Dan Calabrese

I guess it’s no wonder so many people are buying the insinuation that Rush Limbaugh is a racist – a notion that is fueling opposition to his quest to buy the St. Louis Rams.

If Limbaugh had really uttered the following quotes, it would be hard to deny that he is a racist:

Where there's smoke, there's . . . smoke.

• “I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: Slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”

• “You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray (the murderer of Martin Luther King Jr.). We miss you, James. Godspeed.”

Yep. Only a racist would make those statements. The problem is that there’s no evidence whatsoever that Limbaugh ever said either one. Actually, that’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that CNN and MSNBC are quoting both as if they are authoritative.

The first quote was attributed to Limbaugh by Pittsburgh Steelers player James Farrior as part of his explanation for why he would never play for a team Limbaugh owned. Both networks took the quote and ran with it, with no authority other than Farrior himself.

Limbaugh says he never made the statement and has challenged any journalists who are using the quote to prove that he said it or apologize and/or face legal action for libel and slander.

The second quote, which was supposedly uttered in 1998, appears to have first appeared in a Wikipedia entry about Limbaugh in 2005. It was then cited as authoritative in 2006 in a book by Jack Huberman titled 101 People Who Are REALLY Screwing Up America.

Of course, any idiot can write anything on Wikipedia, and supposedly the mainstream media lament the proliferation of such unchecked sources of “information,” except, it appears, when they aid in their pursuit of a political agenda.

The other story that’s going around is that Limbaugh is a member of a country club in Florida that has never had a black member. It appears that this may be true, but there’s one important fact you need to know that neuters this angle as proof that Limbaugh is a racist.

Supposedly, throughout the years, members who have tried to bring black people to the club have been asked to leave – including a man who brought Sammy Davis Jr. to the club in the 1970s.

But there was one member who brought a black man to the club and was allowed to stay and have lunch. That member was Rush Limbaugh, and his guest that day was Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

I said it on Monday and I’ll say it again now: Rush Limbaugh is not a racist, plain and simple. If you don’t agree with his politics, fine, but if he was really a racist, there would surely be actual statements he’s uttered over the course of more than 20 years on national radio that would demonstrate it. The fact that his media critics have to rely on these two fictional ones as part of their campaign to deny him ownership of the Rams tells you how thin the charge really is.

Oh, and those of you who plan to offer “real” Limbaugh racist quotes in the comment section, you’d better make sure you can demonstrate the quotes’ authenticity. The False Limbaugh Racist Quote Campaign is operating at full speed. Don’t be part of it.

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