I'm not one to generally bandy around the word racism but this steaming pile of dog whistling from Rush Limbaugh is really beyond the pale:In the Oval Office of the White House none of this is a problem. This is the objective. The objective is unemployment. The objective is more food stamp benefits. The objective is more unemployment benefits. The objective is an expanding welfare state. And the objective is to take the nation’s wealth and return to it to the nation’s quote, “rightful owners.” Think reparations. Think forced reparations here if you want to understand what actually is going on.There is no nuance to this. Rush Limbaugh is stirring up images in his listeners' minds of a scary, insidious Negro President who is out to steal white folks' money and give it to his darkie supporters. I guess cheering on "Barack the Magic Negro" and calling Obama a "Halfrican America" wasn't enough for him...
As Kevin Drum says:
The tendency of liberals to shout "racism" a little too often is not one of my side's most attractive qualities. But it's a damn sight less disturbing than the tendency of conservatives to ignore racism when it comes crawling out from under rocks on their side. Limbaugh's message could hardly have been more obvious if he'd donned blackface and performed a soft-shoe in his studio.Also, Steve Benen:
The "substance" of Limbaugh's argument is obviously insane, but the racism of his attack is hardly subtle. It's almost hard to believe -- the nation's leading conservative argued, in all seriousness, that the president of the United States is trying to destroy the economy, on purpose, as part of a "forced reparations" campaign.
I realize several far-right voices get angry over what they consider "cheap liberal accusations of 'racism,'" which they consider common. But if conservatives would express at least a modicum of disgust for tirades like Limbaugh's, instead of ignoring his frequent race-driven tirades, it'd do wonders for the discourse.
I'm sure just as many people in the mainstream media will be all over this story just like when they were tearing their hair out over Wanda Sykes' intemperate joke about Rush Limbaugh being the 20th 9/11 hijacker...
