Wherein Rush ushers irony to the door . . . yet again

Everyone  is having their say about the IRS’ Lois Lerner who took the Fifth yesterday before a Congressional committee (just like that conservative icon Oliver North did). Here’s Fat Boy:

You have to be very careful in making judgments about people based on physical appearance, although I’ve gotten really good at it.

I guess we all see what we want to see when we look in the mirror. Anyway, I hear you Rush and I am being careful. I do think it through before I call anyone Fat Boy or “the morbidly-obese, four times married” . . . .  and after thinking it through, I feel I am morally entitled to toss schoolyard insults at you, because that’s what you do for a living. Good for the goose, good for the . . .

I think our national embarrassment is running out of material, Cleveland edition

Could it be that since his syndicator is now saying that the ad dollars are dropping – by the millions – that the four-times married, morbidly obese public moralizer is sufficiently unsettled that he is surpassing even himself?

“But as it so happens, I happened last night to watch Hawaii Five-0 on CBS,” he explained. “Hawaii Five-O‘s premise last night was kidnapped girls held until they were 18 and then let go or killed — well, always killed — by a couple doing it for the welfare benefits.”

“Now I don’t know what happened in Cleveland, but I couldn’t help but make the connection.”

. . . to Obama of course.

UPDATE: I missed this remarkable bit  (h/t Crooks and Liars):

Limbaugh added: “Three brothers, but not related ri the three women, have been arrested in Cleveland — which voted Obama. Not that that’s got anything to do with anything.”

 

Let us leap once again without looking: how something ordinary becomes a threat to the Republic, a threat I tell you!

Another crime at our schools!

Something old becomes new because a few days ago FOX & Friends found out about it, or  more accurately, found out about a little part of it, and that was all they needed to sputter into outrage, along with the entire right-wing noise machine – especially since the word Jesus was uttered without the genuflect.

We all know how this goes: it’s a tiresome formula – raise the noise level sufficiently to feed the audience and they’ll keep coming back.

Here’s the story from a column by Frank Cerabino at The Palm Beach Post (he’s a favorite read for me):

 An adjunct professor at FAU teaching an intercultural communications class was following a textbook exercise that called for students to write the word “Jesus” on a piece of paper and instructing them to step on the paper.

“Most will hesitate,” the handbook says. “Ask why they can’t step on the paper. Discuss the importance of symbols in culture.”

One student  objected to the voluntary classroom exercise, and made a complaint to the news media, saying his professor told him to “stomp on Jesus” and that he was suspended from class for his refusal to participate. . .

In fact, the student was suspended for threatening the Professor.

. . . [the instructor] was following an exercise written by a professor at a Catholic college in Wisconsin, an exercise that has been used for 10 years in colleges without incident . . . the exercise was designed to be an affirmation of faith and a recognition of the emotional power that disrespect of religion carries — a way for students to understand the strong reactions other cultures have to disrespect for their own religion.

Our 30% Governor said that “the professor’s lesson was offensive, and even intolerant, to Christians and those of all faiths who deserve to be respected as Americans entitled to religious freedom.”  Which was the very point of the classroom exercise. But no matter.

He even offered an apology to the student and called for an investigation.

Maybe before our indicted-for-Medicare-fraud-former-hospital-executvive governor cranks up the old investigation machine, he might look at saving the taxpayers a few bucks –  he could just read a full news account.  But that wouldn’t get him into the middle of the story.

Back at FOX Mike Huckabee came forth with my favorite comment: “People wonder what’s wrong with higher education, This is what’s wrong with higher education.” Right there is a good argument to stop the dangerous teaching of Engineering or the Classics. Of course had he paid more attention when he was pursing his own higher education, he might have been inspired to learn the whole story.

The guns, the doctors and the utter nonsense being repeated as fact

Snuggling with #4

As penance for some less than cordial behavior I exhibited over the weekend toward someone who was in the particular instance totally blameless, but had nevertheless been asking for it for a long time . . . as penance, this morning I exposed myself without any protection to a full five minutes of poisonous rant from the morbidly obese, four times married, indicted drug user, college dropout and all around moralist Mr. Rush Limbaugh, that arbiter of all things right and proper.

He had his size XXXXLLLL underwear in a knot – doctors! are! again! required! to! go! after! the! guns!  They must tell Obama. And name names. The ‘authorities’ said so. (the whole silly transcript is here under the headline “Regime deputizes gun-snitch doctors”).

Bet you didn’t know that long, long ago, doctors were required to inquire of their patients about whether there are firearms in the home. And to report. To the authorities. Whoever they are.

Who knew? Not me. Never heard of it. But there it was, hidden from us all until  Obamacare, which has now been revealed to be just a ploy to get our guns. Or something.

(Recently, some brave governors have gotten laws passed to put a stop to this outrage! The courts are slapping down the governors right and left but what else can we expect – they are, after all ‘in on it’.)

Writing about this stuff doesn’t capture the depth of the looney. But I must continue my penance to its logical conclusion and take words of Rush, from the mouth itself, and show them to be nothing but his brand of million-bucks-a-minute tonic for the rubes.

Sayeth the chubby one (after some cautiously phrased qualifiers):

So now doctors are being ordered  . . . to get information from them about gun ownership . . .   Doctors are now, quote, unquote, “permitted,” unquote, to do this. It makes ’em deputies, agents of the state. Look at the position this puts the doctors in  [if they don’t report].  The doctors are now under the thumb of Obamacare.  They had better comply.

And Rush gives us some history:

What’s happening here is this. For the longest time doctors have been required to ask parents and kids about this. I remember when this started, doctors were instructed to ask kids to rat out their parents on guns they had. That’s some years ago.

Total nonsense. The American Association of Pediatrics, as a policy (not a requirement) urges its practitioners to counsel parents of young children about the dangers of firearms in the home. There is no reporting requirement. The government is not involved in any way. The AAP guidelines are here.

On to where the ACLU is per FatBoy:

 Don’t ask me where the ACLU is.  I mean, anything to get rid of guns, the ACLU’s right there. Leftists are leftists, and that comes first with them.

Where the ACLU actually is, per their own website:

For seven decades, the Supreme Court’s 1939 decision in United States v. Miller was widely understood to have endorsed that view [guns are about militia, not about an individual right].

The Supreme Court has now ruled otherwise. In striking down Washington D.C.’s handgun ban by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in D.C. v. Heller held for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms, whether or not associated with a state militia.

The ACLU disagrees . . . . We do not, however, take a position on gun control itself. In our view, neither the possession of guns nor the regulation of guns raises a civil liberties issue.

This doctor/guns/government nonsense has been circulating via mass emails from the fringe for some time now. (A related history here from Snopes.) I first heard of it a few weeks ago when a family member informed me that this has been going on and that doctors have been helping the guvmint build a database so they can – let’s say it together – get! the! guns!

Meh but I’m tired of this.

Another home run for Rush – let fear and blame reign supreme!

Way to obfuscate Tubby. Way to go!

I tuned in for five minutes yesterday. He was upset about a quadrennial report titled “Global Trends 2030” which, among other things (things he never mentioned) noted that the US would no longer be the world’s hegemon. Gasp. And, he added, you know who to blame! In fact, it’s been the Kenyan commie’s plan all along Rush told us. The only surprise said The Obese One is that the fake President isn’t making it happen sooner!

Having fed his captive audience, I imagine he then moved on to other horrors perpetrated by the Liberal traitor class and their illegitimate dictator.

Here’s the section of the report that ignited the rant-on-the-radio:

The world the council foresees is one in which the United States is no longer a uniquely dominant global power but remains preeminent because of its legacy strengths, its ability to form coalitions and the reluctance of China to assume a global role.

Scared yet?

But guess what else the report said? Guess what was the real big news?

By 2030, for the first time in human history, a majority of the world’s population will not be impoverished and a politically powerful global middle class could total 3 billion people, up from 1 billion today.

These people, many from what are now developing countries, will be healthier, better educated and connected to the Internet. . .

If Rush wants to worry about something, he might try worrying about this:

The world of 2030 will be one in which the greatest strain within and between countries could be the struggle for resources — food, water and energy — and climate change could severely affect the ability to produce sufficient quantities of each.

Water. For a long  time, that’s been projected to be the most dangerous, damaging and destabilizing threat facing us. If you want to worry Rush, worry about water.

But it might be too hard to make that a Liberal plot, so stick with the easy stuff Big Guy. Then you can just slither on home to that fourth trophy wife.

 

Okay, this is insignificant but honestly . . .

. . . does teh stupid never stop?

On yesterday’s edition of The Janet Mefferd Show, the host and her guest, Matt Philbin of the Media Research Center, took aim at an unlikely vector of liberal ideals: the world of sports. Reflecting on an MRC report, Mefferd said that ESPN and other sports broadcasters are “using their sports platforms really to push this liberal economic and social ideology.” Philbin asserted ESPN hires people with a “liberal pedigree” and its website includes content that is in “support of the gay agenda.”

. . .

Philbin later maintained that sports journalists, like other journalists, have “an antipathy toward conservatives and toward traditional Americans.” The two also took umbrage in particular to the sports network’s supposedly cozy relationship with President Obama: Mefferd was dismayed that ESPN is helping the President “show his softer side” by broadcasting his NCAA bracket selection.

Of course, President Bush, a former baseball franchise owner, previously appeared on ESPN to talk fishing and baseball.

Best part: ESPN’s antipathy toward traditional Americans. I guess then that  that’s their business model which explains why they’re such a failure.

Let us recall that the Media Research Center is considered a true source of the Lord’s truth by the conservative-entertainment complex, who repeat its findings ad nauseam.

From Right Wing Watch – unless they’ve been owned and it’s really from The Onion?

Rush is running out of material . . .

. . . might we hope that his listeners run out of patience? His latest:

Rush Limbaugh, while repeatedly insisting he is “not alleging a conspiracy,” suggested Monday that the National Hurricane Center’s forecast models for  Tropical Storm Isaac were altered to help President Barack Obama and “cast a  pall” over the Republican National Convention.

“I’m not alleging conspiracies here. The Hurricane Center is the regime; the  Hurricane Center is the Commerce Department,” Limbaugh said on his talk show. “It’s the government. It’s Obama.”

Rush cries ‘voter suppression’ – creative little shit, isn’t he

The real Dark Knight

In what may be the most breathtaking turn-it-on-its -head moment in political rhetoric, Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday claimed that the Obama campaign and all Democrats and all the pollsters and all the media are conspiring to suppress the Republican vote.

Here’s how it works. Diabolical pollsters ask questions in a dishonest fashion designed to show Obama leading. The media publish and pushes that narrative. The campaign seizes upon this (of course they’re actually behind it but that’s hidden behind an impenetrable veil of secrecy financed by George Soros and Warren Buffet) and it gloats. All of this combines to discourage Romney voters who are made to think there’s just no point in voting since Obama is sure to win.

Presto! Voter suppression.

He’s a marvel he is.

This isn’t the first time, is it? I think he ‘threatened’ this before.

Reasons must be found, must be found!

Matt Drudge provides a glimpse of a  possible script. Because excuses must be made, excuses must be made!!

Flash! Anderson Cooper not afraid of Rush Limbaugh

This is exquisite.

On Thursday, Mr. Limbaugh of Palm  Beach spoke ill of Anderson Cooper, who lightheartedly responded with gentle use of the one weapon that I think has power with the morbidly obese four-times married public moralizer- he mocked him. He as good as said the unsayable: the guy is too fat.

Did Rush lash back on Friday?

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Let’s let Bill Maher explain

Mr. Limbaugh of Palm Beach along with the rest of the perpetually outraged professional right-wing defend the four times married morbidly obese one with what they claim is equivalence:”But Bill Maher called Palin a cunt!”.

Silly comparison. Maher explains it precisely:

MAHER:  To compare that to Rush is ridiculous – he went after a civilian about very specific behavior, that was a lie, speaking for a party that has systematically gone after women’s rights all year, on the public airwaves. I used a rude word about a public figure who gives as good as she gets, who’s called people “terrorist” and “unAmerican.” Sarah Barracuda. The First Amendment was specifically designed for citizens to insult politicians. Libel laws were written to protect law students speaking out on political issues from getting called whores by Oxycontin addicts.

Tokyo Rush*?

There’s yet another petition moving across the interwebs, this one demanding that Rush be removed from Armed Forces Radio. Lots of people – liberals included – see that as a First Amendment infringement.

But Duane, a very smart guy, has it exactly right I think. He derides Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Armed Services Committee who said:

I think that is probably an issue best left to the folks that run that network.  In other words, I’d love to see them drop it but I don’t think I’d legislate it.

Duane adds:

Oh, yeah? You mean it is okay that our men and women in uniform hear a blowhard know-nothing tell them that their Commander-in-Chief hates America and wants to destroy it? 

Say no more.

* WWII Japanese radio propagandist, Tokyo Rose (actually more than one woman took the mic as ‘Rose’), whose mission was to undermine the morale of the US troops. The US Military tried repeatedly to shut down her signal but never managed to keep it off the air completely.

Such a joker

Any comedian knows that the more they repeat the very same ‘joke’ to the same audience, over and over, the funnier it gets.  (from Think Progress)

Off. His. Game.

Rush Limbaugh is flustered, at least he was during the 15 minutes I listened today in the car. (I had to tune in of course –  Schadenfreude and all.)

The man, usually one of the finest practitioners of the English language, was reaching – both for coherence and vocabulary. He even made a few grammatical errors – rare for him, as Rush’s near pitch-perfect use of language has been his friend.  But today it deserted him.

Limbaugh is famously thin-skinned, always lashing out – with skill – to discredit or otherwise inflict maximum damage on whoever dares demean or publicly question him. Today he was flailing around, unable to settle on a target for his wrath.

He’s rattled.

Is an era passing and is it doing so right before our eyes?

Close the door on your way out

CLUE NUMBER ONE:  The Republican party faces an existential threat – and not just from this election year pageantry. They face a very real threat from demographic reality. They are losing their traditional base by attrition and simultaneously repelling the younger more diverse voters they will need just to survive.  But the GOP can’t seem to get past what they’ve become, a party of angry white men shouting at everybody else to get off their lawns., or blaming women for the Original Sin of tempting Adam. Might they take the neo-Cons and the Tea Party and the Christianists down with them? I guess that would just be returning a favor, wouldn’t it.

CLUE NUMBER TWO: While we’ve been gleefully counting the growing list of advertisers pulling out of Limbaugh’s show, a few reporters are beginning to look at the claim that Limbaugh has  “twenty-million listeners”. (We’ve all been long certain of that number. I’ve referred to it many times.) And guess what?

A story from David Frum today suggests it may be closer to ‘under two million’. Which is, I think, somewhat fewer than twenty million.

That Limbaugh is losing advertisers right now may be part of a continuum we just haven’t been paying attention to. Frum quotes from an ’09 story:

Conservative talk radio has never been more angry and extreme than today. You might think that’s a response to the Obama presidency. But even more, conservative talkers are responding to a collapse in advertising revenues.

According to Scott Fybush, the proprietor of North East Radio Watch, talk radio has lost 30-40% of its ad revenues over the past two years.

It’s said that good things come in threes, so keep your eyes open!

Remember Rush and the Viagra and the cops?

An oldie but very relevant goodie here. (Was he procreating I wonder – and how did that go?) Hat tip to friend Ed – great find!

Limbaugh was detained for more than three hours Monday at the airport after returning from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. Customs officials found the Viagra in his luggage but his name was not on the prescription, said Paul Miller, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. . . .

In true celebrity fashion, he made a deal with the Sheriff’s office: by tying the matter to his other little legal problem, he gave up nothing and the Sheriff gave up everything. Quite the deal.

Under the deal reached last month with prosecutors, Limbaugh was not to be arrested for any infraction for 18 months in exchange for authorities deferring a charge of “doctor shopping.” Prosecutors had alleged the conservative talk-show host illegally deceived multiple physicians to receive overlapping painkiller prescriptions.

Something like this becomes a story when the person is a celebrity, or when ther person . . . well,  just read the rest:

Before his own problems became public, Limbaugh had decried drug use and abuse and mocked President Clinton for saying he had not inhaled when he tried marijuana . . .

“Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. … And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up,” Limbaugh said on his short-lived television show on Oct. 5, 1995. . well,  just read the rest.

Rush baby, this is not from MSNBC

The GOP: where irony goes to die

Who are the two ‘gentlemen’ who enjoy publicly criticizing – nay mocking –  this woman’s body?

 

 

 

These two gentlemen. That’s who. Hunks.

 

 

Rusty the Racist still keepin’ it classy

There really aren’t any limits for him. NASCAR, he says, boo-ed the First Lady because she is ‘uppity’. Uppity.

Limbaugh also said “we don’t like being told what to eat; we don’t like being told how much to exercise; we don’t like being told what we’ve got to drive; we don’t like wasting money; we don’t like our economy being bankrupted. We don’t like 14% unemployment. The question is, what the hell is there to cheer for when Miss Obama and Ms. Biden show up?”

“I’ll tell you something else,” he said. “We don’t like paying millions of dollars for Mrs. Obama’s vacations. The NASCAR crowd doesn’t quite understand why when the husband and the wife are going to the same place, the first lady has to take her own Boeing 757 with family and kids and hangers-on four hours earlier than her husband, who will be on his 747. NASCAR people understand that’s a little bit of a waste. They understand it’s a little bit of uppity-ism.”

Rush doesn’t much like women either. Jill Biden is properly addressed as Dr. Biden, but I guess that’s uppity too – although probably not as uppity as it would be were Dr. Biden a black woman of course.

Mr-Limbaugh-of-Palm-Beach is an old pro at this stuff – here are some of his top hits (and they do keep on coming):

• “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?”
• “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”
• “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”
• “They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”
• [To an African American female caller]: “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”
• ”I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.  They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.  I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”
• “We need segregated buses… This is Obama’s America.”
• “Obama’s entire economic program is reparations.”

(h/t NewsOne for doing all the work)

Speaking of Glenn Beck

. . . which I was, if you count saying (two posts below) that he doesn’t matter anymore. Anyway, speaking of Glenn . . .

// Goldline, a company that used endorsements from Glenn Beck and other conservative icons to sell hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers, has been charged with theft and fraud in a 19-count criminal complaint filed Tuesday by local officials in California.

. . . marks the latest in a series of allegations leveled against the gold dealer, which pioneered the practice of weaving its sales pitches into broadcasts by popular conservative political personalities — including two former presidential candidates — to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold every year.

The complaint alleges that Goldline “runs a bait and switch operation in which customers, seeking to invest in gold bullion, are switched to highly overpriced coins by using false and misleading claims,” according to a statement released by the consumer affairs division of the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office.

I grabbed this little something from Goldline’s website; I’m sure Beck’s lawyers are screeching their outrage even now, insisting it be taken down – even though I thought I once heard Glenn say that Jesus wanted us to buy from Goldline.

Expect radio gas bags to spit and sputter today

In the Wall Street Journal‘s editoriall this morning, we find much admiration for the debt deal (natch), much damning of damn liberals (it’s their job after all), and much admiration for the Tea Party success (political porn).

But there was also this little tidbit:

The same supposedly conservative Republicans and their talk radio minders may denounce this deal as a sellout, but we’ll be charitable and assume they’ve climbed so far out on the political ledge they don’t know how to climb back without admitting they were wrong.

Limbaugh Groupie Steyn: a real Christian is dumb as a box of rocks

You may have noticed the Christian right – through its outraged punditocracy on talk radio and FOX –  getting their sacred underwear all knotted up again because the secular ‘mainstream media’ said Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer, is a Christian (gasp!).

Bill sets us straight

O’Reilly, for instance, said there is “absolutely no evidence that this guy is any kind of Christian”.

(Because neither Breivik’s 1500 page manifesto calling for a new Christian Crusade nor his video full of Christian imagery count as actual evidence.)

So here comes right-wing media luminary Mark Steyn on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, taking his turn to make the case. How does he know? He has irrefutable evidence.

This guy isn’t a serious Christian. He’s a devoted New York Times reader, and he’s an extremely well-read guy . . .

Breivik is well read! He can’t be our kind of Christian.

(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

Immigration message wars: you know who’s winning

This one has it all covered

Anti immigrant fervor is all around us; there has always been a subset of Americans who hide in their dark corners and whisper to each other about the purity of the race.

Increasingly though, we see this meme transmitted  out in the open, via right wing media, mostly talk radio, and via FOX and blogs. The language on TV is much more polite of course, at least on FOX’s ‘news’ shows. But it’s increasingly in full view on FOX & Friends and on Hannity, where the non-European, non-Christian is  viewed with suspicion.

The case for immigration gets lost in this cacophony.

So here’s something I’d like to see. I wish someone would create a series of pro-immigration videos disguised as anti-immigration videos. Let them warn us about the ‘other’ and tell us of the dire consequences of allowing these lesser beings among us. Tell us why we should be afraid. Do the videos absolutely straight-faced with no disclaimers that ‘we really don’t mean it’.

And set the videos in 1895 or 1910 – as full blown period pieces properly costumed and using the angry, often hateful protest language of the day; and direct that language at the ‘others’ of the era – the Irish (especially Irish-Catholics), the Italian, the Jew and the Chinese.

I’d really like to see that.

Admit it. The man is a giant.

Elvis save me, I did it again. Tuned into Mr. Limbaugh of Palm Beach for five minutes on my way home from a dizzying day. Looking to be entertained I guess. And here is what I heard (paraphrased somewhat):
“Those young rabble rousers on the streets of Egypt or what have you? They have no ideology. You know what they are? They’re guys who like to throw rocks, guys who want to get on television. That’s all they are – just like American Idol or MTV or the Jerry Springer show – that’s what they want, just to get on television.”

I have no idea what his point was because I simply had to turn it off.

Talk Radio Ethics 101

Brucetheeconomist just remined me in a thread about a blog I used to follow, so I stopped over there and found a link to this from Raw Story.

 The  company responsible for syndicating big conservative radio names like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity has been using paid actors to call in to their radio shows. . . . “Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service,” the website said. “We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we’ll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won’t hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners.”

Who’s surprised?

No comment Rush. No comment at all.

Mr.Limbaugh says of Michelle Obama“I’m trying to say that our first lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you,” Limbaugh said Monday.

In other news, here’s a sneak peek at the next cover of Playgirl.

I'm too sexy for my clothes

If we were a sane country (or, which of these two would you trust?)

. . . this guy would be the GOP nominee for President. Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana and one-time head of the Office of Management and Budget, both of  which, whatever his politics, suggest he has a clue about how the world works.

I’ve liked him for some time, but my opinion of him soared today when I saw some CPAC video in which he named names – talk radio names, FOX News names – in talking about obstacles to getting things done.

Predictably, Mr. Limbaugh of Palm Beach, the most thin skinned of the on air bullies, came right at him today. If Daniels doesn’t back down as others have with depressing regularity, he’ll burnish his credentials even more and prove he has political courage.

But I don’t think he’ll be the candidate. He is tipping his toe in the water, but I hope he pulls it back and waits till 2012,  2016 when a Republican has a chance and I’d just as soon they nominate an adult.

Mr. Limbaugh doesn’t ‘do’ war zones himself. There is golf to be played.

This is what he gets away with on a regular basis. This blatant dishonesty, the carelessness. is accepted by millions. He doesn’t do teh crazy like Beck, but he is an opinion leader and even in that role gets away with this stuff all the time.

The second quote below comes following the news about the FOX guys in Egypt. Same day, a few hours apart. From Limbaugh’s credibility-free zone:

“Even two New York Times reporters were detained. Now, this is supposed to make us feel what, exactly? How we supposed to feel? Are we supposed to feel outrage over it? I don’t feel any outrage over it. Are we supposed to feel anger? I don’t feel any anger over this. Do we feel happy? Well – uh – do we feel kind of going like, “neh-neh-neh-neh”?”

And then, a few hours later:

“Fox News’ Greg Palkot and crew have been severely beaten and are now hospitalized in Cairo. Now we were kidding before about The New York Times, of course. This kind of stuff is terrible. ”

Of course. (h/t Bartcop)

Serendipity: Mike Stark and Rush Limbaugh and me

kaystreet at The Fifth Column tells us about a conversation on The Rush Limbaugh Show when caller blogger Mike Stark succeeded in getting through on the air last week. Stark has done this a few times.)

I heard the conversation in real time – serendipity! I tune in most weeks for about five minutes just to keep track of the current script and was lucky enough to catch what to me was a most entertaining segment.

kaystreet tells us: “Mike called Limbaugh to find out why all the big hoopla about Reagan when Reagan raised taxes, negotiated with terrorists . . . [gave] amnesty to undocumented workers, and he cut and ran from Lebanon.  The kicker is that Mike was quite polite and actually made Limbaugh tongue tied with his remarks.  Limbaugh never answered the question.  Instead, he attacked Mike Stark.”

The transcript is at kaystreet and at Stark’s site, Stark Reports.

The part that I found most interesting was that, Limbaugh’s bloviation at the end of the call clearly showed he was knowledgable enough to have a conversation with Stark about his questions. But he didn’t. He chose instead to insult, attack, and mock. The usual.