Limbaugh: Steinbrenner ‘Cracker’ Remark Was ‘Absurd To Illustrate Absurdity’
On his radio program yesterday, Rush Limbaugh took a segment to sing the praises of the recently deceased George Steinbrenner, a “cracker who made a lot of African-American millionaires.” It didn’t take long for Al Sharpton to call for an apology and liberal websites to go on the offensive, and now Limbaugh tells Yahoo News’ Michael Calderone that the fact that he is being attacked for this is a sign of “how bad things are for the left.”
Limbaugh explained to Calderone, who reached out for comment on the matter, that his intention– and his “stock in trade”– is “illustrating the absurd by being absurd,” and that the use of the term “cracker” (and retelling of his help to African Americans around him) was, in essence, an attempt to ridicule the New Black Panther Party:
“In the past two weeks, the President of the NBPP, Malik Zulu Shabazz, has been in the media attacking white crackers. One of the NBPP members from the Philly incident, King Samir Shabazz, appeared at a rally and suggested that blacks would only be free when all the crackers were dead and further said that killing cracker babies was called for […]
So…George Steinbrenner dies and I, being absurd to illustrate absurdity, make my comments, pointing out that this cracker created many African American MILLIONAIRES (and fired a bunch of white managers) to establish HIS CRED!!!”
He also takes a shot at Media Matters, who he admits actually “does listen” to his show, but “purposefully distort the things I say” and then spread the distortion to reporters who “print the erroneous take.” Vice President of Research & Communications Ari Rabin-Havt responded by arguing that “Rush just hates that his abhorrent remarks are now available to those not in his listening audience.”
It seems like his comments were, as many on his program are, deliberately baiting the other side to take offense, but it is strange to see Limbaugh so frankly admit that he was intending to be absurd, rather than standing by his words as serious in order to further infuriate (or, as he says in the email, make the left “pretend to be offended” by his “clever” comments) the other side.
Calderone has published the full email he received from Limbaugh to avoid taking Limbaugh out of context over at Yahoo , where Limbaugh explains he appreciation for Steinbrenner in detail.
