Last updated on February 9th, 2013 at 07:43 am
Rush Limbaugh claimed to be speaking for black America today, saying, “If the truth be known, African Americans, especially at leadership levels like the NAACP think Obama has abandoned them.” Limbaugh then proceeded to explain how if Romney got 3-5% of the black vote, Obama would lose. This is the same day that Romney got booed at the NAACP for saying he would repeal Obama Care.
The big lie that Limbaugh was selling was that 3%-5% of the African-American vote will guarantee a Romney victory. In 2008 John McCain got 5% of the African-American vote, and lost. Limbaugh was trying to lower the bar for Romney, but as usual his statement was reality challenged.
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While Rush always enjoys having fun at his audience’s expense, the bad news is that they are generally too witless to realize they were being used. Rush has always been obsessed with black people – in a negative way. He is likely negatively obsessed with President Obama. Republicans in general are determined that blacks not vote for the first black president, a determination that rests largely on wishful thinking.
Listen via Media Matters:
“Do you find it interesting that of the two presidential candidates, Romney is the one who went to the NAACP. Obama is not going. It’s not that he hasn’t been yet. I don’t think Obama’s going. Obama, he doesn’t want to go to the NAACP precisely because the black unemployment rate is 14 percent precisely because if the truth be known, they feel let down. If the truth be known, African Americans, especially at leadership levels like the NAACP think Obama has abandoned them. There hasn’t been one fulfillment of any dream they had.
I want you to put yourself in their position, with what they think about life in this country since the founding, including slavery all of that stuff, affirmative action, discrimination left and right, you name it. First black president is elected. You know that they had dreams and aspirations they thought a whole bunch of getting even with ’em was gonna be happening. They thought a whole bunch of wrongs were gonna be fixed. They thought well who knows specifically but you know they had high expectations for Obama and not one of them has been met. The people who wanted a new kitchen don’t have it, the people who wanted a new car don’t have it, the people who wanted jobs don’t have it.
And so Obama is not showing up. Romney did. Romney knows. Gets 3 percent of the black vote and you throw this election into a tizzy. Get 5 percent of the black vote and Obama loses.”
Limbaugh is apparently operating under the assumption that his 2009 claim that “Obama’s entire economic program is reparations” is true. The problem with arguments based on false premises is that if the premise is false, the argument is as flaccid as Limbaugh.
None of this should come as a surprise. He has previously referred to Obama as a “halfrican American” and we all remember when Rush said that Obama and Oprah were only successful because they are black, and accused Obama of being “uppity”. Then there was the memorable occasion on which Rush said of blacks that ”They are 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?” And who can forget “Barack the Magic Negro”?
With these attitudes, which are hardly rare among white Republicans, that Rush would think blacks would hurry to cast their votes for the whitest president in recent history is anyone’s guess. Romney was booed by the NAACP for a reason, and it wasn’t racism – it was recognition that Romney is not going to do anything to advance the cause for which the NAACP stands.
Rush may have convinced himself that he’s never uttered a “racist syllable” on his show, and his listeners likely believe the same is true of them – it’s all satire after all and black and liberals have no sense of humor – but nobody else is fooled, as will become apparent on Election Day.
Rush Limbaugh thinks he speaks for black Americans, which just goes to show how out of touch he really is. Next he’ll claim ownership of Sandra Fluke’s vote.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
