Dispatch from the "And these guys get PAID for this???" file

Rush Limbaugh thinks Michelle Obama is overweight.

Glenn Beck thinks reform Judaism is like radicalized Islam.

Mike Stark has balls of steel

We've been huge fans of Mike Stark ever since he dared to brave George "Macaca" Allen's goons back in 2006. Then there's this...and this. And then there's the time that we were introduced to Mike at Yearly Kos in 2007 where I burbled fannish gibberish like a tween girl who's just realized she's in the same checkout line at Abercrombie and Fitch with Justin Bieber. Because no one is better at being a thorn in the side of Republicans than ol' Mr. Balls of Steel.

I heard this bit on Randi Rhodes' show while driving home this evening, and I should have known it was Stark on the phone:

I think that may be the first time Limbaugh was rendered very nearly speechless.

The "R" Word

Let's talk about the "R" word for a moment, shall we?

The consonant "R" could be used to start any of tens of thousands of words. There's "revenge", for instance, or the synonym "reprisal." But the "R" word mostly in the news lately has been given attention due to Sarah Palin's Facebook fatwa. That would be the word "retarded", a word that does not accurately describe those with Down Syndrome, of which former Governor Palin's son Trig suffers.

Indeed, those with Down's Syndrome can have average to above-average intelligence and those who are developmentally-disabled due to having a superfluous 47th chromosome suffer moderate mental handicaps. Down syndrome should never in any way be all-inclusively folded into mental retardation.

Yet Palin's attack on Rahm Emanuel and calling for his termination only displays her ongoing ignorance of any subject under the sun that doesn't include clothes shopping and color-coordinating her lipstick and shoes.

However, I'm here to address yet another "R" word and that word is "Republican." You see, the rules are different for even moderate Democrats such as Rahm Emanuel and Republican elephant dorks such as Rush Limbaugh. Because, to cite yet another "R" word, Sarah Palin's unwillingness to engage el Rushbo for not only using the word but for calling out the Palin camp for calling out Emanuel can best be described as "Recreant", or, according to Dictionary.com, "unfaithful, disloyal, or traitorous."

Not only does it reveal Palin to be a moral coward in being unwilling to defend her son as she sought to defend him and others with Down's syndrome, it also betrays her as a hypocrite. It also shows that the GOP establishment of which Palin pretends to not be a part both officially and unofficially genuflects at the altar of a child-molesting, racist drug addict who does a radio show from his home.

Limbaugh is himself, to continue our alliteration, a supreme recreant, a reprobate and a raging racist against any who aren't also bloated, wealthy, white WASP Republicans such as he. Yet Republican congressmen, party chairmen and other conservative media pundits continually prostrate themselves at the cloven hooves of this cock goblin and assclown extraordinaire.

Sarah Palin is no different. Whether or not one is wrong in their assumptions or beliefs, one ought to stick to them until having a logical and more correct reason for changing said assumptions or beliefs. If Palin thought it was OK to publicly attack Rahm Emanuel for using the word "retarded" when describing a liberal plan of action, then she would have been even more justified in attacking this jiggling mountain of lying cellulite for attacking her for being politically correct.

But Palin is a quitter and a coward. She has no beliefs other than that which conforms to the conservative zeitgeist, no allegiance other than to the letter "R" and her own transparent presidential ambitions in two years. Sarah Palin still holds out hope that Limbaugh will someday give his millions of airheaded listeners his endorsement of her candidacy except Palin doesn't realize that Limbaugh, a product of a dying, male-dominated America, will never endorse a woman for President no matter how qualified she may be. She has no loyalty, even her own misguided one that she's recently pretended to hold for those with Down syndrome.

Her inability or unwillingness to publicly call out Limbaugh and engage him for slapping her across the snout with the rolled-up newspaper of his radio show and bully pulpit will cost her independent votes later on. Her refusal to apply the same rules to a fellow conservative is Republican partisanship at its most craven.

Still an Asshole

...and worse than ever:

Conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh said Friday that tests show nothing wrong with his heart after chest pains hospitalized him earlier this week.

Limbaugh said at a Honolulu news conference that he was being released from The Queen's Medical Center, where he was rushed Wednesday during a vacation. Doctors said he did not have a heart attack or heart disease.

[snip]

Limbaugh couldn't resist a few political comments in the short press conference at the hospital. He said he got the best health treatment in the world "right here in the United States of America."

"I don't think there's one thing wrong with the United States health system," Limbaugh said.

Shorter Rush Limbaugh: I got mine....so fuck you.

You know, I really tried to take the high road here. I didn't post anything, I didn't comment on other blogs that I wished Rush Limbaugh dead. The closest I came was to consider commenting elsewhere to blast the idea that Barack Obama should for some reason show up at Limbaugh's bedside to "take the high road" against this worthless piece of human dung who would probably put a bullet into Obama's head himself if he weren't too big a chickenshit to hold a goddamn gun. But I didn't. What I hoped is that Limbaugh just might think about how you're no longer immortal when you're fifty-eight years old and that maybe it wasn't too late for him to realize that being a selfish, craven, greedy, venal, hatemonger is no way to spend a life.

But when I read things like this, I wonder if perhaps I should have joined the deathwishers. Because Rush Limbaugh is quite simply an evil, evil person. And there's no sin in wishing ill on evil.

Rush Limbaugh : Reports say Chest Pains/Heart Attack; Press is Inexplicibly Silent

This came before the strange news blackout on what should be a big story even if this is a mild case of anxiety. Something is up when all of the major news outlets relegate the news of the possible heart attack of a major force on the dark side to the bottom of the pile. This is being mentioned as an afterthought, and I have been in a fugue state with this story all day, wondering if I made it up. But here it is, still fresh 24 hours later...




Rush Limbaugh has reportedly been rushed to a hospital in Honolulu Hawaii with chest pains. His site reports that he is resting comfortably, but various news outlet reports differ (and its been really hard to find anything that isn't a copy of the local paper with no real information,) with early reports being that he is in critical condition with a heart attack. There will supposedly be official news tomorrow morning so stay tuned.

I don't know what to say, folks...It seems that the liberal, politically correct way is to try not to sink to the level of the likes of a cretin like Limbaugh, but apparently that's not me. I have to wonder if there is a moment for a sociopath in this advanced stage of narcissistic self involvement, where he realizes that this may be the big "it," and start to bargain with his God. I wonder about the real fear beneath the "heaven" bravado, and if he felt much pain before they started pumping him with medicines.

Tomorrow he may walk waving from the hospital with a cigar clenched in his teeth, tanned and ready for another round of golf...but right now, maybe there is a modicum of payback going on for the hate and violence that he incites; a seed of insight in that view of an end of the construct that is Rush, which touches even a tiny amount on the pain and turmoil that he as caused for countless innocent victims in the name of freedom of speech and capitalism. Maybe there will be some moment where the bluster breaks and he sees that the end is lonely, the riches fall away, and there is nothing but truth, whether you are to be a recycled part of the circle of nature, or judged in heaven, there cannot be an easy and good ending for this man.
I just hope that at some point the realization comes upon him...and that his legacy will be solely that he made money on the destruction of the struggling American society and spirit.

I don't like to be this hateful, but I, like so much of American society, have become a little hardened by what has gone on... and Ive lost my patience for anyone who continues to deride those who are trying to chip away at the pile of rubble left by the Bush-Cheney regime.

So, say a prayer to whatever god you've got; a prayer that people who go through these things are, at the very least, faced with the truth of who they are and what they've done; after that hes on his own, and his record speaks for itself.

c/p RIP Coco

Strange Bedfellows: Suddenly Rush Limbaugh is concerned about authorities shooting black men

I don't recall hearing Rush Limbaugh spout any outrage when police killed Amadou Diallo or Patrick Dorismond or Sean Bell. But the whiny-ass id-driven two-year-old who dominates wingnut talk radio has all of a sudden cast what he would have called "terrorists" had George W. Bush still been in office as "black teenagers":

They were kids. The story is out, I don't know if it's true or not, but apparently the hijackers, these kids, the merchant marine organizers, Muslim kids, were upset, they wanted to just give the captain back and head home because they were running out of food, they were running out of fuel, they were surrounded by all these US Navy ships, big ships, and they just wanted out of there. That's the story, but then when one of them put a gun to the back of the captain, Mr. Phillips, then bam, bam, bam. There you have it, and three teenagers shot on the high seas at the order of President Obama.

Congratulations, Rush. You are now officially sympatico with the Independent's left-leaning journalist Johann Hari.

What's the deal with Rush Limbaugh's anal rape references?

You kind of have to wonder why Rush Limbaugh keeps making references to anal sex as a metaphor when talking about Barack Obama. First it was this:

Then yesterday it was this:

Ben Armbruster noted at ThinkProgress back in January that this is a pattern for Limbaugh:

Limbaugh on support from African-Americans and gays for progressives: “Democrats will bend over, grab the ankles, and say, ‘Have your way with me.’”

– Limbaugh on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s (R) so-called “Troopergate” scandal: “This is pure sexism in Alaska on the part of these old boys trying to get rid of Sarah Palin, and she didn’t put up with it, and she didn’t bend over and let them have their way.”

I just think it's a wee tad peculiar when a guy like Limbaugh with a known history of sex tourism, always seems to go to the well of anal penetration when talking about Barack Obama.

The Party of Peter Griffin

If you watch Family Guy, you know who Peter Griffin is. He's Ralph Kramden on steroids -- ugly, fat, boorish, juvenile. He's an inconsiderate abusive misogynistic lout. And every day, the line between the fictional cartoon character of Peter Griffin and the real-life pantload that is Rush Limbaugh becomes more blurred:

Rush Limbaugh, popular conservative radio host and Republican Party icon, thought he found a bit of humor in the record Red River flooding devastating parts of Minnesota and North Dakota: The word for the berms holding the river back is also a derogatory homophone for lesbians. He asks the “dykes” in North Dakota to call into the program.

And this is the guy before whom Republicans are genuflecting. Wonderful.

(UPDATE: Great minds think alike. Except my pop culture reference is more recent.)

Thursday Big Blue Smurf Blogging: What They Said

I can't believe I'm going to link to Joan Walsh here. After all, Walsh was one of the chief mainstream spokespeople for the Oh Poor Hillary movement (as opposed to the PUMAs, which were utterly batshit crazy) and is usually the poster child for ineffectual liberals on cable news. But in this piece about the Limbaugh foofarah, she's spot on.

Money quote:

The GOP is in free fall, and it just keeps eating its young. Sarah Palin was the first sacrificial lamb, nominated for vice-president before she was ready (if she'll ever be) and then slaughtered (for the time being, at least) by McCain campaign leaders. Bobby Jindal was trotted out to almost certain failure after Obama's speech last weekend. Now Limbaugh has emasculated the brand-new RNC chair, Michael Steele. I'm sure it's an accident all three represented a possible future of the party that wasn't white and male.

So for now the future of the party is an admitted Oxycontin addict who plea-bargained his way out of a drug conviction, who mocks children and Parkinson's sufferers, who exhibits strange sexual fears about our first black president (why is he worried about "grabbing his ankles?"), who was famously detained on a Dominican Republic vacation for carrying Viagra without a prescription? I wouldn't mention that last little issue, except it helps me agree with Tom DeLay that he's a role model for Republicans: Clearly a party that is afraid to stand up to a bully like Limbaugh needs some kind of political Viagra, immediately. It would be nice to see a Republican whose bouts of integrity and courage lasted more than four hours.

Maybe it's because he's a misogynistic, soulless hatemonger who vacations as a sex tourist

And the award for Most Clueless Man in America goes to...

...RUSH LIMBAUGH!!

...who can't figure out why women don't like him:

Women don’t really like Rush Limbaugh. On Feb. 23, Public Policy Polling released findings showing that only 37 percent of women hold a favorable opinion of the hate radio host, compared to 56 percent of men.

As Jill Zimon notes, Limbaugh brought up this poll yesterday on his radio show, noting that it was one of the largest gender gaps Public Policy Polling has seen on any issue it has polled in the past year. His solution? To convene a summit of women to find out why they dislike him:

We’ll have a summit of all the women in this audience — or as many of them as we can get into breakout groups — and perhaps devote an hour in an upcoming program to calls only from women who genuinely want to talk to me. They can be liberal, conservative. They could be non-audience members, could be audience members. But I want some of these women to start telling me what it is I must do to close the gender gap — or, if not what it is I must do to close the gender gap, what it is I’ve done that has caused the gender gap; assuming the gender gap is true and that the poll is true. […]

I own the men, and what must I do now to own women? And who better to ask than women? Including some of those who may agree that that I’m unfavorable. So stand by for that.

Uh, Rush? Maybe part of it is that we don't particularly like the concept of "ownership" when applied to us.

More, including Rush's history of misogynistic remarks, here.

Republicans WANT to be the party of Evita Mooselini

Yes, the Republicans are perfectly OK with being the party of willful ignorance, of venal, petty greed, of having as their standard bearer an aging prom queen with a mean streak a mile wide; an incompetent media hog who cares nothing about issues or the problems facing this country -- only about power, and the extent to which power can feed the hole in her soul that's only going to grow bigger as she learns she won't be the Head MILF forever:

Coming off a shellacking at the polls in November, the plurality of GOP voters (43%) say their party has been too moderate over the past eight years, and 55% think it should become more like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the future, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 24% think failed presidential candidate John McCain is the best future model for the party, and 10% are undecided.

Only 17% of Republican voters say their party has been too conservative, and 30% say its actions and positions have been about right, with nine percent (9%) not sure.

Even after being trounced in the polls, this party of institutionalized worship of stupidity has learned nothing. This party thinks that what Americans really want is more hatred, more divisiveness between some mythical "real America" in which white evangelicals are the only "real Americans" and everyone else is left in poverty and hunger.

This is the Republican Party. Sarah Palin is the Republican Party, and it doesn't matter who they put as head of the RNC. Electing Michael Steele to head the party in an attempt to woo black voters is like trotting out a former high school Mean Grrl in an effort to attract disgruntles Hillary voters -- it simply shows just how superficial and clueless the Republican Party is.

Joan Walsh, who somewhat redeemed her unquestioning Hillary-worship during the primaries with her masterful smackdown of Dick Armey last week:

The only thing sadder than the GOP's leadership deficit is its ideas deficit, and the two afflictions are related. Imagine if, as RNC head, Steele got together with other party mavericks (if they exist) to draft a stimulus package he thought might actually reach African-American and working-class voters, one that didn't rely merely on the voodoo of tax cuts but also included stimulus spending that would put unemployed and underemployed workers in new jobs. I'm not saying it would work, but it would be interesting to hear a pragmatic GOP alternative. Instead Steele's just another Republican talking head mouthing "tax cuts, tax cuts" like a zombie, while the economy continues to shed jobs and the nation heads for harder times. Similarly over the weekend, GOP Sen. Jim DeMint was absolutely stomped on ABC's "This Week," with not only Barney Frank but also with corporate chieftains blasting his assertion that only tax cuts can create jobs.

"We have to decide if we want to be a free market economy and let the money stay there or be a government-directed economy, which is where we're headed with this plan," DeMint argued. FedEx CEO Fred Smith countered: "No question about it, the infrastructure of the country has been underfunded for a long time ... it certainly would be a wise thing to invest in all kinds of infrastructure," while Google CEO Eric Scmidt came back with: "I'm worried that tax cuts alone won't work because people are not paying any taxes because they're not making any money."

Still, the stimulus fight is tougher than it should be for Democrats. Clearly the best ally the Republicans have is the economic illiteracy of the pundit class in America. I'm watching NBC's Chuck Todd say the Democrats have lost the "message war" over the stimulus, because it's now just seen as a "spending bill." There's no way for a stimulus bill not to be a spending bill; the point is that the economy is such a wreck the government becomes the spender of last resort. This had merely been a stupid GOP talking point until 10 minutes ago; now it's becoming a stupid media talking point. Funny how that works.

Meanwhile, this morning MSNBC's Joe Scarborough began railing about how the plan's rebates to working people who don't earn enough to pay income taxes (though they do pay sales, payroll and property taxes) amount to "socialism." Let's get this straight: It's socialism when government gives money to workers whose jobs don't pay enough to keep them out of poverty, but it's not socialism when the government bails out greedy, failed banks? I guess not, especially if the bailout forces don't impose limits on executive compensation or play a role in managing the bailed-out enterprises. That's actually called lemon socialism, as Paul Krugman notes, in which "taxpayers bear the cost if things go wrong, but stockholders and executives get the benefits if things go right." Obama knows better than that.

Perhaps soo, as Evita Mooselini might say. But Obama is also painfully aware of the fate that met the Democrats who have preceded him in trying to break this country free from the stranglehold of the Beltway press corps -- from John Kerry being hounded for windsurfing to turning down the crowd noise to make Howard Dean sound like a lunatic instead of a candidate trying to buck up the spirits of his workers, to the shameful treatment of Al Gore. What he hasn't learned, alas, is that is that there is no amount of capitulation to the Party of superstition, greed, and stupidity, that will satisfy Chuck Todd; no amount of bipartisanship that will satisfy Joe Scarborough; no amount of clean government that will satisfy George Snuffleupagus. The companies that own this men want Republicans. And they shall have their way.


(h/t)

Right-wing "patriotism" in action

Oxycontin Boy:

My hope, and please understand me when I say this. I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, "Well, I hope he succeeds. We've got to give him a chance." Why? They didn't give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I'm not talking about search-and-destroy, but I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year-and-a-half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed.

If I wanted Obama to succeed, I'd be happy the Republicans have laid down. And I would be encouraging Republicans to lay down and support him. Look, what he's talking about is the absorption of as much of the private sector by the US government as possible, from the banking business, to the mortgage industry, the automobile business, to health care. I do not want the government in charge of all of these things. I don't want this to work. So I'm thinking of replying to the guy, "Okay, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails." (interruption) What are you laughing at? See, here's the point. Everybody thinks it's outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, "Oh, you can't do that." Why not? Why is it any different, what's new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what's gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don't care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: "Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails." Somebody's gotta say it.

Nice. We're bogged down in two failed wars, the economy is teetering on the brink of a collapse that will make the Great Depression look like a picnic on the beach in St. Barths, and this numbnuts wants the new president to fail.

This is what right-wing "patriotism" looks like, folks. Print this out and put it on your refrigerator with a magnet. So when they start dragging out Sarah Palin and Jeb Bush and waving their flags and saying only they own America, you can remind yourself.

You know, after the 9/11 attacks, before we knew about the August 6 PDB and how the Bush Administration had been planning to attack Iraq even before taking office, I actually supported the Afghan invasion. I remember thinking that even though I hated George W. Bush with every fiber of my being, we were in a crisis and like him or not, he's the only President we've got. Of course it didn't last long, but I at least recognzied that at least for the time being, I had to give him the benefit of the doubt. I sure as hell didn't hope for him to fail; there was too much at stake. But some of us are able to recognize that sometimes a crisis is so great that failure is far worse than the possibility that someone of the other political party might gain. And others of us listen to Rush Limbaugh.

(h/t)

Where the IOKIYAR Rule must end

It's kind of hard to justify incitement to riot, even by the IOKIYAR rule:

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments calling for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer.

He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens.

"Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don't elect Democrats," Limbaugh said during Wednesday's radio broadcast. He then went on to say that's the best thing that could happen to the country.

Limbaugh cited Al Sharpton, saying the Barack Obama supporter threatened to superdelegates that "there's going to be trouble" if the presidency is taken from Obama.

Several callers called in to the radio show to denounce Limbaugh's comments, when he later stated, "I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver."

Limbaugh said with massive riots in Denver, which he called "Operation Chaos," the people on the far left would look bad.

"There won't be riots at our convention," Limbaugh said of the Republican National Convention. "We don't riot. We don't burn our cars. We don't burn down our houses. We don't kill our children. We don't do half the things the American left does."

He believes electing Democrats will hurt America's security and economy and appeared to call on his listeners to make sure that doesn't happen.

"We do, hopefully, the right thing for the sake of this country. We're the only one in charge of our affairs. We don't farm out our defense if we elect Democrats ... and riots in Denver, at the Democratic Convention will see to it we don't elect Democrats. And that's the best damn thing that can happen to this country, as far as I can think," Limbaugh said.

Later, Limbaugh downplayed his "dreaming of riots in Denver" statement, and said that he wasn't calling for riots and was referring to warnings of trouble if superdelegates decide the nomination at the Democratic National Convention.

Limbaugh's comments prompted Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to say: "Anyone who would call for riots in an American city has clearly lost their bearings."

Bullshit he wasn't calling for riots. What he's calling for is for his listeners to pretend to be Democrats, just as they've done during the primaries while crossing over to vote for Hillary Clinton, and start riots while posing as liberals.

Whether Limbaugh's idiotic, slobbering, mindless, chickenshit listeners are willing to risk getting arrested, even for show, to fulfill his dream remains to be seen. But as Richard Blair at All Spin Zone says:

Someone needs to tell me the difference between Rush Limbaugh and Moqtada al-Sadr (above and beyond the fact that al-Sadr is an ordained cleric, and Limbaugh is just an ordained asswipe). And I want to know how Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, etc. etc. can continue getting away with inspiring their listeners to violence, yet are never called on it by either the Republican Party leadership or law enforcement authorities.

If you feel so moved, you can contact the Colorado Attorney General's office and express your concerns. At a minimum, inciting to riot is a serious offense. When the call goes out from someone like Limbaugh who has legions of loyal dittoheads hanging on his every word, it's very, very likely that his "call to arms" could motivate some right wing crackpots to action.

Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Liar!

The "water carrier" Limbaugh is weakly protesting his disgusting comments, meant to shut down discourse by our soldiers, and what is he doing on Armed Forces radio anyway?
As much as I don't like the tit for tat senate time waste of debating this crap, I think that we should all speak out against the brand of hate speech that Rush Limbaugh is the daddy of.
Like Dave Johnson, I too am shocked and awed at how deftly the neocon talking heads have managed to twist this thing into a Rush-as-victim scenario, all the fuckin' way up to and including the NY Times!
As Brad says this morning, the NY Times Petraeus ad wouldn't have even be seen by many people outside of NYC if not for the Right's screaming protest at the entity that put the ad up. Of course, in a fight that is really about MoveOn having balls enough to raise some money and run and ad, and Rush having the constant platform of a national radio show that spews venom at everyone who doesn't agree with him, AND which is broadcast on Armed Forces Radio, when we know that they are not exactly getting fair and balanced, much less equal coverage of both sides of the debate in America, there is no comparison.
This is not tit for tat, its about 2 groups using their free speech on their own audience, but one is much more far reaching and reaches, in fact, to the captive audience of the people that he is telling to shut up.
And what can we say about a guy like Rush who use their own free speech to try to shut others down? I don't know. Its an insidious problem that he can even get the ratings to stay on the air when he wont honestly talk to opposing side or do anything that is not carefully controlled from his cocoon.
This is something that I like about the Sam Seders and Marc Marons of the world; they welcome conservative voices because they want to try to understand them and argue with them too. Its such better radio when you have an honest debate as opposed to a producer screening your calls to make sure that only certain types of callers get through.
The thing is that when the conservative callers call in to Sam's show, (Marc is currently on the air in a new video-cast with Sam that is live on Tuesdays at 11AM EST here,)their knowledge seems to consist of the very line of crap spewed by the likes of Rush and O'Reilly, and their brethren....and the logic, information, lies, and pressure points are often what we see in the White House daily briefing room and via the "talking points" that we know are sent out to certain conservative operatives to make sure that they are all on the same message. My question has always been, what are they so freakin' afraid of? If they are right about all of this, then what is the problem with some upstarts who have different ideas? isn't that what this country was founded on anyway? If Rush and his ilk were actually as patriotic as they claim to be, they would welcome dissent and other voices. As it is
How did the media world get to be so one sided?...Oh yeah...the fairness doctrine used to make it sort of lawful to present both sides...and not so much in separate shows and on other networks either...
I'm tired of Rush Limbaugh in his locked world telling everyone to do as he says and not as he does. I think that from what is going on in the republican party, its clear that the underbelly of that line is usually pretty sordid. And, when in doubt, its safe to say, that the gentleman doth protesteth too much.
So who is the victim here? The soldiers who have to rely on limited news sources and who might feel cowed into not speaking their minds...and us...the American public should not have to spend a minute on this crap. But apparently we do in order to remind everyone that there are two sides out there, and that THEY are not controlling the information anymore.

RIPCoco

Dude!

Another "phony soldier" lets Rush Limbaugh have it with both barrels.

I was never much of one for military-type toughness, but after seeing Paul Hackett smeared by Rush Limbaugh as "a staff puke...padding his resume", John Murtha smeared by Rush Limbaugh as "the useful idiot of the moment", and guys like Alex of "Army of Dude", I could easily change my mind.

Well, it looks like Olbermann has his Worst Person for tonight

It's comedian Rush Limbaugh in a landslide.

Jon Soltz of VoteVets, at Huffington Post:

As Media Matters reported today, Rush Limbaugh, on his show said that those troops who come home and want to get America out of the middle of the religious civil war in Iraq are "phony soldiers." I'd love for you, Rush, to have me on your show and tell that to me to my face.

Where to begin?

First, in what universe is a guy who never served even close to being qualified to judge those who have worn the uniform? Rush Limbaugh has never worn a uniform in his life -- not even one at Mickey D's -- and somehow he's got the moral standing to pass judgment on the men and women who risked their lives for this nation, and his right to blather smears on the airwaves?

Second, maybe Rush doesn't much care, but the majority of troops on the ground in Iraq, and those who have returned, do not back the President's failed policy. If you go to our "Did You Get the Memo" page at VoteVets.org, there's a good collection of stories, polls, and surveys, which all show American's troops believe we are on the wrong track, not the right one, in Iraq.

Does Rush believe, then, that the majority of the US Armed Forces are "phony?"

Third, the polls and stories don't even take into account the former brass who commanded in Iraq, who are incredibly critical of the Bush administration, and it's steadfast refusal to listen to those commanders on the ground who have sent up warning after warning. Major Generals John Batiste and Paul Eaton left the military and joined VoteVets.org for that very reason.

Does Rush believe that highly decorated Major Generals are "phony soldiers?"

Finally, as Media Matters notes, just recently, members of the 82nd Airborne in Iraq wrote a New York Times op-ed, very critical of the course in Iraq, and suggesting it was time to figure out the exit strategy. Two of them just died. Will Rush call up their grieving parents and tell them that they should stop crying, because they were just "phony soldiers?"

There's more. Guys like Limbaugh don't realize that when they fuck with guys like Jon Soltz or Paul Reickhoff, they aren't dealing with people who give a rat's ass what people in the punditocracy say. For these guys, theoreticals can get you killed. Let's see if Limbaugh takes Soltz up on his offer. I'm sure we already know the answer.

Meanwhile, shall we demand an apology from Rush Limbaugh for disrespecting active duty military personnel on the precedent of the sense of the Senate resolution passed the other day about the Moveon.org ad? Reps. Patrick Murphy, Frank Pallone, and Jan Schakowsky have. So has John Kerry in a statement released today:

"This disgusting attack from Rush Limbaugh, cheerleader for the Chicken Hawk wing of the far right, is an insult to American troops," Kerry said. "In a single moment on his show, Limbaugh managed to question the patriotism of men and women in uniform who have put their lives on the line and many who died for his right to sit safely in his air conditioned studio peddling hate. On August 19th, The New York Times published an op-ed by seven members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division critical of George Bush's Iraq policy. Two of those soldiers were killed earlier this month in Baghdad. Does Mr. Limbaugh dare assert that these heroes were 'phony soldiers'? Mr. Limbaugh owes an apology to everyone who has ever worn the uniform of our country, and an apology to the families of every soldier buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He is an embarrassment to his Party, and I expect the Republicans who flock to his microphone will now condemn this indefensible statement."

Cue the hue and cry from Republicans screaming that this is a waste of time and we should be doing the nation's business.

Exactly. But hey, sauce for the goose, baby. You wanted grandstanding, you got it.

This Is Not Over

Not by a long shot.

NBC may have shitcanned Imus from its MSNBC simulcast, but if anyone thinks that's the end of it, guess again. Because there are still the little matters of people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Weiner Savage.

LTR notes:

So, should Imus be fired once and for all? Who knows? Often, these scandals disappear after a short time, once another scandal comes around that our alleged media finds something else to pound into the heads of America. But this is just one of many audio nasties blasted out over the airwaves of our great country. There were many more prior to this. For example:

"(Cynthia McKinney) looks like ghetto trash. Get a braider over there ... quick!"

Oh wait, that was Neal Boortz who said that.

Or, "You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray . We miss you, James. Godspeed."

Oops, sorry. That was Rush Limbaugh.

"...Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."

My bad. Limbaugh again.

"Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."

"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

Yep. Limbaugh again.

"You open the door to them (immigrants), and the next thing you know, they are defecating on your country and breeding out of control."

Threw you all a curveball. That was Michael Savage who said that.

"(If) you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down... (aborting all African-American babies) would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do.. but the crime rate would go down"

That was Salem morning guy Bill Bennett.

Oh, and don't get me started on Glen Beck and Ann Coulter. I'm trying to keep this article short.

Imus may be a political non-Euclidian, an equal-opportunity basher, but Limbaugh and Beck and Savage and Coulter are not. And the amount of bile and vitriol spewing out of these people, the wishing people were dead, the advocating of murder, has gone on among the reptilian brains of the right wing for years. Funny how there was no outcry when Rush Limbaugh referred to a then thirteen-year-old Chelsea Clinton as "the family dog." It's one thing to point out the Bush twins drinking themselves into stupors when their peers are off fighting a war, because that's a FACT. Making fun of a thirteen-year-old's looks is just plain cruel, just the way calling a bunch of high-achieving collegiate athletes whores is just plain cruel, just the way saying that an 11-year-old kid who was kidnapped and held captive by a pedophile "liked his circumstances" is just plain cruel -- and crosses any kind of line of decency.

This isn't political discourse, this is whacking a hatchet at people just because you disagree with them. It isn't debating points of view, it's resorting to ad hominem attacks because your side of the fence has decided that this is the way to retain power. And the near-monopoly that the hatemongers who call themselves conservatives have had to spew their bile over the airwaves has contributed to the coarsening of the debate of the future of this country far more than a bunch of hip-hop artists working as cash cows for white guys have.

And don't talk to me about Randi Rhodes. I have my own beef with Randi Rhodes, most of it having to do with her excuses for the ineffectuality of the Democratic Party over the last six years and her propensity to scream at callers who disagree. Randi Rhodes doesn't have an H.R. from Staten Island, the progressive talk radio equivalent of Doris from Rego Park. H.R. is an old guy from Staten Island, a knee-jerk wingnut conservative who called Sam Seder at least once a week, just to argue. The thing is, H.R. is fond of Sam, and I think he respects Sam for standing up for what he believes in, even if H.R. doesn't agree. Randi doesn't have one of those. But I'll give Randi credit for this: She does her homework. She doesn't just pull stuff out of her ass, and the one time she went over the line, she recognized that it was offensive and apologized profusely. And she hasn't done anything like it since -- unlike Imus, unlike Glenn Beck, unlike Rush Limbaugh, unlike Ann Coulter, and the other lizardbrains of the right who spew this kind of thing daily. And those who would crucify Rhodes might recall that when North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms told Bill Clinton if he traveled to North Carolina, he'd better have a bodyguard, the Secret Service didn't investigate Jesse Helms.

Imus may very well have done us all a service with this latest stunt. Because certainly Keith Olbermann gave every indication on Countdown tonight that whether anyone else makes the connection between the Imus fracas and what the lizardbrains of the avowed right say, he's made the connection. And I am telling you Keith Olbermann is not going to let this go quietly. And neither am I.