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Rush Limbaugh and The NFL

I can't believe I am writing two consecutive posts on the National Football League.
 
For the last week, news has been circulating that Rush Limbaugh was one of a group of investors seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams NFL franchise.  All of a sudden, out the woodwork come the usual suspects condemning his involvement.  Among them is Al "Tawanna Brawley" Sharpton, a man whose own checkered past is never questioned.
 
Radio personality and Townhall.com columnist Hugh Hewitt posted this column earlier today - Roger Goodell and the New McCarthyism.  He quotes the NFL Commissioner in his opening paragraphs:
 
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.
Divisive comments?  Roger Goodell is the same man who determined that Michael Vick should be allowed back into the NFL fold IN SPITE OF his actions - gambling!
 
Divisive comments?  Not one of the comments attributed to Limbaugh can be sourced from the original content.  Could it be that they never occurred?  More likely, it is a case of "Tell the big lie loud enough, often enough, and in enough different places, and soon it will be perceived as truth."
 
Divisive comments?  Just who is charging Limbaugh with making them?  Al Sharpton.  Jesse Jackson.  Media commentators who would not know a football from the Eiffel Tower.  All of them with suspect backgrounds, and consequently should not be given any credibility whatever.
 
Divisive comments?  Who is more divisive (and hateful) than the NFL Sunday night anchor Keith Olberman?  Goodell (and ESPN) seem to think he is okay, though.
 
Divisive comments?  Give me a break!
 
This is about much more than who gets to own an NFL franchise.  This is about how the other side has no rules when it comes to besmirching the reputation of anyone on the conservative side of the aisle.  Those of us on this side had better learn to fight back effectively.
 
On Rush Limbaugh's website, he documents the hateful, divisive actions of some of his detractors, and that documentation is from original sources.  May I suggest that you read it?  His detractors have no such documentation.  If they did, they would have produced it.  All they have is invective, innuendo, and their own hateful opinion.
 
I am very disappointed in Limbaugh's parters, headed by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts.  For them to throw Limbaugh under the bus says as much about their character as Goodell's statement says about him.  They are not folks with whom to be associated.  Rush is probably better off without them as partners, and it's best he found out what kind of folks they were before he parted with his money.  If they dumped him based on this libel and slander, they would have eventually had disputes with him over running the franchise.
 
Goodell, on the other hand, allows players with histories of drug abuse, spousal abuse, steroid use, and a host of other bad behaviors to continue to play in the NFL and collect multi-million dollar salaries.  What a double standard.
 
I have had it with Goodell and the NFL.  A pox on both their houses.  I am going to start watching professional wrestling.  At least I know for sure that it's rigged.
 
And you and I had better watch our backsides.  We are also vulnerable to these baseless attacks.
 
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The Speech

Rush Limbaugh delivered the keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday afternoon.  On one of the forums I frequent, one of the members posted the following:  "Sorry, but the legion of "ditto-heads" and the man behind the golden EIB mic are the fear mongers."  Frankly, I have watched the speech twice and read the transcript.  If I am wrong, please tell me where, but I don't find a single instance of fear-mongering in Limbaugh's speech - or for that matter on his radio program, his website, or his newsletter.
 
More important than the few hilarious zingers tossed at President Obama and liberals in general, Rush Limbaugh defines who we are as conservatives:
Quote:

Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups. We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. What we see -- what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government. [Applause]

We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. [Applause] We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. [Applause] Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of happiness. [Applause] Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault. [Applause] ...

We don't want to tell anybody how to live. That's up to you. If you want to make the best of yourself, feel free. If you want to ruin your life, we'll try to stop it, but it's a waste. We look over the country as it is today, we see so much waste, human potential that's been destroyed by 50 years of a welfare state. By a failed war on poverty. [Applause]

We love the people of this country. And we want this to be the greatest country it can be, but we do understand, as people created and endowed by our creator, we're all individuals. We resist the effort to group us. We resist the effort to make us feel that we're all the same, that we're no different than anybody else. We're all different. There are no two things or people in this world who are created in a way that they end up with equal outcomes. That's up to them. They are created equal, given the chance - -[Applause]

We don't hate anybody. We don't -- I mean, the racism in this country, if you ask me, I know many people in this audience -- let me deal with this head on. You know what the cliche is, a conservative: racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, if you were paying attention, I know you were, the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year. [Applause]

It was not us asking whether Barack Obama was authentic. What we were asking is: Is he wrong? We concluded, yes. We still think so. But we didn't ask if he was authentically black. We didn't say, as some Southern Christian Leadership Conference leaders said: Barack is not authentic, he's not got any slave blood. He's really not down for the struggle, but his wife is. So don't expect the race industry to go away. Southern Christian Leadership Conference -- you may not know this, because it wasn't reported in the Drive-By Media -- the racism, the sexism, the bigotry that we're all charged with, just so you across the United States of America know, and you'll see demonstrated here as the afternoon goes on, doesn't exist on our side. We want everybody to succeed. [Applause]

You know why? We want the country to succeed, and for the country to succeed, its people -- its individuals -- must succeed. Everyone among us must be pursuing his ambition or her desire, whatever, with excellence. Trying to be the best they can be. Not told, as they are told by the Democrat Party: You really can't do that, you don't have what it takes, besides you're a minority or you're a woman and there are too many people that want to discriminate against you. You can't get anywhere. You need to depend on us.

Well. Take a look, someone has to say this ... -- and I'm going to touch on this in more detail in a moment, but this is just to get you thinking -- take a look at all the constituency groups that for 50 years have been depending on the Democrat Party to improve their lives. ... They're still complaining, still griping about the same problems. Their problems don't get fixed by government. And those lives have been poisoned. Those lives have been cut short by false promises, from government representatives who said don't worry about it, we'll take care of you. Just vote for us. [Applause]

For those of you just tuning in on the Fox News Channel or C-SPAN, I'm Rush Limbaugh and I want everyone in this room and every one of you around the country to succeed. I want anyone who believes in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness to succeed. And I want any force, any person, any element of an overarching Big Government that would stop your success, I want that organization, that element or that person to fail. I want you to succeed. [Applause]


Quite simple. Quite elegant. Quite True.

Quote:
Limbaugh praised Obama as one of the most gifted politicians he has seen, but said, "It just breaks my heart that he does not use these extraordinary talents and gifts to motivate and inspire the American people to be the best they can be. He's doing just the opposite."

Ronald Reagan inherited a much worse economy from Jimmy "Malaise" Carter with more unemployment, higher interest rates, and higher deficits.  Carter's economy was so bad that the media invented "The Misery Index" to describe it.  But Reagan (without disparaging his predecessor) urged us to be the best, and through his tax cuts that left more money in the hands of those of us who earned it - which increased revenues to the fed - the economy made a comeback in just a couple of years in spite of the fact that Tip O'Neill and the Democrat Congress spent $1.50 for every new dollar in revenue.

Obama talks of the "worst economy since The Depression" (which it is not) that he inherited and that only government can save us. We can not do it ourselves.

That is just wrong. Government does nothing well. Even our military - which is the best in the world - could improve efficiency.

We conservatives believe - as Reagan demonstrated - that the American economy and the American people combine as a most powerful engine. Government just needs to get out of its way.
 
As always, I welcome your comments...
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