Think Progress

Hispanic media coalition calls Limbaugh’s comment ‘nasty, bigoted, racist.’»

story.gifBrian Maloney of the right-wing site Radio Equalizer defends Rush Limbaugh’s comment about Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa being a “shoe shine guy.” “As to Limbaugh’s remark, was it indeed racist? This one’s easy: not at all!” writes Maloney. “There’s nothing race-specific about his comment. Are ‘shoe-shine guys’ usually Hispanic? No.” Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, has quite a different take:

What can I tell you? It’s the same kind of nasty, bigoted, racist type of comment that has become so prevalent in today’s society, as practiced by Lou Dobbs, as practiced by [Sean] Hannity, [Bill] O’Reilly, [Michael] Savage — all these guys who are appealing to a particular bigoted audience, and fanning the fires of bigotry and racism by doing these kinds of things without real concern about the consequences of their words.

UpdateMario Solis-Marich writes, "As a member of the largest minority ethnic group and a member of the media, I am continually puzzled and outraged by the idea that anyone can say anything about Latinos without fearing any consequence."
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63 Responses to “Hispanic media coalition calls Limbaugh’s comment ‘nasty, bigoted, racist.’”


  1. Keith Says:

    Freud also said that sometimes it ain’t just a cigar.


  2. hil_1 Says:

    love that pic its the one Keith O. uses when ever Rush makes the worst person’s list. I think it shows what pathetic little man rush is…


  3. Xisithrus Says:

    I see hes back to delightfully tonguing his cuban cigar..wonder if he calls it Bill?


  4. robbez_92107 Says:

    Xisithrus Says:

    Or Monica?


  5. had enough Says:

    How does Rush manage to stay on the air?

    * His racist remarks are way out of bounds
    * He has been caught with illegal drugs
    * He has been instigating a riot in Denver

    Why is this man not locked up?

    Where is homeland security?


  6. Jim Wolf359 Says:

    I wouldn’t mind seeing that cigar shoved up another opening of his. Just sayin


  7. John Kerry Says:

    “shoe shine” slurs are usually applied to blacks!! There’s no way this is racist.

    If you want an example of racist…try Bathtub Boy Olbermahn! He constantly is slurring Hispanics and brothas!!


  8. StratRat Says:

    Jim Wolf359 Says:

    I wouldn’t mind seeing that cigar shoved up another opening of his. Just sayin

    Why do you think Rush always goes to the Dominican Republic? They do that for him down there - and I mean down there.


  9. gummitch Says:

    I’m surprised not to have seen some spin from Rush about what he “really meant” by that comment. These explanations are usually packed with codewords that can only be deciphered by Dittoheads, but he usually trots them out right away so the Dittoheads can run around flogging them as a complete exoneration of their hero.

    One doofus here at TP tried that already, but Ralph the Wondrous Camelid asked about Rush’s time machine and the doofus disappeared like a bad smell in high wind.

    But, seriously, how do you come up with “either a Secret Service agent or a shoe shine guy” — unless you’re unprepared to meet someone Hispanic in a suit.


  10. Xisithrus Says:

    X didnt say, but posted: I wouldn’t mind seeing that cigar shoved up another opening of his. Just sayin -Jim Wolf359

    It would get entangled in his friend that kept him out of war - Hairy Pilonidal


  11. Buckie Boy Says:

    nasty, bigoted, racist type of comment that has become so prevalent in today’s society, as practiced by Lou Dobbs, as practiced by [Sean] Hannity, [Bill] O’Reilly, [Michael] Savage….you forgot MAnn Coulter.

    These scum bags play to the minds and hearts of conservative scum bags, they just can’t get enough hate and bigotry.


  12. Zimzone Says:

    12 yr old Dominican boy: ‘Is that a cigar, or are you just glad to see me?’


  13. dbadass Says:

    gummitch the time machine problem continues after a brief interlude


  14. Namtillaku Says:

    Nasty? Yep Bigoted? Yep. Racist? Yep. Surprised? Nope. Expected? Yeah. Will this behavior change? Not a chance.


  15. Buckie Boy Says:

    anymouse19 spews crap…look, idiot we could give a rats ass about anything you post, understand, you are a loser.


  16. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    anymouse, you never answered from before:

    how could Rush be referring back to a story about the Secret Service and a shoe-shine guy” if that story hadn’t happened yet?


  17. dbadass Says:

    Let’s go anymouse19. Please answer the llama’s question.


  18. Guido the Loving OBGYN Says:

    Like all cowards Rush picked a fight he could win. This will not hurt him. He does, however, deserve a nice ass-kickin’. (metaphorically speaking)


  19. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    aw, jeez, I did it again. Scared away poor anymouse. He wuz jes’ tryin’ to be fair.™


  20. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    anymouse, the event at which Rush said he “confused” the Mayor of Los Angeles as a “Secret Service agent or maybe a shoeshine guy” happened “about a year ago” (Rush’s words). How then could Rush’s humorous characterization of the Mayor refer to an event that wouldn’t occur for another year?


  21. lokidog Says:

    “The shoe shine guy shunned by Obama was white.”

    So secret service guys keep a “shone shine guy” away from Obama (this, according to you from the drug addict Limbaugh), and this is Obama “shunning” this “shoe shine guy”.

    Are you able to comprehend even your own words?

    The more you wingnut automatons type, the more you expose your lunacy, so, please……

    type away!


  22. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    Let’s review the timline:

    Spring 2007 (approx)
    Rush meets the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonion Villaraigosa, thinks he is a “Secret Service agent, maybe a shoeshine guy”.

    April 2008
    Secret Service keeps shoeshine guy away from Barack Obama at a campaign event (Obama eventually politely declined the offer of a shine)

    May 2008
    TP troll anymouse defends Rush, claims he re-orders time to allow him to have seen into the future in order to reference, in his mind, an event from April 2008 while still living in 2007.


  23. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    My apologies to the Mayor — Antonio Villaraigosa.


  24. dbadass Says:

    anymouse19 Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    db, I answered him on the previous thread, but did it again here. How many times do you want me to answer the same question? Ralphie has his time line wrong. And I thought that llamas were supposed to be intelligent and easy to train. Oh well.

    May 6th, 2008 at 5:06 pm Recommend (0) | Report Abuse
    —–

    I commend your effort but your answer seems to lack any foundation. To state that the llama simply has the timeline wrong without showing any evidence that you do not, doesn’t really fly. Prove to me that your premise is correct


  25. gummitch Says:

    anymouse19 Says:

    Because it was humor ralphie. He made the reference yesterday, a month after Obama shunned the Montana shoe shine guy (which I’m sure had nothing to do with his race — or did it??) Comedy isn’t pretty. ™

    “Humor”? Ha ha.

    Obama didn’t shun anyone, which you’d know if you could actually read the very article you linked to previously. In fact, he spoke to him face to face and simply turned down the opportunity to get his shoes shined. A possibly over-active Secret Service agent had previously rebuffed the man.

    But, really, anyone who thinks Rush represents “humor” is pretty pathetic.


  26. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    anymouse19 Says:
    Because it was humor ralphie.

    So Rush was lying? He didn’t actually confuse the Mayor of Los Angeles with a “shoeshine guy” when Bill Clinton was allegedly hitting on his escort, I mean “date”?

    Can you explain how this “joke” made any sense?

    I mean, as far as I can tell, it’s just a gratuitous swipe at a Latino elected official.

    What was the comedic principle employed here? Sarcasm? Dramatic irony? Metaphor? Pathos, puns, parody, litotes or satire?

    “Cause I just don’t see the joke here. Unless of course it’s just a racist slur. THAT makes sense.


  27. L. Hussein Annie Says:

    Now, Ralphie, *everybody* knows that conservatards don’t grok funny!


  28. gummitch Says:

    anymouse19 Says:

    After all, there were tons of cameras there and Obama probably didn’t want to be pictured on the front page getting a shoe shine from a white guy. That was probably a politically smart move. Racist, no doubt, but smart.

    Ah, there it is, the troll super power: mind reading. It would never occur to the troll that Obama simply didn’t need his shoes shined or that he simply didn’t have time. Even if Obama had decided that this wouldn’t make for good press, only a truly moronic troll would say it was “racist.” Because, of course, it wouldn’t have led every FoxNews program for the next six months.


  29. nanlichi Says:

    Before you chase everyfckingrat19 away Ralph, find out what the excretion from a pilonidal cyst tastes like. Not often we have an expert around, but this rat appears to be a Rush sphincter licker.


  30. L. Hussein Annie Says:

    Ew, Nanlichi… just …eeeeeew.


  31. Bruce from Texas Says:

    LUMNUTS, is WHITE TRASH and a DEAD BEAT just like GEORGE. On top of all of that, he is drug head. Its a shame we have people (if you call him a person) like this in our world.


  32. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    nanlichi, there are some things I’d rather not know…


  33. nanlichi Says:

    SORRY! I apologize for the graphic.

    Immature, sophomoric, disgusting…. and I am sober. It only gets worse.


  34. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    nanlichi, if fairness to you, I think you did peg our friendly troll pretty accurately.

    That’s gotta count for something.


  35. Shayne Says:

    anymouse is trying to explain the logic of an incident that never happened, explaining that away as comedy, and then explaining that racism couldn’t be involved because the shoe shine guy was white. These are the same people who continually accuse Jeremiah Wright as a racist but when Limbaugh does it it’s not racisms.


  36. Shayne Says:

    anymouse you are priceless. Accuse Obama of being a racist for not getting a shoe shine from a white guy, because after all he didn’t have anything else to do. But then when Limpcow makes a blatantly racist comment you defend him. You people have absolutely no shame whatsoever.


  37. Shayne Says:

    I believe you’re the guy who said Limbaugh was making racist comments. I didn’t say either way whether I though Wright was racist or not.


  38. dbadass Says:

    anymouse: Are you really trying to say that Rush is not a drug idled racist buffoon?


  39. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    Shayne Says:
    anymouse you are priceless. Accuse Obama of being a racist for not getting a shoe shine from a white guy, because after all he didn’t have anything else to do. But then when Limpcow makes a blatantly racist comment you defend him. You people have absolutely no shame whatsoever.

    Actually, Shayne, I think “shame” is a disqualifying condition for RNC troll work.

    Much like McSame’s medical issues would disqualify him from coverage under his own health plan.

    Yep, “a sense of shame” is considered a pre-existing condition for the RNC. As is, apparently, “logic”.


  40. LividLib Says:

    well, he’s got the eating sh!t part of “ESAD” down.
    when can we expect him to complete the next step?

    i can hardly wait!


  41. dbadass Says:

    But the thing is that you have not been able to show that this was not a racist comment. Is it just your opinion that it was not? Didn’t Rush want to have dug users incarcerated, executed, etc? Is that hypocritical?


  42. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    anymouse19 still hasn’t explained HOW the comment is anything but racist.

    The only context in which it makes any kind of sense, comedic or otherwise, is as a racial slur. Insisting “it’s not racist” doesn’t make it so.


  43. dbadass Says:

    Okay it seems pretty clear that anymouse19 is not willing to acknowledge that the claim that this was not a racist comment can not be verified in anyway but instead wishes to employ that tried and true elementary school ploy of “I know I am but what are you”

    anymouse19: I apologise. I thought I was assisting you by offering you th opportunity to convince us. With all respect you have fumbled the ball.


  44. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    Okay, anymouse — I’ll explain HOW it is racist if you explain how it is NOT. The trick is this — both explanations have to make sense. Deal?

    Okay, I’ll go first:

    the remark is racist because Rush meets a Latino man in a suit and says his instinctive response is that the man is a shoe-shine guy, not that he might be the Mayor of Los Angeles. Doesn’t mention anything about him that might be shoe-shiny, nor that he is in an area heavily populated with shoe-shine guys, so we are left to conclude that he bases this judgment on the gentleman’s Latino character.

    Okay, your turn.


  45. dbadass Says:

    Geez, How long is this gonna take?


  46. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    anymouse will probably slink back here late tonight, when he thinks everyone has abandoned the thread, post a lame response, and then figure he’s won because he got in the last word.


  47. cazzie russell Says:

    Anyone who would question Rush’s celebrated comedic range is forgetting that side-splitting Michael J. Fox imitation he did.


  48. dbadass Says:

    Will it involve some simplistic declarative statement like “this was not a racist remark” without the appropriate disclaimer of ” It is my opinion that…”


  49. dbadass Says:

    there you go! Why couldn’t you just have said so in the beginning. Me I would have written out the actual words: IN MY OPINION but whatever. Know let’s all move on since this is an opinion based on nothing but well opinion. So who the Fcuk cares about an ether opionion


  50. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    Wow. anymouse offered a response even more lame than I expected.

    But why should I be surprised? It’s not that bright but it is clever enough to recognize when it’s got no good answer. So the right-wing playbook says: “smear the other guy and claim that you already addressed the issue”.

    Ah well, no sense in beating a dead mouse. They tend to get ground into the carpet.


  51. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    Y’know, dbadass, it always puzzles me when I challenge a troll with a direct question, simply stated, and they always dodge it, or claim that they’ve already answered it someplace else.

    Me, if someone asks me a direct question and I have a good answer for it, I like to shoot it right back in their face. Tends to shut ‘em up.

    Even if I’ve answered it someplace else, I’m happy to copy-and-paste it in direct response to a question. I find it’s the most effective way to deal with it.

    Of course, that requires that i have a good answer. I suppose if I didn’t have a good answer, I might be tempted to respond exactly the way the mouseketeer did.


  52. pete Says:

    HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!

    The old “preconceived notion that all conservatives are racist” defense. Fail!

    One doesn’t need preconceptions about anyone to judge Lush Rimjob. His extensive library of hateful filth is quite sufficient to serve as a filter for further remarks. His “humor” stands on its own merits. If you like his style? Say so, and be done. If you want to argue that he means no offense? Get a clue. His job is, in his own words, “pissing people off”.

    Lately, however, he has outdone himself in absurdity and “crossed the line”. It appears as though he is inviting censure to, no doubt, be able to play the censorship victim card.


  53. Gregor Samsa Says:

    anymouse19 Says:
    How many times will ThinkProgress start a new thread about the same innocent, non-racist comment.

    Hello? The president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition took exception to Limbaugh’s comment.

    Obviously he disagrees with your characterisation of Limbaugh’s comment as “innocent” and “non-racist”.

    And once again, your lame “explanation” is yours, not Limbaugh’s . Go peddle your babble elsewhere.


  54. Gregor Samsa Says:

    “I can read Limbaugh’s mind. I know what he was thinking when he called Villaraigosa the ’show shine guy’. You libs and that Hispanic Media-something guy are all wrong. Only I am right.”
    ~anymouse19


  55. specialist f Says:

    Let me guess, mighty mouse also thinks that druggie’s “phony soldier” comment was taken out of context too?
    How about limpballs comparison of a wounded vet to a suicide bomber?


  56. flavorino Says:

    How about a boycott/email campaign to the King of Hillbilly Heroin’s sponsors?


  57. Gregor Samsa Says:

    “A Hispanic person should feel honored to be called ’shoeshine boy’ by my man Limbaugh; I don’t care who they are. They should learn not to be so uppity.”
    ~anylouse19


  58. the_svedberg Says:

    I totally get how this was a joke by Limbaugh. Its not like at the time he met the mayor he was like “oh its the shoe shine guy” nobody thinks that! Even if you hate Rush’s guts, you still gotta admit nobody walks around thinking “hm that guy must be the shoe shine guy.” Now, when he’s interviewed a year later about the event, he finds a cute place to put a joke ripping on Obama in reference to his shoe shine incident a month ago. So sure, he “lied” jokes often are embellishments on the truth because the truth isn’t always funny.

    But to my point: WHO CARES?!?! Why is it that people who consider themselves “progressive” are so obsessed with political correctness? It’s tearing down the fabric of our society because it severely limits what can be construed as a joke. In PC world, the only things that can get by as PC in the way of humor are jokes that slander conservative ideology. And swiping at the same crowd just isn’t funny. The Daily Show is a perfect example: hasn’t been funny in years. Why don’t y’all just grow some thicker skin and live life without worrying what Rush, Sean, Neal, or anyone else says. I don’t care when your government-is-great heroes slander my champions of liberty…I do get upset when Al Gore slanders science with his global alarmist agenda. Or TIME magazine when they say Mr. Gore is the most influential scientist in the world, since when are lawyers with no scientific training considered scientists? How did a power point slide with at least 35 incorrect claims win Best Documentary (http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/monckton/goreerrors.html)?


  59. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    And right on cue, when the thread seems abandoned, come the apologist trolls to get their last twsited word in.

    Nice work, guys!


  60. specialist f Says:

    The only flaw with the “it was just a joke” line is that Oxy-rush,mann coulter and ilk are just NOT FUNNY!


  61. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    specialist f Says:
    The only flaw with the “it was just a joke” line is that Oxy-rush,mann coulter and ilk are just NOT FUNNY!

    Yeah, but in the Wingnut Welfare Society, you don’t have to actually be funny to be a comedian, as long as you ridicule liberals, minorities and those who can’t defend themselves.


  62. republicanSScareme Says:

    All these preachers of hate are backed and encouraged by the Kings of Hate…the Zionists.


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