newton—paid for a fleet of 11 white stretches from the First Impression Limousine Service to drive 16 hours and 1,000 miles from Dallas to Tempe, many with their special skank, uh, female friends along for the ride. The price: $1,000 per night per limo (Far from objecting, Jerry Jones brought along his own party vehicle, the six-bed tour bus that once belonged to Whitney Houston). By the time the Cowboys arrived for check-in at The Buttes, the team’s first-class, $285-per-night hotel, on the Sunday before the game, the lobby was filled with tacky high heels and legs that stretched from Minneapolis to Mahopac.
“The limo thing was as blatant as anything the Cowboys had ever been a part of,” says one team employee. “We had this huge caravan arrive from Dallas, and some guys had a bunch of their dancer girlfriends ride out and party with them. They brought the White House to Arizona.”
Irvin enthusiastically endorsed the port-a-skank concept and, in fact, rented his own 10-passenger, 30-foot monstrosity customized with a black leather-and-brushed crome interior (and equipped with a bounty of Absolut Vodka and hip-hop CDs). What baffled some about Irvin’s ways was that his wife Sandy was intelligent, loving, an excellent mother to the couple’s two daughters—and drop-dead gorgeous. “She’s the most beautiful black woman I’ve ever seen with my eyes,” says Kenny Gant, the former Cowboy defensive back. “I’ve loved her to death since the first time I met her.” Yet Irvin—who sported a large gold cross around his neck—never thought twice about professing his devotion toward his family one minute, then jumping into the hot-tub with two coked-up strippers the next. Why, on the evening before the Cowboys departed for Tempe, Irvin had partied with a pair of prostitutes at the Irving Residence Inn.
“This stuff happened more and more under Barry, because the rules were just completely relaxed,” says a team employee. “Now here comes Deion Sanders, the most flamboyant guy going. The combination of Sanders’ flamboyant ways, Irvin’s lifestyle and the fact that Barry Switzer said, ‘Hell, I don’t care what you do. I’ll see you Sunday afternoon,’—it led to bad things.”
Awaiting the Cowboys and their high-heeled entourage in Tempe were the AFC-champion Pittsburgh Steelers, a gritty 11–5 football team that had upended the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game to reach its first Super Bowl in 16 years. Were there ever a textbook example of overlooking an opponent, here it was. The Steelers featured the league’s No. 2-ranked run defense and a powerful tailback in 244-pound Bam Morris, but nobody—the Cowboys, the media, the fans—believed Pittsburgh could challenge Big D.
When the Cowboys prepared for Super Bowl XXVII three years earlier, they practiced with an intensity that Jimmy Johnson and his crew demanded. This time around members of the team came and went as they pleased, working out with half-hearted determination. In what was undoubtedly a Super Bowl first, Nate Newton, Erik Williams, Leon Lett and Irvin took a stretch Lincoln to and from practices. The players stayed out early into mornings and arrived to work hungover following wild sojourns to clubs like Empire and Jetz & Stixx. “The police came in and gave us a list of places not to go,” Newton said. “I wrote ‘em all down and went there.”
The Cowboy who partied the hardest, the longest, the latest was not Irvin or Sanders or Newton or Lett but Barry Switzer, 58-year-old night owl. The Cowboy coach transformed his two-bedroom suite into a 24-hour rave, with an endless stream of family members, friends, confidants and strangers. “You have to understand the scene,” says Michael Silver, the former Sports Illustrated scribe who spent much of the week alongside Switzer. “Barry basically decided, ‘OK, this is the only time I’ll ever be at a Super Bowl and I’m going to live it up.’ So he called everyone he knew and said, ‘C’mon, we’re all going to the Super Bowl!’” Along for the ride were—among others—Switzer’s three children, his girlfriend Becky Buwick, his ex-wife Kay (the two women shared a room) and a never-ending conga line of former Oklahoma players, coaches and boosters. The end-of-the-week liquor bill exceeded $100,000.
On the night following the team’s arrival in Tempe, Switzer and a slew of assistant coaches and players attended a Super Bowl party beneath an enormous outdoor tent. Switzer and Larry Lacewell, the Cowboys’ director of pro and college scouting (and the man whose wife Switzer once slept with), downed shots until both were stumbling around like kangaroos atop surfboards. Silver was minding his own business when he turned and spotted Switzer furiously kicking with his right foot. “What the f**k are you doing?” Silver asked. Upon stepping closer, Silver saw that Switzer was actually booting Lacewell, who was trying to urinate beneath a wood deck. “Barry was getting Larry to piss all over himself,” says Silver. “Urine everywhere.” Done harassing his friend, Switzer stumbled to the dance floor and began hyperactively shaking his body—a la Pee Wee Herman. Nearby Emmitt Smith was grooving the night away, showing off the moves that, a decade later, would make him a champion on Dancing With the Stars, when he caught a glimpse of Switzer. “Emmitt can’t believe what he’s seeing,” says Silver. “He just stops and stares at Switzer, and his jaw drops. He just gets this look on his face that I can only describe as ‘Oh my God, my coach is f**king crazy!’”
Switzer’s week was one uproarious blur—a little bit of football (Steelers? What Steelers?) mixed in with a whole lot of debauchery. On the night of Friday, January 26, less than 48 hours before kickoff, Switzer hosted his dream party in Suite 4000 at The Buttes—his suite. With his son Greg, a trained classical pianist, jamming away on the room’s black Steinway, Switzer led an obnoxious, infectious, inebriated sing-along of Ray Charles’ What’d I Say. Instead of repeating Charles’ lyrics, however, Switzer and Co. filled in their own words—praising Jerry Jones, mocking Jimmy Johnson.
Tell your mama, tell your pa
I’m gonna send Jimmy back to Arkansas
Oh yes, ma’m, Jimmy don’t do right, don’t do right
Aw, play it boy
When you see him in misery
Cause Jimmy f**kin’ sucks on TV
Now yeah, all right, all right, aw play it, boy
“I didn’t know if we’d win or lose the Super Bowl,” says Switzer. “But I knew I was gonna have one helluva week. You don’t reach the heights and then play it down. You make the moments memorable.”
Red State’s Leon H. Wolf has an excellent post describing how easy it is to fabricate a quote, place it in Wikiquote, an adjunct to Wikipedia, and then use it as a source to smear your opponent:
Having failed to prevent Rush Limbaugh from becoming a successful and wealthy entertainer, the mainstream media has apparently decided that they will attempt the next best thing; attempt to keep Rush Limbaugh from spending his money in the way he desires. In this case, Rush apparently desires to spend his money on a portion of the controlling stock in the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. In the initial stages of this story, the media attempted to thwart Limbaugh’s plans by trumpeting his comments from several years ago to the effect that the media was overrating Donovan McNabb as a quarterback because they were desirous of seeing a black quarterback succeed. Apparently, has at long last realized the self-evident truth that Limbaugh’s comments about McNabb could not be construed as racist by anyone not determined to find racism in any sentence containing the word “black.” Therefore, they have set about with phase two of this story, attacking Limbaugh as racist with completely fabricated and unsourced quotes… from Wiki.
I first became aware of this latest brouhaha when I opened FoxSports.com this morning as I typically do to check and see if anything interesting happened in the previous evening of sports. I was greeted with a huge front-page box featuring this insipid column from the execrable Jason Whitlock. By way of reminder, Jason Whitlock recently wrote this ridiculous column, which somehow passes for insightful commentary while Limbaugh’s comments about McNabb are evil, thoughtless, and racist. But I digress. The newest basis for the assertion that Limbaugh is an eeeeeevil racist is as follows, according to Whitlock:
Here are two quotes attributed to Limbaugh in a 2006 book, “101 People Who Are Really Screwing America,” by Jack Huberman.
“You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray (Dr. King’s assassin). We miss you, James. Godspeed.”
“Let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: Slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back. I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”
The first of these quotes has already been debunked most thoroughly, long before Rush’s bid to buy the Rams. It is self-evidently the complete fabrication of someone with a wiki account, which was then picked up by the unscrupulous Huberman and reported as fact (with no citations at all) in his book. The other, also attributed to Huberman, has never been sourced, and Huberman has never cited any original article, or even given any indication as to when this alleged statement was made. Of course, these facts make it utterly impossible to refute the claim; without any date or context, Rush cannot even call witnesses who were present during the alleged confirmation to confirm or deny that he ever made such a statement. It is literally impossible for Limbaugh (or anyone else) to offer convincing proof that they have never at any time made a given statement (other than their own denial, which Rush has already given). It is preposterous to ask anyone to prove that they did not make a statement if you cannot even so much as offer a time and place where the statement is alleged to have occurred.
And yet, this is the position in which Limbaugh finds himself. And worse, idiots like Whitlock seem to think that it’s entirely appropriate to believe this completely unsourced accusation:
Limbaugh claimed on his radio show Monday that his staff could not find any proof that he ever joked about slavery. I’m sorry. Limbaugh doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt on racial matters.
See? In Jason Whitlock’s world, anyone at any time can claim that some unidentified person told them that Rush Limbaugh said [X], at a time and place they can’t identify, and if it touches on anything racial, it is fair to assume that Rush really said it because he doesn’t get “the benefit of the doubt.” This isn’t about the “benefit of the doubt,” it’s about whether the accusation is serious enough to create any doubt at all in the first place.
Of course, this is far from the first political controversy to be ginned up by Wikipedia’s “anybody can post” philosophy.
In 2004, Robert McHenry dubbed the site, “The Faith-Based Encyclopedia” at Tech Central Station. A year later, there was a scandal at Wikipedia that actually made a blip on the MSM’s radar, as I wrote at the time. Coincidentally, it was built around two other American icons assassinated in the 1960s:
John Seigenthaler, Sr. was the assistant to Robert Kennedy when he was attorney general under JFK. His Wikipedia entry originally read as follows:
“John Seigenthaler Sr. was the assistant to Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the early 1960’s. For a brief time, he was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both John, and his brother, Bobby. Nothing was ever proven.”
I always find it fascinating that Limbaugh, who helped expose black libertarian/conservative academicians Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams to a huge new audience through their repeated guest-host slots during Rush’s frequent Carson-esque days off, is smeared as a racist. And such attacks have come from the highest realm in the land — but then, that was an era before the word’s massive overuse has caused it to go from being the 21st century equivalent of “commie” in the 1950s, to becoming an increasingly worn-out cliche.
Liberals masquerading as “sports reporters” and “journalists” have been out there repeating this kind of garbage in the last few days. The goal: to keep Rush from buying an ownership stake in the St. Louis Rams.
It doesn’t take a wizard to know the reason that this kind of thing (and a lot of other unprintable garbage) is routinely attributed not only to Rush but other conservative talk radio hosts. There is a point to it, as conservatives understand. Instead of engaging on the battlefield of ideas, liberals project a prejudice they picked up from the left’s own culture of racism, a “progressive” culture that, as often noted in this space, has ranged over the centuries from support for slavery to segregation to lynching to racial quotas and identity politics. This is frequently noted here in this space, two examples of which can be found here and here.
And make no mistake:
Rush today, some other conservative tomorrow.
In the mid-1990s, Wired magazine coined the phrase “Pierre Salinger Syndrome”, named after JFK and LBJ’s press secretary, to describe someone taken in by something he found on the still new and novel World Wide Web:
Veteran American newsman Pierre Salinger said today he has a government document saying that Navy gunners accidentally shot down TWA Flight 800 while conducting missile tests, killing all 230 people aboard. . . . Salinger said the document was dated Aug. 22 and was posted on the Internet at the beginning of September.
—Jocelyn Noveck, “Paper On “Test’ Offered To FBI,” The Associated Press, November 8, 1996
Shortly thereafter, print and television journalists would begin railing against Web-based journalists such as Matt Drudge, and a few years later, the Blogosphere in general. But it’s amazing how quickly they’ll acquire their own cases of Salinger syndrome when the target is one of their favorite bogeymen.
Given that Wikipedia once featured a picture of me in an “I had an abortion” t-shirt that was actually an old photoshop from Allahpundit, I wouldn’t place too much reliance in what Wikipedia and its cousins say about people, especially when they’re at the focus of ongoing controversy. . . .
Heh, indeed. And since you made it this far, thanks for reading the whole thing.™
Update: Mark Steyn notes the Epic Fail of the Media-Industrial Complex, which employs not just Media Matters as their de facto in-house stenographers of all things Rush, but also benefits from the “gotcha!” nature of the Blogosphere and YouTube. By 2006, given Rush’s 20 million listeners, not all of them supportive, somebody would have clipped off such a damning quote, from either a tape of the show as it aired live, or from the podcast versions that Rush’s team has been porting to the Web since mid-2005 and uploaded the audio to YouTube for all to hear. But, the legacy media Wants To Believe, Tim Blair sagely adds.
Found Via The Anchoress Sports Network, coming up on Sunday Night Football: Live from Foucault Field, it’s the Pittsburgh Postmodernists Versus the Baltimore Baudrillards!
Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable punched defensive assistant Randy Hanson in the jaw during an Aug. 5 altercation at the team’s training camp headquarters at the Napa Valley Marriott, two sources told FanHouse.
National Football Post first reported Monday that Hanson, a third-year assistant who is in his first season with the team under the title “assistant coach-defense,” had been hit by another member of the coaching staff, but did not specify the attacker.
Two NFL sources have told FanHouse that the assailant was Cable and “that Hanson never saw it coming.”
Neither Hanson nor the coach who threw the punch were identified in a Napa, Calif., police report taken Aug. 6 at Queen of the Valley Hospital. But one well-placed NFL source told FanHouse of the attacker: “It’s a well-known coach. Very well-known.”
Pressed to confirm the identity of the attacker, the source said, “It was Cable who hit him.”
As Chris Chase of Yahoo’s “Shutdown Corner” NFL blog adds, “The good news for Cable is that Oakland is probably the only place in the NFL where a coach can break the jaw of an assistant and earn respect of fans.
Does Lincoln Financial Field carry over the same tradition of class and decorum begun by the Eagles’ previous stadium, which had a courtoom in its basement? Looks like they’ll need it, when PETA protestors and Eagles fans clash in the parking lot this fall.
A television station in Nashville is reporting that the former N.F.L quarterback Steve McNair has been killed in downtown Nashville in what the police said looked like a double homicide. A woman was the other person killed, the police said.
The station, WTVF, said McNair sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head:
According to Don Aaron with the Metro Nashville Police Department, no suspects have been taken into custody. Several people were being taken to police headquarters for questioning.
McNair was one of his era’s best quarterbacks and one of its toughest players, playing through countless injuries. He led the Titans to the Super Bowl in 2000 and announced his retirement in 2008 after a 13-year career. He was 36.
We’ll have more details as they come in.
This is hard news to digest, but feel free share your thoughts on the player and the man.
McNair, 36, and a female were found shot to death, spokesman Don Aaron told reporters this afternoon.
No one is yet in custody and Aaron said he could not give details on what time the victims died.
Titans owner Bud Adams released the following statement:
“We are saddened and shocked to hear the news of Steve McNair’s passing today. He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they deal with his untimely passing.”
Donald Sensing has video of Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron’s statement on his blog. Click here to watch.
Don Surber has a round-up of links and notes that “McNair had only recently opened the Gridiron9 restaurant on Jefferson Street in Nashville, the Tennessean reported.”
Update (10:50 PM PDT): More details on this story have emerged, as AP notes:
Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron identified the woman as 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, whom he called a “friend” of McNair’s. She had a single gunshot wound to the head.
Police said the 36-year-old McNair was found on the sofa in the living room, and Kazemi was very close to him on the floor. Aaron said the gun was not “readily apparent” when police first arrived.
Autopsies were planned for Sunday.
Aaron said McNair’s wife, Mechelle, is “very distraught.”
“At this juncture, we do not believe she is involved,” he said. “Nothing has been ruled out, but as far as actively looking for a suspect tonight, the answer would be no.”
Fred McNair, Steve McNair’s oldest brother, said some family members likely will travel to Nashville on Monday to consult with Steve McNair’s wife.
“It’s still kind of hard to believe,” Fred McNair said. “He was the greatest person in the world. He gave back to the community. He loved kids and he wanted to be a role model to kids.”
He said he did not know who Kazemi was.
The bodies were discovered Saturday afternoon by McNair’s longtime friend, Wayne Neeley, who said he rents the condo with McNair.
Aaron said Neeley told authorities he went into the condo, saw McNair on the sofa and Kazemi on the floor but walked first into the kitchen before going back into the living room, where he saw the blood.
Neeley then called a friend, who alerted authorities.
Police said a witness saw McNair arrive at the condo in the upscale Rutledge Hill neighborhood between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Saturday and that Kazemi’s vehicle was already there. The condominium is located within walking distance of an area filled with restaurants and nightspots, a few blocks from the Cumberland River and within view of the Titans’ stadium.
Two days ago, Nashville police arrested Kazemi on a DUI charge while driving a 2007 Escalade registered to her and McNair. McNair was in the front seat, but didn’t break the law and was allowed to leave by taxi.
The arrest affidavit said Kazemi had bloodshot eyes and the smell of alcohol on her breath, but refused a breathalyzer test, saying “she was not drunk, she was high.”
In June, McNair opened a restaurant near the Tennessee State University campus. It was closed Saturday evening, but had become a small memorial, where flowers, candles and notes had been placed outside the door.
On the restaurant’s windows were messages: “We will miss you Steve” and “We love you Steve.”
A note attached to a small blue teddy bear read, “We will never forget you, Steve. Once a Titan, always a Titan.”
“We don’t know the details, but it is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the families involved,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.
And Breitbart.TV has this video from WSMV in Nashville:
Steve Green asks James Lileks the above question, and I ask Ed Morrissey of Hot Air.com about watching his site smeared by master-of-the-Internet Bill O’Reilly last Wednesday, then its boss attacked (along with nine other conservative women) by a writer in search of a “hate-f***” at Playboy.com. Plus Roger Simon and Lionel Chetwynd debate why politics no longer end of the sports arena’s edge, and a look at Arlen Specter, septuagenarian senatorial swinger!
CNN doesn’t bother to fact check
