The NFL did what the Republican Party won’t: It sacked Rush Limbaugh

This really was an easy call. Boot Rush off the field. Not because they are Democrats or liberals. Not because they are Barack Obama’s buddies. Heck, most of these owners are big-time Republicans. As Michael Wilbon put it: “A few are so far to the right politically they think Limbaugh is liberal.”

Nope. Pure and simple, the NFL could not stomach his racial slurs over many years. Taking on Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, lamenting the number of black players (“NFL looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips”), racial attacks against Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor — after all, ESPN fired him.

Rush Limbaugh reminds me increasingly of Father Coughlin, the radical radio talk show host of the 1930s. More and more he became a parody of himself, spewing hatred and anti-Semitism. At its height his radio program reached 40 million listeners, nearly a third of the nation. As people began to see him for what he was, stations dropped him, his church disowned him and he receded into the woodwork.

It is too bad that Limbaugh blames others for his faults, that he makes up conspiracy theories about why he was rejected by the NFL. More Republicans should take a page out of the NFL playbook and reject Limbaugh for his outrageous behavior. It is not fitting on the field or off.