RUSH: All right, let’s do this McNabb business and… It won’t go away. I keep thinking, “Let’s do the McNabb business and get rid of it,” but it won’t go away. ESPN is now running a poll, a vote on their website. “Should McNabb Answer Barbs from Black Leader?” Here’s how it opens: “Donovan McNabb is on the defensive again. Just two years after responding to Rush Limbaugh’s claims that he received accolades from the press because he is African-American, McNabb is now reacting to Philadelphia NAACP leader J. Whyatt Mondesire who wrote an opinion piece for the Philadelphia Sun in late November, claiming McNabb used the ‘race card’ as an excuse for his poor play.” This Mondesire guy did something totally different than I did. Mondesire is attacking McNabb, calling him mediocre, saying he’s not good, and also criticizing his blackness. I didn’t do either, yet I continue to get lumped;
But there’s an interesting thing here from McNabb himself. You know, one of the things that’s interesting about McNabb in his press conference after the Rush brouhaha, McNabb lamented the fact that his race was even a factor, and he said, “Ah, I thought we were past that.” Then they had the NFC Championship game in Philadelphia last year. I haven’t said this. I haven’t commented on this before because, you know, what’s happened has happened but there’s McNabb talking about how great it is that two black quarterbacks are playing in the NFC Championship game, meaning he and Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons — and the media has continued to make my point by not letting go of the race factor in this whole story from the get-go! They’re the ones that brought it up and made it happen in the first place. But then the real interesting thing here is this quote from McNabb. He said, “If you talk about my…” reacting to this Mondesire guy in Philadelphia. “If you talking about my play, that’s one thing, but when you talk about my race, now we got problems; if you’re trying to make a name off my name again, I hope your closet is clean because something’s going to come out about you. I always thought the NAACP supported African-Americans and didn’t talk bad about them. Now you learn a little bit more.”
Hey, Donny? If I may paraphrase J. Wyatt Mondesire — and let me remind everybody that last week when I talked about this I came out in strong support of McNabb for being criticized by the local Philadelphia media. Not this Mondesire guy, but the mainstream Philadelphia press is all over McNabb ever since his last game against the Cowboys, and they’re talking about his reputation is ruined; he lost the locker room. They’re more Eagles players that love Terrell Owens than like McNabb; McNabb is not a leader. They’re dumping on this guy all because the team’s in the tank this year. The team is in the toilet, not in the tank. The team is 4-9, going nowhere, playing third- and fourth-stringers and so forth and they’re dumping on McNabb saying he’s lost his reputation. I got an example of this just published today by some clown named Rich Hoffman. But Donny, let me tell you something. You know, you think you’re a crusader here, pal, and on the football field you may be. But when it comes to forging progress for blacks, let me give you some names of people that the NAACP has tried to
Does the name Clarence Thomas ring a bell? Have you heard of Clarence Thomas, Mr. McNabb? Have you heard of Condoleezza Rice? Have you seen some of the cartoons that the mainstream press has written about Condoleezza Rice, talking about how she got where she got because she’s performed sex acts on George W. Bush, portraying her as nothing more than an Aunt Jemima and accentuated her African-American features to make her look like a step-and-fetch-it idiot? Have you seen any of this, Mr. McNabb? Does the name Michael Steele ring a bell? Michael Steele is a lieutenant governor of Maryland, not far from Pennsylvania. In fact, it borders Pennsylvania. It’s not far from Philadelphia. I don’t know if you know about this, but he wants to run for the Senate, and the NAACP and the white liberal plantation owners of this country are out trying to destroy Michael Steele. They’re throwing Oreo cookies at the guy when he goes out and makes a speech, and they’re claiming he’s “black on the outside, white on the inside.” Does the name Thomas Sowell ring a bell? He’s one of the most brilliant economists and writers in this country who is regularly impugned along with any other successful black conservative in this country by no less than the Reverend Jackson and others from the NAACP.
If you are — what is he, 30 years old now? I know he’s a football player but come on. He’s taking on a crusade now. If you are just learning that the NAACP criticizes black people, then you got a lot of learning to do. I would be glad to teach you. I would be glad to bring you into the 21st Century in terms of the world rather than the Linc, which is the stadium in Philadelphia where the Eagles purportedly play. Now, here’s this piece in the Philadelphia Daily News, a piece by Rich Hoffman. It’s titled, “McNabb Suddenly Alone in a Crowd: It No Longer Seems Like No. 5’s Team.” It talks about how McNabb was the leader four years ago when the Eagles went in the championship game in St. Louis and barely lost to the Rams. McNabb stayed on the field to watch the Rams celebrate so he could soak it in, find out what it was all about, and he was leading this team. Now fast-forward to last Sunday night, four days ago, and a very different picture of McNabb. The place: the Eagles locker room after the loss to the Giants. McNabb had watched the game from the luxury suite. He went down to the locker room to shake hands.
“About a minute after reporters had streamed out coach Andy Reid’s news conference, McNabb entered. He began shaking hands in a room where fewer than half the players were at their lockers…. It’s hard to describe now how awkward the whole scene looked, how out of place. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player do it before.” He goes on to talk about it all seemed forced, the players didn’t want McNabb there; McNabb didn’t want to be there. McNabb only felt comfortable when he was hanging around the other quarterbacks, Mike McMahon and Koy Detmer, and then he talks how all these Eagles went to the birthday party that Terrell Owens threw over in Atlantic City and how these players quote how their love for T.O. and so forth, and then: “The worst thing in the last few days? It wasn’t reported 19 Eagles who went to T.O.’s birthday party… No, the worst thing was McNabb’s press availability on Saturday.
“The worst thing was McNabb saying, ‘There’s never been a question of me losing the locker room until this year. If I’ve lost the locker room, the question goes up: Why? Is it because now people are starting to look at me sideways because of what I’ve been doing or what I make or whatever (Owens) had a problem with? That’s the question I’m trying to get answered: If I’ve lost the locker room or not. No answer has come my way.’ The fact that McNabb doesn’t know the answer is an answer in itself. McNabb has only one option left: to be great again,” otherwise career is over. Respect is over; reputation is gone. This is stuff that’s running all week, and I ripped these guys last week for writing this kind of stuff. McNabb was probably… This has been a very courageous season. He’s been out there playing hurt, trying to take the team and lead it even though most players wouldn’t have even been on the field. It’s not good enough for him because he wasn’t able to play with a ripped groin muscle. He’s worthless now to these people, and it’s just incredible — and I defended him last week, but you would never know it anywhere else.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Folks, we have all set up these Google alerts here. You can put in your name or any name you want. If that name appears anywhere in the news, Google sends you an alert to the e-mail address that you specify. So you’ve got a Google alert. My name actually came in — I think it was a little more one o’clock, a Google alert — on my name. A Philadelphia TV station has just posted their original story on me and McNabb from 2003 (laughing) with all this other stuff going on. So it’s out there on all these RSS readers and whoever else reads Google. In fact, grab cut 12A. The media is trying to make it sound like it happened today. Here, this is CNN Headline News sports, and here’s a portion of Larry Smith’s report. They just ran this in the past 25 minutes.
RUSH ARCHIVE: I don’t think he’s been that good from the get-go. 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.
SMITH: Conservative talk guru Rush Limbaugh ended up losing his short-lived gig on ESPN as a result of that comment two years ago. Now the head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP is standing by his similar comments made —
RUSH: Stop the tape. I don’t know who Larry Smith is, and I don’t have time to find out — and if I had the time I wouldn’t waste it. But, Mr. Smith, somebody needs to call Larry Smith at CNN and tell him that what Mondesire is saying is nothing like I said. Even Mondesire himself in a Philadelphia news story was asked, well, what about what Limbaugh said? Mondesire said: “Limbaugh wasn’t talking about McNabb. He was talking about the media. I’m talking about McNabb, and I’m telling you he’s mediocre.” This guy now says “similar comments made by Limbaugh.” I didn’t. I didn’t. (Laughing.) I love this. This is going to be… It’s eternity, forever linked. Never, ever… I betcha McNabb invites me to do the introduction speech when he goes to the Hall of Fame.
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