Rush Limbaugh gets sacked from NFL bid

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Following up on Carl's post from earlier today, ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that Dear Leader Rush has been dumped by the group angling to purchase the St. Louis Rams:

Limbaugh was to be a limited partner in a group headed by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts. Checketts said in a statement Wednesday that Limbaugh's participation had become a complication in the group's efforts and the bid will move forward without him.

What a lovely euphemism: "a complication." Actually, what Rush had become was a massive weight holding the group down. It was simply not going to happen with Rush on board, and Checketts knew it. It's because he's a bigot and a blowhard and would be an embarrassment to the NFL, as he was when he was briefly on ESPN in 2003.

Of course, Rush himself remains predictably and ideologically egomaniacal. As he said earlier today, before the dumping was announced:

This is not about the NFL, it's not about the St. Louis Rams, it's not about me. This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative. Therefore, this is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we're going to have.

Uh-huh. Utter self-aggrandizing paranoid bullshit, just what you'd expect from Rush. This has nothing to do with some sort of nefarious leftist anti-conservative conspiracy, let alone with the future of the country -- there's the grossest egomania of the day -- but rather with Rush's political and ideological extremism. The NFL has every right not to want someone like Rush in its midst, and even Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke out pretty clearly against him:

I've said many times before, we're all held to a high standard here. I would not want to see those comments coming from people who are in a responsible position in the NFL -- absolutely not.

Right, absolutely not. Goodell was referring to Rush's comments about Donovan McNabb that got him dumped from ESPN, but he might as well have been referring to everything that comes out of Rush's mouth. We've given over a good deal of space to Rush's right-wing insanity here at The Reaction, but be sure to check out the fine work Media Matters has done exposing him for the bigot and blowhard he is.

Dear Leader Rush will continue to be a big conservative media presence, of course, as well as a de facto leader of the Republican Party, but at least he won't be a part of the NFL.

And it's good to know that the NFL, as hugely successful as it is, has not just high standards but a genuine sense of decency.

**********

Note: According to Media Matters, NBC is reporting that:

Limbaugh's participation in the bid ran into opposition from some NFL players and at least one owner. They said his divisive comments on race would not be tolerated by the NFL.

There you go. Another euphemism ("divisive comments"), but the point is clear.

**********

Here's Schefter's report: