Poor Rush Limbaugh. His buddies kicked him off the team they had assembled to purchase the St. Louis Rams. Actually, "poor" is one thing that Limbaugh is not, at least if we are speaking about money and if you are thinking of buying a professional football team, money has ceased being an issue in your life.
I have no idea why Limbaugh’s friends decided to dump him from their bidding team or why NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell evidently suggested that their bid had a better chance without him. I am guessing it was a business decision, that their bid was being overshadowed by his notoriety, and specifically the attention focused on some racially-laced comments that were, you will pardon the expression, off-color. There is only one business that tends to flourish by being notorious and Mr. Limbaugh has already mastered it.
Limbaugh thinks he knows why this tragedy has befallen him. "This is about the on-going effort by the Left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative. Therefore, this is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we’re going to have." My hand slaps my forehead: Of course, THAT is what this is about. Please.
Conservatives need to choose here. This was a free market decision made by business partners. There was no government intervention. You can’t blame judicial activism or the Obama health care reform effort for this one.
If this were any other type of business proposition, perhaps a few racially insensitive remarks in one’s past might not cause such a stir. But, contemporary professional sports employ a language that has a history. Teams do not "hire" players, they "buy" them. Add to the mix the fact that many of those players are black and almost all the owners are white, and well, you can see why racial sensitivities are important.
But, I suspect the real reason for the controversy surrounding the bid, and the decision by the business partners to exclude Limbaugh, is simpler and one that conservatives should applaud. Football is about football, not about politics. And, if Mr. Limbaugh is involved, it is a fair assumption that he will think it will be all about him. Those who want the business of sports to be about sports can be forgiven for thinking that Mr. Limbaugh would introduce a new, and different, agenda. Why would you think that? Because Mr. Limbaugh reduces everything to a fight between liberals who are destroying America and conservatives who are trying to save it.
On Sunday afternoon, Americans of all ideological stripes like to kick back, turn on the television and relax. They don’t want to think about out-year deficit projections or the intricacies of a public health care option. They want to enjoy the game. By his mere presence, Limbaugh would distract us from the thing we use to distract us. A blessing on Mr. Goddell for saving this slice of American life from the blunderbuss of talk radio.
I do think that those who say that Limbaugh is a racist yet they cannot give any examples of his racisim other than lies or the fact that he disagrees with the policy of a black president.
The worst racism is the black man that told Juan Williams on Fox to "go back to the porch" because he had the audacity to defend Limbaugh. That is deplorable!