Tag Archives: Rush Limbaugh

May 8, 2013 · 1:29 PM

The Republican De-Evolution: From Political Party to Cult

johnboehner

This article does a good job in explaining what happened to the Republican Party…

Forward Progress

For a while now, I’ve called the Republican Party a cult more often than I have a political party or ideology.  The emergence of the Tea Party only solidified this belief.

Scientific research (not that science means much of anything to many Republicans) distinguishes 5 characteristics of a cult:

  1. People are put in physical or emotionally distressing situations
  2. Their problems are reduced to one simple explanation, which is repeatedly emphasized
  3. They receive what seems to be unconditional love, acceptance and attention from a charismatic leader or group
  4. They get a new identity based on the group
  5. They are subject to entrapment and their access to information is severely controlled

I’ll tackle these one by one.

1)  Any rational person who’s subjected themselves to a decent amount of right-wing media (I have, it comes with the job) would find it hard to deny that these individuals often thrive on fear, paranoia and anger.  Anyone who has ever objectively watched Fox News, listened to Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, has probably lost count of the references to apocalyptic destruction of our country even in just one broadcast.  Even after the death of Osama Bin Ladin, something that should have been celebrated by every American, Fox News perpetuated the idea that President Obama was someone who proved that he has no issues going into a country without authorization, to kill whoever he wants—whenever he wants.  Really?  You take what should be an apolitical event and turn it into a means at which to paint Obama as some kind of tyrant who will stop at nothing to kill whoever he wants.  It was simply ridiculous.

Even long after the “death panel” myth has been soundly debunked, many Republican still fear “death panels” in the Affordable Care Act.  They’ve been conditioned to believe Obama is some kind of gay rights supporting, foreign-born, radical Muslim socialist set on destroying “traditional American values,” yet can’t pinpoint a time when we had those—for everyone.  Hell, they can’t even comprehend that for someone to be a socialist, a radical Muslim and support homosexuality is nearly an endless line of contradictions that no one person could ever singularly encompass.

They’re told by most of their media sources to be afraid.  These bad men are out to bankrupt your grandchildren, create panels deciding who lives and dies, and turn this country into some socialistic style of governing.  You can’t constantly be bombarded with this kind of intensely negative and hate filled information and not come out emotionally compromised.

Continue reading here…

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April 28, 2013 · 12:47 AM

POTUS at White House Correspondence Dinner Last Night (Update from PoliticusUSA)

In my opinion, President Obama did a tremendous job at the WHCD.  See for yourself…

PoliticusUSA

Obama Jabs Rush Limbaugh and Fox News At White House Correspondents Dinner

President Obama entered to a new rap intro and joked that this is what Rush Limbaugh warned you about in the second term. Obama thanked everybody including his wife, then said, “Everybody loves Michelle. She’s on the cover of Vogue, high poll numbers, but I got my own magazine cover.” He then joked that he had to admit that that he is not the same strapping young Muslim Socialist that he used to be. Obama joked about going 2 for 22 on the basketball court at the White House Easter Egg Roll. He said, “Two hits, twenty misses. NBC executives asked, what’s my secret?”

The president joked about needing something new for the second term, then showed a picture of First Lady Obama’s bangs on his head. The president made a joke about Conan’s Tonight Show fiasco. (That one didn’t go over so well.) Obama later took a jab at CNN say he admired them covering all sides of the story in case one of them might be accurate. He joked about Axelrod working at MSNBC, because MSNBC used to work for Axelrod. Obama got in a joke about the History Channel’s The Bible and the devil looking like him. He said Fox News thought the portrayal was unfair to the devil.

Later, the president made a Sheldon Adelson joke centered on Adelson spending $100 million to defeat him. Obama said, “You’ve got to really dislike me to spend that kind of money. That’s Oprah money. You could have bought an island and named it Nobama for that kind of money.” He said Adelson would have been better off offering him the money to drop out of the race. He said he would have thought about it, but Michelle would have taken the money.

The president also joked that if Republicans were serious about minority outreach, they could start with him. Later he joked that he is taking his Republican outreach on the road. The president said, “A Texas barbeque with Ted Cruz. A Kentucky bluegrass concert with Rand Paul, and a book burning with Michele Bachmann.”

One of the highlights was a video of Steven Spielberg announcing that his next project will be Obama, with Daniel Day Lewis as Obama (Obama playing Obama), and Tracey Morgan as Joe Biden.

Obama wound things down by quoting Groucho Marx, and reminding Ted Cruz that he said Groucho not Karl Marx. The president closed on a serious note with thoughts and optimism for the people of Boston, West, TX, those hit by flooding in the Midwest.

This was one of President Obama’s better WHCD performances. The president was funny, but sincere. It was fun to see the president poke fun at himself, and it was also interesting to note that the White House hears every unhinged crazy right wing conspiracy theory out there.

The president is a natural performer, and his joke writers were really good. The WHCD also allows the president to blow off a little frustration, and Obama did that tonight with his jokes about the Republican refusal to work with him.

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April 25, 2013 · 6:47 PM

Mother Jones: Frank Luntz Calls Right-Wing Talk Radio ‘Problematic’ For GOP

I would agree that right-wing talk radio is an Achilles heel for the GOP but they have bigger problems than that.  

They have an immigration problem, a gun problem, a people of color problem and a “stupid party” problem.  Not to mention their anti-abortion legislation problems.  Also the fact that the Tea Party won’t allow the GOP any amount of compromise not only stifles our government, it stifles the party as well.

Yep, what the GOP has…is a bad image problem.

TPM Livewire

GOP strategist Frank Luntz went off the record before a group of college Republicans earlier this month at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss the negative impact he believes right-walk talk radio has had on the GOP, Mother Jones reported Thursday.

“And they get great ratings, and they drive the message, and it’s really problematic,” Luntz said of right-wing talk-radio programs, according to a recording of the event. Luntz added that talk radio has been especially damaging to Sen. Marco Rubio’s immigration reform efforts.

“He’s getting destroyed,” Luntz said, “by Mark Levin, by Rush Limbaugh, and a few others. He’s trying to find a legitimate, long-term effective solution to immigration that isn’t the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him. That’s what’s causing this thing underneath. And too many politicians in Washington are playing coy.”

According to Mother Jones’ piece, written by David Corn, Luntz asked the audience to allow him to speak off the record, prompting one college newspaper reporter to switch off his device. But another student, Aakash Abbi, captured the sound bite on his iPhone.

Corn has built a reputation reporting on surreptitious recordings, starting with Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comments and continuing with a secretly recorded Mitch McConnell campaign strategy meeting.

Listen to the audio and read Corn’s full piece here.

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April 23, 2013 · 5:15 PM

Rush Limbaugh Compares Suspected Boston Bomber To Trayvon Martin

It’s too easy to say that the Limbaughs, Coulters and Hannitys of the world merely seek and need attention.  These people are simply unadulterated evil…

Think Progress

Conservative radio prognosticator Rush Limbaugh used his nationally syndicated show on Tuesday to try and tie Dzhakar Tsarnaev, the captured suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings last week, to murdered teenager Trayvon Martin.

Last March, weeks after 17-year-old Martin was shot and killed, Limbaugh and the rest of the conservative echo chamber spent a considerable amount of time attacking Martin’s character and pushing back against a widely circulated photograph of the teen, claiming that the media was trying to gin up sympathy for the murdered boy.

On Tuesday, Limbaugh compared the media’s portrayal of Trayvon to the treatment of the captured Tsarnaev, citing the media’s use of slightly outdated photographs in both instances:

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called out a variety of media outlets on Tuesday for trying to [do] “to Dzhokhar [Tsarnaev] what they did to Trayvon Martin.” He said that showing images of Tsarnaev at 14-years-old is an effort to humanize him and frame him as a “normal” or “mixed-up kid,” rather than an accused murder[er] and terrorist.

‘The news media are doing to Dzhokhar what they did to Trayvon Martin,”Limbaugh observed. “They’re regularly showing a photo of Dzhokhar that was taken when he was about 14. Soft, angelic, nice little boy. Harmless. Cute. Big, loveable eyes.”

“Not at all what he looks like today,” Limbaugh added. “The way, when we’re shown Osama bin Laden, it’s in his shepherd pose with his walking stick, walking through the mountains or whatever.”

The implication, subtly made, is that the liberal media is somehow supportive of Tsarnaev, who is responsible for the murders of three people and the injuries of more than 170 others. In reality, the outdated photograph of the younger Tsarnaev brother is one of several photographs in constant rotation on every news network since he was first identified late last week.

The comparison is also deeply offensive for Trayvon Martin and his family. Martin was a victim of gun violence in a state that remains lenient towards gun owners who turn their weapons on other Floridians.

HT: Mediaite

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March 31, 2013 · 10:34 AM

Politico’s Week In One-Liners 3-31-2013

AP Photo, Reuters

The top quotes in politics…

“Busted.” — President Barack Obama describing his March Madness bracket.

“Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate.” — Actress Ashley Judd bowing out.

“It’s good to live a normal life again.” — Former White House hopeful Mitt Romney appreciating post-campaign life.

“I think email just sucks up time.” — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano expressing some thoughts on technology.

“Believe me, nobody’s going to get naked if I’m spending the entire day with Prince Harry.” — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie making a promise.

“This is inevitable.” — Radio host Rush Limbaugh on same-sex marriage.

“If you like it you should be able to put a ring on it.” — Beyonce weighing in on the debate.

 

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March 26, 2013 · 9:53 PM

Hypocrisy Alert! Rush Limbaugh Claims Lesbians are Obese Substance Abusers (Audio)

Oh, the hypocrisy coming out of Republicans’ mouths lately…simply astonishing.

AATTP

While discussing two unverified “academic, scholarly studies” supposedly researching why lesbians are obese alcoholics, Rush Limbaugh said:

You know, we had stories last week. I’m sure you’ll recall.  There are studies — there are actually academic, scholarly studies — being undertaken and the focus of the stories last week was the money being spent on this research, even though we find ourselves in a sequester. What was it, there was $2.5 million dollars spent to study why 75% of lesbians are obese and gay males aren’t. Homosexual men aren’t; lesbians are obese, 75%.  Why?  That cost two and a half mill.  There’s another survey, or another project, spent, I think, $1.5 million to find out why lesbians are alcoholics.

And, of course, the answers to the first case is they don’t have to deal with men, so they don’t have to worry about their appearance.  They’re not trying to please men. So they can be obese.  It’s no big deal.  Alcohol, who knows?  They’re having to deal with women so they’re drunk.  Who knows?

A tad ironic considering that Rush, who is obviously overweight, got caught after purchasing more than 30,000 hydrocodone, Lorcet and OxyContin pills illegally from his housekeeper.  It’s certainly not the first completely asinine and hateful thing to spew out of Limbaugh’s mouth and we’re sure it won’t be the last; we just don’t understand why anyone listens to this vile hypocritical idiot!

Listen to the audio, courtesy of Media Matters

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February 19, 2013 · 9:12 AM

Rush Limbaugh Smears President Obama by Suggesting He is Cheating on His Wife

obama-golfing

Rush Limbaugh smeared President Obama [yesterday] by suggesting that the president was cheating on his wife while playing golf with Tiger Woods.

PoliticusUSA

Posted 2-18-2013

Transcript via Rush Limbaugh:

By the way, there are some in the Drive-Bys (and we have the evidence coming up) who are not happy that Obama invited Tiger while Moochelle is half a continent away with the children. It’s a guy’s weekend, and there’s Tiger in there, and there are no cameras. So there are some people in the media, particularly over at CNN, who are very, very worried about this.

Not us here at the EIB Network. It never crossed our minds. I saw a busload of women when I was out yesterday on 95. I was up as far as Jupiter, and I did see a busload of women heading north on 95. Now, I had no idea where it was going. It was the afternoon. It was after, like, three o’clock. (interruption) No, no, no, Snerdley! I’m not leveling any accusations, but I did see a busload of women. (interruption) No, Clinton’s not there. Well, that’s a good question. I don’t think Clinton’s in town. Anyway, hee-hee, we have the evidence coming up.

…

But the way the sports media treats these guys is that they’re gods, in essence. Of course that veil was lifted on Tiger. Before we get to that, I had a bunch of people e-mail me during the break here. “Rush, come on! Obama’s a very loyal and devoted husband. He doesn’t care about women.” Maybe not, but who else was up there? That’s what the media’s concerned about at CNN, which you will hear in mere moments.

…

RUSH ARCHIVE: [T]he parallels between Barack Obama and Tiger Woods are stunning. We don’t know if there’s rampant sex romps going on with Obama. We doubt that. But everything else, they created for us a puff piece image of Obama, starting with his speech at the 2004 Democrat convention. We don’t know who he is. We don’t know anything about the man other than his years agitating the community in Chicago, the things he’s written about in his books. But there’s this image of “we’ve never had someone like this before, there’s never been a man like this. He transcends normal people.” Remember all these people gushing over him. Mark my words. At some point the same unmasking that has happened to Tiger Woods will happen to Barack Obama.

RUSH: Well, it hasn’t happened yet. I predicted that, at some point, the veil would be lifted on Obama. I still say this. I thought it would happen by now, but it hasn’t yet. But it has been on Tiger. You know, Tiger created this image, along with his sports-marketing people and his corporate partners. They created this image of Mr. Perfect: Perfect husband, perfect golfer, perfect workout guy, more disciplined than you, devoted, committed — and that was all done in the media. Of course, then it all blew up. When the media makes you, the media can break you — and that is going to be true of Obama at some point. It may be too late to matter when it does, but it will.

George W. and Laura Bush took a separate vacation in each year of his presidency. Was the media concerned about the impression that this sent then? Was Rush Limbaugh speculating that Bush was cheating on his wife? Of course, he wasn’t. This was a non-story when the previous president did it, but the Obamas take one separate vacation and right wing turns it into a big Obama secret. To be fair, when some liberal message boards noticed that the Bushs took separate vacations in 2006, they speculated too, but the story wasn’t on CNN.

Besides Limbaugh’s daily agenda of Obama hate, the media is making an issue out of this because the president wouldn’t let them tag along while he golfed with Tiger Woods.  Ed Henry of Fox News and president of the White House Correspondents Association, filed a complaint about the the White House’s lack of golf outing transparency.  Henry wrote, “Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association, I can say a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend. There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency.”

Of all the transparency issues to be concerned about, Henry is most outraged because he didn’t to cover Obama playing golf. When things like this happen, it is easy to see why the mainstream media is held in such low regard.

The media is grumpy because that they didn’t get to play TMZ.  Rush Limbaugh, who has cheated on a few of his wives, is perpetuating the stereotype that the nation’s first African-American president is cheating on his wife, and nobody gave a damn when George W. and Laura Bush took separate vacations every year.

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February 3, 2013 · 5:30 AM

Sunday Talk: Home of the brave

Daily Kos ~ Silly Rabbit

On Monday, Senator Marco Rubio—whose parents famously fled Castro’s Cuba before that was even a thing to do—ganged up with seven other senators (including John “TehSurge” McCain and Lindsey “Benghazi” Graham) to unveil a bipartisan framework for comprehensive immigration reform.

No doubt this was a calculated move by Rubio; he doesn’t need any GOP consultants telling him that “send them all back” is no longer a viable electoral strategy—but it was heroic nonetheless.

He now finds himself on the opposing side of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and the National Review; they recognize that offering millions of freeloaders a path to citizenship would be good for the Democrats, and as such, bad for the country.

On the other hand, an influx of foreign invaders would necessitate giving little womenzunfettered access to the biggest, scariest-looking guns imaginable—which is what America is all about.

Well, that and Israel, apparently.

~~~~~~~~~

Morning lineup:

Meet the Press: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey; Roundtable: Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Ralph Reed (Faith and Freedom Coalition), Republican Strategist Ana Navarroand David Brooks (New York Times).Face the Nation: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell; Jim Nantz (CBS Sports); Phil Simms (CBS Sports); Shannon Sharpe (CBS Sports).

This Week: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV); Former Washington, DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee; Roundtable: Republican Strategist Matthew Dowd,Jorge Ramos (Univision), Paul Krugman (New York Times), Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA).

Fox News Sunday: NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre; Former Astronaut Mark Kelly;Roundtable: Former Romney Campaign Adviser Kevin Madden, Nina Easton (Fortune Magazine), Radio Host Laura Ingraham and Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN).

State of the Union: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey; Former NFL Player Hines Ward; Former Sen. George Allen(R-VA); Reliable Sources: Dana Milbank (Washington Post); Amy Holmes (The Blaze);Terrence Smith (Formerly of PBS); Pete Dominick (SiriusXM); Marisa Guthrie(Hollywood Reporter); Bob Costas (NBC Sports); Barbara Lippert (MediaPost).

The Chris Matthews Show: Michael Duffy (TIME); Katty Kay (BBC); Howard Fineman(Huffington Post); Annie Lowrey (New York Times).

Fareed Zakaria GPS: Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates; Former Vice President Al Gore(D).

Up with Chris Hayes: Economist/Author Joseph Stiglitz; President Emeritus of Bennett College for Women Julianne Malveaux; Author Michelle Goldberg; Former Foreign Policy Adviser to Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich Kiron Skinner; Author Michael Hastings; Barbara Slavin (Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center); Ali Gharib (Daily Beast); Michael Brendan Dougherty (The American Conservative); Joe Weisenthal(BusinessInsider.com); Former Partner at Bain Capital Edward Conard.

Evening lineup:

60 Minutes will be preempted by Super Bowl XLVII, which kicks off at 6:30 pm ET.

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January 30, 2013 · 5:30 PM

Obama’s Favorability Highest Since First Year In Office – ABC/Washington Post Poll

obama smile

Good news for the POTUS, bad news for Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and their ilk…

Addicting Info

Seems despite every kind of slime, slam, side-swipe, and sucker-punch, Republicans are hitting dry ground in their continued attempts to demonize and marginalize the President. In fact, according to that latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, the President has now garnered the highest favorability ratings he’s had since his first year in office in 2009.

A full sixty percent of Americans polled gave a thumbs-up to Obama, 10 points higher than similar numbers polled in summer, 2012, during the height of the presidential campaign. “Favorability” is differentiated from “job approval,” offering a more emotional response to the President as a person, rather than an assessment of how he’s doing his job. According to ABC, Obama’s favorability numbers trump Bush’s at the start of his second term by 5 points, while trailing Clinton’s by 5 and Reagan’s by 12.

There is also the nuance of how much sentiment is felt and in this poll, Obama did well: more have a “strongly” favorable opinion than a “strongly unfavorable” one, which is the first time the numbers have skewed in that direction since 2010.

As for who likes the President, the groups were broken down as follows:

GROUPS – The president continues to be highly popular within his own party, with 92 percent favorability. Notably, 60 percent of independents see him favorably vs. 36 percent unfavorably, his best since his first year in office. He remains unpopular, however, with 80 percent of Republicans.

Similarly, 87 percent of liberals and 68 percent of moderates view the president positively, dropping to 34 percent of conservatives overall and just a quarter of strong conservatives.

In other groups, Obama’s more popular among women than men by 9 points. And he’s rated favorably by 87 percent of nonwhites, two-thirds of young adults and two-thirds of those in the lower- to middle-income brackets. By contrast, his favorability drops to 45 percent among whites – a group he lost to Mitt Romney by 20 points – and 47 percent of those with household incomes more than $100,000 a year.

Additionally, when asked about their opinion of Obama’s Inaugural address, “broad majorities” of his key constituents – liberals, nonwhites, and, of course, Democrats, highly approved.

In a nutshell, the poll summed it up in a sentence:

President Obama “has advanced to his highest personal popularity since his first year in office, and Americans who’ve formed an opinion of his second inaugural address last week broadly approve of it.”

For full PDF of poll results, click here.

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January 29, 2013 · 12:25 AM

Limbaugh: It’s Up To Me And Fox News To Stop Amnesty

Good luck with that…

TPM Livewire

Conservative talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh said on his show Monday that it was up to himself and the Fox News network to stop a bipartisan effort to pass immigration reform which would create a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

“It’s up to me and Fox News,” Limbaugh said, “and I don’t think Fox News is that invested in this.”

He continued: “I don’t think there’s any Republican opposition to this of any majority consequence or size. We’ll have to wait and see and find out.  But this is one of those, just keep plugging away, plugging away, plugging away until you finally beat down the opposition.”

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