RUSH: Now, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday on this program, I mentioned it but did not discuss it, and that is Michael Sam, University of Missouri, announcing that he’s gay prior to entering the NFL. He wants to enter the NFL. He’s a defensive end from Mizzou, number 52, entering the NFL draft. He’s going into the draft as the first public professional-in-waiting player to come out.
The sports world and much of the pop culture world yesterday was abuzz with this. I, El Rushbo, stood back. I stayed on the bench yesterday. I had some theories about this. I wanted to see if my overriding two or three theories actually happened — and they did, for the most part. Again, I’m not touting myself here, not blowing my own horn. I’m just telling you: These people on the left in the media are so predictable.
A lot of people may not have thought about a couple things, ’cause the media is gonna turn this guy — whether he wants to be one or not, they’re gonna turn him — into an activist. He is going to become one. They’re already calling him things. He’s the Rosa Parks, he’s the Martin Luther King, he’s the Jackie Robinson. They’re gonna turn this guy into an activist. I already saw a story praising an unnamed team for drafting him — even if he can’t play, for drafting him — just to make the social statement.
This is going to be a totally media driven-story, totally — and because of that, it’s gonna mess everything up. Let’s go to the audio sound bites. Something happened on CNN yesterday. This is last night, Anderson Cooper 360. Anderson Cooper was not there. Fill-in host John Berman was interviewing Jonathan Vilma. He’s a linebacker for the New Orleans Saints.
Vilma has been very public. (summarized quotes) “I don’t think this is gonna work out. I don’t know about a gay guy in the showers here in the NFL. I just don’t know.” Ryan Clark of the Steelers says, “Look, what do we say to the guy? Do you guys know what goes on in the NFL locker room? Everybody gets teased. I mean, guys with ugly wives get teased about it. The fat linemen get teased about it. I mean, we show no mercy. If a guy’s dating an ugly woman, we laugh at him, we laugh at her. We make a point of it.”
He’s quoted as saying all this. He says, “We don’t know what to say. Somebody better tell us what we can and can’t say when a gay guy shows up in the locker room. We’re gonna need some guidelines on this,” and that’s where the media is gonna come in and be policing all this stuff. So because Vilma has been somewhat outspoken, CNN breathlessly tracked him down, and they had the substitute host for Anderson Cooper, John Berman, interviewing Vilma last night. We’ve got three sound bites.
Here’s Berman’s first question: “You talked about the showers, Jonathan — and this is a subject that does come up quite a bit: The showers. You said, ‘You know, if I’m naked in the shower, what if he looks at me? How am I supposed to react?’ Jonathan, what’s your concern there? You say you’re in the shower, you’re naked in the shower, and a guy comes in and looks at you, and you want to know how you’re supposed to react. What’s your concern there, Jonathan?” What’s the big deal?
VILMA: No, there is no concern. The point I was trying to make — or the context I was trying to take it in — is that I’ve never been put in that situation. No player in the NFL has been put in that situation. So it’s not as simple as anyone saying, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with it.” I don’t see anything wrong with it. You have other players that may; you have other players that may not.
RUSH: Everybody’s walking a tightrope here, and there are gonna be people who fall off of this thing — and the media is gonna be waiting for that. The media is gonna just be waiting to pounce on the first or any instance they perceive to be wrong, ’cause remember who they are and who they champion. This guy is gonna go into the NFL as a victim. He’s gonna go in as a victim.
He’s gonna go in victimized. He’s gonna go in put upon. He’s gonna go in as a minority. He’s gonna go in as a crusader. He’s gonna go in as an activist. He’s gonna go in as somebody leaving the cultural upheaval in America; there’s gonna be all this pressure on the guy. He may want it since he came out. Who knows? Berman, again, still interested in the shower situation, apparently…
BERMAN: You shower every day after practice.
VILMA: Yes.
BERMAN: You’ve showered with literally hundreds —
VILMA: Yes.
BERMAN: — and hundreds and hundreds of men.
VILMA: Yes. Yes.
BERMAN: You really think none of them —
VILMA: Yes.
BERMAN — have been gay?
VILMA: You know, that’s the funny thing about it. I looked back at my transcript, uh, when I — when I was interviewed by Andrea Kremer, and she said that. She said, “You really don’t think anyone’s gay?” and I said, “Of course. Odds are that you have 2%, 5% of the locker room is gay,” and she said, “Well, do you think they’re looking at you?” I was like, “I’m not that good-looking. (chuckle) So I don’t think they’re looking at me.”
RUSH: And that wasn’t enough for John Berman. He just couldn’t let go of the shower circumstance.
BERMAN: You think there is concern about the showers, though, a-a-about being looked at? I mean, you say as far as you know —
VILMA: No, as a…
BERMAN: (interrupting)
VILMA: Yeah, no. That was just a very poor example — and again, that was a poor example on my part — which is why I’m glad that I’m able to actually clarify that. That’s just a poor example, as I also told Andrea Kremer in that interview: As long as he can play football, I am A-OK with it.
RUSH: And that’s Jonathan Vilma. You’re witnessing there, you see, he got his mind right during the interview. That’s it.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay, John Berman there at CNN just could not let go of the shower questions for Jonathan Vilma. Now, it’s possible the questions were written for Anderson Cooper and Anderson Cooper wasn’t there, and so Berman got the questions anyway, but nevertheless the preoccupation with it. (paraphrased) “Okay, so, there you guys all are, and here comes — let’s say he’s on your team — the first openly gay player in the NFL.”
They’re fascinated by it. They’re totally fascinated.
Now, why are they fascinated by it?
Let me ask you a different question. Seriously. Why is homosexuality political? Why is there a political aspect to — or agenda associated with — homosexuality, and why does heterosexuality have no political agenda at all? (interruption) What do you mean, I don’t want the answer? I’m just posing the question. (interruption) Well, I don’t know that anybody’s gonna answer it. I’m just… (interruption) No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. No, no. That’s not your answer. You’re wrong. That’s not why heterosexuality has no political agenda and homosexuality does. That’s not right.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Of course I know the answer, but I’m just asking. Why does homosexuality have a political agenda? Why is there anything political about homosexuality while heterosexuality has no political agenda and there is no agenda attached to it? (interruption) Heterosexuality does not have activists. (interruption) You’re wrong. (interruption) Snerdley, you are… (interruption) But they’re under assault. You say, “Heterosexuality may be 95, 98% of the population.”
They’re under assault by the two to 5% that are homosexual. So why? I’m just asking. I’m just throwing them out there. Why is there a political agenda attached to and driven by homosexuality, and there is no corresponding heterosexual agenda? Forget minority versus majority. That not what I have in mind here, and it’s not “because a minority must do what it must do to overcome a majority,” because that’s not the answer. (interruption)
Okay, cool, good. That’s wrong, too. (interruption) I got people shouting what they think in my ear. They’re all gonna be wrong. Okay, let me keep going. Why is it okay now for a gay man to play football? I thought it was dangerous and leads to concussions. I thought it was barbaric. I thought that it too dangerous and leads to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and early death and suicide. But yet, but yet, here comes the first announced gay guy and, “Hey, cool, man! Go for it!”
Why is it heroic for a gay man to play football? I’m just positing these questions, ’cause there is an answer to all of these questions, and the answer is key and fundamental to understanding… (interruption) Folks, you would not believe… (sigh) This is why they’re not miked. You know, you ask me all the time, “How come we can’t hear who’s talking to you?” It’s because of what’s happening right now. I got more people shouting, “Because the media wants a gay football player to succeed!” (interruption)
Okay, that’s why? A gay man playing football is heroic ’cause the media wants a gay player to succeed? Okay. You’re halfway there. Why does the media want a gay player to succeed? (interruption) You don’t mean it that way. (laughing) Don’t bring in faces here and shoves and that kinda stuff. We gotta keep this aboveboard here. It’s a family show. Children’s books and all that we do here. (interruption) Okay. I’m just posing the questions, and it’s all part of my effort to inform, entertain, and educate.
It’s one of these things, if you come up with the answer to this on your own, all the better.
You’ll remember it, rather than if I just tell you.
The answers are readily available.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Let’s start on the phones with DeWayne in Cedars Point, Wisconsin. Hi, DeWayne. Glad you waited. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: The reason I called is the other side has purposely made homosexuality political, what you were talking earlier. The left believes that men like me, who hold to that traditional American value system, they think we’re on the ropes, and they seek a knockout punch. That’s why I think all this talk about a gay football player’s coming up.
RUSH: I don’t deny any of that, but busting up traditional American values? Why would they want to do that? What’s wrong with traditional American values? Why is the political agenda that is attached to homosexuality in opposition to traditional American values?
CALLER: The traditional American values that I always think of are God, family, country — and I think the left, all the different groups, are attacking the traditional quarterback. The referee is in the game. They’re piling on. They see a victory with their worldview by piling on any way they can. So they all come together and they’re just piling on.
RUSH: Well, okay, but again: Why? Why do they want to do that? What’s wrong with traditional American values? Why would they want to blow those up?
CALLER: Why would they want to blow up traditional American values?
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: You know, I wonder that all the time, too. Because if you examine what traditional American values do for people, you tend to come out on top at the end of your journey in life. I don’t know why they do that. It’s puzzling to me. I’m hoping you can guide me on that.
RUSH: Obviously I can. What I’m trying to do here is goad as many people as possible into thinking beneath the surface on this stuff. The hints are out there (I’ve dropped them as recently as yesterday and last week) as to what the real impetus and motivation here is. But I appreciate the call.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Let me ask the question in a different way, ladies and gentlemen. A question about Michael Sam, University of Missouri, who has announced he’s gay. He announced to his teammates a year ago. He played the entire 2013 season. He came out, team did well, Cotton Bowl, 12-2 season, best season Mizzou’s had in a while. Hey, see, it doesn’t hurt the team. It may have brought the team closer together, who’s to say?
Why is the sports media — well, the whole media, but why is the sports media so excited that there will be a publicly out gay player in the NFL? What does it matter? What’s the big deal? Why are they so excited about it? And, if you go to the right places, why are they so mad about it? And when I say “mad about it,” depending on where you go, you can read sports media types who are mad that this is a big deal ’cause they think there’s all kinds of hypocrisy. They think there’s gay players all over the league. Nobody’s got the guts to come out, the gay players don’t have the guts. The straight players don’t have the guts to openly admit that there are gay players in the locker room and peacefully co-exist with them. Nobody’s got the guts. That we shouldn’t even be going through any of this and so they’re mad about it.
Other sportswriters are mad in advance of the way the guy’s gonna be treated. Even before he’s been treated badly by anybody, they’re predicting it. There are other sportswriters who are already demanding that the guy act a certain way, be a leader on the issue. To them he has a social, cultural responsibility to be the next Jackie Robinson or Rosa Parks, take your pick of whoever. Why does it matter so much to them, is my question. What’s the big deal? Why is there this in-your-face aspect about it? Why is it that the sports media just can’t wait to shove this down everybody’s throat or in everybody’s face? Why is that the case? I ask the question ’cause it clearly is the biggest deal in football right now. Why is that? There are answers to this.
By the way, Kathleen Sebelius, it was November of 2013, just a couple, three months ago, she told a Senate oversight committee that delaying Obamacare is not an option. Despite the troubled rollout of the federal website, HealthCare.gov, delay is not an option. “We are still at the beginning of a six-month open enrollment that ends at the end of March, and there’s plenty of time to sign up.” She went further: people are sick, they are dying, we cannot delay. We cannot delay it any longer. There will not be a delay. It is not an option. Now here we’re delaying it three years! Why are we doing that?
Scott in Los Angeles, I’m glad you called, sir. Great to have you on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. You know, just a couple weeks ago Barack Obama had made mention that if he had a son, he wouldn’t want him to play football.
RUSH: He wouldn’t let him.
CALLER: He wouldn’t let him. And now you have the first lady talking about how courageous it is that this gay person is going to play football.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: In the NFL.
RUSH: Well, it’s courageous not ’cause he’s gonna play football.
CALLER: Is it courageous — well, they never say what it is. Is it courageous because he’s gay? Is it courageous because he came out and said he’s gay? Is it courageous because he’s gay, said he’s gay, and wants to play football? Or what is courageous about it?
RUSH: What do you think?
CALLER: I have no idea.
RUSH: Yes, you do. You’re just like everybody else. You just don’t want to say it.
CALLER: Okay, ask again. What do I think is courageous about it?
RUSH: Okay, Moochelle (My Belle), after her husband says he wouldn’t let his son, Trayvon Martin, play, now here comes Moochelle saying this Michael Sam is courageous, this a courageous man. Wait a minute. Courageous to play something that your intelligence says shouldn’t be played, ’cause it’s too risky, cause it’s too dangerous? It might lead to suicide, concussion, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and yet it’s courageous to play? I thought last week it was stupid to play? Now all of a sudden it’s courageous? Why is it courageous? Well, because he’s gay. All right. Well, what’s the courage? Where is the courage? Why does being gay make him courageous in entering the NFL?
Folks, I’m steering you here. There are answers to all of this. I’m trying to get you all to come up with your own answer here or draw your own conclusion. There are answers to these questions. There are specific answers. There are explanations of all this. I just don’t want to sit here and declare it because then it’s over and done with and we move on. I want you to think about this. ‘Cause on the one hand, what’s the big deal? Let me ask. Why is it so risky to come out? I thought there’s nothing wrong with being gay. What’s the big deal? What really is the big deal here? I mean, half the sports media is already telling us, “Look, there’s already gay guys playing in the NFL, you know it and I know it, they just won’t say so.” Why not? What’s wrong with it? What is the big deal?
So now it’s courageous. Why is there a political agenda attached to homosexuality? Why is that political agenda hard, left-wing liberalism? Why is there no political agenda attached to heterosexuality, whatever ideology, whatever political agenda, there isn’t one. But why is what this guy is doing political? Is it courageous because he’s breaking down a barrier? Is it courageous because he knows he’s entering a shower stall with 52 other guys who aren’t gay? Is it courageous because he’s gonna get the Jonathan Martin bully treatment from the Neanderthals in there? Is it courageous because he’s brave in announcing his homosexuality in a macho world, man’s world of the NFL? Is it courageous because he’s willing to stand alone and take the arrows of being a pioneer? What is the courage here?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Remember something that I said last week to help you understand the left, particularly leftists in the media. Liberals believe that it is an act of bigotry to be an objective reporter. Why? Why is being objective bigoted? The simple answer is: If you are objective, it means you are not championing the victims that you see left and right as you go about your job. If you’re objective, it means you’re not standing up for, calling attention to, making the case for, members of minorities.
Because the bad are only bad because the good make them bad. The people who are wrong are only wrong because the people who are right make them wrong. They’re victims. They must be defended, they must be promoted, there must be an agenda attached to standing up for them, because all injustice is the fault of the righteous. All injustice is the fault of the powerful. People who do bad things are not responsible for it. Somebody made ’em do it. Somebody else is responsible for them doing it.
Back to the phones. I’m just gonna parcel this stuff out, little morsels here for you to chew on. Oh, I got an e-mail: “What do you mean, a political agenda to homosexuality and there’s no political agenda to heterosexuality?” I mean exactly what I said. Homosexuality has a political agenda attached to it. What is homosexuality? Same sex, same sex. There is a political agenda to that.
There is no political agenda to opposite-sex couples having sex. There’s nothing political about it. What’s political about same sex? By the way, I have a question from Moochelle (My Belle). If Michael Sam, University of Missouri, announced homosexual, is courageous for coming out and joining the NFL, would a bisexual player be half courageous? (interruption) Well, I’m just asking. It’s what I do here. I mean, I observe and I react. Would a bisexual player be half as courageous as a homosexual player coming out?
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