The New Republic is definitely not my favorite reading, but this blurb may help explain the reaction against Rush Limbaugh and the McNabb incident. It's a more comfortable idea than conspiracy. Most things have a simpler explanation than conspiracy--we do more stupid things by stupid accident than by evil plans. [See the previous post] The New Republic Online: Easterbrook: " If fans aren't having fun--if Rush says things that make the audience squirm--this backfires on the league and on ESPN. Racial commentary may be necessary and even healthy in some aspects of life, but it is no one's idea of fun, and so antithetical to the first purpose of the NFL and of ESPN. Thus the sorts of comments that might be absolutely protected when the subject is politics might be verboten when the subject is entertainment. "