That realization by this former Democrat in the early 90's changed my life
Raised by parents that were instrumental in integrating the races in my South Carolina hometown in the 60s and 70s, I was receptive in my youth to the Democratic Party's rhetoric of racial inclusion. I practiced affirmative action in my law firm in the 80s and became a party official; but almost from the beginning of my political activism there was some unease with my liberal associations.
Fellow democrats giggled about an empire Reagan correctly denounced as evil; ignored the success of tax cuts; and hired mostly white paralegals. As a very young county party chairman I was appalled at hostility to people of faith by my party elders, as well as the unfair demonization of Republicans as racist and uncaring for the poor.
I admit at this time that I suffered from extreme, classic Democratic Party class envy and that later on, my reluctance to change parties while still in my hometown was due partly to this and cowardice, but I couldn't deny that among the legal community and members of my church, it was invariably mostly the Republicans that actually hired blacks.
Then I heard the Wonder of Rush, and Mike Gallagher on 950 WORD-AM. I had already been softened up by the hypocrisy of fellow democrats, but it was a joyous revelation to hear conservative republicans denounce outright racists live on Talk Radio, as Gallagher did almost on a daily basis.
Rush didn't seem to get many calls from racists, and so didn't have such opportunities, and most of my democrat friends denounced Rush as a bigot. At this time in the early 90s, I disagreed with Rush on most issues, but simply could not turn the radio away from his show for more than 15 seconds after a fit of anger.
There was something about Rush's attitude that fascinated me, and it took two incidents that occurred within a single week to open my eyes to a truth that would change my life.
I was a prolific criminal defense trial lawyer and so had a lot of contact with police officers. One day, while at the City Police Department, I made an offhand comment to a black female sergeant that assumed she was a Democrat. I was an official with the county party at the time. The Sergeant rebuked me with a kind of righteous indignation that had never been directed at me by anyone I didn't call Daddy.
Later that week, I attended an event promoting the Rush Limbaugh Show, with Mike Gallagher hosting a special appearance by Bo Snerdly, Rush Limbaugh's longtime business partner, silent sidekick on the air, and call screener.
The moment I saw Snerdly, I understood what it was about Rush that so appealed to me. I was already kind of alone among my democrat friends in defending Rush against charges of racism, and wondered why he didn't defend himself more, and then I saw Snerdly and immediately understood this man called Rush, because I saw something in him that saw in my father and, dare I say, in me.
I never had known that Snerdly was black. Rush never mentioned that fact despite all the libel and slander against him and despite the fact that he regularly spoke back and forth with Snerdly (not heard) about such charges on the air.
Rush was secure in the truth, and looking back on the EIB experience, I realized that what so appealed to me about Rush was that he treated all people the same, no matter the race. Race was irrelevant.
Rush was the embodiment of the character content, color-blind dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. that became my dream in my youth.
So it is with great sadness that I see a man whose complete absence of racism made me receptive to his conservative message, is now vilified by the ignorant and the vile, as the antithesis.
It is with great sadness that I see otherwise brilliant journalists like Jason Whitlock rely upon unreliable sources for despicable false quotes rather than fact-check, or, pray tell, actually call Rush before going to press.
But I also know that it is not the recently released false quotes that are at the heart of the faux uproar attending a possible purchase of the St. Louis Rams. The fake quotes were first posted on line in 2005. Rush has been vilified since 1988 for accurate quotes, either taken out of context, or completely misunderstood. But the main reason for the uproar is that liberals see conservatism itself as racist or, rather, a threat to their own racism cloaked as compassion.
So, it is with even more sadness that I see ignorance and/or political correctness enforced like Stalinism (without the mass murder) among some NFL owners. One nugget from the Colt's Irsay is a smoking gun to break through the ignorance, and that is his suggestion that Tony Dungy be asked his opinion of Rush.
Dungy appeared twice on Rush's show last year!
I am thrilled that Rush is fighting back this time, and am already happy that ESPN's Michael Wilbon has retracted his objections and Colin Cowherd has defended Rush, as have others.
I am saddened that so many are still so fearful of the PC police that they refuse to acknowledge the obvious meaning of the english language when evaluating Rush's ESPN description of journalist apologists for McNabb; and that the Today Show left his explanations of the Magic Negro parody and the drive-by ignorance of the school children singing the praises of Barack Hussein Obama, umm, umm, umm.
President Obama's surrender in the Gates-Harvard affair had given me hope that more white Americans were throwing off the false white guilt post-Obama Inauguration, and joining Rush in the post-racial world he has lived in for most if not all of his life.
I just thank God that I heard the voice that embodied MLK's dream and joined that world with Rush and Martin.
God bless you brother Rush. My prayers are always with you.
More DeVine examinations on race.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer and Minority Report columns
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
Comments
I'm going to let you plead temporary insanity on this one Michael.
MLK's legacy is about more than racial equality. It's about fairness for all, tolerance of others, and most importantly, peaceful protest to bring about social change. Leaving Rush's dubious history, on what could best be described as racially insensitive language, out of it, his life's philosophy is antithetical to that of King's.
Can you honestly envision King saying the following:
"I mean, 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." - Rush Limbaugh
What NFL owner would make this statement:
"Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it." - Rush Limbaugh
Temporary? Since the early 90s? Yes, MLK is about more, and the essence of tolerance is not that one doesn't express disagreement, but rather, what MLK said that he didn't want to force anyone to love another, but rather that they simply not lynch them, yet, Rush's critics (misinformed or cowards) seek to deny him economic rights; and what is Rush's words on the radio but peaceful protest? He, unlike liberals, doesn't seek to have the force of law impose his views.
But the main issue here is not tolerance, but rather the truth.
The first quote you cite is a fraud perpetrated by a blogger in 2005 on Wikipedia, that a number of journalists have not acknowledged and retracted their citation of.
The second, Rush discussed today and I will send you the transcript. He was protesting the kind of excessive celebrations that are now outlawed that glorified and mimicked gansta/thug behavior due to love of the game and players and was not racial.
Tony, I poured my heart on this. more
1993 - William Raspberry - Shooting From The Hip - Into The Foot
WASHINGTON - I've been doing penance. I've listened to major portions of two Rush Limbaugh radio shows, I've done some heavy browsing of his new book, "The Way Things Ought to Be," and now I'm finally ready to say it:
Rush, I'm sorry.
No, I still haven't become a Rush Limbaugh fan; I'm not THAT sorry. But at the urgings of some 60 zillion readers (that's an estimate; I stopped counting after 147), I've taken another look at this phenom of the airwaves, and. . . .
But first I'd better back up and tell you what brought all this on. I recently wrote a column the point of which was that you shouldn't refrain from telling the truth as you see it just because somebody you don't care for agrees with it. pained to inform me that Limbaugh had agreed with something I'd written. Twice.
Then instead of just saying you shouldn't refrain, etc., I proceeded to take a couple of shots at Limbaugh. Gay-bashing and demagoguer
I don't care about Limbaugh. I just find it funny for him to claim he has been slandered when he has made a fortune slandering others. Limbaugh and Beck are just mental lightweights that can talk and rationalize nutty views for bucks. Not worth my time. I listened to Limbaugh for a while and never heard one clearly thought out position of his own.
MJY - I respect your views on Beck and Limbaugh but if you never "heard one clearly thought out position of his own" when talking about Limbaugh, I'm afraid you haven't listened to him for longer than just a few minutes. If there's anything that Beck and Limbaugh have it is opinions and positions on issues - some of them popular some of them not so much - but to say they don't have any "thought out" positions is plain laughable. All they do is analyze different political issues and conclude where they stand on them. You don't have to agree with them, I certainly don't always, but that's a different issue.
Tony, I can envision King saying that (I know nothing about NFL). He was very clear and outspoken about problems within the black community, and didn't shy away from controversial statements. He is much needed now because political correctness have brought our minority groups into a hell hole, and with 'help' of people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton they will remain there.
Thank you Mr. DeVine. I'm a recent former liberal who overcame my (truly) ignorant prejudice against Limbaught his past year, but only after first becoming deeply disillusioned with liberals and dems. I feel lucky to have undergone that disillusionment. Rush's show is a lot more enjoyable than NPR ever was.
avery, you made my day.
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