The whole Rush Limbaugh debacle Options

[Hartmann]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/washingt...;ref=washington

The broadcaster has accused critics of distorting remarks he made last Wednesday when a caller said the news media liked to focus on antiwar views raised by soldiers. Mr. Limbaugh then said, to the caller’s approval: “The phony soldiers.”

After the liberal media watchdog organization Media Matters sounded the alarm about his comments, Mr. Limbaugh said on subsequent shows that he was talking about only one discredited man who claimed to be a wounded veteran. “I was not talking about antiwar, active duty troops,” he insisted.

Yet analysts for Media Matters noted that Mr. Limbaugh’s first reference to the discredited man came nearly two minutes after his plural reference to phony soldiers. That group and like-minded Democrats have refused to back off. More than 40 Democratic senators signed a letter sent Tuesday to the company that syndicates the radio show, asking that Mr. Limbaugh’s remarks be repudiated.

Now, I've listened to the segment in question and don't see the problem. Media Matters is mad that it took him 1.15 minutes to clarify his point? Hell, Dan Rather still hasn't admitted that what he did was wrong.

What really gets me is Harry Reid and a few other senators ganging up saying that Rush is an idiot and a liar (which in this case is completely wrong). Rush didn't lie at all, he simply took a minute to completely explain his point and make a reference to the person in question. There were no lies or misspeaking.

I am not a huge Rush fan but I think this is being blown out of proportion and a deliberate attempt to continue the General Betray Us campaign.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

Rush is an idiot...he needs to take some more oxycontin and die already.

And yes, this is a weak attempt by the Democrats to do what the Republicans did with the MoveOn.org ad.

[Hartmann]

And yes, this is a weak attempt by the Democrats to do what the Republicans did with the MoveOn.org ad.

?

I don't understand what the Republicans did? The Republicans simply pointed out that it was unfair to attack General Petraeus since he could not adequately defend himself being active military. The Betray Us ad was stupid and a lie. What Rush said was not stupid and was not a lie, so how are the two comparable?

[impala454]

people who call rush an idiot obviously have never listened to his show.

[Jim]

people who call rush an idiot obviously have never listened to his show.

Really? I've listened to his show many times and have come up with one conclusion.

He is extremely hypocritical. He claims to take the moral high grounds on many things and then five seconds later he calls someone a communist pig who is the scum of the earth. Just because you view something as wrong doesn't mean you can turn around and mudsling.

He's very quick about shutting down opposing views and is all around a jerk to his callers (even the ones who praise his "good work"). Rush is not a saint nor is he a great person.

[impala454]

i didn't call him a saint. just said he's not an idiot.

if all you've got is "he's a hyporcrite because he takes the moral high grounds and then calls someone else scum", then you don't have much.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

?

I don't understand what the Republicans did? The Republicans simply pointed out that it was unfair to attack General Petraeus since he could not adequately defend himself being active military. The Betray Us ad was stupid and a lie. What Rush said was not stupid and was not a lie, so how are the two comparable?

The republicans used the Moveon.org ad as a stalling tactic instead of focusing on REAL issues. They didnt just address it and move on, they focused on it for an absurd amount of time. And they're just mad that anyone would challenge a military figure. MoveOn views Petraeus as someone who is doing the Bush administration's bidding. And in all honesty, I think if he wasn't bending to their will to some dergree, they would just replace him with someone else who would.

And I have listened to Limbaugh...I maintain my stance that he is an idiot.

[impala454]

The republicans used the Moveon.org ad as a stalling tactic instead of focusing on REAL issues. They didnt just address it and move on, they focused on it for an absurd amount of time. And they're just mad that anyone would challenge a military figure. MoveOn views Petraeus as someone who is doing the Bush administration's bidding. And in all honesty, I think if he wasn't bending to their will to some dergree, they would just replace him with someone else who would.

moveon.org didn't "challenge" anyone, they produced a jr high ad and got their liberal lackies to publish it. and the democrats didn't "challenege" anyone either. they grilled a man and called him a liar before even giving him a chance to speak. what's absurd in this case is that a fucking web site has as much power as it does over these idiots.

And I have listened to Limbaugh...I maintain my stance that he is an idiot.

why do you think so?

[Jim]

i didn't call him a saint. just said he's not an idiot.

if all you've got is "he's a hyporcrite because he takes the moral high grounds and then calls someone else scum", then you don't have much.

Oh, right, I forgot, being two faced isn't bad. Especially you consider yourself a great leader of the country. The list of what he has done is long and ugly. But, whatever, you will say he's not a bad man and I will. Leave it at that.

[impala454]

for the second time, i didn't say he was a saint,

I JUST SAID HE'S NOT AN IDIOT

[Hartmann]

The republicans used the Moveon.org ad as a stalling tactic instead of focusing on REAL issues. They didnt just address it and move on, they focused on it for an absurd amount of time. And they're just mad that anyone would challenge a military figure. MoveOn views Petraeus as someone who is doing the Bush administration's bidding. And in all honesty, I think if he wasn't bending to their will to some dergree, they would just replace him with someone else who would.

And I have listened to Limbaugh...I maintain my stance that he is an idiot.

Actually, the news media made it a big deal, not the Republicans. Some Republican congressmen came forward and said that it was reprehensible but that was about it.

If you think Petraeus is just doing the bidding of the administration then I think you need to reanalyze his testimony. He flat out said, we are making progress but it is not the greatest progress we have seen. Challenging a military figure is one thing (think the challenging going on during Vietnam, it got us nowhere), but this was an attack on character, not on fact. There is a difference.

There was a senator (can't think of the name) that made a statement as far as Rush is concerned that was something to the effect of "Guess he's back on drugs", which is a statement based on fact but with nothing to back it up. If I was a prominent figure in the public's eye and said something about O'bama (someone who admitted to using drugs) that was similar to what that senator said, people would have a fit.

This is the real issue, the democrats would rather attack the character of someone rather than the actual issue at hand. They would rather call Petraeus a traitor than to actually look at his history and his report and come out with a detailed summary of problems they see with it.

[cmac]

Rush is like Bill O'Reilly x 10. I love listening to his show cause every word out of his mouth is hypocrisy and propaganda.
It makes me laugh.

[impala454]

well what's really ironic was how the democrats were the ones who insisted on having a progress report, then they grill the guy and attack his character and call him a liar and puppet before he even gets a chance to speak.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

because he spouts a bunch of hypocritical right-wing crap. He's another holier-than-thou asshole who just spews his shit to get a rise out of people and bring up his falling numbers.

[impala454]

Rush is like Bill O'Reilly x 10. I love listening to his show cause every word out of his mouth is hypocrisy and propaganda.
It makes me laugh.

yay, more blanket statements. i'd love to hear some examples

[The Fanatic]

The main problem that I have with Rush Limbaugh is for years he talked about how drug user and abusers were the scum of the earth, yet used drugs. However, his comment about the phony soldiers was taken largely out of context. Anyways, who cares what he has to say anymore? He is just a tired broken man.

This post has been edited by Dr. Gonzo: Oct 3 2007, 08:32 AM

[theIncredibleEdi...]

here's a nice crazy one for ya.... this lady is nuts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW-s_CG70AA

[impala454]

The main problem that I have with Rush Limbaugh is for years he talked about how drug user and abusers were the scum of the earth, yet used drugs. However, his comment about the phony soldiers was taken largely out of context. Anyways, who cares what he has to say anymore? He is just a tired broken man.

well i suppose that might have been the case back in the past i dunno, i never listened to the radio at all until the past year or so. in that time i have yet to ever hear him discuss drug users or call them the scum of the earth.

[Hartmann]

here's a nice crazy one for ya.... this lady is nuts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW-s_CG70AA

? What does this have to do with anything? You've proven there are nut jobs on the right. I'm sure I can find a YouTube of some nuts on the left too.

[cmac]

rush used to say that the government is in itself evil, a corrupt entity, something to be distrusted and feared, and certainly incapable of actually solving problems.

now that the president he supported is in office his anti-government bent has disappeared. Because we all know that being anti-government means your anti-republican and Rush can't do that.

but rush still thinks there are evil people in government. the liberals.

then of course the drug thing. doesn't get any more hypocrite than that.

hilarious. love his show though. good laugh.

[The Fanatic]

well i suppose that might have been the case back in the past i dunno, i never listened to the radio at all until the past year or so. in that time i have yet to ever hear him discuss drug users or call them the scum of the earth.

Yeah, he would be idiotic do that now because everyone knows his past abuse of synthetic opiates.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

? What does this have to do with anything? You've proven there are nut jobs on the right. I'm sure I can find a YouTube of some nuts on the left too.

Yep, but the bad thing is the right is LARGELY composed of these people. The left is mostly the queers just wanting to spread their AIDS and corrupt your children, and destroy marriage.

[impala454]

Yeah, he would be idiotic do that now because everyone knows his past abuse of synthetic opiates.

but what does that have to do with his show? his show is 99% political in nature. so his commentary on the goings on of our country is now hypocritical because he did some kinda drug?

[Hartmann]

Yep, but the bad thing is the right is LARGELY composed of these people. The left is mostly the queers just wanting to spread their AIDS and corrupt your children, and destroy marriage.

Wow. That's a very generalized statement. Where are your statistics for this? Do the nuts just come out of the woodwork and give their name and say they're crazy?

You can't actually believe what you just wrote.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

Apparently you can't take sarcasm...

[impala454]

Yep, but the bad thing is the right is LARGELY composed of these people. The left is mostly the queers just wanting to spread their AIDS and corrupt your children, and destroy marriage.

so the real reasons come out

[Hartmann]

Apparently you can't take sarcasm...

It's hard to read sometimes. I just didn't understand what your point was with the YouTube link.

[The Fanatic]

but what does that have to do with his show? his show is 99% political in nature. so his commentary on the goings on of our country is now hypocritical because he did some kinda drug?

I wouldn't say that everything he says is hypocritical no. Unless of course he is secretly sleeping with Hillary Clinton. I just don't take anything he says worth a grain of salt.

[impala454]

if he was secretely sleeping with hilary clinton, I'd be the one in this thread calling him an idiot

[theIncredibleEdi...]

but what does that have to do with his show? his show is 99% political in nature. so his commentary on the goings on of our country is now hypocritical because he did some kinda drug?

Just shows a trend of right-wingers being big ass hypocrites.....Rush slamming drug users, but doing it himself.....Craig hating gays but sucking dick in public bathrooms....Ed Schrock ®, cruising for men on phone sex lines.....David Dreier, James McCrery, Mark Foley....should I keep going?

[The Fanatic]

if he was secretely sleeping with hilary clinton, I'd be the one in this thread calling him an idiot

One of the only flaws I ever had with Bill.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

It's hard to read sometimes. I just didn't understand what your point was with the YouTube link.

just another crazy right-winger like Rush. Something to lighten the mood.

[Hartmann]

So this is what Democrats do in Congress.

Oddly enough, ABC News aired a special about Operation Stolen Valor a couple of days before Rush's comments.

Fixed (you have to copy the link, the board puts a space after the 09/

[cmac]

404?

[theIncredibleEdi...]

They play ping-pong.

[impala454]

Just shows a trend of right-wingers being big ass hypocrites.....Rush slamming drug users, but doing it himself.....Craig hating gays but sucking dick in public bathrooms....Ed Schrock ®, cruising for men on phone sex lines.....David Dreier, James McCrery, Mark Foley....should I keep going?

well like i said, i've been listening to him for over a year and have yet to hear him slam drug users. again his show is 99% political. he also doesn't make US policy. and if you want to show a trend in a party that has thousands or tens of thousands currently in office, you gotta come up with a lot more than four names. it's ironic to me to see people calling republicans hypocrites, especially given the democrats flip flopping track record... of high ranking officials.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

well like i said, i've been listening to him for over a year and have yet to hear him slam drug users. again his show is 99% political. he also doesn't make US policy. and if you want to show a trend in a party that has thousands or tens of thousands currently in office, you gotta come up with a lot more than four names. it's ironic to me to see people calling republicans hypocrites, especially given the democrats flip flopping track record... of high ranking officials.

Yes, I will give that the Dems are guilty of flip-flopping....but then again, you don't see quite so many of them making policy attacking a certain group (i.e. gays), and then secretly participating in that activity.

[Hartmann]

Yes, I will give that the Dems are guilty of flip-flopping....but then again, you don't see quite so many of them making policy attacking a certain group (i.e. gays), and then secretly participating in that activity.

Yet they call someone a coward and a betrayer... Guess one is worse than the other in some people's worlds.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

I thought MoveOn.org called him that, not the Democratic party itself?

[Hartmann]

I thought MoveOn.org called him that, not the Democratic party itself?

But they didn't say anything against it, which means they are either impartial (doubtful) or agree.

The Republicans have been fairly stern against those in their party who make a hypocritical decision (Delay, etc.). A lot of them don't want Craig back in Congress.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

But they didn't say anything against it, which means they are either impartial (doubtful) or agree.

The Republicans have been fairly stern against those in their party who make a hypocritical decision (Delay, etc.). A lot of them don't want Craig back in Congress.

Actually, I think a few Democrats did scold MoveOn for the ad.

And Craig is just digging himself deeper and deeper (with voting against the Hate Crimes bill last week). Nobody wants his ass.

[pebkac]

But they didn't say anything against it, which means they are either impartial (doubtful) or agree.

The Republicans have been fairly stern against those in their party who make a hypocritical decision (Delay, etc.). A lot of them don't want Craig back in Congress.

Your argument was that the Democrats called someone something.

Silence may be compliance but it's not speech.

Never saw any dems condemn the ad, but it's likely that they didn't want their words to be construed as them being pro-war. After all, how many republicans condemned the swift boat veterans for truth ads?

[impala454]

hilary clinton and whats his face durbin both "nicely" called petraeus a liar and puppet for bush. i can find the exact words if you want but they definitely did do it.

and although I don't feel like finding another link, it's pretty widely accepted that hilary gets plenty of funding from moveon.org

[theIncredibleEdi...]

I dunno...Hilary scares me. Have you heard that cackle?

[THECHICKEN]

rush used to say that the government is in itself evil, a corrupt entity, something to be distrusted and feared, and certainly incapable of actually solving problems.

now that the president he supported is in office his anti-government bent has disappeared. Because we all know that being anti-government means your anti-republican and Rush can't do that.

but rush still thinks there are evil people in government. the liberals.

then of course the drug thing. doesn't get any more hypocrite than that.

hilarious. love his show though. good laugh.

I agree with him on the corrupt entity that should be distrusted and incapable of doing anything.

And the one time i heard his show in the last 2 years he was railing on how the bush administration sucked too...

but yeah, he's hilarious to listen too because he is so overboard

Yet through all his rants he actually makes some good THEOLOGICAL arguments (not to say any PRACTICAL ideas though)

[pebkac]

hilary clinton and whats his face durbin both "nicely" called petraeus a liar and puppet for bush. i can find the exact words if you want but they definitely did do it.

and although I don't feel like finding another link, it's pretty widely accepted that hilary gets plenty of funding from moveon.org

Eh, I would believe that. I'm probably going to vote for Kucinich in the primary and Nader come the general election.

[chook]

Yep, but the bad thing is the right is LARGELY composed of these people. The left is mostly the queers just wanting to spread their AIDS and corrupt your children, and destroy marriage.

I don't think we need gays to ruin marriages.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

I don't think we need gays to ruin marriages.

Nope, yall do that just fine on your own. :-P

[pebkac]

I dunno. I think gays could go a lot longer way towards ruining marriage. I mean come on, you'd have gay couples getting married after 2 months and then the divorce would happen like a year later.

[Hartmann]

Let's get back on topic and focus on this from a different perspective...

Say that you have no previous beef with Rush, you just tune into his show one morning and this topic of phony soldiers comes up (since it was on TV just a few nights before). Rush makes a comment about phony soldiers then a few minutes later explains the reference.

Now, you turn on the news and see your congressman bashing Rush for things he didn't say (calling all soldiers against the war "phony") and saying he should be banned.

Would you agree with them (the congressman)? Do you want them wasting time on the senate floor for issues like this? And what about free speech? Rush didn't say anything that was libel, so why are people attacking him? He simply stated some facts.