There's been a lot of teeth-gnashing and wailing over poor little Rush and his rejection from the group that may possibly seek to buy the St. Louis Rams.
"Persecution!" "Discrimination!" "Injustice of the highest order!"
Poor Rush Limbaugh, who has founded orphanages, helped bring running water to villages in Africa, and who marched side-by-side with gay activists in the 80s for AIDS Research! What did he ever do to deserve such vitriol? Why just last week he announced he was arranging benefits for victims of the typhoon in the Phillipines and the earthquakes in Indonesia! Why, he's practically a modern-day Martin Luther King, Jr!
O The Injustice! Why, Conservatives would never do such a thing to an individual, you can bet that!
EXCEPT THAT THEY DID.
Soros's Nats Bid Irks Republicans
by Thomas Heath, The Washington Post
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Major League Baseball hasn't narrowed the list of the eight bidders seeking to buy the Washington Nationals and some Republicans on Capitol Hill already are hinting at revoking the league's antitrust exemption if billionaire financier George Soros , an ardent critic of President Bush and supporter of liberal causes, buys the team.
"It's not necessarily smart business sense to have anybody who is so polarizing in the political world," Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) said. "That goes for anybody, but especially as it relates to Major League Baseball because it's one of the few businesses that get incredibly special treatment from Congress and the federal government."
<snip>
"Why should politics have anything to do with who owns the team?," Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) asked. "So Congress is going to get involved in every baseball ownership decision? Are they next going to worry about a manager they don't like? I've never seen anything as impotent as a congressman threatening the baseball exemption. It gets threatened half a dozen times a year, and our batting average threatening the exemption is zero."
Washington entrepreneur Jonathan Ledecky , who heads the bidding group that Soros joined, said in an e-mail: "America's pastime should be protected from the rhetoric of partisan politics. It's unfortunate that the negativism that permeates national politics today is infecting Major League Baseball and the Washington Nationals."
(all emphases are mine)
Now there are some people who would agree that baseball should have it's anti-trust exemption taken away.
And it's also true that, Soros has championed decriminalizing steroid use, which, understandably Major League Baseball and Bud Selig might have had a problem with.
But Congress effectively took any such decisions out of Selig's hands didn't they? Let's reiterate: An elected congressman threatened Major League Baseball (a privately owned corporation/association) with adverse legislation if a certain owner was approved for a franchise.
In other words, the free-market Republicans were ready to interfere in a private corporation's practices for the sake of politics, but now, they're in full bitch, moan, and whine status over the fact that the commissioner and players in the NFL (i.e., those most impacted by this) dared to raise a fuss over Rush owning a team.
These are the same people who know full well that Big Insurance is behind many of the "anti-health care reform" groups that pretend to be grass-roots organizations, as well as the ones who accuse Barack Obama of "socialism" on a daily basis.
Sickening.
And oh, look at this, now there's an online petition to stop Fergie from obtaining minority ownership in the Miami Dolphins.
Hmm...actually I have to agree with them on this one.
"My Humps" is the motherf*****g worst song EVER.
:)
UPDATE: Aw shucks, a recommended diary! Woo-hoo! Thanks y'all!
I just want to remark that one commenter stated that Soros was a part of Checketts' group along with Limbaugh. That is not correct:
Soros not part of Checketts’ Rams bid group
St. Louis Business Journal - by Daniel Kaplan
Billionaire investor George Soros is not part of St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts’ bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, unnamed sources told the SportsBusiness Journal.
News reports emerged this week suggesting that Soros was part of the bid.
Earlier this week, Checketts dropped his partner Rush Limbaugh after a growing firestorm erupted over the conservative talk-radio show host.
Soros is known for funding several left-wing causes and groups, including Moveon.org. Some of the confusion over Soros’ involvement likely emerged because former Soros fund managers run Towerbrook Financial, the hedge fund that invested with Checketts in the Blues.
Remember people, always verify. The Right (Billo in particular) loves to drag George Soros' name into anything that will rile up their listeners. In their version of reality, Soros is the money-man behind The Liberal Plot To Destroy America, a long-running conspiracy that includes special agents Barack Obama, The Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, Hugo Chavez, George Clooney, Sean Penn, The Dixie Chicks and the woman from the Progressive insurance commericals. Always be sure of facts.