You know, Rush Limbaugh has issues. During the Somali Pirate hostage situation earlier this month, Rush Limbaugh was in rare form. After President Obama gave the order on Thursday to shoot and kill the three pirates if the captain’s life was in danger, it is understandable that such an order would weigh on any man’s mind. You are are inhuman if the order to kill another human being doesn’t weigh on your, no matter how justified the situation. Indeed, President Obama seemed preoccupied in church services that Easter Sunday. We found out later that it was because the operation to rescue the captain was taking place at that very moment. Hence the preoccupation on the part of the President.
But Rush decides to not only mock that preoccupation, but offer a reason for it as only Rush Limbaugh can:
“He was worried about the order he had given to wipe out three teenagers on the high seas,” Limbaugh said. “Black Muslim teenagers.”
So Limbaugh is suggesting that if the pirates were white Christian teenagers, the President would not have been preoccupied that Easter Sunday. Indeed, perhaps he would have been happy, according to Rush.
I am not the only one to take exception to this outright racism on the part of the Republican Minority Leader.
Shane Murphy, second-in-command aboard the ship seized by Somali pirates this month[,]…[says] “It feels great to be home[.] It feels like everyone around here has my back, with the exception of Rush Limbaugh, who is trying to make this into a race issue…that’s disgusting. […] The president did the right thing…It’s a war…. It’s about good versus evil. And what you said is evil. It’s hate speech. I won’t tolerate it.”
There is a reason why we do not respect Republicans in general here.* It is because of the esteem in which Rush Limbaugh is held among them. When a Republican goes off the reservation and criticizes Rush, you can literally count the seconds until a humble apology is made to Rush by the offending Republican. When such homage is paid to a racist, you have to assume that the racism itself is approved of.
*I am not talking about our local commenters like RSmitty or Joanne.