In theory, you would imagine that sports (particularly ownership) would swing conservative for financial reasons. Thus, I think it is mighty interesting to note that the St. Louis Rams actually rank as the most liberal-leaning NFL team based on political donations - according to disclosures, around 98% of their political donations have been to Democrats. In a swing state. So I honestly thought that Limbaugh was an unlikely suitor to the ownership in the first place.

Putting aside my own (highly negative) thoughts on Limbaugh, I think his alignment with any ownership bid was ill-fated. Put simply, his racial divisiveness would put his team at a real disadvantage in attracting or keeping free agents for whom that is an issue. Some would just refuse outright, and more would demand a premium from the team. I just don't see how a team that would end up paying more for a smaller talent pool could ever be successful.

With that in mind, Limbaugh never should have been considered in the first place.

Yeah, Limbaugh was way out of bounds with that comment about black kids beating up white kids on buses. That sort of thing was going on way before Obama became POTUS. Is Adam Serwer's related to Andrew Serwer of Fortune Magazine? They both went to Columbia. Just wondering if that's a coincidence.

At least, unlike some of his leading critics, Limbaugh isn't directly responsible for a bunch of dead people. Google "Freddie's Fashion Mart" and "Al Sharpton." I know, none of you lefties give a shit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoxville_Unitarian_Universalist_church_shooting

lkjkl this link was lovingly crafted just for you.

The Right Wing Media has a very short memory when it comes to the issue of punishing people based on things they say and/or their politics. They ran the "Dixie Chics" out of country music because they disagreed with George Bush's war in Iraq and dared to speak on in during a concert tour in London. The Right Wing media beat the drums daily against the "Dixie Chics." Was it fair, No. Did they care? No. So now you know what goes around comes around.

Four Words:

Barrack the Magic N*gro.

That the right is silent on his many comments is no longer surprising or news.

It was obvious from the start that Rush Limbaugh’s bid to buy into the NFL was doomed. But why do NFL owners hold themselves to higher standards than the rest of us?

http://www.roryoconnor.org/blog/2009/10/15/nfl-to-rush-you%E2%80%99re-a-dead-man-talking/

I would suggest Checketts not remain under consideration for even bringing Limpbag to the table with him at all.

It must be amazing to all the Limbaugh fans to become aware that most of America views him as a Grand Wizard of the KKK, among other things. I'm really enjoying the fact that cool heads prevailed, and Jim Irsay for one, should be proud of himself. As long as he is Owner of the Indianapolis Colts, I am a Fan.

Contrary to what many believe, Limbaugh is not racist. He's actually very Anti-Racist. He DOES often quote racist things the left has said and then shows just how foolish they are; Barack the Magic Negro was originally coined by the L.A. Times. Limbaugh thought that was a pretty stupid racist thing.When Al Sharpton questioned whether Obama was 'black enough' Limbaugh, in a great stroke of satire, had a Sharpton impersonator sing a song about 'Barack the magic Negro'. That doesn't mean Limbaugh feels that way about Obama, it means he's poking fun at Sharpton's racism.When the sports media overated McNabb, Limbaugh rightfully pointed out the media's love affair with McNabb. That doesn't mean he has ill feelings about McNabb, it means he has ill feelings about an inaccurate sports media.By the way, it was later acknowledged that McNabb wasn't as terrific as originally hyped; this vindicated Limbaugh's original instincts.You can call him racist, especially if you buy all the spin, But just ask all the african-american football players who are his fans, of which there are many. Some even call in on his show. Just ask the african american listeners in his audience who know what he's REALLY all about. If you take the time to actually LISTEN (you know, what Obama keeps telling us we all should do) to what he says on his show and the context he says it in, you might learn he ain't all the media demonizes him to be.

The central absurdity here is that it is actually quite difficult to join the NFL owners' club. It is not just a matter of having the money. An owner is entering into a business partnership with all the other owners.

Moreover, there have been problem owners Al Davis, Jerry Jones, Dan Snyder. They do not want any more problem owners.

John,

Put that pipe aside. It was up limbaugh's butthole at one time and it's full of toxic fumes. Save the last few brain cells you may have left and put that pipe aside.

Sucks that because of last year's primaries - and the nonsensical labeling of anything Clinton or Clinton-supporting as racist - the word means less now, when applied to true bigots like Limbaugh.

Shame.

I've never seen football fans as unified about any question as to whether Limbaugh should be canned from ESPN over his McNabb comment. Donovan McNabb once threw three touchdown passes on a broken leg, and the only thing that Limbaugh could think to talk about was the startling observation that McNabb was black.

I'm surprised, though, to find out that Al Sharpton owns an NFL team. Otherwise, I can't see why people keep bringing him up.

Wingers find themselves unable to reasonably argue this without trashing the whole "free market" thing.
This situation cries out for a sternly worded letter or some other congressional( free-rush resolution) action. This cannot stand.

Rush can be hard and even insulting but he unlike most of the media is honest. I have listened to his programs for years and the comments that are being blamed on him are wrong (wrong in context, wrong in speech pattern) anyone who has ever heard him talk will realized that the quoted statements are not from him but just another attack from the far left.
The NFL has really angered me, the commissioner of a criminal infested league says Mr. Limbaugh’s character is improper for the league; he must live on another planet. The race baiters were always expected Mr. Sharpten and Mr. Jackson are always trying to seem like they are still relevant to today’s society and every time they open their mouths Dr. King must roll in his grave.
The far left merely looks at it as a normal day and attacks a conservative for any reason to try and inspire their class warfare after their master has been such a disappointment. The eunuch in chief (don’t worry I understand Michelle has them put away for safety sake).

"normally astute Jon Henke"

Soft bigotry of low expectations-much?

I've listened to much of what Limbaugh has to say and haven't heard anything blatantly racist. However, when Al Sharpton speaks, I have heard racism numerous times. Something about caves and Greek homos... look it up. The left simply uses trumped up accusations of racism to advance its agenda. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are racial shakedown artists. They essentially engage in the legal shakedown of corporations... "pay our non-profits money or we will boycott and protest you."

Rush is a great sucess as an entertainer, and an even greater sucess as a narcissist.

What he appears to be quite poor at is taking responsibility and accepting the consequences of his own actions. How typical of him to blame the collapse of this business deal everywhere other than where it belongs - with him.

By the way, it may be the same failure on the part of most neocons to take responsibility and to consider the consequences of their actions that is driving the almost universal distrust of them we see at the moment. It's not an all-encompassing, amorphous Left which is frustrating them at every turn. No conspiracy is needed when they are shooting themselves in the foot as fast as they can.

Anyone who uses the term far left as if it defines a group of idealogues or a party or even a collective view has absolutely no idea what they're talking about.
Only listeners of Limbaugh and his familiars like the Beck think and talk this way. They are clueless which is just the way the Limbaugh likes them. malleable, pliable and easily misinformed.
"Why Rush isn't racist, his enemies are racist, he's just telling the truth or, or he's just kidding or, or he's just an entertainer."
Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that. Pretty soon, you'll absolve your self, too.

Captcha: 26 mastered; you betcha.

When did accusing people of bigotry and racism become a get out of jail free card? Just because someone goes through life without expressing bigotry or racism certainly doensn't mean they don't secretly harbor those emotions. Either way... liberals simply want to win over minorities and keep them suckling the government tit...meanwhile the entire time they are looking down their noses at them.

Limbaugh's "political views" weren't the problem. His racial views were the problem.

The authentic bewilderment Limbaugh's co-thinkers are feeling arises in part from a buried conviction that racist views are political views.

They've so cloistered themselves from opposing views that they're shocked to learn that much of America views their man as an odious buffoon.

DO YOU: raise false-fear, hate anyone with a different colored skin or religion or "core value", make excuses for your excessive behaviors or breaking the law (but NEVER admit guilt), or point the finger at any and everyone for something they did that you disagree with (but never at yourself)?

If you do any of those things, you're a 5-year old.

Or worse, a Republicsucm.

If you don't, your not.

Or better, a compassionate human being.

Any questions, class?

I heard the real reason Checketts dropped Limbaugh was because Limbaugh wanted the team to switch to tin-foil helmets.

It takes a special kind of deluded narcissicism to blame his removal on the new "Obama-America." The sad thing is that people eat that stuff up. Earth to his listeners: the man is an entertainer and last time I checked that's not a defense for borish insensitive behavior.

Good riddance.

Serwer: On the other, there's actual bewilderment about the very concept of racism -- conservatives understand in the abstract that racism is bad, but they seem incapable of identifying actual racist behavior. Instead, because (a) racism is bad and (b) liberals are bad (c) racism is a quality possessed by liberals. By definition, conservatives cannot be racist, because they are good, unlike liberals, and therefore nothing Rush Limbaugh says is racist.

John: Rush can be hard and even insulting but he unlike most of the media is honest. I have listened to his programs for years and the comments that are being blamed on him are wrong (wrong in context, wrong in speech pattern) anyone who has ever heard him talk will realized that the quoted statements are not from him but just another attack from the far left.

John--I'm sure Serwer appreciates your proving his point.

I am glad to see the NFL has some sort of standard. To allow this clown to divide the NFL as he has the rest of America by appealing to the worst in human beings, is beyond the pale. This a-hole and others have gotten rich peddling their nonsense. The only unfortunate part is that there are stupid people who believe it.

He was a flunky at everything in life until he hit this "conservative spiel" he does. He is strictly no good.

Rush makes it clear that everyone should be personally accountable for their success. This includes everyone. He respects freedom and loves America, and wants her Constitution to be a governing document. When the government and any political party determines who should participate in any organization, we are in trouble. My basic determination is "What is Right" and NOT "Who is Right". When any American degrades America publicly in other countries, it is then the American's choice who they will provide funds to for their talents. This is not controlled by anyone, including the government. Americans do have ethics and judgments on their own sense. This is THE example of WHAT IS RIGHT not WHO IS RIGHT.

"At least, unlike some of his leading critics, Limbaugh isn't directly responsible for a bunch of dead people. " - lkjkl

"I've listened to much of what Limbaugh has to say and haven't heard anything blatantly racist. However, when Al Sharpton speaks, I have heard racism numerous times."

If I didn't know you guys were Republicans from your comments, I would know from your attempts at logic.

Argument: Rush Limbaugh is a racist.

Response: "Other people are racists."

Ok, fine. I concede your point. Other people, including Al Sharpton, ARE racist. Effect this has on Limbaugh's racism?

Zero.

And John, I listened to Limbaugh and Beck for years while working a delivery job in a company owned by a Republican. Your claim that we simply have to listen to Limbaugh to see the error of our ways is simply not borne out by reality, after over a year of painful, painful testing on my part.

"At least, unlike some of his leading critics, Limbaugh isn't directly responsible for a bunch of dead people. " - lkjkl

"I've listened to much of what Limbaugh has to say and haven't heard anything blatantly racist. However, when Al Sharpton speaks, I have heard racism numerous times."

If I didn't know you guys were Republicans from your comments, I would know from your attempts at logic.

Argument: Rush Limbaugh is a racist.

Response: "Other people are racists."

Ok, fine. I concede your point. Other people, including Al Sharpton, ARE racist. Effect this has on Limbaugh's racism?

Zero.

And John, I listened to Limbaugh and Beck for years while working a delivery job in a company owned by a Republican. Your claim that we simply have to listen to Limbaugh to see the error of our ways is simply not borne out by reality, after over a year of painful, painful testing on my part.

I note that none of you Rush-haters seem to be able to cite a single example of an allegedly racist comment that originated from Limbaugh.

The McNabb controversy is nothing more than a controversial and provocative statement - not a racist one.

The fact that you libs view that as a racist statement is so very telling.

Finally - it's HIGHLY disingenuous of so many of you to score points off of fake racist quotes, then fall back to controversial but not racist quotes as proof of "racism."

I don't see any of you trying to explain Limbaugh's relationship with Bo Snerdly or Walter Williams - no, you'd rather conveniently ignore the facts and rely solely on innuendo.

Typical.

Simply put - Limbaugh is not wanted! Live with that Rush, and seek to understand why people in general call you a racist. Simply put Rush, you have worn your racism on your sleeve for years, so quit trying to cry on it now! -Kevo

Oh, and Brian B. as an apologist, your denial is showing! -Kevo

Kevo - I'm still waiting for a citation, a link, heck, ANYTHING from you to prove your point.

Of course there is no smoking gun. This whole episode exposes the true character of the left and their willingness to seize on superficial controversy as validation of their beliefs.

Frustrating? Indeed. But also strangely satisfying to have such widespread proof of liberal intellectual dishonesty.

Interesting that Limbaugh & his defenders started out by blaming "the far left" for his rejection, but quickly widened their attack to focus on the NFL. I'm sure they can persuade a scattering of people that professional football is some sort of sectarian liberal institution, but mostly this just signals the right's further retreat from out shared public life.

I'm sure nobody likes to be stigmatized, but really all these folks have to do to avoid it is stop acting like asses.

LOL @ Kevo, who is madly scouring the internet to find the most controversial quote from Limbaugh he can find.

Of course he'll be further delayed as he takes his research one step further than CNN/HuffPo/MSNBC did, and actually tries to VERIFY the quote came from Limbaugh.

Hurry, Kevo, it's almost dinner time.

""When Al Sharpton questioned whether Obama was 'black enough' Limbaugh, in a great stroke of satire, had a Sharpton impersonator sing a song about 'Barack the magic Negro'. That doesn't mean Limbaugh feels that way about Obama, it means he's poking fun at Sharpton's racism.""

Wow.

I used to listen to Rush for years; not that I agreed with his views, but I found him entertaining. His listeners, the so-called "ditto-heads" marched in lockstep to his pontifications.

What people don't realize is that Rush is smart. By that I mean, he talks in code to his primarily light-skinned audience by ranting against "special interest groups" (the minorities). He is in favor of an "English Only" policy in America where only English should be spoken by Americans...hence, the code that all minorities who do not speak English are not real Americans.

He has assaulted anything that supports women's rights and has called these leaders "Femin-Nazis."

In the topic of conservation he has tagged them "whakos."

He constantly rants that American should be taken back...but from who? His coded rants continue to show his views that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave...only if you fit the narrow view of who really is an American.

He caters to the right-wing because he is the right-wing. There is no flexibility in his views and the sad part about all of this is that millions support his myopic view of America.

Limbaugh is a glib talking entertainer whom recently on a televised interview, gushed about how his only God is money.
All of the ' dittoheads' following Limbaugh's agenda and rushing to defend him is painful to watch.

He is no more, no less the ugly American. The epitome of what the world ridicules and mocks. Before you get on your high horse and puff out your conservative chests and declare that their would be no world without the USA,
remember this;
The US is only a handful of years old, it realistically has very little in way of history other than stealing land from native Americans, fighting with each other, and scandal upon scandal brought about by Capitalism.

You're proud of this? I'm not... If the shoe fits, then wear it. If your demigod Limbaugh is caught being insensitive to ' lesser' Americans because of their ethnicity, then MAN UP and accept the truth. This FAT LOSER is a racist!!!!

And still no quotes. Just typical left wing blather.

Brian:

What's the use? We've traveled this road countless times over the last couple decades. You'll just play "move the goal post" or other typical denialist tactics (think evolution denier). You've sworn allegiance to your messiah and there is no reasoning with you.

You should know though that it isn't only the "extreme left," or even the left at all who thinks this man is a coward and a fraud. It doesn't take a Prius driving, tree hugging, whole foods shopper to realize the man is a charlatan.

Do the Limbaugh supporters really deny that he said watching the NFL was like the Bloods and the Crips, only without the weapons? I guess they can continue trying to create their own reality... but sadly, reality has moved on.

Nice column, Adam.

The Donovan McNabb "affirmative action" slam got Rush thrown off ESPN's Sunday night football show, which was a gig he always said he wanted to do even more than a talk radio show. He never apologized, never learned and never changed. Roger Goodell highlighted the McNabb slam was the key reason why he was uncomfortable with Rush being in an owner consortium, in particular because Rush has never disowned the what he said or apologized.

But I think the key here is the black NFL players who immediately spoke out. They deserve the credit for getting the ball rolling.

Uh, Brian B.? The post is full of links to quotes. Some of them even audio. They clearly demonstrate that when a black guy is involved, Limbaugh thinks in predominantly racial terms, and usually in a way unflattering to the black person at issue or blacks generally.

If you don't think that's racism I don't know what to tell you and you kind of demonstrate Serwer's point that a cross has to be burning before a conservative will recognize anti-minority racism, and sometimes not even then.

Conservatives are, however, extremely sensitive to anti-white racism.

He would have been a disaster as an owner; probably even worse than Dan Snyder of the Deadskins. Letting him do that (and then take a huge loss when he has to sell the team) probably would have done a great deal to cut away some of his remaining "soft" support.

Either way... liberals simply want to win over minorities and keep them suckling the government tit...meanwhile the entire time they are looking down their noses at them.

Brad W. is repeating what he hears on talk radio. Nothing more than white racial resentment and an easy explanation as to why those stupid minorities are Democrats.

Is it any wonder minorities hate Republicans as much as Republicans hate minorities?

The National Felon League ...Who gives a flying shit about it anyway.

As a Black person,I am amazed that Limbaugh would want to be a part of anything dominated by Black people...I'm puzzled. Things he has said in the past has caused me a lot of anguish and pain.

Sarah,

Good question. I used to listen to Rush occasionally from the early 1990s because it was a kool inside joke from my commie cohorts as we did carpentry jobs. Periodically, Rush sincerely (if that is possible) pined about being a pro football commentator on teevee instead being a talk radio dude. Well, in 2003 ESPN gave him his wish and he promptly blew it by going Jimmy The Greek on Donovan McNabb. And ESPN fired his ass on the spot.

Also, the NFL teams are all owned by white multi-millionaires who most likely vote 90:10 Republican. NFL Commr. Goodell was a big supporter of McCain/Palin in 2008. The NFL might be dominated by black athletes but it is almost solely owned and controlled by white, Republican leaning multi-millionaires.

Which makes Limbaugh's fail even more epic.

What pisses me off about all of this is the claims of censorship. I remember when Republican lawmakers were threatening MLB if George Soros was allowed to become an owner back in 2005. Doubt if that bothered any of these dickheads that are whinning about the NFL's treatment of Limbaugh.

Brad said, "liberals simply want to win over minorities and keep them suckling the government tit"

Yet he can't fathom why someone would find him "racist"... ...wow.

So Brian, I assume you were similarly outraged when the Republicans in Congress threatened to strip Major League Baseball of its antitrust exemption if they let George Soros buy a team?

Brian, it's obvious links to actual racist things Rush has said and done mean nothing to you. The article contains them as well as the comment section, yet you cite the need for a specific example, just one, you'll wait patiently. Well, sorry to spoil your party but, it doesn't matter that you aren't convinced. Your quest for a factual comment that would seal the deal and prove him a racist doesn't matter. Powerline and NRO and all the dittoheads in the world can stomp their feet and cry vast left wing dogma all they want and it doesn't change the "free market" reason Rush lost out. Right wing business owners worship the dollar much more than any other ideology. They did the math and decided the cost to benefit ratio just didn't work out for your boy. Sorry for you, but them's the brakes. If they had thought bringing aboard a racist would have increased market share or put more asses in the seats, nothing anyone said would have mattered. He would have been welcomed with open arms. The club that rejected him did it for one reason and one reason only. Greenback Jesus said no.

Ah, the clean white linen sheets of the NFL owners, pressed and hidden in the upstairs closet.

A short list, for a league founded by blatantly open racists like George Preston Marshall, that still questioned through the 80's if a black man was smart enough to quarterback one of their franchises, that placed scabs on the field during NFLPA walk outs, that looks the other way on steroids use and that treats injured players like dog meat and retirees like dog shit.

Rush may be a cad, race bater and oxy-fiend but, for the NFL to be beyond reproach is disingenuous and quite frankly, sickening.

Lest any of the Republican/conservative/Rightwing Extremists apologists for racists dont get it: many if not most of Rush Lmbaugh's racist rantings and other racial slurs are available as audo clips so they can actually hear what lush limpballs was saying. Formost Rush like Fox News is out to make money and to spread the lies, disinformation, and propaganda of the Rightwing Extremists Racist group that they are part of. I used to see Rush Limbaugh in the 1990's trying to hang out with Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns whose owner Jerry Colangelo was notorious for his Christian Fundamentalists/Rightwing Extremists views around the NBA and in Phoenix AZ. Good old Rush didnt have any trouble hanging with the NBA hoods at all then when he thought it would benefit him. Of course then he was disguising his racist language much better then. Now obviously in his and the Republican Party's zeal to destroy President Obama they no longer intend to disguise their racialisms. And why not? They are both making millions of dollars off of it with the frightened, pathetic dittoheads who inhabit their end of the fantasy universe. So Rush, good riddance. We dont need sick pathetic closeted homosexual rightwing extremists like you in control of an NFL team.

"This blanket refusal to evaluate their own behavior is what continues to make the GOP seem completely tone deaf when it comes to minorities"
Not true. Conservatives don't
care if they sound racist.
They are aghast at prison chic & the surrounding culture of hip hop. Negative views toward blacks are deserved in their view.
This is a facade that
hides willful ignorance.
They know it's ignorant
which is why they seek out
the many that agree with them
so they never have to be made to feel ignorant or inferior.
I was approaching this back
in the late 90's. Then along
came Bush & liar-4-hire republican PR which rescued & shocked me out of insulated conservatism.

What jon mccane said, emphatically!

As an African American what most offends me about many on the right is the fact that, to them, nothing an AA does in this society is bad. I was born and raised in the South, and I still live in the South, and there is nothing that one who has not lived in America as a person of color can tell me about racism. I know it when I see it because I've experienced on an almost daily basis every day of my 56 years living in America.

I meant---nothing an AA in this society does is ever good--

Watching teevee while typing is not always a good thing. LOL

When blacks respond to abuse by whites with a attitude of "don't trust whitey", this is not "reverse" racism. Please tell our fellow liberals that this mis-take is clouding our position of good morals by being inaccurate for the sake of agreement with people who are
lacking the benefit(s) of being a true part of the human family

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