Dems furious as Florida GOP names road after Rush

FPI / May 8, 2023

Rush Limbaugh was a Florida resident for more than 20 years. Along with being a conservative broadcasting legend, he donated millions to charities over the years.

With that in mind, the Florida House of Representative passed a road designation bill to name a stretch of Cortez Boulevard between U.S. 41 and S.R. 50/50A in Hernando County as “Rush Limbaugh Way.”

Democrats blew a gasket.

Democrat state Rep. Rita Harris said: “We’re going to honor this man? Nah.”

Harris gave as an example of Limbaugh's alleged racism a quote attributed to him on slavery:

"I mean, let's face it, we didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark," Limbaugh is alleged to have said.

The Snopes fact-checkers found: "The only source we've turned up so far that putatively documents this quote is the 2006 book '101 People Who Are Really Screwing America', which attributed it to Rush Limbaugh but cited no source."

Limbaugh said on his Oct. 12, 2009 program: "There's a quote out there that I first saw it in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week that I somehow, some time ago, defended slavery and started cracking jokes about it. And, you know, you say a lot of things in the course of 15 hours a week, over the course of 21 years. We've gone back, we have looked at everything we have. There is not even an inkling that any words in this quote are accurate. It's outrageous, but it's totally predictable. It's being repeated by people who have never listened to this program, they certainly didn't hear it said themselves because it was never said."

In her opposition to the road designation bill, Democrat state Rep. Angie Nixon repeated the false narrative, saying, “racism and wanting slavery to still be in existence is not a political issue, and if you think it is one, you need DEI training.”

The Limbaugh road designation is included in HB 21, first proposed by Republican state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia. It passed the House on a 87-25 vote. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who ordered flags flown at half-staff when Limbaugh died, is expected to agree to the road designation.

Republicans state Rep. Tyler Sirois said the road designation bill offered an “opportunity” for House and Senate members to “bring forward a designation for someone we believe is deserving of that through their contributions to the community.”

Free Press International
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