{"id":10835,"date":"2013-11-18T17:41:24","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T17:41:24","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-11-18T17:41:24","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T17:41:24","slug":"n_word_controversy_is_another_example_of_the_liberal_takeover_of_american_sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/11\/18\/n_word_controversy_is_another_example_of_the_liberal_takeover_of_american_sports\/","title":{"rendered":"N-Word Controversy is Another Example of the Liberal Takeover of American Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Do you know, folks, there\u2019s actually a debate going on at ESPN and throughout the sports world over who can use the N-word when and how, and who can\u2019t when and how? (interruption) No, and this is just part of the whole thing of turning me off to football and sports in general. In the first place, you have this generation of journalists from the coddled generation. I think some players, too. <\/line><\/p>\n

We\u2019re getting to the point now where people covering sports and playing in it have come from this coddled generation where nobody\u2019s ever supposed to say anything mean. Nobody\u2019s ever supposed to do anything mean. Nobody\u2019s ever supposed to disrespect. We\u2019re all supposed to go get together with Conflict Resolution 101. Some NFL player for the Redskins the other day or last night after the game was talking about how mean the ref was calling him names and so forth.<\/p>\n

You have Jonathan Martin of the Dolphins now with Posttraumatic Distress Disorder over hazing and so forth or what\u2019s been going on. I\u2019m not defending any of this \u2019cause I don\u2019t know what happened. But the nature of the complaints and the all-out attack — and I don\u2019t think this is even arguable. There is an attack on masculinity that\u2019s been going on in our culture since the advent of the modern era of feminism, the late sixties and early seventies.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re trying to take out the actual realities of life and the way people are built to sanitize everything, and you can\u2019t. Now we\u2019re getting into this televised discussion of who can and who can\u2019t use the N-word and how. Let me just give you three examples of this — and, frankly, this is just reprehensible to me. Call me a fuddy-duddy if you want, but I will not sit around and watch this kind of stuff. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not gonna get caught up in it, and I\u2019m certainly not gonna weigh in and have an opinion on it. First, TNT, Inside the NBA, the anchor Ernie Johnson speaking with Charles Barkley about Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes having to apologize after he was fined for using the N-word in a tweet after he was ejected from a game Wednesday night. Ernie Johnson says, “Charles, what do you want to get off your chest about this?”<\/p>\n

BARKLEY: I\u2019m a black man. I use the N-word. I\u2019m going to continue to use the N-word with my black friends, with my white friends. They are my friends. What I do with my black friends is not up to white America to dictate to me what\u2019s appropriate and inappropriate. What we say in the locker room, the language we use sometime(s) it\u2019s homophobic, sometime(s) it\u2019s sexist, and a lot of times it\u2019s racist. White America don\u2019t get to dictate how me and Shaq talk to each other. And they have been trying to infiltrate (sic) themselves saying, “Well, you guys use it. It\u2019s in rap music.” No, no, no, no, no. That\u2019s not the same.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Of course it\u2019s not the same, but Chuck — and I can call you Chuck because I know you. It\u2019s what his friends call him. Chuck, it\u2019s not “white America” trying to insinuate themselves into what you can and can\u2019t say. It\u2019s your good buddies on the left who are doing this. It\u2019s your good buddy liberal Democrats who are trying to force you to speak the way they think you should, not white America.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s white liberals who, in their own minds, still run their own versions of plantations. They\u2019re the ones trying to force all this political correctness on you. They\u2019re the ones trying to take your locker room away from you. They\u2019re the ones trying to take the basketball court away from you. They\u2019re the ones trying to take YOU away from you. It isn\u2019t “white America.” Well, what a crock! This is on a televised basketball game. You have to sit here and listen to this. <\/p>\n

So then they went out and they found Shaq. TNT, Inside the NBA, during a discussion about Matt Barnes of the Clippers having to apologize after he was fined for using the N-word in a tweet, after he was ejected from a game Wednesday night. After Barkley says that as a black man, he\u2019s gonna use the N-word and he\u2019s gonna continue to use the N-word and white America can\u2019t stop him and it doesn\u2019t matter what\u2019s in hip-hop music, Shaquille O\u2019Neal then had this to say.<\/p>\n

O\u2019NEAL: Chuck makes a good point. In the Ebonic culture we have programmed ourselves to use the word positive. We have G14 classification to stay it to each other. But when we say it to each other, believe it or not, it\u2019s in the positive sense.<\/line>RUSH: There you go. It has a G14 classification. G14 classification. So when the brothers use it, when the brothers are talking to each other and using the N-word, do you know it matters whether or not there\u2019s an A on the end of it or an E-R? If you pronounce it with E-R it\u2019s worse than if you say it with an A, cause because if you use an A on the end of it you\u2019re talking to a brother in a positive way, and these guys getting all bent out of the shape now that people are trying to take their word away from them.<\/line><\/p>\n

After how many years of America being told the word is not allowed, the word is totally prohibited, now we\u2019ve got the sports media weighing in saying it is never permissible. That word conjures up the worst aspects of America, and that word is never permissible, and here come the black brothers, “Oh, yes, it is when we say it. We\u2019re gonna say it, and you white Americans, you can\u2019t gonna take it away!” Chuck, Shaq, it isn\u2019t white Americans trying to force their way of thinking on you. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s your buddies on the left. Make no mistake about it. Now, you may think yourself on the left. You may think yourself a Democrat or a liberal or whatever, and if you do, it just means you have no idea who actually is lined up against you. It\u2019s not white America. Most of white America frankly couldn\u2019t care any less about this other than what it means to the overall cultural decay that may be taking place here. <\/p>\n

But the political correctness, Chuck, that you\u2019re all bummed out here about? Everybody trying to take your word away from you? It\u2019s white liberals, Chuck. They\u2019re the ones that run pieces on this. Here\u2019s Michael Wilbon. Now, Michael Wilbon was among the group of people who said I had no business being in the NFL. Michael Wilbon believed a bunch of made-up quotes attributed to me, things I never said about blacks and slavery and so forth. <\/p>\n

He believed I had no business being in the NFL. He joined that chorus, not knowing what he was talking about, \u2019cause it was politically correct. Now, here\u2019s Wilbon. He\u2019s on Pardon the Interruption. This is Thursday on ESPN with Tony Kornheiser. This, again, is after Matt Bartley had to apologize for being thrown out of a game. Well, he used the N-word in a tweet after he was thrown out of the game. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kornheiser said, “Barnes has apologizing via Twitter today.” This is what sports has become, by the way. Sports has become all this social media claptrap, and I\u2019m telling you I just have no desire to get involved in this stuff, and this is why. So Kornheiser says to Wilbon, “What do you say about the issue of the use of the inflammatory N-word there, Michael?”<\/p>\n

WILBON: People can be upset with me if they want. I, like a whole lot of people, use the N-word all day every day my whole life. Publicly I wouldn\u2019t do that, but I have no issue with it. I have a problem with — and excuse me, here — white people framing the discussion for the use of the N-word. They better not sit there like plantation owners and tell black people how to use the language that was forced on us!<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh! Okay. So now the N-word was “forced” on you back in the days of slavery. Now it\u2019s white people… This is what sports has become! This is what sports media has become. (sigh) I\u2019m sorry. It loses me. It has nothing to do with what\u2019s taking place on the court. (interruption) Well, Snerdley\u2019s asking me if it is remotely entertaining. Of course it is entertaining, but it\u2019s full blown… You know, the left is destroying the country, Mr. Snerdley. They are destroying it, and I have a tough time laughing at that. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been laughing at it for 25 years while they continue to destroy America. Now here\u2019s this Wilbon, Chuck Barkley, whatever, and “white America” is trying to take the N-word away from \u2019em? White America? For how many years have white Americans been scared to death to say anything about anybody? It\u2019s white leftists who are trying to take the N-word away from them! The censors and the people on the politically correct side of things are leftists, liberals or whatever. <\/p>\n

But here\u2019s another one. “I\u2019m gonna use it all day every day! I do use it all day every day. I can use it; you can\u2019t stop me.” I don\u2019t know. They\u2019re destroying the country. They\u2019re destroying the culture. The American left just continues to rip this country apart at the seams, or they\u2019re trying to. They\u2019ve taken over education, they\u2019ve taken over Hollywood, they\u2019ve taken over music, and now they\u2019re taking over sports. They\u2019re doing it via football and basketball. They\u2019re making their move on it, pure and simple, and they\u2019re succeeding as far as I\u2019m concerned. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Snerdley, tell me what you think of this. Some division of college football was gonna have their championship game this past weekend. I don\u2019t know what division. It was Winston-Salem State versus some other team. It\u2019s not IA, 3A, 5A, it\u2019s way down there. And there\u2019s a luncheon, both teams went to a luncheon the day before the game to hype it, celebrate, sportsmanship and all that, and a couple of players on the team playing Winston-Salem followed the Winston-Salem quarterback into the bathroom and beat the kid almost to death. They had to cancel the game.<\/p>\n

They beat the quarterback of the opposing team at a sportsmanship luncheon to the point that he couldn\u2019t play. They had to cancel the game. Everybody\u2019s wondering, “What is happening to our sports? What is going on?” Then you got this guy Matt whatever his name is, tweeting the N-word which is sponsoring all these other guys coming out and saying, “I\u2019m not gonna have that word taken away from me.”<\/line><\/a><\/line><\/p>\n

I\u2019m gonna tell you what\u2019s gonna happen here, folks. As the liberals try to take over sports via the media and the way it\u2019s covered and reported on and the way it\u2019s judged, liberal sportswriters are judging the players, how they play and everything, and it\u2019s becoming more of the coverage than what happens on the field. You\u2019ve got Bob Costas telling you what he thinks about gun control<\/a> and whatever other social issue at halftime of NBC Sunday night games now. I mean, the liberals are everywhere trying to take over the sport and what\u2019s gonna happen here is that there are a lot of people that watch sports who don\u2019t care a hoot about politics, call \u2019em the Budweiser crowd, call \u2019em the low-information voter, they don\u2019t care a hoot about it, and they\u2019re sitting there and they\u2019re hearing all this and they\u2019re gonna end up despising liberals. <\/p>\n

They may not know who liberals are right now, but they\u2019re finding out who they are by watching the way they\u2019re taking over the sports that they love to watch and cover and report on. At some point these guys are gonna say, “What the hell is this?” And they\u2019re gonna find out who liberals are and may end up voting against them someday. So there could be a silver lining here. (interruption) Yeah, they beat the quarterback up. I don\u2019t know. I can\u2019t say that because the politically correct crowd, I can\u2019t characterize this kind of behavior. <\/p>\n

Now, the leftists that cover the sport, they can talk about this all they want in a wringing of the hands, “Oh, how horrible is this.” Let me talk about it and they ban me from even talking about ping-pong. But they\u2019re just taking the fun out of all this. I get enough of liberalism every day. Sports is an escape. Sports is a diversion. It\u2019s always been, you know, get away from the humdrum of your daily life and the left is bringing it into the four hours of escape time, and they\u2019re pummeling people with it. There\u2019s gonna be a blowback to it, I would hope.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I got a couple of e-mails during the break that I want to share with you. <\/p>\n

One is, somebody sent me some comments. Apparently there was a post on what I\u2019m talking about on one of the blogs yesterday. Somebody was reading the post about what\u2019s happening to the NFL and the left taking over sports. Somebody posted a comment that was sent to me, and another friend sends me a note about what\u2019s happening. Here\u2019s the friend who e-mailed first. “Dear Rush: I don\u2019t think the left is conducting a war on football. I think the war is for control of Sunday. <\/p>\n

“Sunday in America has traditionally been devoted to church, football, family dinner. Liberals disapprove of all of these institutions. They would prefer a day devoted to meditation and mindfulness, gardening, and an organic community meal.” Here\u2019s the other one. HotAir.com is where this post is. “It should be blindingly obvious to anyone that leftists are trying to kill the game of football. It\u2019s the most popular sport in America now. It is also one sport that women cannot play, where the physical difference between men and women prevails. It involves violence and hitting.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s also primarily watched by men. It is accompanied by scantily clad ‘cheerleaders\u2019 that men also like to watch. Its audience is patriotic, even in New York City — I recently attended a Jets game during which they honored a double-amputee Afghanistan veteran and there was a sustained and heartfelt standing ovation for the young man. Basically, everything the Left hates is involved with football.”<\/line><\/p>\n

To back this up, another African-American journalist who used to be on ESPN (and he may be for all I know). They had this show before Pardon the Interruption called Around the Horn, and one of the participating journalists was an African-American named Kevin Blackistone, who is now a scholar of racial studies at some university. He just came out a couple weeks ago and said that we\u2019ve gotta stop playing the National Anthem before sports events because it\u2019s a “war anthem.” <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not making it up. <\/p>\n

It is a war anthem, and it has no place in America in 2013. We\u2019ve gotta get rid of the flag, gotta get rid of the Star-Spangled Banner before every sporting event. It\u2019s offensive and it\u2019s racist somehow. I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s racist, but it is, and we gotta get rid of it. Now, 25 years ago, 20 years ago, some Looney Toon like this says this, and we do a big thing about it, laughing at it, poking fun at it, maybe do an update on it.<\/p>\n

But the fact of the matter is, 25 years later that has become a prevailing opinion in a sizable segment of the country\u2019s population. There\u2019s no question, there\u2019s no doubt that there is a war on football. Somebody\u2019s conducting it for a host of reasons. It\u2019s very public. They are in the process of making it very well known that they need to change this game for whatever politically correct reasons. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: This is Cheryl in northern Ohio. Glad you waited. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi, Cheryl.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hi. Thank you for having me.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You bet.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019m just so sickened. As a black woman, I\u2019m so sickened and angered by those clips that you played of those black sports figures and sportscasters just rallying for the right to use the N-word, this vile, disgusting word, this despicable word. These men, and I can\u2019t even call them men with a straight face, who are so happy to use the word that was used when their great-great-grandparents were sold on auction blocks as cattle. You know, there is no other group of people in this country that have embraced a vile word to describe their own people, to describe themselves.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, now, let me remind you what Wilbon said. Wilbon said that that word was forced on you and your grandparents and his grandparents, the slaves —<\/p>\n

CALLER: Then why use it now? Why make it a word that you want to use on a daily basis?<\/p>\n

RUSH: I couldn\u2019t begin to answer that. All I can tell you is that if you listen to Barkley and if you listen to Shaq and Wilbon, and they\u2019re not the only ones. I mean, they say, “Look, it\u2019s our word. It\u2019s our culture, and you can\u2019t take it away from us, you white people.” And what they don\u2019t understand, it\u2019s not white people trying to take it. It\u2019s their buddies on the left. It\u2019s the politically correct crowd.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Everything that\u2019s negative that\u2019s happening to black people is caused by the left, let me just say that. But with respect to this word —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, no argument there.<\/line><\/a><\/line><\/p>\n

CALLER: — these people don\u2019t even have the intelligence, they can\u2019t even tell you why this is something that they want to use every day. But I will say this and I have to say this. For any black man who wants to sanitize this word and make it something that has laudatory value, let me just say this. This is the word that virtually every black male child, every black male teen, just before he\u2019s shot on the streets by another black teen, that\u2019s the last word that he hears, “I\u2019m gonna kill you, blank.” And that\u2019s the word that\u2019s instilled into that blank. So you tell me what there is positive about this word.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

CALLER: This is the word that\u2019s been yelled at your children as they\u2019re being shot dead on the streets of America.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I think you\u2019re exactly right, and when they talk about it being a positive, they use it as a positive, I think it\u2019s cultural decay. It\u2019s a shame. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: What that results in is segregation, the Balkanization of the country. And who\u2019s the arbiter? We\u2019ve got a First Amendment, free speech, saying the government can\u2019t stop you from saying various things. There are other societal circumstances that dictate what you can and can\u2019t say, but who\u2019s the arbiter here? <\/p>\n

Some people get to use a word; others don\u2019t. How does that work? And then it can come back on you. Use the wrong word in the wrong place and the wrong people can destroy your career, your life, or what have you. Balkanization. I want to play the sound bite. This is Kevin Blackistone. He said this on Around the Horn on ESPN back on November 6th. Now, I\u2019ll tell you what inspired this. The Northwestern University football team came out with a new uniform. <\/p>\n

The design of the uniform was meant to honor wounded soldiers in America, and there were actually blood drops depicted on the uniform, and this just sent the left into a tizzy. They just all were outraged and shocked. “How dare this be allowed to do this! Blood drops, blood splatter depicted on a college football uniform?” Hey, you know what? Real blood ends up on those uniforms, too. So that sent Blackistone over the edge, and this is how he reacted to it…<\/p>\n

BLACKISTONE: The singing of a war anthem to open every game. Whether it\u2019s going to get a hot dog and being able to sign up for the Army at the same time, whether it\u2019s the NFL\u2019s embrace of the mythology of the Pat Tillman story, it\u2019s been going on in sports since the first National Anthem was played in the World Series back in 1917. You are conflating a war anthem with a simple game, and when you have military flyovers and all the other military symbolism that goes on in sports, I think you\u2019ve got a problem.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right. “When you\u2019ve got military flyovers and recruiters at the hot dog stand and blood splatter depicted on uniforms and a war anthem played before every game to honor the military, you\u2019ve got a problem.” (interruption) “Where do they find these people?” Mr. Snerdley\u2019s asking me where they find them. They\u2019re being turned out of every American school at every level every year! They\u2019re either being raised this way, brought up this way, taught this stuff. There are gazillions of \u2019em who think like this, Snerdley!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I\u2019m saying. We\u2019re losing. All these traditions and the institutions that have defined American greatness and exceptionalism, they are all under assault. I\u2019ll tell you my reaction. I\u2019ve told the story. I\u2019m not gonna retell the whole thing, but I was at a Super Bowl for my first flyover. It was at what was then called “The Murph,” Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego. I was in the closed section of the end zone, and there were three or four, I think they were F-18s.<\/line><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know, but they were coming right at us, and I\u2019d never seen this before, and they flew over, and the roar… I got goose bumps, and I started beating on my buddy\u2019s shoulder. I wasn\u2019t thinking pro-military. I was loving my country at the moment. I was just loving my nation. They had a giant American flag out there. It wasn\u2019t love of military, Mr. Blackistone. It\u2019s love of country. That\u2019s what all of this is, and honoring the US military and the people who volunteer for that service. <\/p>\n

I remember I was beating on my buddy\u2019s shoulder and I was shouting, “How can you ever be a Democrat if you see that?” This is in the eighties, and there were a couple of Democrats sitting in front of me who turned around and starting shooting me daggers and so forth. They were not happy with it. It turns out, they didn\u2019t like this display — which I, at the time, didn\u2019t understand. I was so naive in so many ways 20, 30 years ago. <\/p>\n

The whole concept of people hating the military and hating the country was so strange to me. I didn\u2019t understand how it could be emotionally. Intellectually, I knew. But these people are all over the place, and the media finds them. The media wants them.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s next? Robert in Mobile, Alabama. (interruption) Yeah, I\u2019ll get to the aerobics story here. I didn\u2019t mean to leave you hanging on that. Robert, I\u2019m glad you called, glad you waited. Welcome to the program.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, good to talk to you, Rush. I was so glad to hear you talk to the black woman before, \u2019cause I was afraid I was gonna finally get through to you and call to disagree with you. And I\u2019ve been listening you since the Clinton years. But here you talked to her and you clarified that. I thought you might have thought that Wilbon and Shaq and Charles Barkley should — it was okay for them — to use the N-word as long as they (garbled) like to use the N-word.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait a minute. Hey, Robert?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes?<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019m serious, now. What did I say that made you think I was approving of them using the word? I plainly said, “I don\u2019t want to hear this when I am turning on the TV to get news or whatever it is on sports. This is the last thing I want to hear. I think this is sick, frankly, that this has become a big deal. The N-word, using it proudly; it means something positive.” It goes against everything I\u2019ve ever been taught about it, and now I\u2019m told, “Well, no. When we do it, it\u2019s a positive. When we do it, it\u2019s a good thing.” <\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. Yeah, you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I think it\u2019s harmful, Robert.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, no! I knew you didn\u2019t think it was okay to say. I thought you might have insinuated that they\u2019re right to say it, they had the right to say it, that it was some kind of right for them to say it \u2019cause they\u2019re black. But I heard you talk to the other caller clearly and I said, “Okay, now I understand.” After all these years of listening to you, I didn\u2019t want to call and disagree. I tell you one thing, though, Rush. I wouldn\u2019t mind everybody using the N-word to get free from it, \u2019cause we tried to insult you white people over the years, Rush. We tried. But you know why we can\u2019t? Because you won\u2019t let us. Because won\u2019t get offended! Well, we can\u2019t insult you if you won\u2019t get offended. That\u2019s freedom for you all. I would love that freedom for black people, where we don\u2019t get offended and that word no longer has a hold on us.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. My hearing is an obstacle. Who is the “you” won\u2019t let us use the…?<\/p>\n

CALLER: White people won\u2019t get offended when black people try to come up with racial slurs against you. You won\u2019t get offended, and that gives you all freedom over yourselves.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. I would love for black people to have freedom from the N-word, but the only way to get freedom from it, Rush, is if we don\u00c2\u2019t get offended.<\/p>\n

RUSH: In other words, is what you\u2019re saying that you wish you didn\u2019t have to be offended when you heard it but everybody\u2019s making you think you ought to be offended so you act like you are?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Exactly, Rush, and the only way to get freedom is if you say everyone use it. ‘It\u2019s not offensive; everybody use it.” It\u2019s like you said before, Rush: If you\u2019re gonna say that white people can\u2019t use it? Then it can\u2019t be okay for black people to use it.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. I understand that. I totally do. You know why? This whole notion that we are ordering our society and doing things or not doing them because whoever is offended by something. I\u2019m distressed that the offended have so much power.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I am too, Rush.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I don\u2019t grant people the power to offend me. That\u2019s what you\u2019re really saying.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Exactly.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You don\u2019t want to be offended. You don\u2019t want to have to act like you\u2019re offended. If the word doesn\u2019t bother you, it doesn\u2019t bother you. But people run around and act like you gotta get outraged and join the chorus of those who are outraged.<\/p>\n

CALLER: The rebel flag! The rebel flag is a classic example. Blacks used to love watching the show the Dukes of Hazzard, Rush, with that big General Lee and that big rebel flag on there in the \u201970s.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Is that right? <\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah!<\/p>\n

RUSH: You liked the Dukes of Hazzard?<\/p>\n

CALLER: We loved it! Blacks in the South loved it as much as everybody else.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, that was Daisy, though. Let\u2019s be honest.<\/p>\n

CALLER: (laughing) Well, part of it. It didn\u2019t offend us in the \u201970s. It wasn\u2019t until the politically correct crowd told us, “Well, you should be offended by that rebel flag.”<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I didn\u2019t know I should have been offended! (laughing)<\/p>\n

RUSH: He\u2019s exactly right. He\u2019s exactly right about this, folks. It\u2019s just like if somebody walks down the street whistling Dixie, you\u2019re supposed to get livid about it, and you don\u2019t want to care, right?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Exactly. I want the freedom from it. I want to be as free as you white people are when it comes to words, \u2019cause we\u2019ve tried to offend you (laughing), but you won\u2019t let us by getting offended, and it\u2019s so much freedom.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well —<\/p>\n

CALLER: You are free, and I like that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Robert, I\u2019m just gonna tell you, as McCain would say (impression), “It\u2019s our friends on the left.” It is our friends on the left that keep the N-word powerful. They are the ones, and that is such hypocrisy. They\u2019re the ones that keep the word powerful. They\u2019re the ones that make sure it remains offensive, and yet now they are the ones demanding that certain people be allowed to use it. Well, actually they\u2019re not. They want to wipe it out and so forth. You\u2019re exactly right to hit this on the freedom angle. You couldn\u2019t hit the bull\u2019s-eye any more accurately here than you have. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad you called, Robert. Thanks much. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

Marge in Gilbert, Arizona, I\u2019m glad you called, great to have you on the program. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes, thank you, Rush, for taking my call.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You bet.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. I am from Arizona. I\u2019m a Suns fan. Yay. And I also like RedZone. So I listened to Barkley and I heard him say what he said, and I usually listen to that at halftime because it\u2019s like comic relief during halftime. But anyway, he was blaming white people for not being able to say what he wanted to say. He also said he used to be a Republican but now he\u2019s a Democrat and backs Barack Obama. Well, Barack\u2019s telling him what he can say and what he can\u2019t say and what he can eat and he can\u2019t eat, and what insurance you can buy, so —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, you know, that\u2019s the reaction that I had. You know, it\u2019s been a while since the first hour. Let me grab the sound bite. It\u2019s number 17. This is Chuck Barkley on TNT and bouncing off the fact that a Clippers player used the N-word and apologized for it on Twitter, and here\u2019s Barkley reacting to all this. <\/line>