Obama Race Baiting Again
Rush Limbaugh, featured in a new, Spanish-language Barack Obama ad, says the commercial distorts his past statements and amounts to "race-baiting" by the Democratic nominee.
The commercial, to air in Limbaugh's home state of Florida as well as Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, features a picture of the conservative talk show host and shows his words on the screen: "Mexicans are stupid and unqualified" and "Shut your mouth or get out." It was first reported by the Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe.
"Obama is now stoking racism in the country," Limbaugh wrote in an email. "Obama is a disgrace - he wants the public to think he is Mr. Nice Guy while his thugs are in Alaska looking for dirt on Palin and he runs race-baiting ads and lies about what he has done and what McCain has done."
As for the quotes, Limbaugh said they were taken out of context.
The first, "stupid and unqualified," is from the NAFTA debate of the mid-90s, he recalled. He didn't specify how it was distorted, but said he and his staff were researching the context.
On "shut your mouth," Limbaugh produced an April 2006 transcript from what he described as a parody of Mexican immigration laws.
The talk show host read a list of stringent rules, adding "shut your mouth and get out," before revealing to listeners that the guidelines were those set by the Mexican government for immigrants.
The full bit is after the jump and I'll add the context on the first quote when I get it from either Obama's camp or Limbaugh.
McCain launched his own Spanish-language ad last week blaming Obama for the collapse of immigration reform last week, striking a more moderate tone on the issue than his border security-focused stance in the GOP primary. Polls show Obama leading among Hispanic voters, but McCain is making an aggressive push for their support as they represent a key constituency in key states such as Florida and the competitive states in the intterior west. |
