The attempt to buy the NFL’s St. Louis Rams by a group reportedly including two of the most unlikely bedfellows ever imagined–Rush Limbaugh and George Soros–illustrates yet another incident of gross malfeasance by the mainstream media.

As far as most liberals are concerned, Rush Limbaugh may as well change his name to Emmanuel Goldstein, the character in George Orwell’s “1984″ who represented the ultimate enemy of the totalitarian government. Each day, everyone was expected to devote “two minutes of hate” towards Goldstein, a ritual designed to keep an oppressed populace in check by allowing them to vent their hatred at someone other than their true oppressors

Perhaps the only difference between Goldstein and Limbaugh is that liberals invest far more than two minutes a day trying to discredit the radio talk show host.

Last week, however, a new low was reached in the never-ending attempt to smear Limbaugh: despite the revelation that racist quotes attributed to him were completely made up, mainstream media outlets ran them without bothering to verify their authenticity.

Lessons learned from former CBS anchor Dan Rather’s attempt to smear George W. Bush with forged documents? None.

Damage done? Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from the potential deal. Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, along with some black NFL players, condemned Limbaugh for his “divisive comments.”

Apparently the NFL prefers not to have an “incendiary” talk show host with an ownership stake in one of their teams. Fair enough–perhaps. But what about a man who admitted helping the Nazis confiscate Jewish property during WWll?

George Soros with Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes, December 20, 1998:

Kroft: (Voiceover) These are pictures from 1944 of what happened to George Soros’ friends and neighbors. (Vintage footage of women and men with bags over their shoulders walking; crowd by a train)

Kroft: (Voiceover) You’re a Hungarian Jew. . .

Soros: Right. I was 14 years old. And I would say that that’s when my character was made.

Kroft: In what way?

Soros: That one should think ahead. One should understand and–and anticipate events and when–when one is threatened. It was a tremendous threat of evil. I mean, it was a–a very personal experience of evil.

Kroft: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson.

Soros: Yes. Yes.

Kroft: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews.

Soros: Yes. That’s right. Yes.

Kroft: I mean, that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

Soros: Not at all. Not at all. Maybe as a child you don’t see the connection. But it was – it created no problem at all.

Kroft: No feeling of guilt?

Soros: No.

So far, helping Nazis–or even Soros’ conviction by a French court for insider trading, resulting a $2.2 million dollar fine–hasn’t been enough to disqualify him for ownership consideration by the NFL. But then again, a league populated with wife beaters, drug abusers and dog killers, isn’t likely to be fazed by the addition of such a fine fellow. Nobody’s perfect, and it’s not like selling out your own people to the Nazis or committing a felony is anywhere near as bad as a being a….a…conservative radio talk show host.

It will be interesting to see if Mr. Limbaugh sues the people who have damaged his reputation. It will be even more interesting to see if any of those responsible for doing that damage will be fired.

Here’s a hint for those network executives who make such decisions: is anything more intrinsic to news reporting than fact-checking?

atahlert@comcast.net

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