Howard Kurtz Feigns Ignorance of Limbaugh's Racism
By Heather Monday Oct 19, 2009 3:00pm
Does anyone think that Howard Kurtz isn't fully aware of the documentation that Media Matters has done of the daily bigotry and racism that comes out of Limbaugh's mouth? Kurtz plays devil's advocate to ESPN's Mike Wilbon as to whether it was fair or not for the NFL to decide they didn't want Limbaugh owning a team and for black people to feel that he is racist.
Kurtz points to a single quote which Limbaugh claims he never said, and uses that as a reason to either ignore or pretend he doesn't know about all of the other racist things Rush has said on his radio show.
While I would not expect Mike Wilbon to be aware of the work Media Matters has done with documenting Rush Limbaugh's quotes, I don't know how Howard Kurtz can call himself a "media critic" and not be. Maybe he chooses to ignore them since he's been in their line of fire as well. Who knows.
I don't want Rush Limbaugh or anyone else having things they didn't say attributed to them. But Kurtz buying into Limbaugh's claim that he's some kind of victim and not actually a racist because one lousy quote out of hundreds might have been wrong looks like lazy journalism to me. One click here- Limbaugh Wire- and taking the time to read some of the work that's gone into that site and Kurtz wouldn't have to be asking his black guests what black people might have heard from Limbaugh on the radio that offended them. He'd already know.
KURTZ: Mike Wilbon, welcome.
WILBON: Thank you, Howie.
KURTZ: Let me play for you something you said on "Pardon the Interruption" soon after the news broke that Rush Limbaugh was part of a team trying to buy the St. Louis Rams.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
WILBON: I don't know whether Rush Limbaugh is a straight up bigot or he simply plays one on TV and radio, but he is universally reviled by black people in this country.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KURTZ: So, maybe a straight up bigot, universally reviled by black people. In retrospect, do you think you went a little too far?
WILBON: Universally reviled by African-Americans. That's no surprise. Anybody who wants to walk down any boulevard in predominantly African-American communities will find that out very, very quickly, Howie. No, that assessment is a very easy one to make.
KURTZ: But when you say he may be a straight up bigot, you're saying he doesn't like black folks.
WILBON: He may be. I mean, if you listen to what he says on his show -- and I stopped a long time ago, and I can't tell you specifics of what he said. Meeting him in person is one thing. I have. Communicating with him one-on-one is one thing.
His radio persona, which is all that most people have of Rush Limbaugh, particularly black people in this country, that's a different perception. And I would not back away from that comment at all.
KURTZ: All right. Let's talk a little bit about this alleged "slavery" comment.
Now, this was purported to have been said some years ago by Limbaugh: "Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back, I'm just saying it had its merits."
Let me briefly run through the chronology here. This was published in a book about three years ago. It made it on to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, and then it was picked up once the Rams story broke by Bryan Burrwell and "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch," Drew Sharp in "USA Today," CNN's Rick Sanchez, and then you mentioned it on your ESPN program.
What happened then?
