RADIO TIDBITS

Last week, I heard Foamer Levin screech about the extremely high cost of illegal immigration, based mostly upon a study by Robert E. Rector and Christine Kim of the Heritage Foundation. Today, Insannity also discussed this and I finally got around to locating it and looking for a reasoned critique of what I assumed to be another piece of hackery from Heritage. Mark Thoma of Economist's View has stepped up once again and provided a devastating response.

Fats Limbaugh accused Media Matters of being an intellectually dishonest (!) front for Hilary/Soros/the DNC. Fats was upset that Paul Waldman of Media Matters went on Scarborough Country to criticize Fats for his "Barack the Magic Negro" parody and had the audacity to suggest that Fats might be a racist piglet. Here's an MSNBC link to the video (I'm not sure how long the link will be hot).

Here's the transcript of the entire segment:

ABRAMS: Coming up, Rosie O‘Donnell accuses cable news shows of twisting her words around. She says she didn‘t say U.S. troops are terrorists. Oh, really? We‘ll go back to the tape to find out. That story‘s coming up, as we bring back “Beat the Press.”
But, first, you‘ve heard that to get on SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY you need to commit of the seven deadly sins. Well, tonight, we‘re spinning the wheel of sin to find out which one makes the big show. Tonight‘s subject: wrath.
Courtesy of the world of talk radio and a current controversial song from Rush Limbaugh‘s show that‘s got some saying he‘s gone to far. NBC‘s Michael Okwu has more on Rush‘s racially charged parody of Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL OKWU, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the line...
DON IMUS, RADIO HOST: Those are some nappy-headed hos.
OKWU: ... that got us all asking: When is the line crossed? But weeks before the Imus controversy, Rush Limbaugh started airing this ditty about Senator Barack Obama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Barack the magic Negro, lives in D.C....
OKWU: Which leads some to wonder, has Limbaugh been getting a free pass?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): ... because he‘s not authentic like me...
OKWU: The voice, a white political satirist imitating Al Sharpton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): ... some say Barack‘s articulate and bright and new and clean...
PAUL WALDMAN, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: This is basically the radio equivalent of a black-faced minstrel show, you know, going back to Amos and Andy and all of those kind of racist shows of the past.
OKWU: For his part, Obama says he doesn‘t listen to Limbaugh, but says being targeted is part of being a politician.
MICHAEL HARRISON, PUBLISHER, “TALKERS MAGAZINE”: It‘s insulting, it‘s in bad taste, but it‘s legitimate political satire.
OKWU: Limbaugh declined an interview, but in his broadcast suggests the song is simply a parody based on a newspaper column about Obama written by journalist David Ehrenstein.
DAVID EHRENSTEIN, WRITER: ... the magic Negro was chiefly as a term used in talking about films, in which you would have black characters who would suddenly come out of nowhere and come to the rescue of white characters.
WILL SMITH, ACTOR: You‘ve lost your swing. We‘ve got to go find it.
EHRENSTEIN: I was just simply trying to get a conversation going.
How it‘s gone is another question.
OKWU: Paul Waldman says Limbaugh has no excuse.
WALDMAN: He‘s trying to get himself off the hook by saying, “Oh, it‘s somebody else who did it. It‘s not really me.”
OKWU: Media watchdogs say there‘s no hue and cry to stop Limbaugh, because he speaks to a niche audience who either expects this or is willing to let him slide. And his target in this case is a public figure, a presidential candidate, not a college women‘s basketball team.
Funny or bad taste?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): ... don‘t vote the magic Negro in...
OKWU: Legitimate political satire or something darker?
Michael Okwu, NBC News, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABRAMS: Here now is Paul Waldman. You saw him in that piece, senior fellow at the liberal media watchdog Media Matters. You just saw him in that story. And John Fund from the “Wall Street Journal.”
Thanks very much, gentlemen, for coming on the show.
All right, Mr. Waldman, you know, you‘re saying that Rush is getting effectively a free pass here. But, you know, a lot of people are going to say, look, you know, we‘re all sort of going to this point where no one on the radio is going to be able to say just about anything. What‘s your response?
PAUL WALDMAN, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: Well, you know, if this had been the first time that Rush Limbaugh did something like this, that would be one thing. But he has a long, long history, going back to his entire time in radio, of making these kinds of racist jokes.
I mean, he said that the NAACP should get a liquor store and practice robberies. Just a couple weeks ago, he did another one of these song parodies, with this guy imitating Al Sharpton, singing, “R-e-s-p-e-c-k.” And, you know, there are so many other examples. This isn‘t the first time. It‘s not the fifth time. It‘s not even the tenth time.
And so, you know, I think, for the long time, this sort of stuff that Limbaugh does has just flown under the radar. But now people are finally beginning to take notice, and, you know, he has to be responsible for what he says.
ABRAMS: Let‘s listen to a little bit more of the song that Rush played on his radio show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Barack, the magic Negro, lives in D.C.
The “L.A. Times,” they call him that, because he‘s not authentic like me.
You had the guy from the L.A. paper said he make guilty whites feel good.
They‘ll vote for him and not for me, because he‘s not from “da hood.”
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABRAMS: You know, John, I remember during the O.J. Simpson case that there was a radio talk show host who got in enormous trouble for doing what was a parody effectively of Judge Ito in a Japanese-sounding voice. And the person was blasted for it. Different from what we‘re hearing Rush Limbaugh doing here?
JOHN FUND, “WALL STREET JOURNAL”: Well, people are blasting Rush, but apparently it‘s not getting the kind of wide outrage that Don Imus got. I mean, that parody has been running for almost two months now. Even Al Sharpton hasn‘t gotten on his soapbox to complain, and Al Sharpton certainly knows about demagoguery. And Barack Obama says, look, it‘s dumb, but, you know, this is the way things go. And so he has taken great umbrage.
The point is, there‘s a difference between Imus and legitimate political satire. Imus used insulting, derogatory language against defenseless women who should be role models of the community rather than insulted. Rush is going after presidential candidates. That‘s what all of us do for a living.
ABRAMS: I don‘t know. I mean, it seems to me that there‘s an argument to be made that there‘s a distinction without a difference, that the question is, is it racist or is it not, right?
FUND: Well, Dan, there‘s a very good way of handling this, which is, where is the outrage? Rush has been doing this for two months. Where are the demonstrators? Where‘s Al Sharpton? He‘s not...
(CROSSTALK)
ABRAMS: But, John, you‘d be the same person who would be saying, “We can‘t let Al Sharpton determine what we do.” And now you‘re saying, “We have to let Al Sharpton determine what we do.”
FUND: No, no, Barack Obama hasn‘t complained. Now, look, as for Media Matters, they‘ve done very interesting work. They‘ve often busted people‘s chops for hypocrisy. They‘re the ones who helped bring down Don Imus. Now they‘re leading this charge.
I‘m simply saying, with Don Imus, it resonated. It caught hold of the public‘s outrage factor. This they‘re also leading the charge on. It‘s not catching. It‘s going nowhere.
WALDMAN: Yes, but the thing is, it doesn‘t matter that this is a public figure. I mean, the message is the same. And the thing about Limbaugh is...
FUND: Why isn‘t there any outrage over this, Paul?
WALDMAN: The thing about Limbaugh is that, when it comes to black politicians, he always focuses on their race. You know, when he talks about Rudy Giuliani, he doesn‘t play a clip of “That‘s Amore.” But when he talks about black politicians, he always using their race to denigrate them. When Carol Moseley Braun got elected to the Senate, he used to play “Movin‘ on Up” from “The Jeffersons.” That‘s what it always comes down to, whenever it‘s a black public figure for him.
FUND: Paul, Rudy Giuliani has done “Godfather” impressions. Rush Limbaugh has done Italian commentary about Rudy Giuliani.
WALDMAN: Yes, but what does that mean, then, that anybody—that Rush Limbaugh can use any kind of racist attack that he wants to, as long as Barack Obama is not willing to pick a fight with him? I mean, it sends the same kind of message to people that, no matter how...
(CROSSTALK)
FUND: Paul, answer the question. Where is the outrage?
WALDMAN: It doesn‘t matter if you‘re an athlete or you‘re a politician. When you‘re an African-American, that‘s how he‘s going to go after you.
ABRAMS: Hang on. Hang on. Let me—to be fair here to Rush Limbaugh, let‘s give him a chance, in his own words, to respond. He blasted NBC on his show today, calling this a non-story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: They had to try to get this wrong. There‘s no other way this could happen. And they don‘t even understand the point of the parody, “Barack the Magic Negro.” It‘s a piece on Al Sharpton. It‘s not even a hit piece on Obama. And everything in it was originated by liberals. You know all this. Here I am, I‘m doing a threquel now. This is about a fourteen-quel. Trying to explain this, and they just don‘t want to get it right. It‘s just a smear. I mean, this happens every day to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABRAMS: Paul, what do you make of that?
WALDMAN: Well, you know, he‘s acting more defensive than he usually does, which I think is in and of itself kind of interesting, that he does keep coming back to this and trying to explain. He‘s not apologizing. Rush Limbaugh never apologizes.
But, you know, as I said, this is not the first time, not the fifth time, not the tenth time. He does this kind of stuff all the time. And whenever there‘s a black public figure, race is the focus. And that‘s what he‘s going to use to denigrate them. So, you know, these kind of protestations that, “Oh, somebody else said it. It‘s just humor,” you know, those excuses just don‘t wash.
ABRAMS: And, John, I mean, look, it does seem that the days of just saying, “Oh, it‘s just humor, it‘s just parody,” I mean, look, he‘s saying, “Oh, this is a parody of Al Sharpton, not of Barack Obama.”
FUND: Which is why I mentioned Al Sharpton. Al Sharpton is not complaining.
ABRAMS: That‘s fine. But, again, does it really matter whether it‘s
a parody of Al Sharpton or Barack Obama? And are we going to decide, how
do we respond, based on how the, quote, unquote, “victims” respond, meaning
so if the Rutgers basketball team said “We forgive Don Imus,” that‘s it, the story‘s over. Is that the way that we should go about as a society deciding these things?
FUND: Well, we can certainly go too far in the politically correct form of things and shut down a lot of interesting and lively free speech. Now, Paul, I know that Media Matters is upset about this. Tell me, where else is the outrage? Give me the names.
ABRAMS: Let me ask...
FUND: Where are the prominent figures who are watching this...
(CROSSTALK)
ABRAMS: Paul, do you want Rush Limbaugh to be pulled off the air?
WALDMAN: No, but I think that this kind of conversation that we‘re having now today is a really good start.
ABRAMS: All right. But after this conversation, are we good? Can we just say, “All right, let‘s move on”?
WALDMAN: Everyone has to take a look at whether they want to be associated with this kind of stuff. You know, Dick Cheney, the vice president of the United States, goes on Rush Limbaugh‘s show all the time. I think we have to ask if that‘s an appropriate thing for the second-most-powerful man in the United States to do. The stations that carry him, is this the kind of stuff that they want to be putting out everyday? We need to start thinking about this more.
FUND: Paul, where are the prominent people, besides yourself, complaining about this?
WALDMAN: But why does that matter?
(CROSSTALK)
ABRAMS: Look, I have this thing in the “Houston Chronicle.”
FUND: Where are they?
ABRAMS: Look, I‘ll give you one right now. I‘ve got the “Houston Chronicle” right here. Who cares? I mean, so the country—the “Houston Chronicle” said the piece of crude, over the top.
FUND: That‘s a columnist.
ABRAMS: You said, “Where‘s the outrage?”
FUND: Where are the prominent people who are complaining about this?
ABRAMS: All right, whatever. I‘m just saying. Like, you know, that‘s the “Houston Chronicle.” OK, big deal.
FUND: No, it‘s one writer at the “Houston Chronicle.”
ABRAMS: I understand.
(CROSSTALK)
ABRAMS: All right, so there‘s not a big outrage. That doesn‘t make...
FUND: So why are we here talking about this?
ABRAMS: Because maybe there should be. I don‘t know!
WALDMAN: John, does that mean, if Al Sharpton was angrier, then you would say that, yes, this is a big deal and we should make a bigger deal out of it?
ABRAMS: I‘m not going to let...
WALDMAN: Is that what you‘d be saying?
FUND: Dan, there‘s no story here. Al Sharpton is not complaining.
Barack Obama is not complaining. A writer at the “Houston Chronicle” is.
Give me a break.
ABRAMS: Paul Waldman, John—no, we can‘t talk about it anymore.
Story‘s over.
John Fund and Paul Waldman, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.