Rush Limbaugh (Oh, I hope this thread survives its 1st page)

[Echo3Delta]

Hey, I've been scoping out some political threads here on Escapist, and I'm seeing some pretty wild Rush-hate going on in here. It's little surprise to me, seeing as Rush has been major news lately. As an avid listener and supporter of Rush (yes, I realize I've just invited the wrath of the entire Internets down upon me), I'd like to hear your opinions. Do you support or disagree with the man, and MUCH more importantly, why or why not?

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- What do you think of the recent push to name Rush as the de facto leader of the Republican party? Is he?
- What do you think of Rush's now-infamous quoted position that he wishes for the failure of the Obama Administration?
- What do you think about his style? Do you like or dislike his brash and sometimes arrogant rhetoric? And do his opinions carry real currency, or is he nothing more than an entertainer?

Discuss with vim and vigor! I look forward to engaging you all (most probably as Rush's sole defender). :-[

 

[Ignignoct]

I listen to him like I listen to Bill O'Reilly.

I find tickling to see serious-faced arrogance at that level.

Oh, and I'm sure he was more credibility and command over the true heart of the conservative party than any senator/pundit/public figure.

I just wish Tom Leykis was as popular.

Oh, and INB4ThreadLock due to disagreeable content!

 

[Echo3Delta]

Oh, and INB4ThreadLock due to disagreeable content!

I'll drink to that!

 

[pigmonkey]

why do republicans let loud mouthed, fat, stupid, racist people (like rush and o'riely) speak for there party? i'm pretty sure america would have a way better reputation around the world if you guys did away with these people. i say let that 14 year old kid from the big republican meeting thing (i have no idea what it was actually called) be the spokesmen for your party. you will instantly gain +20 respect points from me.

 

[Echo3Delta]

(sigh) From now on, I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for some good discussion from escapist. I somehow doubt pigmonkey has ever sat through 3 hours of Rush's program with anything resembling an open mind. Ah well, I give up.

Oh, and pigmonkey, you forgot to mention his addiction to drugs. That's, like, the most obvious one when going after Rush. You fail at insults.

 

[oliveira8]

Heres Bill Hicks talking about Rush!

WARNING INCLUDES VERY HARD LANGUAGE AND WILL LEAVE YOU WITH VERY VERY!!!! DISTURBING MENTAL IMAGES!

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg2_MntkMzg

 

[BubbleGumSnareDrum]

Rush is a character to me. It is almost vomit-inducing that any real human being who deserves to live could possibly express the views he expresses.

Whether he's "real" or not, he is not a person whose advice anyone should ever take. He is perfect evidence that demonstrates, to me, at least, that the political media is just a puppet show.

 

[Break]

I've neglected to keep up with current affairs, but he said that he wishes for the Obama administration to fail? That's a rather ill-advised statement, isn't it? I mean, sure, you might not want your political rivals to do well, but desiring their failure implies that you would like the American public to go through hard times, just so your own party is more likely to take the top spot in future. Must be regretting that quite a bit.

 

[FoxtrotTango]

(sigh) From now on, I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for some good discussion from escapist. I somehow doubt pigmonkey has ever sat through 3 hours of Rush's program with anything resembling an open mind. Ah well, I give up.

Oh, and pigmonkey, you forgot to mention his addiction to drugs. That's, like, the most obvious one when going after Rush. You fail at insults.

Listening to Rush Limbaugh with an open mind? That's a sort of oxymoron, isn't it? After all, you're absorbing like a sponge the opinions of a man who tells you to be mistrusting of everything that isn't white and Republican. That's the type of show you listen with an open mind to when you want your mind closed to everything else.

Since I consider myself a man of the world, I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh. Just Rush, the band.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Almost twenty years ago I read a Doonsbury cartoon with the following joke:

What's the difference between Rush Limbaugh and the Hindenburg? One is a flaming Nazi gasbag, while the other's just a dirigible.

Now, Gary Trudeau is not a natural supporter of neoconservatism I admit... but this has been going on for nigh on two decades, and self-interest dressed up as populist superpatriotism gets tiresome for me after a while.

-- Steve

 

[black lincon]

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- What do you think of the recent push to name Rush as the de facto leader of the Republican party? Is he?

He is not and never will be the de facto leader of the republican party and the entire republican party should be ashamed the their actual leader Michael Steele had to apologized to rush.

- What do you think of Rush's now-infamous quoted position that he wishes for the failure of the Obama Administration?

He can say whatever he wants, he's just the reubublican shock jock so I can see no reason for him to not say things like that.

- What do you think about his style? Do you like or dislike his brash and sometimes arrogant rhetoric? And do his opinions carry real currency, or is he nothing more than an entertainer?

I like rush as much as I like Michael Moore, and I hate Michael Moore. They are both arrogant dicks who think they know whats best for the country and take a Machiavellian approach to getting it. Like I said before, he's the republican shock jock, his opinions carry about as much weight as a clowns.

However despite all that I like rush, care to know why? Well it's simple really, he's the single largest contributer to the downfall of the republican party, I'm really looking forward to a multi party system and I thinks I's going to happen in the next decade or so unless the republicans feel like changing their ways, but if they did they wouldn't be republicans.

 

[black lincon]

I've neglected to keep up with current affairs, but he said that he wishes for the Obama administration to fail? That's a rather ill-advised statement, isn't it? I mean, sure, you might not want your political rivals to do well, but desiring their failure implies that you would like the American public to go through hard times, just so your own party is more likely to take the top spot in future. Must be regretting that quite a bit.

nope, nope and nope, he stands by that comment wholeheartedly to this day. He doesn't particularly care about the state of the union so long as republicans are on the top.

 

[Zaydin]

Personally, Rush is an over-opinionated blowhard who someone needs to remind that he was one of the conservative talking heads who said you can't criticize Bush because he was the President. But, really, talking about Rush just gives him more power & credibility than he deserves.

 

[Alex_P]

Well, there has definitely been a concerted effort to brand Rush as the leader of the GOP. Republican politicians could puncture that impression pretty easily if they just stopped kissing his ass. But they haven't. Instead the closest thing to the Republicans' official leadership is kowtowing to Rush and praising his "voice and leadership". If they want Democrats and satirists to stop accusing them of worshiping Rush, maybe they should stop worshiping Rush?

Why are they turning to Limbaugh in the first place? Because the party is stumbling back to its positions and tactics from the early 90s. They're embracing Gingrich now, too. I don't think this is a political strategy that's going to work. I very much want it not to work, too, because some of those policies implemented today would be pretty disastrous.

As far as the whole thing with Limbaugh, writer John Scalzi really nailed it:
Rush Limbaugh is very, very good at belting out the Republican Party's "greatest hits" with style and gusto. He didn't create them, but he's pretty much the best imitator around. He's the GOP's Ripper Owens. And they've just invited him to be in their band.

-- Alex

 

[cherimoya]

rush limbaugh and similar people (coulter, o'riley...) just serve as constant reminders to me that believing in the wisdom and intelligence of the bill of rights is not supposed to be easy.

i might find what they choose to say disturbing but i love the fact that they can say it.

i cant really say that limbaugh factors into my thoughts in any other way than that.

that being said, when i sit and think about it more; he and the aggressive pundits (on both "sides") like him remind me of professional wrestlers. oiled up and screaming into microphones while their fans scream and chant slogans they're read off each other's t-shirts.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I've neglected to keep up with current affairs, but he said that he wishes for the Obama administration to fail? That's a rather ill-advised statement, isn't it? I mean, sure, you might not want your political rivals to do well, but desiring their failure implies that you would like the American public to go through hard times, just so your own party is more likely to take the top spot in future. Must be regretting that quite a bit.

nope, nope and nope, he stands by that comment wholeheartedly to this day. He doesn't particularly care about the state of the union so long as republicans are on the top.

To be a bit fairer to the bloviating idiot, his opinion is that Obama's success would mean the erasure of what Rush cites as core American principles of self-determination and personal freedom. I think Rush is grossly wrong on that in a great many ways, but if he actually believes that democracy and free enterprise would collapse under a new New Deal it would make sense for him to hope it fails.

Then again, it's hard to be certain whether Rush actually believes that or is instead just playing to the crowd for shock value. And that's why I despise the man's public persona; it's that he's a right-wing counterpart to Moore and Stern pandering to the lowest of our impulses, lowering the tone of debate into a schoolyard screaming match.

-- Steve

 

[Echo3Delta]

I've neglected to keep up with current affairs, but he said that he wishes for the Obama administration to fail? That's a rather ill-advised statement, isn't it? I mean, sure, you might not want your political rivals to do well, but desiring their failure implies that you would like the American public to go through hard times, just so your own party is more likely to take the top spot in future. Must be regretting that quite a bit.

Oh, I guess I was a little quick to lose hope in decent conversation. Since you haven't heard this, Break, I'll give you the skinny. There was a big push in the media and the Democratic party shortly after Obama was elected to get Republicans to announce that they wish all the best for Obama and hope he succeeds as President. Most Republican leadership obediently got in line and made such an announcement. Rush on the other hand would have none of it, and publicly declared on his program and confirmed several times later that he wishes in no uncertain terms for Obama and his Presidency to fail.

Now, for a liberal (or Democrat, moderate, whatever you consider yourself to be) to understand this, an analogy is necessary, because you have to see the situation through our point of view:

What if a man had been elected President last year whose primary stated solution to fixing the economy was the reinstitution of slavery? Ridiculous, I know, but consider: He is the President, and he has promised to do everything in his power to bring slavery back to our country. Given the chance to publicly address his policies, would you state your hope that this new policy of slavery will solve our economic woes and offer the new President your best wishes for a successful administration? Or would you denounce him and his policies, and indeed publicly hope that he fails to carry out his pro-slavery legislation? Simply, would you want him to succeed or fail?

You see, to conservatives, government control of the private sector is as abominable as slavery. That is how we perceive the current trends. And that is why Rush and I hope for Obama's failure.

 

[sheic99]

Personally, Rush is an over-opinionated blowhard who someone needs to remind that he was one of the conservative talking heads who said you can't criticize Bush because he was the President. But, really, talking about Rush just gives him more power & credibility than he deserves.

Didn't Nixon say something fairly similar?

However despite all that I like rush, care to know why? Well it's simple really, he's the single largest contributer to the downfall of the republican party, I'm really looking forward to a multi party system and I thinks I's going to happen in the next decade or so unless the republicans feel like changing their ways, but if they did they wouldn't be republicans.

We won't have a multiparty system. The government just is not set up to be such. To win an election you need the majority vote.