A Demented Rush Limbaugh Claims that the 2008 Democratic Primary Was Full of Racism and Bigotry

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:04 pm

On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh managed to revise the history of the 2008 presidential election to claim that the Democratic primary, not the general election, was full of, “racism and bigotry, and debating if Obama was authentic.” Limbaugh is obviously confusing the Democratic primary with the general election.

Here is the audio courtesy of Media Matters:

Limbaugh said, “This Clinton comment, ‘Come on Ted, I mean a couple years ago this guy would be fetching us coffee,’ hardly any attention paid to that at all. Willie Brown said, ‘There’s not a racist bone in Bill Clinton’s body,’ not a racist bone in Bill Clinton’s body. How can you say that after the campaign of 2008, the primary campaign? For crying out loud the Democrat Party was full of nothing but racism and bigotry and debating whether or not Obama was authentic.”

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Okay, Rush Limbaugh’s statements are completely insane. He is assuming that Bill Clinton was talking about race exclusively. The comment itself could have been referring to Obama’s lack of experience in comparison to Clintons’ time in the White House, but there are racial overtones to Clinton’s comments, whether they were intended or not.

Limbaugh is trying to paint the Democratic Party as racist, even though the overwhelming majority of minorities support the Democratic Party. Let’s also not overlook the obvious irony of a rich, old, white guy complaining about the racism in the Democratic Party, while he managed to cut the African American chairman of his own party off at the knees.

It appears that Limbaugh has completely forgotten about the 2008 general election campaign, during which the Republican Party was engaged in fear mongering because Obama is half African American. (This is a right wing tactic which is still going strong).

The Republican Party would have more credibility on the race issue, if they could attract more minorities to their party. The GOP complaints about racism are a lot like an arsonist complaining about all of the fires in his neighborhood.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association