Rush Limbaugh, Black Presidents, and the Grabbing of Ankles

While Chip Saltsman is torn limb from bloody limb for the racist songs he distributed, another right-wing figure is poised for a hard fall for his own insane racial remarks.

Rush Limbaugh has an unpretty history when it comes to race.  Here is a guy who was pulled off ESPN in 2003 for typically asinine comments about black quarterbacks. And now he's on record hoping that Barack Obama will fail as President, and following that with this quote: 

"We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles... because his father was black"

Watch the full interview here.

Where it gets really mind-blowing, however, is in the GOP's defense of Limbaugh.  Here's Republican congressman Mike Pence defending Limbaugh's remarks on MSNBC:

Norah O'Donnell asks the congressman: Are you so beholden to someone like Rush Limbaugh? Evidently, the answer is yes. As Simon has argued, the Republican Party knows no way to win that doesn't involve the exploitation of racial fear.  

But with a president whose father was black-- an overwhelmingly popular president, take note-- this kind of pathetic, race-based politicking just isn't going to play anymore. Limbaugh, who has a file with our friends at Media Matters that's as deep as anybody's, has undoubtedly been one of the foremost purveyors of intolerance in our society. But his racism is quickly becoming anachronistic. This could be the beginning of the end for Rush.