RUSH: Well, right on schedule, the Drive-By Media has decided it’s time to hit Charles Barkley. And, right on schedule, Charles Barkley has decided he’s not gonna take it. Charles Barkley has doubled down on his original comments, demonstrating once again how it is done, and we will get to the audio sound bites of all of this in due course.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The Washington Post ran a story today on why the Republicans would be shellacked and creamed if they shut down the government. Yes, here’s why Republicans really shouldn’t want a government shutdown in one chart, and it’s a poll. Right. They have another story. “Charles Barkley is a Conservative Black Hero. But Almost Everything He Says is Wrong.” The Washington Post. This is Nia-Malika Henderson. You knew this was coming. You knew that Chuck was gonna be enemy number one.
He’s the new Cosby. That’s what it says here. Barkley is the new Cosby. He is the scold of African-Americans. He’s the new white conservative hero because he comes out and says what they say. But the problem for Chuck is, according to the Washington Post, the problem for Chuck is he’s ill-informed on black culture and black behavior. “He seems to see black people as somehow existing outside of mainstream American behavior and culture.”
So Chuck is now in the crosshairs of the Drive-By Media and the comparison to Cosby, by the way, is no accident here. Now, isn’t it interesting. Chuck made his original comments last week. This is Wednesday. It was a week ago yesterday that Chuck made his comments on the radio in Philadelphia. You know what I find fascinating — and don’t misunderstand this. What I find fascinating about this, when I came back from the Thanksgiving break on Monday, nobody had talked about it. It hadn’t been anywhere other than on the website that I found, and I don’t even remember which one it was. But last Tuesday Chuck makes these comments about Ferguson, and nothing, not a word.
On Monday, I quoted what Chuck said, and then Monday afternoon and Monday night, all day yesterday, it blew up, and it was everywhere. Now, I need to make sure I’m right on something, because I was off the grid Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Mr. Snerdley… (interruption) Okay, it wasn’t. Brian, what about you? Had you heard what Barkley had said Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday? (interruption) Okay. So I’ve got staffers — now, admittedly they kiss ass, but in this case they’re being straightforward and honest. (interruption) That’s right, ’cause you were working. You were working and checking the news, and there was nothing on Barkley.
He made these comments eight days ago now, and not a soul had said a word. You couldn’t find it outside of Philadelphia. And it didn’t even make sports media. We’d have heard about it if it did. So I, in show prep on Sunday, getting ready for Monday, ran across it, and on Monday I spent a lot of time talking about it, and then it blew up. It literally blew up Monday afternoon, Monday night, all day yesterday. Blogosphere, television, everywhere.
And so now Chuck has sat for two more interviews, both of them on CNN. I think he’s got a pet infobabe there he likes, ’cause that’s who he talks to when he goes, Brooke Baldwin. And Chuck likes the ladies, let’s be honest about it. Everybody knows this. So now Chuck’s made two appearances on CNN. I think it’s two. Maybe it’s just one and they’re showing it in stages. Anyway, we’ve got the audio sound bites from it. Let me take a break now so that I don’t have to stop in the middle. Take a brief time-out here, we’ll come back, ’cause Chuck is doubling down here now. He’s doubling down.
He is not intimidated by the Washington Post or anybody else in the Drive-By Media. And I’m gonna tell you something else. This is the Chuck Barkley that — I better not. I don’t know if I should say this. I don’t want to take him off course. This is the Chuck Barkley that asked me to speak at his fundraiser, at his charitable fundraiser in Orlando way back in the nigh. This is the Chuck Barkley that I always — this is the Chuck Barkley that was prominent everywhere.
I remember Chuck going through those periods of time where he was being looked at as a role model and he didn’t want to be a role model because he didn’t think athletes held enough stature. Remember all that? I knew Chuck Barkley during those days, but when Obama was elected, Chuck, he changed direction, and now he’s back. That’s my perception. I’m not calling him names. I’m not accusing him of anything. I’m just observing, that’s what I do here.
But the Chuck that’s out there now is a familiar Chuck to me. (interruption) You remember what one? (interruption) Oh, yeah. Chuck was thinking of running for governor of Alabama. Exactly right. Remember Chuck was gonna run? So Chuck, as far as I’m concerned, this is the Chuck that I always knew. Not totally. There was obviously a change in direction when Obama was elected, but now he’s back. Anyway, we’ll take a break and come back and let you hear Chuck doubling down on CNN we get back after this. Don’t go away.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: By the way, what was it on Monday, what was it I said when I first began talking about Charles Barkley and what he had said about Ferguson, Missouri? I said there’s one man in America who can say anything he wants on race, and there will be no blowback. That’s how I introduced it. There is one man in America, and it was that comment, after that, here came what? All the blowback. He-he-he. I kind of blew it for Chuck.
Anyway, here he is, Charles Barkley on CNN. This aired last night. Brooke Baldwin interviewing Chuck. She said, “Do you think that we would be seeing all that unrest had Darren Wilson been black and all the facts remained the same, would we still have a slain 18-year-old, would the outrage be there if the cop was black?”
BARKLEY: The notion that white cops are out there just killing black people, that’s ridiculous. It’s just flat-out ridiculous. And I challenge any black person to try to make that point. This notion that cops — the cops are actually awesome. You know, they’re the only thing in the ghetto between this place being the wild, wild west. So this notion that cops are out there just killing black men is ridiculous. And I hate that narrative coming out of this entire situation.
RUSH: Oh, man. Oh-ho-ho. See, we’re back again to the same old thing. We’ve got truth, which he just uttered, which is up against power. And the power is the civil rights coalitions and the Democrat Party, which does not want to hear this. This is unacceptable. The cops are awesome? The cops are the only thing in the ghetto between it being the wild, wild west? The notion that cops are out there killing black men is ridiculous?
No, that’s the narrative. The whole point of “hands up, don’t shoot” is the cops are hunting young Gentle Giants and assassinating them. So here comes Chuck: No, it’s ridiculous, it isn’t happening, don’t want to hear it talked about, the cops are awesome. CNN is kind of confused as to what they’ve got here. Brooke Baldwin said, “Well, we’re waiting for the results to come down from the grand jury for Eric Garner here in New York.” This is the choke hold victim, by the way, if you haven’t seen that videotape, it’s — well, doesn’t matter, because Barkley’s answer will cover it. “We’re waiting for the results to come down from the grand jury for Eric Garner here in New York. And it’s one thing in Ferguson, there’s some audio, but this, you see the video, you see the cops surround him, the choke hold, and it was a homicide where he dies.”
BARKLEY: I don’t think it was a homicide. The cops were trying to arrest him and they got a little aggressive. I think excessive force, you know, something like that. But to go right to murder — Brooke, when the cops are trying to arrest you, if you fight back, things go wrong. There’s some black people out there who are crooks. We, we, as black people, we got a lot of crooks. We can’t just wait until something like this happen. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror. There’s a reason they racially profile us at times. Sometimes it’s wrong, but sometimes it’s right. To act and sit there and act like we hold no responsibility for some of this stuff, it’s just disingenuous.
RUSH: Now, you understand how minds were just blown with that one. He doesn’t think Eric Garner was murdered. The media narrative is that Garner was murdered and the cops set out to murder him, and then he doubles down and said that black people have a lot of crooks in their community and they bear responsibility for profiling. And I tell you, the people, I don’t care if it’s Brooke Baldwin, CNN, I don’t care who it is, many of them, this is the first time they are hearing this.
They imagine people like conservatives thinking this, but they don’t know anybody who talks this way. They don’t know anybody who actually believes this. And here now they are confronted with one of the most popular black athletes in the country saying this, and it’s not computing. We have time for one more here before the break. Brooke Baldwin says, “Okay, Ray Rice. Now, we’ve seen the video, the elevator, Atlantic City, punching his then fiancee, knocking her out cold. We now know that Ray Rice is eligible to play back in the NFL. Do you think a team is going to pick him up?”
BARKLEY: I do not. It’s just too hot right now. Ray Rice made an awful mistake, and I’m hoping somebody got the courage — ’cause it’s gonna take courage — I hope somebody got the courage to give him another chance, ’cause he deserves another chance.
BALDWIN: Why does he deserve a second chance? He knocked his then-fiancee out cold.
BARKLEY: We’ve had players who killed people who get second chances. Can’t ever hit a woman. Let me repeat that. You can’t ever hit a woman. Let me tell you something. I’ve been really disgusted in Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith from the NFL. This thing could have been handled right away. For them to put off how to handle this, quote, unquote, “conduct policy” has been atrocious. You can’t have men hitting women, period.
RUSH: Okay. So that speaks for itself. Now, what next? Yeah, we can squeeze this in. Up next is Brooke Baldwin and our buddy Don Lemon. They’re talking to each other and they’re speechless. They cannot believe what they just heard Chuck Barkley say.
BALDWIN: Ooh, where do we begin?
LEMON: Why don’t you say how you really feel, Charles? This is what he says: “We have a lot of crooks,” talking about African-Americans. Then he says, “There’s a reason we are racially profiled.” I’m paraphrasing here. “We act like we hold no responsibility. It’s just ridiculous.” (gasping) What do you say to that?
BALDWIN: (Dramatic exhale)
RUSH: (Exhaling) They’re hyperventilating. They don’t know what to say to that. So the Washington Post came to the rescue today and the headline: “Charles Barkley is a Conservative Black Hero. But Almost Everything He Says is Wrong.” And, by the way, Barkley, he’s just the new Cosby.
So now there’s blowback.