Dear Rush:

For the record, I don't believe you're a racist.

I don't believe anything you've said on your show for the last two decades disqualifies you from becoming a minority partner or majority owner in an NFL franchise if you have the resources. I believe you've been unfairly tarred by some of your critics who repeat as gospel statements that you never made about the virtues of slavery.

What you do better than your legion of less talented imitators is enable a uniquely American brand of self-consciously "unconscious" racism to thrive in the echo chamber of conservative talk radio. You are the epitome of what satirist Stephen Colbert makes fun of every night -- a "color-blind conservative" who says appalling things about other tribes while maintaining an aura of racial innocence.

We know you're hard of hearing, Rush, but you can't be deaf to the fact that feebleminded bigots depend on you for much of their intellectual firepower. Many of the calls you get on the air crackle with inchoate racial resentments you rarely, if ever, challenge.

This is your base, Rush. You are to your audience what The New York Times is to many journalists -- you set the tone for imitators and the social agenda for listeners.

Aren't you the wit who coined the term "Halfrican-American" to refer to President Barack Obama and actress Halle Berry?

Didn't you give xenophobic listeners permission to refer to then-Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as a "reverse racist?"

Who compared illegal aliens to an "invasive species?"

Who popularized the "Barack, the Magic Negro" idea by repeatedly playing a conservative comedian's song of that name, parodying "Puff, the Magic Dragon"?

Who said that the NFL "all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips"?

Who described basketball as "the favorite sport of gangs"?

What do such comments mean if they aren't meant to exploit racial anxiety and latent prejudice?

Let's be honest, Rush. You know your listeners would use cruder language if you didn't provide radio-friendly euphemisms like "Injuns" and "feminazis" to keep them endlessly entertained.

The point of your program has always been "Us versus Them." It has never been about celebrating America as a multiracial, multicultural mosaic. You know it and your "dittoheads" know it, too. You weren't dropped from the bid to buy the St. Louis Rams because of the dark machinations of the liberal establishment, Rush. You became expendable because of the company you keep.

National Football League owners, who are just as white as you and just as rich, have figured out a way to make a lot of money without antagonizing whole swaths of people.

Imagine that -- a business model that isn't eager to offend minorities or women just to appease those who believe white skin should come with more privileges than it does.

You're an entertainer. I get it. You'll say just about anything to keep the ratings high and the money rolling in for the corporation that cuts your checks. You're obviously smarter than your most fervent listeners and far less racist than your imitators.

The irony is that you're getting tarred more by what you didn't say than what you did say. When a relatively unknown imitator like Jim Quinn makes a stupid statement about slaves having had to work harder for food and housing than welfare recipients, you're going to get the blame.

Such statements arise in the general toxicity of conservative talk radio all the time, but you get tagged with it because yours is the most prominent and distinctive voice. Still, it isn't right to blame you for the bigotry of your colleagues. The less talented voices in conservative radio tend to merge with yours in the imagination of many of your critics.

As for your failed bid to buy into the St. Louis Rams, I had no problem with it. I don't believe the various owners really needed smelling salts to revive them when you were mentioned as a potential minority investor in the Rams. They're image-conscious capitalists, a concept you should understand.

You're a lightning rod. The owners don't want you attracting unwanted attention to other unsavory aspects of their business. There probably aren't many "liberals" in that bunch, either.

Personally, I believe being in an organization with so many black employees would have mellowed you for the better, Rush. I have no idea whether you get a chance to interact with many people of color in your current circumstance, but exposure to minorities who are earning big dollars for the first time in their lives might have taught you a thing or two about the universality of ambition. You can't talk about Crips and Bloods in the NFL if you actually know those folks.

The NFL is not some holy priesthood, so it shouldn't act like one when a potential investor comes around. Keeping you on the sidelines solely because you're obnoxious is hypocritical. It's sort of like what you did when you cheered Chicago's failure to win the 2016 Olympics -- it's un-American.

Tony's Take on Comix by Tony Norman is featured exclusively in the Opinion section on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.