We Shouldn't Stop Talking About Race

By: Nathan McCall

One day I asked my college students their views on the state of race in America. A young lady rolled her eyes and clucked her tongue. "Well," she said, "maybe if everybody stopped talking about it so much, it would go away."

"Actually," I told her, "it won't."

Anybody who thinks they can simply wish away the frustrations of race is ignoring this country's very identity. It is as steeped in our culture as the American flag. From the nation's founding, race was an idea constructed to justify slavery. For some it has been a serviceable, if destructive, tool ever since.

Consider radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, who regularly uses race to rally millions of loyal listeners with loaded statements, such as "melanin is thicker than water." And what about Glenn Beck, who pumped up the volume, ranting that the term "African American" is "stupid"? CONTINUE....

Michael Steele Holding Onto GOP Chair – But For How Long?

By: Michael H. Cottman

Michael Steele, the embattled chairman of the Republican National Committee, is pushing back against his critics by focusing on fundraising, filling key positions within the GOP leadership – and keeping a lower profile.

Under fire from Republicans for his recent controversial remarks about abortion and his criticism of Rush Limbaugh, Steele announced last week that the RNC has $24 million cash-on-hand, raised $5.1 million in February and is currently debt free.

“The Republican National Committee is in a strong financial position thanks to our motivated base of supporters and contributors,” Steele said in a statement. “We are building the organization we need to be successful in 2009 and beyond.”

For weeks, Steele’s Republican critics have been urging him to refrain from conducting media interviews and spend more time working on behalf of the RNC. Some have called for his ouster, and others have practically written Steele’s political obituary.

It appears Steele is getting the message: He recently hired a communications director, a political director and has declined all recent requests for interviews with the media. One GOP advisor said Steele is "pulling back" from media interviews to focus on the nuts and bolts of the party's business. The RNC also released a new Web video Friday, titled “Mystery Solved.” The video blames Democrats for the AIG controversy involving executive bonuses.

One senior GOP strategist told BlackAmericaWeb.com that Steele is staying on the job.

“There is no way he can be elected out at this point,” the strategist said. “Can't and won't happen. The true test of his effectiveness will be in the fundraising numbers, and so far, they're not bad in comparison to this time last year. Folks need to give Steele that same opportunity. Leave him alone, and let him do his job.”

But Steele’s critics have accused Steele of running off at the mouth and talking before he’s clearly thought through the issues.

Michael Steele Holding Onto GOP Chair – But For How Long?....

How Sorry is the GOP?

Pretty sorry. When the chairman of the RNC apologizes to a talk show host, you know things are in bad shape.

By: Sophia A. Nelson

In a few words, Rush Limbaugh has lost it. Not only did he show up at CPAC last weekend to rile up the conservative GOP base, but he challenged the president of the United States to a debate on his show. Is this guy for real?

As for my friend and fellow Republican Michael Steele, who recently apologized to Limbaugh for calling him an "entertainer" with an "incendiary" show, he needs to take a step back and regroup. His apology was ill-considered, and his RNC political advisers are not serving him well.

Poor Michael. He is stuck in a party gone rogue, and we all know it. Caught between the conservative right and the moderate centrist American political temperament, Mr. Steele has to walk a fine line.

Let me be clear. As someone who wrestles daily with her affiliation in the GOP, Mr. Chairman, your job as the leader of the GOP is not to kiss up to Rush Limbaugh or to late-night political pundits. Your job is to build the party at the grassroots level and expand the party to become more diverse, open and focused on important policy matters like the economy. You missed a golden opportunity on D.L. Hughley’s CNN show when Rush Limbaugh’s name came up. Yes, you are the head of the Republican Party, but you made a bad fumble when you apologized to Limbaugh for simply stating the obvious.

Where is your heart? Why would you and others like Rep. Phil Gingrey apologize to a man who proudly proclaims that he [Limbaugh] is “talent on loan from God”?

Limbaugh may have 20 million listeners, but he is the “de facto leader” of nothing. He is a radio shock jock with a $400 million contract, who in the last several years has said some of the most offensive things about black people and our new president.

How Sorry is the GOP?....

Steele: Rush Isn't The GOP's Leader -- He's An Entertainer

Black Radio on Obama Is Left’s Answer to Limbaugh

By JIM RUTENBERG

ATLANTA — Warren Ballentine, one of black talk radio’s new stars, was on a tear against Senator John McCain as he broadcast from the Greenbriar Mall here last week, blithely dismissing Mr. McCain’s kind words about Senator Barack Obama at the recent N.A.A.C.P. national convention.

“He came out talking about how good of a race Barack Obama was running, and how proud he was of Barack,” Mr. Ballentine said. “You know he went back home and said, ‘I can’t believe I spoke in front of all those Negroes today!’ ”

“He was pandering to the crowd, talking about how he felt when Martin Luther King Jr. died,” Mr. Ballentine went on. “However, he didn’t vote for the holiday of Martin Luther King Jr.”

Rush Limbaugh, meet your black liberal counterprogramming. Mr. Ballentine is one of the many African-American radio hosts and commentators who are aggressively advocating for Mr. Obama’s election on black-oriented radio stations daily.

Since Mr. Limbaugh first flexed his tonsils two decades ago, Democrats have publicly worried about their lack of an answer to him and his imitators, who have proven so adept at motivating conservative Republicans to go to the polls, especially for President Bush.

Black Radio on Obama Is Left’s Answer to Limbaugh....

Commentary: Rush Limbaugh’s $400 Million Score May Be Good for Business, but It’s Bad for the Country

By Tonyaa Weathersbee

For a drug addict, it’s one helluva score.

Rush Limbaugh, the painkiller-popping king of right-wing talk radio, recently received a $400 million reward to continue marginalizing and ridiculing anyone who threatens the universe to which folks like him believe they are born to rule.

According to The New York Times, Clear Channel Communications and its syndication subsidiary, Premiere Radio Networks, are giving Limbaugh that chunk of change to help it expand its reach during a time when iPods and satellite radio are siphoning listeners. Right now, Limbaugh attracts around 14 to 20 million listeners in an average week.

That’s a wise business decision for the future of radio. But it’s a tragic decision for the future of this country.

Think about it.

COMMENTARY....

SENATE DEMOCRATS, LIMBAUGH BATTLE OVER HOST'S COMMENTS

PREMIERE RADIO NETWORKS syndicated talk host RUSH LIMBAUGH said MONDAY that the Democrats on CAPITOL HILL who are calling for censure of LIMBAUGH for his comments on anti-war troops are misrepresenting his comments in an attempt to discredit him.

"This is not just the anatomy of a smear. There's much more going on with this than just smearing me. There is an attempt, I think, as they have done throughout my career, to discredit me," LIMBAUGH told listeners. "These people have had three, four days now to learn the truth about this, and they no doubt know the truth, which doesn't matter. What they are trying to do is flood a false story into the 'drive-by media' and have that survive and suffice as the evidence and as the story of what I said when it wasn't."

Senate Democrats demanded an apology MONDAY for LIMBAUGH's remark to a pro-war soldier that the soldiers promoted in the news media as representing anti-war sentiment in the military are "phony soldiers." The Senators also demanded a repudiation of LIMBAUGH from CLEAR CHANNEL President MARK MAYS.

Senate Majority Leader HARRY REID said, "RUSH LIMBAUGH took it upon himself to attack the courage and character of those fighting and dying for him and for all of us. RUSH LIMBAUGH got himself a deferment from serving when he was a young man. He never served in uniform. He never saw in person the extreme difficulty of maintaining peace in a foreign country engaged in a civil war. He never saw a person in combat. Yet, that he thinks his opinion on the war is worth more than those who have been on the front lines. RUSH LIMBAUGH owes the men and women of our armed forces an apology."

LIMBAUGH says that the comment was intended to refer to JESSE MACBETH, the former soldier who was convicted of fraud and had falsely claimed to have participated in war crimes in IRAQ when he only served 44 days and never went to IRAQ, although the plural "soldiers" does not refer to an individual person.

The controversy is being promoted by MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA, the same liberal media organization that fueled the DON IMUS controversy.