Rush Limbaugh: If Barack Obama were Caucasian...

So apparently the new tactic for Republican attacks on Obama is to question his intelligence in a racially tinged manner, thus implying that Barack Obama is receiving some kind of undue advantage due to his racial heritage.

Rush Limbaugh in commenting on an admittedly awkward moment in one of Obama's recent speeches said yesterday:

I am just telling you, if this guy were Dan Quayle -- if he -- can I channel Geraldine Ferraro? If Barack Obama were Caucasian, they would have taken this guy out on the basis of pure ignorance long ago.

Um. Right. Isn't Dan Quayle still active in the Republican party? Is Limbaugh really comparing Obama to Dan "Potatoe" Quayle, the man who said to the United Negro College Fund:

You take the United Negro College Fund model that what a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.

Or who said of human exploration on Mars:

Mars is essentially in the same orbit [as earth]....Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.

I mean, really. If anyone received an unfair advantage, it's Dan Quayle, born into a wealthy and well-connected publishing family. Barack Obama wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth and no one can say the Harvard Law-educated brother ain't got more than a couple of brain cells to rub together.


There's audio over at Media Matters. Grrr.

Rush Limbaugh's Official Obama Criticizer

So here's a preview of how the Republicans will be attacking Obama if he wins the nomination -- using other black folks as vehicles for their own hateful messages. They know they can't get away with minstrelsy so they have to hide behind black people they've hired to do their dirty work. Hat tip to No More Mister Nice Guy and alert reader Akilah on this one.

I think it's instructive to share the whole transcript with you straight off Racist Rush's own website. "Bo Snerdley" is really a poor sad lost brother named James Gordon whose day job is to act as Limbaugh's call screener. Emphasis mine to denote the regular version of their Obama critique and the head-shaking "translation for EIB brothers and sisters in the hood." Enjoy the demeaning mixture of racism, sexism and Ebonics in that part.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Barack Obama was on our San Antonio EIB affiliate WOAI with anchor Jim Forsyth. Forsyth said, "Senator Obama, what's your feeling on this picture incident," where you're dressed up out there like Bin Laden, "and politics like this?"

OBAMA: I think the American people are saddened when they see this kind of politics. Everybody knows that whether it's me, or Senator Clinton, or Bill Clinton, that when you travel to other countries, oftentimes they ask you to, you know, try on a traditional, uhh, garb that has been given as a gift. Uh, the notion that the Clinton campaign would be trying to circulate this, um, as a negative, uh, on the same day that, you know, Senator Clinton was scheduled to make a speech about how we repair our relationships around the world, uh, I think is sad.

RUSH: We turn now to the Official EIB Obama Criticizer, Bo Snerdley.

SNERDLEY: This is Bo Snerdley, Official EIB Barack Criticizer, African-American, certified black guy, black enough to criticize. I have a statement: "Senator Obama, your reaction to the release of the picture showing you in native garb with your extended family in Africa was...regretful. While the motives of the Clinton camp in disseminating the image are clear, your response was baffling. Instead of acting wounded, whining, and like you're ashamed of the photo in the first place; it would have been wiser for you to take pride in the photo. Explain that world leaders, such as yourself, often wear the traditional garb when you visit foreign lands -- especially if you're visiting your family! You could have also dug up the pictures of both Bill and Hillary Clinton attired in similar African garb while they were pretending to be the black president and first lady. Bad form, Mr. Obama. You need to develop a much thicker skin, and not fall for Clinton tricks."

Now, the translation for EIB brothers and sisters in the hood. "Yo, oh! What's up with you acting dissed when they only rolled out a shot of you with your African garb. Yo! You were in the mother land with the peeps. That was lame, yo! These are your peeps. You were stylin'. Instead of acting dissed, you shoulda rolled out large and told Clinton and everybody else what was up. This is what the big dogs do, yo, not like Bill faking it, putting on some kente cloth when he goes to Africa, then forgetting all about the home boys when he comes back home. Like that. You shoulda also told Hillary: 'Yo, baby, maybe if you dress up in some costumes and get out of that bumblebee outfit, you might keep your man at home for a change.' Okay? You feel me? Don't fall for Clinton 'trickinology,' bro." That concludes this statement.

RUSH: That's Official Obama Criticizer Bo Snerdley, ladies and gentlemen, here at the EIB Network. Bill Clinton also wanted to weigh in today...

ObamaGirl Video -- Harold Ford-style Fraud?

A lot of people have been asking what is up with the cheezy, sex-infused, supposedly amateur I've Got A Crush on Obama video. While it's caused a sensation on the YouTubes and in the MSM, African-American Political Pundit has dug a bit deeper and written a great piece on this. After all, the fact that the audio/video was played on Racist Rush Limbaugh's show should be cause for pause.

Seems all is not what it appears to be. Is this an attempt to prey on some whites' discomfort with a black man's appeal to white women? We've seen that lever pulled before with the RNC-calculated "Harold, Call Me" commercial in which a blond bombshell talks about meeting TN Senate candidate Harold Ford at a Playboy party.

Ugh.

AAPP links to this Newsbusters article that dishes the dirt on the originator of this garbage: a new site called BarelyPolitical.com. Certainly, it's living up to its name. A commenter on Young Black Professional Guide wonders correctly IMHO: is this a trojan horse?

Racist Rush and Magic Negro Story Hits the Today Show

This am I was surprised to see that the highest rated morning news and talk show Today ran a story around 7:30am about Rush Limbaugh and the "Barack the Magic Negro" controversy. The meme of "Barack the Magic Negro" all by itself that illustrates the new media landscape where a blog post that I wrote Jan 17 can end up possibly inspiring a newspaper column on Mar 19 (that also appeared online) that crossed back over to a different set of blogs and then to conservative talk radio (see the video/hear the song). Back to the left-leaning blogs and then into TV news.

Or something like that.

Watch the Today show segment here. I think they did a good job of describing the story's arc, ending the segment with the question: "Legitimate political satire...or something darker?"

The conservative site Newsbusters is peeved that this is a two month old story and they are right about Today being a bit slow on the ball. I'm glad that more people are hearing about Rush's racism and that NBC courageously asked about the lack of outcry from Rush's audience. They also ask if this is just what his audience expects from him. Rush refused to give a statement on the Today show but does feel the sting. Racist Rush has an elaborate and growing defense on his website that is now distancing himself from the Paul Shanklin video.

In fact, in this piece, this guy refers to "the video that Paul Shanklin and I put together" of Barack, the Magic Negro -- and I just want to warn you at NBC like we had to warn these people at Channel 13 in Sacramento. If you purport to say that any video with this parody song has anything to do with me, you are in for some trouble, because we don't do videos here at the EIB Network. It's a radio show.

Cuz there's such a huge difference apparently?

Oh and also Clarence Page, a black guy, likes it so it must be OK:

there's a Chicago Tribune column also that we have linked, the Clarence Page piece where he says (paraphrased), "Limbaugh's parody is funny. It's good. It's true. I don't particularly like it, but this is not an Imus situation."

The Today show segment mostly left out the blog activity though Michael Okwu did interview David Ehrenstein who wrote the Barack the Magic Negro story for the L.A. Times and a rep from Media Matters who compared Limbaugh's so-called parody to old-time minstrel shows (which is right on target -- their coverage has been great).

Ehrenstein pointed out the roots of the term "magic negro" and explained over NBC's airing of a clip from "Bagger Vance" (groan) that it refers to a black character who appears out of nowhere to save white characters. He stated: "I was trying to start a conversation."

So was I when I first wrote my post. But I was trying to start that conversation mainly among black people. To see Racist Rush mis-appropriate the term with no reference at all to the original basis of the term was troubling to say the least. Limbaugh continues to invoke the Imus Defense: "Well, They said it first. Why is it off-limits for me?" Yet, just as that didn't fly for Don Imus, it falls flat for Racist Rush because he twists the term magic negro into something different than either Ehrenstein or I actually discussed or intended. In the song Limbaugh airs on his show, a white man parodying Al Sharpton sings:

Oh, Barack the Magic Negro, lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s black, but not authentically.

Authenticity as a black man or woman is essential to the believability of the "magic negro" literary trope. And interestingly, Limbaugh has failed to address the Amos 'n Andy style complete with full Ebonics imitation of Al Sharpton by a white guy to date as featured. As DiversityInc Magazine notes, the original title of Paul Shanklin's video for Rush was entitled: "U Da Real Negro Al, Screw Obama". Hmmm.

Racist Rush is off-base and ahem, off-color -- again. Like Imus, he has a long history of racism and misogyny, but unlike the former shock jock, rarely eats his words. It's time to rein Rush in. Media Matters has no less than 412 listings to date on Racist Rush's Rap Sheet. Check it out for yourself.