Matt Taibbi on Rush's "Massa" Moment

So El Rushbo used the term "Massa" when discussing NY Gov. David Patterson and whether he would appoint his replacement. Big surprise.

LIMBAUGH: Are you sure that Paterson appoints or is there a special election?

CALLER: I am reasonably sure that Paterson will be appointing the replacement, assuming that he, you know, doesn’t resign in the next 60 or 90 days.

LIMBAUGH: Let’s assume you’re right. So, David Paterson will become the massa…

CALLER: Yes.

LIMBAUGH: …who gets to appoint whoever gets to take Massa’s place. So, for the first time in his life, Paterson’s gonna be a massa. Interesting, interesting.

Taibbi speaks for many of us in his response, and I'm especially pleased by this particular passage:

It’s not so much that Rush made a racist joke. Nor does it even bother me that the whole premise of the discussion was incorrect — Paterson doesn’t get to appoint a replacement.  It’s more that Rush is such an intellectually lazy piece of shit who’s been on dumbly racist autopilot for so long that he literally can’t avoid making a dumb, unfunny black-baiting joke when the opportunity is shoved in front of his face. The minute the conversation switched to a discussion of the black governor Paterson and a guy named “Massa,” who among us didn’t think that Rush was going to go there?

Fuck you, Rush. Fuck your listeners, too.

Costa Rica or Bust for Rush Limbaugh

El Rushbo is threatening (promising?) to move to Costa Rica if health care reform legislation passes.

The thought of that coming true has given me an erection that's certain to last more than four hours.

Adios, Rushbo!

Roger Ebert - Horsewhip Rush Limbaugh

Roger Ebert has penned an open letter to Rush Limbaugh in response to el Rushbo's heinous suggestions that President Obama would attempt to steal money donated for Haiti relief efforts.

You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of our nation.

Having followed President Obama's suggestion and donated money to the Red Cross for relief in Haiti, I was offended to hear you suggest the President might be a thief capable of stealing money intended for the earthquake victims.

A more accurate statement has never been uttered than when Al Franken called Limbaugh "a big, fat idiot."

Tens of thousands may lay dead, crushed and buried beneath the rubble, but that won't stop Limbaugh from using misery and human tragedy to fan the anger of his listeners.

What's a few corpses to him?

The NFL's Rush to Judgement

For all the “sky is falling” ruminations of those on the left, give them credit for one thing - liberals are consistent in their Chicken Little approach to governing.Very little waffling in this group, my friends. They go from majority rule to folding like a cheap suitcase in record time.

Conservatives, on the other hand, are fearless in their approach and deal with dichotomy by refusing to admit that any of their positions conflict, regardless of the evidence provided.

Which brings me to Rush Limbaugh, he of the failed bid to become a minority owner of the St. Louis Rams. Limbaugh has trumpeted a familiar tune in all this, reminding us that he’s right and everyone one is not only wrong, but participating in an elaborate conspiracy to silence him, and by proxy, real Americans.

It’s not so much that those opposing his participation in the NFL dislike his politics, although he, more than anyone, has sought to cement the bond between true conservative Republicanism and the mean-spirited, ignorant, obstructionist bile that spews from his cigar hole.

Most people just don’t like, or agree, with what Rush Limbaugh says.

Now, those that do, really do. I mean, psychotically. Cult-like reverence for the man.

Perhaps his short-sighted opinions are in some way formed by Limbaugh being unable to see his shoes since 1985.

Being disliked doesn’t make you a victim.

But the 1st Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to flattery. It says the government can’t restrict the free speech rights of the citizenry. Put another way, it ensures that Limbaugh can spout his drivel free from governmental meddling and censorship, which also safeguards our right to consider him an addict to heresy.

Limbaugh has salted away millions by advancing the argument that personal accountability and boot-strapping is the answer to all problems. You make your bed, you lay in it, pal.

Except when that bunk is lined by a trillion harsh comments, racially-tinged remarks, and misogynistic messages, apparently.

Be accountable for your words and actions, sir.

You’ve created a portfolio of personal spite that now comes home to roost. The business of professional football has judged your rancor to be a hindrance to their marketing and profits, and ironically, the issue is quite black and white.

Perhaps you can buy into a pro basketball team. I’ve heard the NBA has strict rules that mandate how much white player’s shoes must contain.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Rush Limbaugh - Innocent Victim

Oxycontin-shopping, Viagra-popping conservative windbag Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a group seeking to purchase the St. Louis Rams football franchise.

Vocal opposition to Limbaugh's participation was accelerating among the "are you fucking kidding me?" faction of the human race.

The Checketts group jettisoned Limbaugh in hopes of staying in the race, but leading financial experts were already questioning the business acumen of Dave Checketts, wondering aloud if anyone moronic enough to choose a partner with a history of racially-tinged statements of ignorance would be savvy enough to gain the support of a city and team with a significant African-American population.

Limbaugh, to his credit, wasted no time playing the "victim" card, accepting no responsibility for the consequences of his behaviors and big mouth.

"This is not about the NFL, it's not about the St. Louis Rams, it's not about me. This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative.

"Therefore, this is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we're going to have."

I would have thought it was more about the free market and capitalism at work, or perhaps neo-Darwinism. But I could be wrong. After all, I'm a Progressive, determined to send this country into the shitter, one racist broadcaster at a time.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Rush (Limbaugh) to Judgement

This certainly has been the winter of our discontent - with Rush Limbaugh.

It speaks volumes about the depth of problems within the Republican party, the ever-widening cracks in their foundation that continue to grow into fissures that threaten to swallow them whole, that their de facto leader is a doctor-shopping, drug-addicted, woman-disrespecting, sex-outside-of-marriage having, millionaire gasbag who has amassed a fortune by whipping into frenzy a legion of dittoheads that holds the distinction of being one of the most ill-informed, erroneous, and intolerant mobs to roam these states since the days of the Salem witch trials.

Limbaugh is quick to pontificate about all things conservative as he bakes sweet muffins of freedom by using a simple recipe of tax cuts, morsels of small government, and a sprinkling of free marketeering, wrapped in a lard-smothered shell of self-righteousness. The formula looks good on paper, much like those in the food section of your local newspaper, where people write in to ask if anyone has the recipe for toast (like they serve at Denny's!).

Small problem, el-Rushbo. We've been eating at this restaurant for about a decade or so, and frankly, your food tastes like shit. It's rotting out our teeth, and we've lost so much weight due to malnutrition that we have to run around in the shower just to get wet.

Limbaugh claims to be the default leader of the Republican party. Laying down the smack on the Man of Steele during his first thirty days as chairman of the RNC demonstrates that Limbaugh was either not consulted before the post was filled, or his counsel was disregarded by those charged with rebuilding the GOP as a brand. There's a good reason for that.

Rush Limbaugh has never led anything.

He's never been an organizer, unless you consider assembling an angry mob to be real-world experience. He's never held an elected office, or solved the hard problems that exist. He's failed at most of the things he's ever attempted. Marriage. Sobriety. Television. Sporting a woody (remember when he was caught at an airport with Viagra but had no prescription?) He lost a ton of weight and gained it all back. He. Does. Not. Deliver.

The complete lack of dominion in the GOP, from McConnell to Cantor to Boehner to Steele, aptly shines a bright light on how Rush has been thrust into the pole position - it's a gaping leadership vacuum that has defaulted him to the main stage. And what's his plan? Here's a quote from the recent CPAC conference:

..."one thing that we can all do is stop assuming that the way to beat them is with better policy ideas right now."

Really? You've lost two big elections in a row; the White House, Senate, and House belong to the opposition, the public overwhelming supports a change in approach, and still, you don't want to stop and think about that a little bit? Maybe consider coming up with something a little better?

No matter. We don't need the support of dittoheads to accomplish the primary goals articulated by Barack Obama - education, health care, stimulus, etc. That group has ceased to be relevant to the course that's been charted, and serves only as a plaintive cry from the darkness, a warning echoing throughout this country - no matter the fervor or vitriol, the name-calling or finger-pointing, what eventually comes to pass is this.

Ideas always win against presumption. Substance trumps hubris. Teamwork defeats self-importance.

For all his audacity, Rush is on the wrong side of history. His island is shrinking, and soon, it will be just him, his big cigars, and his white, Southern comrades. Good riddance.

Rush Remains a Big Fat Idiot

No one has stood out as a more bloviated sheep bleating disproved conservative dogma than Rush Limbaugh. I'm not sure why people continue to be surprised by this after all of these years - you buy your ticket, you take your ride, y'know?

Putting aside the fact that he has been vocal in his hope that both President Obama and the financial stimulus initiative fail, Rush has everything to gain by continuing to fan the anti-tax faction of die-hard political conservatives, both in maintaining his core audience and holding on to a large portion of his amassed wealth.

Rush doesn't really want a cerebral discussion of the actual tax policies, because he (and his ilk) come out on the losing side of the equation, as the fiscal policies of the previous eight years has demonstrated. When you don't have any good (or actual) ideas, it seems, pull out the Rove playbook - tell a lie, and repeat it over and over until people believe it's true. That's the approach Limbaugh has taken with Obama's plan to allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to expire.

Media Matters reports that on his February 23 radio show, Rush falsely claimed that taxes on most small businesses would increase if the Bush tax cuts went away. Conversely, the Tax Policy Center has opined that in 2007, only 2% of tax returns that reported small business income were in the top two income brackets.

This is a familiar refrain, heard recently expoused by Mitch McConnell, conservative wingnut from Kentucky, but it was also part of the failed McCain campaign that was refuted by then-candidate Obama.

I'd like to see Limbaugh's raw data that he's using to derive his talking points. Transparency is a good thing, so Rush, show us how your sausage is made, because your view doesn't seem to be substantiated by, you know, the truth.

Beard Head!

This would seem to be the kind of apparel that Sarah Palin would embrace. Too bad it's probably not going to be available at Barney's New York.

How often have you been out hunting elk while snot freezes on your upper lip, while your chin quivers like Rush Limbaugh's when he's out of Oxycontin and Viagra? The Beard Head would cure what ails ya. Having an optional interchangeable mustache is simply a bonus.

I can see myself in one of those, looking a bit like Yukon Cornelius from the claymation "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" from 1964.

Putting Republicans in Their Place

Jon Stewart once said that the views of extremists on the left and the right tend to dominate the airwaves because "moderates have shit to do!" Are we seeing President Obama take on the fringes with a drive up the middle?

During a Friday morning meeting with House and Senate leadership, Obama listened to GOP gripes and complaints about his proposals for the economic stimulus package, as Republicans trotted out their time-worn (and completely discredited) views on tax cuts as the holy grail. When asked to justify his proposal, Obama replied, matter-of-factly, "I won."

Coming from another politician at a different time (I earned political capital, and I intend to spend it), such a blunt response might elicit a sharp rebuke, especially coming from a President not even a week into his new gig. But these are not ordinary times, and Obama has a clear mandate from the people - lead.

Obama has been clear about the need for bipartisanship since he was Democrat candidate Obama, tromping through the corn fields of Iowa and crunching along icy sidewalks in New Hampshire, providing a different viewpoint than H. Clinton on what sort of leadership would be required to pull the nation from the dark abyss created by GOP rule.

His quick jab on Friday was a wake-up call, not only for those assembled for the meeting, but also as part of a broader discussion that officially began with his inauguration speech: the best ideas are welcome, regardless of party origination, and I'll reject your weak-ass efforts the same way I stuff a lame jump shot from the top of the key on the basketball court. This is a serious time, with critical consequence. Bring your "A" game.

In case Obama's poke didn't get the attention of those on the right, there were other observations to further emphasize his solution-based view of governing. "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," Obama intoned, clearly drawing a line in the sand with Republicans. Ditch the anger, fear, and calculated outrage coming from the EIB, FOX News, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and other mouthpieces who have permanently stained conservatism by co-opting the label of conservative in an attempt to paint their wackadoodle views with the brush of legitimacy.

Wasting valuable time and resources on manufactured issues while the US is in crisis mode is over. Hear that, punditry? Don't attempt to react and justify Obama's decisions by getting manipulated into these exchanges. The last thing Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and crew want is to find a fix for the problems. There's no drama in that. They live for conflict and outrage, real or imagined. Raise the level of discourse and have strong debates on ideas. Avoid slugging it out over beliefs. You can change ideas - you can't change beliefs. No one who watches Hannity or listens to Limbaugh is going to be swayed by intellectual thrust and parry, so don't bother.

Ideas are in. Conflict is out. What part of "change" do you not understand?

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