I will admit that I am not a Rush Limbaugh listener, and therefore I am not qualified to say whether his positions on the issues are correct or not. However, since he has once again become the focus of attention (even by President Obama), I think it is time to address him. There are two quotes that are needed first:
If I wanted Obama to succeed, I’d be happy the Republicans have laid down. I don’t want this to work. So I’m thinking of replying to this guy, say ‘okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.’ – Rush Limbaugh
You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done. – President Obama
Basically, this is a battle of ideologies. President Obama won the national election, and election that also increased the Democratic control over both Houses of Congress. He is trying to be bipartisan (or at least appearing bipartisan) but at the same time pass legislation that meets the shared ideology of the Democratic Party. Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, is a Conservative who doesn’t want to see the country turn more liberal. This is all obvious. Where things start to become strange is with the following quote:
[President Obama is] obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He’s more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn’t say much about our party. – Rush Limbaugh
The Republican Party leadership is currently trying to show that they are willing to work with the new President, but at the same time compete with the Democratic Party leadership in Congress. I am not certain, but Rush feels that 1) the Republican leadership will cave under Democratic pressure, 2) the Republican leadership is not ‘conservative’ enough, or 3) he has an opportunity to regain his position as the anti-President like he did during the Clinton administration.
On one hand, Rush risks alienating soft support for the minority party by battling with a currently favorable President. On the other, he has the potential to solidify a Republican base that feels demoralized after the election. Playing into the latter, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) created an online petition for people express their outrage towards Rush. I personally feel that everyone involved here are acting childish and taking attention away from the more important issues of the day, but that’s just my opinion.
Related articles:
A Disgruntled Republican – “President Obama attacks Rush Limbaugh”
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – “Rush to Judgement: Express your outrage about Rush’s comments today”
CNS News – “Democrats Launch Petition Against Rush Limbaugh”
Politico – “House GOP member to Rush: Back off”
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Oh man do I got a lot to say about this!
As far as the accuracy of reports on him I suggest taking this as a golden rule. If the media is reporting on something Limbaugh said they are either right out lieing, taking it out of context, or just plain inaccurate. I say this not because I’m a conservative but because this kinda plays into how I “discovered” that I was a conservative. Before my last year of college I didn’t pay any attention to politics. I couldn’t have told you what the difference btwn a liberal/conservative was if my life depended on it.
My friend had heard me railing on certain topics many times like the banning of our mascot at the University of Ill and other stuff and suggested I listen to Rush. My only “knowledge” or perception of Rush at that point was that he was some sort of bigot asshole (at least thats the impression the media left on me). Despite that I gave him a listen and realized that I was one of those dreaded conservatives. I remember one of my initial thoughts was, “Fuck, he says everything I believe except he says it out loud on the radio and much better than I do.” After looking into some of the controversies surrounding things he had said I realized it was all b.s.
Now as far as this Obama-Rush thing goes, Rush made it clear when he said he wanted Obama to fail that was because that would mean his liberal agenda wouldn’t have been implemented and the country would be better for that failure. Of course the media leaves out that whole part of the story which isn’t surprising.
As far as the rest of the post, Rush has actually addressed all that. Yes he does feel that the leadership isn’t conservative and will cave. He also said the whole bi-partisanship thing is a ruse because they aren’t incorporating any Republican ideas or negotiating at all. They are just inviting them to a meeting, calling that bipartisanship, and then ignoring everything suggested.
As far as the anti-Prez thing and the risk of losing support that has been addressed. He actually played a quote where a reporter said something like “70% of the country will now wish for Obama to succeed just because Rush wants him to fail.” Rush said that could be true but he really doesn’t care.
That whole “afraid” of him quote dealt with the bipartisanship thing and the lack of will and power the Repubs have now. Basically Obama is spending his time worried about Rush, a radio host, instead of his actual political opponents in congress.
Another funny thing is the “childish” comment you made about distracting from the important things. Rush has said the same. He accused Obama of coming out and attacking him during that meeting with Repubs about the stimulus because this controversy would distract from debate about whats in the stimulus and the other moves Obama is making. Rush, actually being dead serious for once, suggested a truly bipartisan stimulus where Obama and the dems got 540 billion for their stimulus plans and the repubs/conservatives got 460 billion to enact tax cuts. (the 540 and 460 comes from Mccain getting 46% of the vote and Obama getting 54%) He claims this would be truly bipartisan and a good way to get the economy going. And then we could also see how each philosphy helped if at all as this would prepare us for future recessions.
Sorry this is so long but thought I’d clear up what was really said by Rush and his view on the matter since the truth about what he says rarely gets out there to those who don’t listen to his show. I guarantee if people listened to him for a week they would realize he is not the crazy racist bigot he is portrayed to be.
Personally I think Obama calling out Rush is rather stupid considering Rush is a private citizen. Funny thing is when Nixon was gonna get impeached the dems were gonna cite how Nixon had a list of private citizens (media members) he considered enemies as the Prez is suppose to serve ALL private citizens of the country not attack them even if they are critical of the job he is doing.
What I don’t get is why the dems call out Rush and try to make all these fake controversies out of things he supposedly said anyway. It just drives up his ratings and makes him and his program the stronger for it.
So John, you’re saying you agree with Rush when he says stupid shit like this?
“She comes to me when she wants to be fed. And after I feed her — guess what — she’s off to wherever she wants to be in the house, until the next time she gets hungry. She’s smart enough to know she can’t feed herself. She’s actually a very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn’t have to do anything for it, which is why I say this cat’s taught me more about women, than anything my whole life.” –on his cat
“I’ve been racking my brain. I’ve been trying to figure out how Bob Dole’s luggage got on my airplane…I told the doctor, I said, ‘Look, I’m worried about the next election.’ … A misunderstanding.” –after he was detained by custom officials for possessing Viagra with a prescription made out in someone else’s name
“The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”
“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.”
“There are more acres of forestland in America today than when Columbus discovered the continent in 1492.” (<– My personal favorite)
“Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) created an online petition for people express their outrage towards Rush”
And the left cares about what Rush says why?
And Rush cares what the left thinks about him why?
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