{"id":21681,"date":"2003-10-06T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:15:32","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T07:15:32","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:15:32","slug":"countdown_crew_reaction_disappoints_does_not_surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/countdown_crew_reaction_disappoints_does_not_surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown Crew Reaction Disappoints, Does Not Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

But on the ESPN thing, I did not watch any of the pregame shows yesterday. I did hear about what took place on ESPN, and I\u2019m getting a number of e-mails from you, from people who are angry at the cast at ESPN NFL Sunday Countdown. And, ladies and gentlemen, I meant what I said here on Friday. I really like those guys. There\u2019s some things that they said yesterday that, frankly, I\u2019ve heard for the first time. For example, I only learned when I was told about this that I guess they said something about they had no input in my being there. Let me tell you something. Every – I was told, anyway – that every one of them had signed off on the concept before ESPN executives even approached me. And that wouldn\u2019t have happened…they wouldn\u2019t have forced me on this cast without the cast\u2019s full knowledge that I was going to be talked to about joining the program. <\/line>You have to understand the position those guys are in. Those guys have no desire for anything like what happens on this program, and has for 15 years. They\u2019re straight football, they want to worry about what the fantasy performers are going to do and who\u2019s going to win games and who\u2019s going to perform well. The other aspects they just don\u2019t want any part of it. They were answering their friends yesterday who have been beating up on them. It\u2019s the typical cocktail party analogy that I have given you over the course of many years here, that many people determine, in fact, their entire point of view based on what their friends will think of it. <\/line>They were in a sort of no-win situation yesterday. I know it\u2019s difficult to not be angry at them, but I didn\u2019t expect them to come out and at all support me. That wasn\u2019t in the cards. That would have only furthered the trouble they think they\u2019re in – and they weren\u2019t in any, but they thought so. So they were doing what they had to do for themselves. I was already gone. There was no bringing me back. There was no attempt to even make it look like that was in their cards. Yeah, I was somewhat disappointed by it when I heard about it because I thought we were all friends and we did all get along – production meetings, on the set, on the show itself, and I think that was clear to people who watched the program. <\/line>And it\u2019s, in fact, one of the most often heard comments I\u2019ve got from people, “Yeah, you guys look like you\u2019re really having a lot of fun,” and we were. But this is a situation and a circumstance that obviously they didn\u2019t wish to be part of. But I\u2019ve got some sound bites here from other of people over the weekend about this whole imbroglio, and there are four of them here, and I want to just get started with those, and then we\u2019ll – I guess we\u2019re not going to get it out of the way because I\u2019m sure some of you will still have your say on it. We\u2019ll get to other items in the stack. Of course the California recall election is tomorrow and they\u2019re doing everything they can to destroy Arnold Schwarzenegger now. In some quarters I can say that that\u2019s beginning to backfire on them, and that\u2019s a good sign. <\/line><\/p>\n

It is clear that supposed objective newspapers, particularly the Los Angeles Times, are doing everything they can to destroy this man\u2019s candidacy, and people are wise to it now. There\u2019s a new sophistication that the consumers of media have regarding the suppliers of media, the providers. And things that the providers used to get away with when they were a monopoly they don\u2019t get away with anymore. I know it\u2019s still maddening and frustrating as it can be, but there appears to have actually been a backlash, including among Democrats and women where Schwarzenegger is concerned. We\u2019ll get to that in just a few moments. But first let\u2019s start with the Beltway Boys on the Fox News Channel. Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes discussing the ESPN situation.<\/line>KONDRACKE: This story about, you know, criticizing the press for favoring black quarterbacks is not racially insensitive. It\u2019s no different from you or me saying that Jayson Blair would have been fired a lot earlier from the New York Times had he been white. It\u2019s the same kind of thing. That\u2019s not racist.<\/line> RUSH: And now to the Capital Gang from CNN. This is Saturday night. This is Bob Novak\u2019s “Outrage of the Week.”<\/line>NOVAK: Three Democratic candidates for president, – Wesley Clark, Howard Dean and Al Sharpton – not only attacked Rush Limbaugh, they called on ESPN to fire him. Heaven help us if they think they caused Rush\u2019s demise. Where is the ACLU, if self-appointed political leaders think the First Amendment means so little they can get rid of any commentator that they consider politically incorrect? That\u2019s bad news for the people at this table who make their living the way we do. It could be worse news for the American people.<\/line>RUSH: I\u2019m sort of happy to hear that because one of the comments that I shared with you last week, an EIB executive dropped in here during a commercial break and said, “You know, it\u2019s interesting. The First Amendment, as does the whole Constitution, limits what government can do. The Constitution is a limitation on the government. That\u2019s where the whole concept of limited government derives. That\u2019s where it all comes from. The Constitution limits government and empowers people, and yet in this whole episode you had three presidential candidates demanding that an American citizen be fired for exercising the First Amendment, free speech.” That\u2019s what Novak is talking about here, asking: Where is the ACLU? “It\u2019s a little scary,” he says, “when people who seek the top job in this country, top executive job, and swear an oath to the Constitution then set out to get people who are saying things they don\u2019t like fired.” In Novak\u2019s words, “That\u2019s not healthy.” And then Kate O\u2019Beirne on the Capitol Gang as well.<\/line><\/p>\n

O\u2019Beirne: Of course Rush Limbaugh enjoys the same First Amendment rights as the rest of us, but that\u2019s not why he shouldn\u2019t have been forced to resign. There was nothing racist about Rush\u2019s remark, that some people are rooting for McNabb because he\u2019s black. Some especially welcome the success of the Williams sisters or Tiger Woods. Nothing wrong with that and nothing wrong with noting that. The media, players and management have injected race into the NFL. When others are race obsessed you can\u2019t fault someone for noticing.<\/line>(12:18 PM COMMERCIAL BREAK)<\/emphasize><\/strong><\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> Here\u2019s the last sound bite we have on this. It\u2019s from the CBS NFL Today Show. Yesterday morning, Jim Nantz and Deion Sanders.<\/line>NANTZ: One thing is very bizarre. This went unnoticed and unchallenged for more than 48 hours – on the set, in the building, in the newspapers. Where were all the people out there for the first 48 hours? I didn\u2019t read about anything here on Monday or Tuesday. Why did it take so long before the PC police stood up and really went in and challenged this?<\/line>SANDERS: And they wonder why my dear friend Mike Irvin didn\u2019t take the issue to this situation on the set. You know, Mike said Rush and he were riding back and forth from Connecticut to New York in a G4. Mike say, I\u2019m not going to say nothing! I?m not gonna lose my ride on that G4!<\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know how many people heard – and, by the way, thanks to Jim Nantz for making that point about this, because I think that\u2019s a relevant point. Let me explain Deion Sanders here and Michael Irvin. Take you back to last week. In talking about my whole experience at ESPN, let me tell you. They all work very hard – you have to understand this – and they all dearly love what they do, and Michael Irvin, this is his first year on the program too, and he\u2019s coming back from some tough obstacles that he has overcome and he\u2019s doing his best and he\u2019s really working hard on this show. I happen to think Irvin is doing a fantastic job. <\/line><\/p>\n

Tom Jackson even told me after one of the production meetings that he appreciated Irvin\u2019s presence on this show because it brought a new perspective of the NFL to him. Tom has been retired from the NFL for quite awhile, and when Tom played, there was no such thing as a salary cap. Michael Irvin is part of a generation of players that in large part governs their career with the salary cap. Their careers are governed by it, and he brings a perspective to the program in analyzing player movement, free agency and so forth, that Tom Jackson doesn\u2019t have. And Jackson was saying he was very appreciative of that, and he\u2019s right. <\/line> Now, this business about flying back and forth from Connecticut to New York. That happened one time after the show. It was early on in the history of the program, and I had to come back to New York after a Friday rehearsal at ESPN and Irvin, Michael, wanted to come. He was going to come have dinner with Deion, and I offered to bring him back. We had a great conversation on that flight, and I told you last week we had conversations about life and the future, and that\u2019s where this took place. It was just a very uplifting conversation to me, I think to Michael as well, and we were getting along quite well. I like him a lot, and I think he\u2019s got a limitless future, and this is what we were talking about on the plane coming back. That\u2019s what Deion Sanders is referring to, but there was no – I mean, Michael Irvin can go with me anywhere I\u2019m going any time he wants to. I don\u2019t care what he says, because I understand why the people up there have to say what they said. They may mean it, too, for all I know. But I understand why they have to say it. <\/line>Here\u2019s Janet, West Haven, Connecticut. You\u2019re up first today, Janet, and welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program.<\/line>CALLER: Hey, Rush, how are you?<\/line>RUSH: Fine, thank you.<\/line>CALLER: I know you don\u2019t want to stay on the subject long. I just wanted to let you know – because I know you\u2019ve got tons of e-mails and the odds of actually seeing mine are probably not good – but I did not watch ESPN at all this weekend because I was just really disappointed at how they handled it. I didn\u2019t watch the Steelers game – and I\u2019ve been a Steelers fan forever, and to me, football is listening to Chris Berman and everything and I couldn\u2019t bring myself to watch it just because I didn\u2019t like how it was handled, and it was handled really badly, and they didn\u2019t bother to mention anything until Wednesday, which is coincidentally the day before you weren\u2019t on the air.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, look, I appreciate your comments. This is sort of a tough position for me because it\u2019s over and it\u2019s behind me, and there\u2019s no changing it.<\/line>CALLER: I understand that.<\/line>RUSH: And as you say, what\u2019s happening is speaking for itself.<\/line>CALLER: Right.<\/line>RUSH: So, look, I appreciate your comments and you use your judgment in terms of what you\u2019re going to choose to watch and what you\u2019re going to do, but they\u2019re nice people. In fact, Berman called me last week to ask me if I\u2019m okay. He didn\u2019t say anything to me in the phone call last week that at all indicated he was going to say what he said yesterday on TV. Nobody has been critical to my face.<\/line>CALLER: Right.<\/line>RUSH: An executive, nobody, has said one thing to my face that they are saying when I\u2019m not around. In fact the people who have spoken to me at ESPN – executives and Berman – have been just the opposite. They\u2019ve been supportive and nice, so take that for what it\u2019s worth. I appreciate your thoughts on it. Use your judgment. I\u2019m not going to confirm what you\u2019re doing or not because it\u2019s probably not my place to do so. I don\u2019t want to sit here in anyway suggest that you do or do not watch ESPN. I don\u2019t want to go there, but if you want to make that decision, feel free. Okay?<\/line>CALLER: I\u2019m just telling you I didn\u2019t feel comfortable doing it just because I didn\u2019t like how the whole thing was handled.<\/line>RUSH: Well, I appreciate that, and I understand, Janet, thank you very much. <\/line>END TRANSCRIPT<\/line><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But on the ESPN thing, I did not watch any of the pregame shows yesterday. I did hear about what took place on ESPN, and I\u2019m getting a number of e-mails from you, from people who are angry at the cast at ESPN NFL Sunday Countdown. And, ladies and gentlemen, I meant what I said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCountdown Crew Reaction Disappoints, Does Not Surprise - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/countdown_crew_reaction_disappoints_does_not_surprise\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Countdown Crew Reaction Disappoints, Does Not Surprise - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"But on the ESPN thing, I did not watch any of the pregame shows yesterday. 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