...if you heard Steele’s ‘apology’ it’s clear he didn’t learn his lesson, and if he does not figure it out very quickly, he will set new records for ‘Least Noticed Person In America’.So I guess they really, really do think Rush will be popular with the masses. And I thought I couldn't be happier when they were going to run Palin in 2012. It keeps getting better.
So I ask: Hey, anybody else want some? McConnell? Boehner? McCain and the rest of the RMSP party traitors? The gang at Weekly Standard? O’Reilly?
...
Rush Limbaugh is a formidable force. Do you know why? Because he says what conservatives believe, and he is extraordinarily articulate, witty, insightful, and yes, courageous.
If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people— I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do— let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.That is, I think self evidently, not intended as a joke, even a mean spirited or vicious one. Its a statement of, to coin a phrase, the way things ought to be.
Don’t kid yourself. While L’Affaire Limbaugh is incredibly entertaining political theater – among others, it dominated Matthews, Cooper, Olbermann, Maddow and Jon Stewart last night – the tactic has a calculated purpose and an immediate context: votes on the budget bill. Soon enough, it’ll be votes on health care legislation. There are really only three attendees at this play.posted by delmoi at 3:05 PM on March 3, 2009 [6 favorites]
Senators Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins.
"[Steele] even threw a shout-out to 'one-armed midgets'.”Michael, if the GOP fires you, call Howard Stern. He might need a new sidekick.
"...Queen Elizabeth is bestowing the accolade to Kennedy in part for his services to Northern Ireland, but also for his work over a lifetime providing greater access to healthcare for children and greater access to education around the world."posted by ericb at 8:52 AM on March 4, 2009
Limbaugh is embracing the line of attack, suggesting a certain symbiosis between him and his political adversaries.Oh, awesome.
"The administration is enabling me,” he wrote in an e-mail to POLITICO. “They are expanding my profile, expanding my audience and expanding my influence....”
The bigger, the better, agreed Carville. “It’s great for us, great for him, great for the press,” he said of Limbaugh. “The only people he’s not good for are the actual Republicans in Congress.”
"For a man who expresses no desire to lead the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh has a knack for creating problems for those who do."posted by ericb at 8:57 AM on March 4, 2009
"'What is amazing is that Steele was elected because of his communications skills, and it is those skills that are damaging the Republican Party. Before people begin to completely judge him as worthless, Steele needs to focus and knuckle down on building a strong foundation at RNC so we can begin rebuilding our majority,' says a top GOP strategist who has worked for House and Senate Republican leaders. 'If his implosion continues, RNC members are likely to call a special session to dump him for an effective chairman. There is not much patience for failure.'"posted by ericb at 9:24 AM on March 4, 2009
"I’m sorry Limbaugh called for harsh sentences for drug addicts while he was a drug addict. I’m also sorry that he’s bent on seeing America fail. And I’m sorry that Limbaugh is one sorry excuse for a human being."posted by ericb at 9:36 AM on March 4, 2009 [5 favorites]
It needs to be cleansed of old deadwood, bad thinking, and omgthehate.Oh, I'm so sorry. I really apologize. You Democrats were such great opponents during the Bush years, you were so gracious. There was never any deranged hatred for Bush, Cheney, et al.
“As someone who spends a lot of time on the road, I used to find Limbaugh to be an obnoxious but entertaining companion, his eruptions more reliable than Old Faithful. But now that Limbaugh has become something else — the face of the Republican Party, by a White House that has played him brilliantly — he has been transformed into car-wreck-quality spectacle, at once scary and sad.posted by ericb at 3:42 PM on March 5, 2009 [2 favorites]
Behold:
The sweaty, swollen man in the black, half-buttoned shirt who ranted for nearly 90 minutes Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He reiterated his desire to see the president of his country fail. He misstated the Constitution’s intent while accusing President Obama of ‘bastardizing’ the document. He made fun of one man’s service in Vietnam, to laughter.
David Letterman compared him to an Eastern European gangster. But he looked more like a bouncer at a strip club who spent all his tips on one bad outfit. And for the Republican Party, Limbaugh has become very much a vice.
….We are witnessing the worst debacle of unfettered capitalism in our lifetime brought on by — you got it, capitalism at its worst. It cannibalized itself. Government, sad to say, had nothing to do with it — except for criminal neglect of oversight.
Now that government has been forced to the rescue, just who is insisting on taxpayer bailouts? Who is in line for handouts? Who is saying that only government can save capitalism? The very leaders of unregulated markets who injected this poison into the economy, the very plutocrats that Limbaugh celebrates.
And, of course, let us never forget that the bailouts of banks and insurance companies were initiated by the Republican president Limbaugh defended for eight years.
Of late, Limbaugh has wondered why he has trouble with women. His base is white, male, Republican — people the party has to stop pandering to if it hopes to govern soon.
It’s little wonder that the thrice-married Limbaugh, who uses ‘femi-Nazi,’ ‘info-babe’ and ‘PMSNBC’ (Get it? The network is full of women suffering pre-menstrual cramps, ha-ha), among his monikers for women, can’t get a date with that demographic.
For Democrats, this is all going to plan. It was James Carville and associates who first cooked up associating Limbaugh with the opposition, as Politico reported. Then on Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Limbaugh was the ‘voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.’
Limbaugh played his role, ever the fool. A brave Republican could have challenged him, could have had a ‘have you no shame’ moment with him, giving the party some other identity, some spine. Instead, they caved — from Steele, to the leaders in the House, Eric Cantor and Mike Pence, to Gov. Bobby Jindal, who would be ridiculed by Limbaugh for his real first name, Piyush, were he a Democrat.
You could almost hear their teeth clattering in fear of the all-powerful talk radio wacko, the denier of global warming, the man who said Bill Clinton’s economic policies would fail just before an unprecedented run of prosperity.
But Limbaugh has a fear of his own. If people see him purely as an ‘entertainer,’ as Steele suggested, he will be exposed for what he is: a clown with a very large audience.”
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It doesn't get as much traffic, but perhaps move this over to Politicalfilter?
posted by edgeways at 9:59 AM on March 3, 2009 [9 favorites]