Makes You Wonder What Kind of Idiot Listens to Rush

Oh, man. You just have to listen to these caricatures of black pols that Rush Limbaugh is pushing right now. They're quite -- how should we put this -- "racially charged."

You may already have heard the "Barack the Magic Negro" shtick that Rush sang on his show the other day (more on that in a bit). But we've found a bunch of new ones that are way more eye-popping. They're done by Paul Shanklin, a self-described "political satirist" who's been doing stuff on Rush's show for many years. You can only access them in the members-only section of Rush's Web site, but we've put together a montage of them for you below.

Let's start with a particularly lovely Rush/Shanklin special. It has a voice parodying an Al Sharpton who is so illiterate that he spells the word "respect" like this: "r-e-s-p-e-c-k." Here's a transcript of the relevant bit, where the Sharpton stand-in is standing outside Barack Obama headquarters asking Obama for attention by singing the following lyrics to the tune of Aretha Franklin's "Respect":

"R-E-S-P-E-C-K. Wha-choo mean it ain't spelt that way? R-E-S-P-E-K-T? I need a dictionary!"

There's more. As Media Matters reported the other day, Rush sang the ditty "Barack the Magic Negro" on his show on March 19, basing the lyrics on an L.A. Times Op-ed piece. But it gets better.

Now Rush is running a new, improved version of the "Magic Negro" song that's way more fleshed out -- and way, way, more eye-opening, too. It features a parody of Sharpton singing about "da hood" and saying that Obama is "ar-ti-coo-late." Just give it a listen, it's hard to describe how low it is.

There are also routines where the Sharpton stand-in insults Obama by saying "yo mama's so fat" and so forth, as well as one where Sharpton demands that Obama explain himself to the "commooonity." Listen to them all here:

This is hardly a new point, of course, but it still never ceases to amaze that top officials of the Republican Party -- including the Vice President -- go on a show that traffics in this sort of thing.

Whaddaya think, all?

Special thanks to TPM associate editor Ben Craw for making the video and to reporter-researcher Eric Kleefeld for help in digging these up.

Update: As commenter Crust points out, President Bush himself went on Limbaugh in November of 2006.

Update II: Much more on this from Digby and John Amato, who says sources are telling him that stations around the country are getting heavily criticized for airing this bile.

Meanwhile, one other point. It's sad that this has to be repeated so often, but so be it: This is not a free speech issue. It's about the fact that top officials in one of the two major political parties in America -- including the President and Vice President -- have no problem lending whatever credibility they have left to someone who's trafficking in the worst kind of vile, demeaning garbage, in exchange for the use of his megaphone. Rush can say whatever he wants. Likewise, so can his critics. They can even put pressure on his advertisers if they like -- also a form of speech. The stations that air Rush's crap will weigh whatever benefits they accrue from running Rush against whatever costs are incurred as a result of the criticism running Rush brings. These stations are not obliged to run Rush. If they were to decide not to, that would be their choice. It would not an impingement on Rush's right to free speech.

Again: This is not a free speech issue. This is not a free speech issue. This is not a free speech issue. Okay?

Link.