NY Daily News posted a story last week about Rush Limbaugh challenging President Obama to a debate. Since when does a rude, inaccurate, prescription drug addicted, millionaire radio talk show host get off thinking he has the credibility to take on the President of the United States in an on-air debate?!? As it turns out, Democratic strategists are the ones giving Limbaugh that credibility.
After Limbaugh's recent rant (when he wished Obama would "fail" on his radio show) and recent poll numbers showing that only 11% of voters under the age of 40 have a positive view of the crazed talk show host, White House advisers saw an opportunity earlier this month to launch a massive media campaign to peg Limbaugh as the crazed leader of the currently leaderless GOP, thinking they could bring down the whole Republican ship by discrediting it's most obnoxious pirate.
I personally cannot stand the GOP's Rove-ian spin machine that has been spoon feeding mainstream media it's crap for the past decade and I certainly cannot stand Limbaugh, but I don't know if this is the best tactic for the Democrats to take right now for two reasons:
Stooping to their level has never worked.
At the forefront of this campaign, James Carville is rattling off his own version of the talking points all over the airwaves, putting that firey emphasis that he's famous for on silly rhetorical questions about Limbaugh like, "Who in the Republican Party commands more fear than he does? Nobody."
The problem is, Carville's statement isn't exactly accurate. According to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey released Monday, 68% of Republican voters say their party has no clear leader and another 17% are undecided. Only a measley 2% of Republican voters see conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh as their party's leader (and, just because I find this interesting, only 1% name Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin). Most Republicans don't even like Limbaugh. We are wasting our time here, people.
Which brings me to a related point. Now, I'm a Democrat through and through. However, I'll be the first to admit that Carville, though quite intelligent, gets on my last nerve. I can't stand to watch the beads of sweat form on his bald head as he gets all squinty eyed and overly passionate to the point of an inevitable emotional outburst that derails any chance for a valid, logical argument to be made. It's the kind of politico soap opera the electionless 24/7 news networks eat up; they could fill more than one news cycle pitting crazy Limbaugh's words against fiery Carville's. Your argument is loosing credibility with Carville at the lead, Democrats. Now the heavy weights like Pelosi start jumping on the bandwagon and our party leadership gets lumped together with Carville... remember how ridiculous Republicans looked when they were all reciting talking points denouncing Obama as an overhyped celebrity like Paris Hilton? We're headed down the same path. I'm bracing for the backfire.
There are far more important topics to be focused on than pundits.
We're in the middle of what is arguably the worst global economic meltdown in the history of the civilized world (our country's fault), two wars we are trying to get out of despite the fact that violence is increasing in both regions, possible nuclear showdowns with Iran, North Korea and Russia, a continuing genocide in Sudan (the country kicked out all but two humanitarian aide organizations after the UN's decision to bring genocide charges against their President), our health care system is self-destructing and we need to address an environmental crisis that demands immediate attention from all industrialized countries. Do we really have time to talk about political pundits? It's an uphill battle to fix any one of these issues. Seems like Democrats could just concentrate on solving a couple of them, and the voters would be happy to vote for this leadership again.
Obama has gone leaps and bounds beyond what was imaginable in terms of modernizing political campaigning and bringing the Democratic Party up to speed with today's youth (tomorrow's leaders). Just because we're back in session and the Republicans are slinging mud left and right to combat each and every positive initiative brought forth in the first 100 days of this administration doesn't mean we need to revisit tired old political tactics, like pegging a crazy pundit. Let's stick to the course, take the higher ground, get good work done and move on. Despite what Bush told himself and the press to get to sleep at night, history will report the progress we make on the important issues, nothing will be written about this peripheral propaganda.
After Limbaugh's recent rant (when he wished Obama would "fail" on his radio show) and recent poll numbers showing that only 11% of voters under the age of 40 have a positive view of the crazed talk show host, White House advisers saw an opportunity earlier this month to launch a massive media campaign to peg Limbaugh as the crazed leader of the currently leaderless GOP, thinking they could bring down the whole Republican ship by discrediting it's most obnoxious pirate.
I personally cannot stand the GOP's Rove-ian spin machine that has been spoon feeding mainstream media it's crap for the past decade and I certainly cannot stand Limbaugh, but I don't know if this is the best tactic for the Democrats to take right now for two reasons:
Stooping to their level has never worked.
At the forefront of this campaign, James Carville is rattling off his own version of the talking points all over the airwaves, putting that firey emphasis that he's famous for on silly rhetorical questions about Limbaugh like, "Who in the Republican Party commands more fear than he does? Nobody."
The problem is, Carville's statement isn't exactly accurate. According to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey released Monday, 68% of Republican voters say their party has no clear leader and another 17% are undecided. Only a measley 2% of Republican voters see conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh as their party's leader (and, just because I find this interesting, only 1% name Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin). Most Republicans don't even like Limbaugh. We are wasting our time here, people.
Which brings me to a related point. Now, I'm a Democrat through and through. However, I'll be the first to admit that Carville, though quite intelligent, gets on my last nerve. I can't stand to watch the beads of sweat form on his bald head as he gets all squinty eyed and overly passionate to the point of an inevitable emotional outburst that derails any chance for a valid, logical argument to be made. It's the kind of politico soap opera the electionless 24/7 news networks eat up; they could fill more than one news cycle pitting crazy Limbaugh's words against fiery Carville's. Your argument is loosing credibility with Carville at the lead, Democrats. Now the heavy weights like Pelosi start jumping on the bandwagon and our party leadership gets lumped together with Carville... remember how ridiculous Republicans looked when they were all reciting talking points denouncing Obama as an overhyped celebrity like Paris Hilton? We're headed down the same path. I'm bracing for the backfire.
There are far more important topics to be focused on than pundits.
We're in the middle of what is arguably the worst global economic meltdown in the history of the civilized world (our country's fault), two wars we are trying to get out of despite the fact that violence is increasing in both regions, possible nuclear showdowns with Iran, North Korea and Russia, a continuing genocide in Sudan (the country kicked out all but two humanitarian aide organizations after the UN's decision to bring genocide charges against their President), our health care system is self-destructing and we need to address an environmental crisis that demands immediate attention from all industrialized countries. Do we really have time to talk about political pundits? It's an uphill battle to fix any one of these issues. Seems like Democrats could just concentrate on solving a couple of them, and the voters would be happy to vote for this leadership again.
Obama has gone leaps and bounds beyond what was imaginable in terms of modernizing political campaigning and bringing the Democratic Party up to speed with today's youth (tomorrow's leaders). Just because we're back in session and the Republicans are slinging mud left and right to combat each and every positive initiative brought forth in the first 100 days of this administration doesn't mean we need to revisit tired old political tactics, like pegging a crazy pundit. Let's stick to the course, take the higher ground, get good work done and move on. Despite what Bush told himself and the press to get to sleep at night, history will report the progress we make on the important issues, nothing will be written about this peripheral propaganda.
Limbaugh’s Memorable Moments:
- In July 2003 on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown show, Limbaugh stated about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb: “Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team.”
- On his radio show website in October 2006, Limbaugh mocks the physical symptoms of Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease, stating on air that Fox is “exaggerating the effects of the disease. He’s moving all round and shaking and it’s purely an act… This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox.”
- In March 2007, Limbaugh referred to Barack Obama as a “magic negro”, playing a song by Paul Shanklin, “Barack the Magic Negro,” sung to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon. Limbaugh had previously referred to Obama as the “Halfrican American”, claiming he made the comment to highlight “race-obsessed Democrats”.
- During the 2008 elections, Limbaugh encouraged his Republican listeners to vote in the Democratic Primary for the candidate who was behind in the vote, in an effort he dubbed “Operation Chaos”. He then went on to advocate for his Republican listeners in Texas vote for Clinton and that Republicans in Ohio re-register as Democrats and vote for Clinton. About 16,000 Ohio Republicans switched parties before the election. Limbaugh said that "The dream end of this [of Operation Chaos] is that this keeps up to the Convention, and that we have a recreation of Chicago 1968 with burning cars, protests, fire, and literal riots and all of that, that is the objective here."
- On January 16, 2009 Limbaugh read a letter on his radio show that he had received a request from a national print outlet: ..."If you could send us 400 words on your hope for the Obama presidency, we need it by Monday night, that would be ideal." He responded, "I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails." He also remarked that Obama's status as the first black U.S. President was part of the reason why there was pressure to accept his policies.
- Limbaugh has disputed anthropogenic global warming, and the relationship between CFCs and depletion of the ozone layer, claiming the scientific evidence does not support them. Limbaugh has argued against the scientific opinion on climate change by stating that the alleged scientific consensus "is just a bunch of scientists organized around a political proposition. You can't have consensus in science... they think consensus is the way to sell it because, 'Oh, but all these wonderful people agree.’” Limbaugh has often used the term "environmentalist wacko" as a reference to mainstream climate scientists and other environmental scientists and advocates with whom he disagrees. An Environmental Defense Fund report authored by Princeton University endowed geosciences professor Michael Oppenheimer and Princeton University professor of biology David Wilcove lists 14 significant scientific facts which, the authors allege, Limbaugh misrepresented in his book The Way Things Ought to Be. The authors conclude that "Rush Limbaugh ... allows his political bias to distort the truth about a whole range of important scientific issues."
- Limbaugh is sharply critical of feminism, saying that "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society." He also popularized the term "feminazi", referring to radical feminists "to whom the most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur."
- Despite his pro-life stance when it comes to abortion, Limbaugh strongly supports capital punishment, saying that “the only thing cruel about the death penalty is last-minute stays.”
- On the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, Limbaugh said, "This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation... And we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day [referring to the U.S. Military service members]. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release?"
- Limbaugh has asserted that African-Americans, in contrast with other minority groups, are "left behind" socially because they have been systematically trained from a young age to hate America through a widespread movement headed by figures such as Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and Barack Obama.
Limbaugh’s Ongoing Addiction:
On October 3, 2003 the National Enquirer reported that Limbaugh was being investigated for illegally obtaining the prescription drugs oxycodone and hydrocodone. Other news outlets quickly confirmed the investigation. He admitted to listeners on his radio show on October 10 that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and stated that he would enter inpatient treatment for 30 days, immediately after the broadcast. Limbaugh stated his addiction to painkillers resulted from several years of severe back pain heightened by a botched surgery intended to correct those problems.
On April 28, 2006, Limbaugh and his attorney, Roy Black, went to the Palm Beach County Jail to surrender after a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of doctor shopping. According to Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Sheriff, during his arrest, Limbaugh was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, but not handcuffed. He was then released after about an hour on $3,000 bail. After his surrender, he filed a "not guilty" plea to the charge. Prosecutors agreed to drop the charge if Limbaugh paid $30,000 to defray the cost of the investigation and completed an 18-month therapy regimen with his physician.
In June 2006, Limbaugh was detained by drug enforcement agents at Palm Beach International Airport shortly after cutting the deal on the painkiller charges in April. Customs officials confiscated Viagra from Limbaugh's luggage as he was returning from the Dominican Republic. The prescription was not in Limbaugh's name.
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