Dreaming of Riots
I know we shouldn’t respond to liberal-baiting by right-wing media loons, but I think that in this election season, there is a value to pointing out to people who consider themselves ordinary Americans exactly how sick and depraved the conservative side of things can get.
Case in point: Rush Limbaugh, while playing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”–an obvious, racist reference to Hillary winning the Democratic nomination–stated on air that he dreams of, hopes for race riots in Denver to sink the chances for a Democratic win in November.
The dream end of this is that this keeps up to the convention and we have a replay of Chicago 1968 with burning cars, protests, fires, literal riots, and all of that. That’s that’s the objective here. … Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats.
The fact that he called the riots an “objective” is what spurred many to understand that he was calling for, trying to instigate riots; with his “Operation: Chaos” history, the impression was that Dittoheads would descend upon Denver and spark the riots themselves, then blame blacks and Democrats for the violence. Rush denied this, insisting that he only expected blacks to riot and prayed for such an outcome, not that he would try to instigate such an outcome (which, after all, would be a felony offense).
When a caller confronted him with this the next day, he claimed that his conduct on the show demonstrated “nothing but love, care and concern for people,” then proceeded to call the woman he was talking to a “mush head.” Defending himself on his racist-toned Denver riot fantasy, he claimed that it was Al Sharpton who was reprehensible and responsible:
The fact is that the Democrat Party has members in it that have already said, ‘There will be riots,’ or something to that effect. Al Sharpton. He was throwing down the gauntlet to the superdelegates: ‘You take this election away from Barack Obama, and there’s gonna be trouble. There’s going to be trouble in Denver.’
Because, as we all know, if Al Sharpton warns of “trouble in Denver,” that has to mean race riots and nothing else, like a contested convention that could be harmful to the party. Reportedly, after making that statement, Sharpton then went straight to Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem and ordered an “M.F.’ing iced tea.”
I searched the web for any independent source of the Sharpton quote, and could find nothing at all. Rush either picked up on some stealth report of Sharpton’s words, or twisted Sharpton’s words so far out of context that it would not be possible to find the actual quote, or just made up the attribution out of whole cloth.
Whatever the case, whether Sharpton said there would be trouble or not, Limbaugh is showing the same propensity he did when he jumped on an L.A. Times article about the film archetype “magic negro” to launch a weeklong racial tirade against Sharpton and Obama. The pattern is to take a marginal statement out of the media and use it as cover for allowing his racist attitudes to take flight. It’s not him who is racist, you see–he’s just commenting on racial matters that someone else brought up.
Remember also that Limbaugh, while outrageous, is not some fringe loon–he popularly represents a mainstream Republican caucus. If you’re considering voting Republican, consider carefully the company you keep.
I don’t think Limbaugh should ever be understated or ignored. This man has literally has tens of millions listening to him everyday. My last real job, which I quit back in April 2005 (big mistake on my part) was dominated by Engineers (packing equipment manufacturer), Accountants, MBAs and other quantitative types (maybe I was the only liberal in the building – my own boss had as his screen saver the picture of Bush on Mount Rushmore, and his Boss had a photo of Bush in his office – which is part of the reason I left, as conservative policies began to fail, there was simmering resentment just below the surface,). When the bathroom at our end of the building was undergoing remodeling I had to walk about 100 yards across a giant cube farm to the other end of the building. If I went during Rush Limbaugh’s show, I could hear his voice coming out of the various engineer’s cubes all the way to the other side of the cube farm.
He should not be underestimated. I find it interesting that so many people with quantitative aptitudes find affinity with hard right republican views.
You can be, if Rush Limbaugh calls for it, there will be ditto-heads in Denver. Now personally, I think this is reason alone for him being stripped of his ability to broadcast over the airwaves – he is fomenting violence.
But this brings up another issue. I don’t understand why African-Americans need to take a passive role here. They have perhaps the most cohesive voting block in the country and they should be using it to their advantage.
In the instant case, I don’t see why the Black caucus doesn’t approach Hillary and say, that, because it is impossible for her to win the nomination by legal or normal means she should step out AND that if she continues to undermine Obama’s chances, that they will put a black stalking horse candidate in every election she runs for in the future , be it President, Senator, Governor or Dog Catcher. The fact is, Hillary cannot win any political contests without African Americans solidly behind her.
If they did this, Hillary would do a swift political calculation, and if their threat is bonefide, would quietly fold her hand and walk away from the table.
You see, there is no need of riots. The black vote is cohesive enough that the black caucus can broker for their loyalty in advance. If Hillary calls their bluff, and continues, and she undermines Obama, or some how manages to steal the nominiation, the blacks can just put up a third party stalking horse to run against Hillary in the general, or short of that, encourage blacks to write in Obama.
I think it’s interesting though, that Hillary and Rush Limbaugh, and Scaife, and all types of left wing wingnuts are in alignment and alliance.