Wait, Isn't The Right Supposed To Be Racist?

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By: Jenée Desmond-Harris

As sexual harassment allegations against black Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain surfaced this week, conservative supporters rallied to his defense. Rush Limbaugh, who's famous for nothing if not his racist radio rants, has taken up for the gospel-singing, former Godfather's Pizza CEO who's leading in the GOP polls. Conservatives who would normally balk at any allegation of racism don't seem put off in the least by the assertion, made by Cain's PAC, that the attacks on him represent a Clarence Thomas-esque "high-tech lynching."

This seemingly unconditional embrace of Cain -- who brags that his ancestors were slaves, wants to be called "black American" instead of "African American" and has nicknamed himself "the Black Walnut" -- isn't new: He won the Florida straw poll and is neck and neck with Mitt Romney in Iowa. Republicans praise his plain-speaking debate style and call him "genuine." CONTINUE....

Related articles

• Ho Sit Down: Rush Limbaugh Adds His Two Cents On Herman Cain Issue "It Really Is About Blacks Getting Too Uppity" (bossip.com)
• Are the Herman Cain-Clarence Thomas Comparisons Fair? (usnews.com)
• Herman Cain-Clarence Thomas Comparisons Made By GOP Base Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations (huffingtonpost.com)
• Anita Hill Advisor Says Accusers Have Reasons to Fear Coming Forward (abcnews.go.com)

White America Has Lost Its Mind

Todd Harrison (iStockphoto)

By Steven Thrasher

About 12:01 on the afternoon of January 20, 2009, the white American mind began to unravel.

It had been a pretty good run up to that point. The brains of white folks had been humming along cogently for near on 400 years on this continent, with little sign that any serious trouble was brewing. White people, after all, had managed to invent a spiffy new form of self-government so that all white men (and, eventually, women) could have a say in how white people were taxed and governed. White minds had also nearly universally occupied just about every branch of that government and, for more than two centuries, had kept sole possession of the leadership of its executive branch (whose parsonage, after all, is called the White House).

But when that streak was broken—and, for the first time, a non-white president accepted the oath of office—white America rapidly began to lose its grip.

MORE....

Limbaugh Dropped From Group Seeking to Buy Rams

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams. Limbaugh was to be a limited partner in a group headed by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts. 

Limbaugh's NFL Bid Draws Fire

The Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson attacked the bid by Rush Limbaugh to buy the St. Louis Rams on Monday, saying the conservative radio host's track record on race should exclude him from owning an NFL team.

Cheney and Limbaugh Cut from the Same Stupid, Racist Cloth

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

No one should be surprised that Dick Cheney would pick his chicken hawk chum, Rush Limbaugh, over Colin Powell as the best hope for leading the GOP out of the political wilderness.

They do, after all, have a lot in common.

This week, the former vice-president generated his own version of shock and awe when he told “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer that he believes the polarizing radio talker offers Republicans a better way back to relevancy than the former secretary of state.

That statement left some folks aghast.

Powell is, after all, a military hero who, in spite of the subterranean poll numbers of Cheney and his former boss, George W. Bush, is still popular and respected. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is basically an entertainer who appeals to prejudice rather than reason; a man who has run little more than his mouth.

But as I said, no one should be shocked at Cheney’s preference for Limbaugh – as they are virtually doppelgangers in the ways of hypocrisy and intolerance.

Both men, for example, believe that bluster is sound defense policy. They measure patriotism through leaders’ willingness to wage war, yet when they had a chance to prove theirs by going to Vietnam, they didn’t.

Cheney managed to get five deferments. In fact, he even once said that he had other priorities besides military service.

Obviously, he didn’t give the same consideration to thousands of other young men and women as he urged Bush to wage an unnecessary war in Iraq.

Cheney and Limbaugh Cut from the Same Stupid, Racist Cloth....

President Obama's Cool Aside, Let's Hope the Fight in Him Comes Out

By: Deborah Mathis

There has yet to be a president who does not disappoint. That includes the current one, who is, for many of us, is as good as it gets.

I wish President Obama had told Rush Limbaugh that he would debate him when his ego was small enough to fit into the East Room.

I wish he would be as decisive about reinstituting the assault weapons ban as he was about lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research.

I wish he would direct the Justice Department to prosecute the authorizers of torture against “enemy combatants.”

I wish he had given Hugo Chavez a book about the cruelties of Latin American dictators since Chavez played the president in publicly offering a book that portrays the U.S. as a thieving, conniving, bullying cheat.

I wish he would tell the various homegrown fiends where to get off when they sling racial invectives at him or call him “facist” or question his religion or legitimacy in office.

I wish he would show some temper, or some sorrow, or some excitement or something other than the perpetually too cool for words demeanor for which he is fast becoming legend.

Were that the case, our president would be batting a thousand with me.

But his presidency would be in deep trouble.

COMMENTARY....

Michael Steele: Rush Goof Was Part of My Strategy

RNC Chairman Michael Steele on CNN, March 25, 2009