Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Maliciously Ginned Up Limbaugh Controversy – Lies, Distortions and Phony Quotes...









Well, we come to the requiem for the Limbaugh sliming controversy.

Limbaugh’s lawyers are looking into defamation suits against both those who made up the phony quotes (like Jack Huberman, pictured above, author of titles like “Bushit”...that’s all you really have to know) AND those in the media (like CNN and NBC who knowingly used those fake quotes.

But as bad as the fake quotes are, the misuse of some of the actual quotes is egregious, as well.

For instance, the now infamous “bloods and crips” quote came into the popular lexicon via Keith Olbermann-crony and son of Sidney, Max Blumenthal, when in criticizing a CPAC conference, said;

"This is ironic considering the crude racism of CPAC’s keynote speaker, Rush Limbaugh, who once claimed ‘the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and Crips.’ (Max Blumenthal)

In Blumenthal’s version, it looks like Rush Limbaugh was complaining, in effect, that there are too many African-Americans in the NFL.

But of course that’s not what Limbaugh was complaining about. He was complaining about “sack dances” and showboating by NFL players who are acting like they’re throwing gang signs on the field. What he actually wrote in, context was;

“There is a cultural problem in the NFL that has resulted in a total lack of class on the part of professional players. I love the game of football, but after every sack players are acting like they’ve won the Super Bowl; they’re prancing around with these idiotic dances.”

And

“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.”

This can be easily sourced on NFL.fanhouse.com, [Limbaugh: Classless Players Look Like Bloods and Crips, January 20, 2007, by Michael David Smith], but Blumenthal never even bothered to read that, (and they say “the blogosphere doesn’t vet their facts very well). Mr Blumenthal instead said he’d linked it from Gane-McCalla's post, and he didn’t even quote THAT accurately - he left out the word "the" in the " the Bloods and the Crips." (Mr. Blumenthal must be a cut-and-paste novice).

Again, in the context of excessive and boorish “sack and end-zone celebrations” the “Bloods and Crips” reference is legitimate, even if slightly “insensitive.”
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Personally, I agree with Tony Dungy who said, “You know, I guess it bothered a lot of people, it really didn't bother me. I think anybody should have the right to pursue whatever they want, they should go through the process just like anyone else and there would be 28 owners that would vote and I think the process should be able to go forth. I don't like it when people say "because of this he shouldn't be allowed to do that." We don't have any minority ownership in the NFL right now, and I think, you know, that just strikes me as the same thing, because of the way this guy looks, because of the way he sounds, because of his political bent, that he shouldn't be allowed to own a team, I think that's something that the 28 owners should decide and not the general public.” (Tony Dungy)
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Limbaugh is a Conservative. He's never been a violence-inciting demagogue nor a racial bigot....a racial bigot wouldn't have Professor Walter E Williams fill in on his radio show.
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The ENTIRE issue really has nothing to do with Limbaugh's alleged "insensitivity." After all, if that were grounds from barring him from an investment (NFL team ownership), then the same would be a legitimate reason to deny another investor, perhaps the first black ownership consortium by digging up a few insensitive quotes from one of their pasts.
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That's how that thing works...a precedent has been set.
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For better, or worse, sports franchise ownership is like a Co-op Board and for those unfamiliar with that very New York means of apartment investing, the buyer buys "shares in a building," NOT a particular apartment (as a condo owner does) and the Co-Op board, representing the other owners can deny a prospective tenant's purchase for ANY or even NO reason at all...sports team owners can do the same. So, it IS conceivable that those so inclined to block a prospective minority's application for ownership/investment COULD use this same ploy - "Mr. Y said THIS just twenty-five years ago."
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This entire controversy is over a number of FAKE quotes....they aren't "claimed to be faked," there has NEVER been a source (air-date or tape) that sources the "Slavery wasn't all bad..." and the "James Earl Ray" quotes that the soon-to-be-sued Jack Huberman made up for his Goldberg rip-off book.

8 comments:

Montana said...

For so many years Limbaugh has spent his time on the radio mis-labeling or mis-characterizing others . Finally he had his judgment day.

JMK said...

Limbaugh is a mainstream Conservative commentator....that's about it.

His success is due primarily to his tapping into a national audience that has more than double the number of Conservatives (36%) than it does Liberal ones (17%).

The ONLY issue here is whether those fake quotes constitute defamation....if they do, Limbaugh will win a huge lawsuit...if they don't (and this, for many of the more malicious Conservatives and there are malicious Conservatives just as there are malicious liberals, would be the best), that decision would free up such people to start sliming various liberal public figures.

It seems to meet the legal parameters of defamation, so ack Huberman may be in some serious trouble. What's less clear is whether or not CNN's and NBC's going forward with those fake quotes without any vetting constitutes defamation on their parts.

Anonymous said...

The liberal PC fascists are like the new Klan...they organize these media driven lynchings of prominent white conserbvative men to make examples and instill fear in the rest.

Skunkfeathers said...

Let's look at who got this ball rolling: "Rev" Al Sharpton. A liar, a race-baiting fraud, AND a racist in his own right.

On him is hung the credibility of the Left in this equation.

Net result: no credibility.

Montana, you're not only ignorant of facts, you're a fool.

WomanHonorThyself said...

its all slander my friend..Hussein is setting his evil agenda and our country is allowing it!!!..ugh!..and Rush is a scapegoat indeed.

JMK said...

"The liberal PC fascists are like the new Klan...they organize these media driven lynchings of prominent white conserbvative men to make examples and instill fear in the rest." (anonymous)
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Yes, they do, but sadly (FOR THEM) it has NOT been having the effect they desired.

JMK said...

"Let's look at who got this ball rolling: "Rev" Al Sharpton. A liar, a race-baiting fraud, AND a racist in his own right." (SF)
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Ironically enough, Sharpton HAS been involved in espousing racial hate - with the Tawana Brawley hoax AND the Freddie's Fashion Mart attack (a Sharpton follower set a Jewish-owned store on fire after Sharpton's "white interloper" speech, killing seven workers who all lived in either Harlem or the South Bronx).

The ONLY two Limbaugh quotes that appeared overtly bigoted (the "slavery had good points" quote and the "praising James Earl Ray" quote were BOTH FAKES....the only place they appeared was in the fellow pictured's book ("101 People Who Are Really Screwing Up America...") without any sourcing....because they DO NOT EXIST, except in Mr. Huberman's warped mind.

JMK said...

"Hussein is setting his evil agenda and our country is allowing it!!!..ugh!" (Angel)
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Well Angel, POTUS Obama won the 2008 election outright.....McCain ran a terrible campaign and was doomed once the economy (which he boasted about "knowing nothing about") became the primary issue, he was done.

He was elected to curb and retrench the Bush overspending and "cut taxes on 95% of Americans," but has instead ratcheted UP the spending into hyper-drive and quadrupled the Deficit in the first six months of this year.

I personally see Barack Obama as a naive, idealistic do-gooder, kind of like Jimmy Carter on steroids.....this isd going to be bad, but it'll all be wiped away down the line.

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