The new group of celebrity Dolphins owners surely aren't perfect, but are they worse than Rush Limbaugh?
One Iowa Congressman seems to think so.
Speaking at a hearing yesterday, Republican Rep. Steve King stood up for the radio talk show host, comparing Rush's outspoken comments that got him dropped from a group of possible owners of the St. Louis Rams to the famous new Fins backers.
"I would point out that you have a couple of owners that have performed lyrics in songs that are far more offensive," King said, according to the Miami Herald. "In fact, I don't think anything that Rush Limbaugh said was offensive, but with Fergie and with J. Lo, they have, between the two of them, alleged that the CIA are terrorists and liars, they've promoted sexual abuse of women, they've used the N-word, verbal pornography, recreational drug use, et cetera, and they are owners of the Dolphins."
Limbaugh's comments about Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, made while Limbaugh was a member of ESPN's football coverage in 2003, forced him to resign, and kept him from joining a group trying to purchase the Rams earlier this month.
"I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well," Limbaugh said during the October 2003 broadcast. "There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."
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Yesterday, King squared off with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was very vocal in his disapproval of including Limbaugh in the bid group for the Rams ownership.
"And it is also ironic that Fergie was approved as an owner on the very day that you made your statement against Rush Limbaugh," King said to Goodell. "Now, I've scoured this quote to try to find something that can be implied as racism on the part of Rush Limbaugh, and I can't find it. There is an implication of racism on the part of the media. And so if you're concerned about this, Mr. Goodell, then I'd ask you, you know, are you prepared to level the same charges against Fergie and J. Lo, or are you prepared to apologize to Rush Limbaugh today?"
Goodell, for his part, was unfazed.
"My comments at the annual meeting were directed about specific comments he made about Donovan McNabb; and I made the point, and I will make it again here today, that the NFL is about bringing people together, it's about unity and that we do not -- we do not move towards divisive actions," Goodell said. “I'm not shining any kind of a light on Rush Limbaugh here. I am not an expert on this...all of his quotes...I think Donovan McNabb is an outstanding young man. He's an outstanding quarterback, and it has nothing to do with the color of his skin."
Regardless of whose comments are worse than whose, Rush does appear to have a lot in common with some of the star-studded Dolphins owners. He and Fergie have both admitted to past drug addictions, Rush to prescription painkillers and Fergie to ecstasy and crystal meth.
And just as Rush has been excluded from the NFL, Jimmy Buffett was once excluded from the NBA. The "Margaritaville" singer was famously ejected from a 2001 Heat-Knicks game by a referee after he continually sweared at the official.
There's also no doubt Rush is just as outspoken as the Williams sisters, especially Serena, who was bounced from her 2009 U.S. Open semifinals match for berating a line judge.
And like Gloria Estefan, Rush was a member of the Miami Sound Machine in the early '80s. OK, we made that one up.
