Sharpton, Jackson Attack Limbaugh

(Oct. 13) -- Two big-name civil rights activists are speaking out against Rush Limbaugh's bid to buy the St. Louis Rams.

The Rev. Al Sharpton says in a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that allowing the conservative talk show host to be a team owner would hurt the league. In an AP interview, the Rev. Jesse Jackson charges that Limbaugh plays on "the fears of whites" and doesn't deserve the privilege of owning an NFL team.

Limbaugh quit as an ESPN football commentator in 2003 after catching flak for saying Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted "a black quarterback to do well." Four years later, he compared NFL players to street gangs the Bloods and the Crips.

Sharpton and Jackson weighed in after NFL players union chief DeMaurice Smith declared pro football should promote unity and reject "discrimination and hatred."

Limbaugh defends himself in a "Today" show interview, saying critics who want to marginalize him as a "far-right fringe" figure are just irritated because he's "tiptoeing into the mainstream."

Some NFL players say they would refuse to play for a Limbaugh-owned team. Those players are "lying through their stinking teeth," argues former ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, who says that, in the end, money talks.

Sports columnists are split over what Commissioner Goodell should do. Jason Whitlock calls Limbaugh's attempt to buy the Rams a "publicity stunt" and says Goodell should just say no immediately. Carol Slezak of the Chicago Sun-Times slams Limbaugh as a "meathead" and "charlatan" but says his bid deserves consideration because "there's no NFL rule forbidding clowns from owning a team."

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann is siding with his usual nemesis on this one -- saying that if sports team owners have to pass character tests, "there'll only be three of them left."

In this week's AOL Hot Seat poll, 52 percent say Limbaugh should buy the Rams, 41 percent say he shouldn't, and the rest aren't sure.

An idea that bubbled up on the blogosphere in reaction to a New York Times article last week is getting new life in a Daily Beast column. Peter Beinart says the GOP is torn apart by extremists and needs a hero to pull the party together. That hero, he says, might be Gen. David Petraeus.

Beinart notes that another general, Dwight Eisenhower, helped revive the Republican Party in the 1950s. Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole made the same comparison recently, saying he'd like to see Petraeus run for president as a latter-day Ike.

The New York Times story about Petraeus' diminished voice in the debate over Afghanistan strategy mentioned speculation about the general making the jump to politics. One former colleague told the paper that makes the Obama administration "a little suspicious" of Petraeus -- but added the general has given no hint he's interested in a White House bid. In fact, Paul Bedard reports on Washington Whispers that Petraeus "really isn't keen" on the idea at all.