Rush Limbaugh’s NFL Bid Ends; A Brand New Cable News War Begins
Yesterday afternoon, news broke that conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh’s bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams had come to an end. But shortly before that, Limbaugh, who may have known that his dream of owning an NFL team was over, went on the offensive against his most vocal critics on cable news, particularly CNN host Rick Sanchez. Bill O’Reilly got in the fray, asking his panel if Limbaugh should sue Sanchez for libel.
On yesterday’s radio show, Limbaugh claimed that he and his staff were working “behind the scenes” “with the force of legal action” to get retractions against anyone who has publicly misquoted him during his attempt to become a part-owner of an NFL team. He appeared to be talking about CNN’s Sanchez, and had no hesitations about dredging up Sanchez’s past:
Rick “DUI, Leaving the Scene” Sanchez. Now on CNN every afternoon, spreading filth and lies, knowingly … like many journalists, he can’t take the kind of investigation or coverage he dishes out and the rest of his people dish out. They head to the tall grass, hide behind executives. I know ordinary people go to jail for this. But he was friends with the cops! As a TV reporter, he was friends with the cops. He got preferential treatment.
Limbaugh was referring to a 1990 incident that occurred in Miami, where Sanchez was a local anchor.
On The O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly claimed that discussion of Limbaugh’s past — and whether or not what he said was racist — was “1984-type stuff, ladies and gentlemen. Thought police posture.” Later in the show, O’Reilly claimed that his research staff was unable to find a specific NAACP-related quote attributed to Limbaugh.
Later in the show, O’Reilly hosted a panel of legal experts to discuss Rush Limbaugh’s legal options, and they, too, seemed to be taking a few digs at Sanchez:
Rick Sanchez quotes appear in the following clip found on a website called “RushisaRacist,” a site that appears to exist for the sole reason of keeping Limbaugh out of the ranks of NFL owners. The clip was produced by “Brave New Films,” a production company responsible for a number of aggressively liberal films. The Sanchez quote is in the first 20 seconds:
As we’ve seen in the past, there’s no great love between Rick Sanchez and Fox News. Now that his war with Limbaugh is spilling over to Fox by proxy, it’s unlikely that will change anytime soon.
