WSJ
The NFL punts to left-wing political intimidation.
The National Football League in which each Sunday men weighing 365 pounds slam headlong into men weighing 245 pounds has decided it cant handle Rush Limbaugh talk-show host age 58. Cmon guys show some guts.
What began as a normal business dealMr. Limbaughs participation in a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams NFL franchisehas degenerated into an unfortunate flap whose repercussions could extend well past Sunday afternoon football.
We suspect Mr. Limbaugh during his broadcast yesterday put his finger exactly on what is going on here. He said that NFL Players Association head DeMaurice Smith was using Mr. Limbaughs controversial status as leverage against the league owners in the unions difficult negotiations over a collective-bargaining agreement.
Earlier this year the NFLPAs Mr. Smith and several player reps visited our offices and made clear their determination to win the negotiation with the leagues owners. Fair enough. The group made a strong and businesslike case for their position. Mr. Smith was wrong though to send an email to the leagues players earlier in the week urging them to speak out on the Limbaugh bid arguing that football rejects discrimination and hatred.
After this opposition to Mr. Limbaugh emerged from Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay and most disappointing of all NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Mr. Goodell implied in a statement that Mr. Limbaughs off-the-cuff comment in 2003 about quarterback Donovan McNabb (that the media wanted a black quarterback to do well) violated the leagues high standard.
We suspect Mr. Limbaugh would be happy to withdraw the 2003 remark but to elevate it to racism hatred and disqualification from doing business with the saintly NFL beggars belief. On the evidence the NFL is the most forgiving league in sports. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick just for starters must be thankful Mr. Goodells high standard doesnt mean a lifetime ban from the NFL.
What happened here and is happening elsewhere in American life is that Mr. Limbaughs outspoken political conservatism is being deemed sufficient reason to ostracize him from polite society. By contrast MSNBCs Keith Olbermann who fires off his own brand of high-velocity left-wing political commentary but lacks Mr. Limbaughs sense of humor appears weekly as co-host of NBCs Football Night in America. We havent heard anyone on the right say Mr. Olbermanns nightly ad-hominem rants should disqualify him from hanging around the NFL. Al Franken made it all the way to the U.S. Senate on a river of political vitriol.
But Rush Limbaugh gets hung out to dry by someone of Roger Goodells establishment prominence and barely a soul from that same fastidious establishment has the courage to step forward to criticize it.
It is no secret that this countrys politics has become intense across the ideological spectrum. Rush Limbaugh lets his listeners blow off steam and then get on with the rest of their day. But if the people who claim to worry about such things want to see a truly angry right develop in this country they should continue to remain silent while the left tries to drive Rush Limbaugh and others out of American political life. If that happens the NFL by comparison will look like an afternoon tea.
