A Conservative Calls Out Other Conservatives For Race-Baiting
So, is a backlash finally starting to happen? Rod Dreher, a conservative columnist, has called out Rush Limbaugh for his inflammatory rhetoric. But first, a little background. Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh discussed a story about a white student beaten on a school bus by a black student, blaming it on President Obama:
Rush Limbaugh weighed in today on this video of a 17-year-old white Illinois student beaten up by two black classmates. Shockingly, his analysis doesn’t reveal an even-handed understanding of our country’s complicated racial history. In fact, not only does Limbaugh imply that this high school scuffle is racially-motivated — but that somehow, it’s the fault of President Obama.
“In Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, ‘Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on,” Limbaugh said. He continued:
I wonder if Obama’s going to come to come to the defense of the assailants the way he did his friend Skip Gates up there at Harvard.
I think most of us who read this blog will understand what Limbaugh is trying to do. He’s using race-base fearmongering to try to hurt Obama. Apparently, this has gotten to be too much for Rod Dreher (who actually had written about this incident as well).
But that’s not why I took down the item and the link to the video. I took it down because now we have Rush Limbaugh blaming Obama for black kids beating up a white kid on a school bus. This is what happens in “Obama’s America,” he said today on his radio show.
How low will these people go? Look, I think it’s important to talk about black male violence, or at least as important as it is to talk about any other important social trend. I don’t think we should be squeamish about discussing it in a responsible and fair-minded way, despite what the politically correct say. But good grief, Limbaugh is up to something wicked. He’s plainly trying to rally white conservatives into thinking that now that we have a black president, blacks are rising up to attack white kids! Christ have mercy, what is wrong with these people?
I won’t have anything to do with it, not even tangentially, which is why I took down the post. I can’t see this as anything other than Limbaugh deliberately trying to whip up racial fear and loathing of the president. This goes far, far beyond tough criticism of Obama. Does that man Limbaugh have any idea what rough beast he’s calling forth?
Dreher ends his column with this observation:
But as far as I’m concerned, if the Limbaughs of the world are going to be doing this kind of thing, and trying to blame, with no logical grounds whatsoever, a black president for black-on-white violence, and if they’re going to do this in an increasingly hysterical atmosphere of protest against that black president, I don’t want to talk about these things at all. Now is not the time. With this kind of inflammatory rhetoric, they are quite simply tearing the country apart.
Where do they think this is going to go?
I think the question I would ask is how low are they willing to go? On the liberal side, we’ve been observing this for quite some time, starting with the Palin rallies. I see Dreher’s column as perhaps the beginning of a conservative rift – which I think we saw with the reaction to Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst as well. I guess we’ll have to watch what happens – will the pragmatic conservatives take over or will it be the rabid base?
Tags: racism, Republican Crazy
Divide and conquer, an old expression, an old tactic, brought to a new low by Limbaugh by the fact that he has how many millions who listen and believe? Scary!
Is this a mark of the beginning of the slide toward insignificance of our country? I seriously worry about that! For example, it appears that Wall Street has learned no lessons, and continues on their self-indulgent streak.
These are tough times, made worse by these Limbaugh and Wall Street types. And they think they are the patriots!
“In Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, ‘Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on,”
Yeah… he wants to go back to the good old days where the opposite happened all the time…like the 50’s when any non-white was game! No cops would ever intervene and anyone who complaied about it was a whiner and a liberal!
What is scarier than him saying it is the fact that somewhere in the country there are thousands of people nodding their head and agreeing with the mindless crap coming out of his mouth (as a matter of a fact, get ready for some comments to that effect – where are you RWR?) People who do not understand the sheer stupidity of taking this incident and extrapolating it to mean that it is opens season on white people… People getting angry like this is actually the result of Obama shoud be lobotomized…
These freaks against civility (Crapbaugh and the like), intentionally or not, are going to fulfill Charles Manson’s so-called prophecy (or desire) of race wars. I guess when one can draw the correlation between them and Manson, it all starts to become clearer, eh?
Obama is the Jackie Robinson of the Presidency.
“Obama disagrees with Jimmy Carter on race issue”
“I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man,” Carter told NBC News”
“Carter injected race into Obama’s struggle for a healthcare overhaul after South Carolina Republican Representative Joe Wilson shouted “You lie” at Obama during a healthcare speech in Congress last week”
I think Jimmy Carter must have been smoking some of Chip Carter’s pot and is seeing things that aren’t there.
Before coming here to Texas, I lived in Belleville. There have been racial tensions in the area for decades. I therefore find it easy to believe that there was a racial motivation in this attack. I know the history of the area too well to discount that possibility.
Do I blame Obama for whatever racial motivation there might be? No, I don’t. But just as you are not willing to discount some element of racism on the part of Obama opponents, I’m not willing to discount the possibility that some black-on-white crime may be perpetrated by those who justify it with the claim “we’re in charge” now that Obama is president on the theory that “payback’s a bitch, whitey”. But overall, I think that Limbaugh over-reached on this one.
“we’re in charge” now that Obama is president
Oh, please grow up. That has to be the stupidest thing anyone has ever written on this blog. I stand by my assessment: You, RWR, are a drama queen.
How about I toss in my present day example to counter your little tale of “racial motivation” – both won’t count for anything, but here goes…
Last school year, and this one, my now 10th grade son is the only white kid on his bus. He hasn’t had a single problem, and, in fact, has made fantastic friends.
Pandora, please go back and re-read my comment. Just because I am not willing to discount the possibility of something like that does not mean I am suggesting it is at all common, or even happening. I’m merely suggesting that I could conceive of it happening — just like I can conceive of the possibility of some miniscule percentage of Obama opponents being motivated by race, even though I’ve not encountered anyone who does so.
Wait, wait, wait! In this thread you say, “I’m merely suggesting that I could conceive of it happening.” Um, okay. So why aren’t you conceding this exact point in LG’s Self-control Issues thread???
Actually, I conceded that someone COULD snap — but then argued that I don’t believe that the possibility that someone could engage in misconduct is a valid reason for limiting the rights of all.
And as for the possibility that some are trying to be intimidating, I’ll concede that — but it still is not a reason for condemning all or restricting the rights of all.
But in LG’s thread no one is calling for limiting rights… well, except the fact that you, mike w. and Bob are saying they are. And now on this thread you have no problem assigning motivation to people you don’t even know. Seems like the same argument, only your position changes depending on whether we’re discussing guns or black on white crime.
I didn’t assign motives to anyone — I said that I could conceive of some idiot (or idiots) justifying their misdeeds that way, not that I thought anyone had in this situation.
On the other hand, I do see a more general racial motive for the attack as a possibility, given my knowledge of the area (I lived in the St.Louis/Belleville area for about a decade, taught in the area, and I was a seminarian for the Diocese of Belleville for four years in the early 1990s — and the church my wife pastored early in our marriage was also in near Belleville). Let’s just say that the long-standing “above the bluff/below the bluff” friction between white Belleville and black East St. Louis hasn’t disappeared now that more and more blacks are able to “move up the hill” into Belleville.
There’s a rule that I have – I try not to read minds. I can only judge people by what they say and what they do. We don’t know what people’s motivations are unless they tell us.
“we’re in charge”… Nice~ I didn’t know that because there is finally a President who’s not caucasian, it automatically puts “them” in charge. Say what you will, the census bureau numbers stand that people of color (Asians, African Americans, Hispanics etc.) are still in the minority in this country. Yes, that will soon change, I can guarantee that but no, “they” are certainly not running this country.
So let me just make sure I understand the logic behind this argument of “discount”. We’re saying that my kids will now go and beat up white kids because when I was in High School, every other day there was a Neo Nazi, KKK wannabe or something else that wanted me “off the bus”… Hmmm, seems far fetched to me as my kids are living in a very different time.
Let’s look at the “other discount” though of the fact that there have been racial undertones in “ALL” the opposition of Obama, from the poster of him as a witch doctor, to the “Undocumented Worker” to the frivolous lawsuits that have been thrown out regarding his eligibility as President. (See link below)
http://cbs2.com/local/lawsuit.obama.orly.2.1189107.html
I mean has there been anything actually substantive that the Right has placed that has any, ANY meaning whatsoever?
You can “discount” all you want, the facts are the facts. The white house is trying to prevent a divide in this country by “discounting” the fact that it’s not because of what or where he came from. I’ll call it for what it is. I applaud this guy for finally calling it for what it is. Will it change the Limbaugh’s and Beck’s? No, it’s not going to change anything. Was this incident because “they’re” in charge? Let’s get the facts before we make a judgement.