Joe Walsh tried to sound like Ronald Reagan when talking about Barack Obama, and ended up sounding exactly like Rush Limbaugh.
Walsh recently sat down for an interview with L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the Media Research Center, which is devoted to outing journalists whose opinions are to the left of L. Brent Bozell. Some of his recent column titles: “Brian Williams, Shameless Partisan”; “NPR: The Statism Network”; and “Obama Lies About His Mom, Networks Yawn.”
Bozell’s tactic is to criticize liberalism through its alleged handmaiden, The Fourth Estate. He invited Walsh to do the same.
“You see this administration playing class warfare and race warfare games,” Bozell said. “What does it say about the national media that they are aiding and abetting this by not exposing the dishonesty here?”
“Reagan was beautiful because Reagan simplified everything, so let’s simplify it,” Walsh said. “This guy [Obama] pushed every one of the media’s buttons. He was liberal, he was different, he was new, he was black. Oh my God, it was the potpourri of everything. They are so vested in our first black president not being a failure that it’s going to be amazing to watch the lengths they go to protect him.”
That is exactly what Limbaugh said about Donovan McNabb in 2003, when he suggested the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback had been overrated by reverse-racist sportswriters.
“I don’t think [McNabb’s] been that good from the get-go,” Limbaugh said on ESPN. “I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team.”
Limbaugh was trying to use the trick of criticizing uppity minorities and minority set-asides by criticizing the news media. I would imagine that a black quarterback made his radio audience insecure. The overseer of the offense is one of the last positions dominated by whites. ESPN, however, did not appreciate Limbaugh dragging race into its NFL coverage. He was forced to resign as a sports commentator for his remarks about McNabb.
In May, Walsh told Slate that Obama was elected president because “[h]e was black, he was historic” and that his campaign was promoted by journalists consumed with “white guilt.”
According to the most recent census, McHenry County’s African American population is 0.59 percent. Walsh may have chosen the right congressional district for his next campaign.
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