HLN’s Joy Behar talks with actor Ted Danson about his view of Rush Limbaugh and the religious right.
DITTOS RUSH! Contemporary media musings bestowed by an American conservative Christian!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Danson on Limbaugh: Ted demonstrates his own idiocy!
Not that anyone really cares, but:
HLN’s Joy Behar talks with actor Ted Danson about his view of Rush Limbaugh and the religious right.
HLN’s Joy Behar talks with actor Ted Danson about his view of Rush Limbaugh and the religious right.
Rush Limbaugh is more dangerous than ever!
Whether they're right or wrong, they're making him run -- all the way
to the bank.
(So says Jon Friedman at MarketWatch.com )
Rush Limbaugh, whom much of the media love to brand as a foolish bully, may have the last laugh yet on his enemies.
For many years on his radio show Rush has said that he is the most dangerous man in media!
To the left's chagrin, he is even more dangerous than ever to liberals. Limbaugh's opponents were warmed by his recent embarrassing, unsuccessful and public attempt to join an investment group that wanted to acquire the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. But his opponents were merely playing into the hands of the most famous radio personality in the United States.
The more they paint Limbaugh as a maniac or a kook, the better it is for his image with conservative voters and listeners -- his core audience. Limbaugh thrives on the attacks of his adversaries. Rather than seem chastened or offended, he is enlivened by the barbs. He is the Unsinkable Shock Jock.
In the thick of his Rams gambit, some African-American football players, wary of Limbaugh's reputation and his criticism of quarterback Donovan McNabb a few years ago, strongly opposed his involvement. Limbaugh was a piñata, as his foes giddily took potshots at him. Before long, Limbaugh ultimately slipped out of view. Right now, Limbaugh may be gone from the NFL scene but he is not forgotten -- and he won't be. Full of ... bluster Limbaugh is full of bluster in public. It's his trademark.
In his loud condemnations of President Barack Obama and liberal causes, he gleefully plays the role of the heavy. Perhaps even someone as savvy as Limbaugh was surprised by the hostile reaction to his interest in the Rams. But he needn't worry much about shedding any serious street cred -- Limbaugh's supporters will appreciate him more than ever.
This is the rub of his liberal foes. No matter how Limbaugh behaves in public, the more popular he becomes with his crowd. They can't keep him down. Limbaugh earlier this year signed an eight-year contract for about $400 million, The Wall Street Journal reported, making him one of the most well paid figures in the entire media universe. Read related story.
If Limbaugh's enemies really wanted to hurt him, they should ignore him. A complete radio silence. Let him rant. Let him attack the president. Let him carry on. But, of course, they won't do anything of the kind. When Limbaugh is in the spotlight, for whatever reason, he casts a very wide shadow. There is so much media exposure available, as Limbaugh's detractors know. They attack him so they can enjoy the media attention themselves.
President Rush?
Limbaugh's supporters have made noises about wanting him to run for the presidency in 2012. The media have proclaimed him to be the New Face of the G.O.P. It would be highly ironic if the movement proved to have legs. Previously such rabble-rousers as Chris Matthews of MSNBC /quotes/comstock/13*!ge/quotes/nls/ge (GE 15.83, +0.50, +3.26%) and Lou Dobbs of CNN /quotes/comstock/13*!twx/quotes/nls/twx (TWX 31.30, +0.29, +0.94%) have been rumored to be thinking about entering politics.
But these conversations seemed, ultimately, to be attempts to get publicity -- probably for the purpose of remaining in the public eye prior to contract re-negotiations. If Limbaugh ever got Potomac Fever, he'd make Matthews and Dobbs drool. Meanwhile, the liberals will continue to slam Limbaugh at every turn. They'll point to his diatribes and declare that he is a public menace.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rush-limbaugh-more-dangerous-than-ever-2009-11-09
to the bank.
(So says Jon Friedman at MarketWatch.com )
Rush Limbaugh, whom much of the media love to brand as a foolish bully, may have the last laugh yet on his enemies.
For many years on his radio show Rush has said that he is the most dangerous man in media!
To the left's chagrin, he is even more dangerous than ever to liberals. Limbaugh's opponents were warmed by his recent embarrassing, unsuccessful and public attempt to join an investment group that wanted to acquire the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. But his opponents were merely playing into the hands of the most famous radio personality in the United States.
The more they paint Limbaugh as a maniac or a kook, the better it is for his image with conservative voters and listeners -- his core audience. Limbaugh thrives on the attacks of his adversaries. Rather than seem chastened or offended, he is enlivened by the barbs. He is the Unsinkable Shock Jock.
In the thick of his Rams gambit, some African-American football players, wary of Limbaugh's reputation and his criticism of quarterback Donovan McNabb a few years ago, strongly opposed his involvement. Limbaugh was a piñata, as his foes giddily took potshots at him. Before long, Limbaugh ultimately slipped out of view. Right now, Limbaugh may be gone from the NFL scene but he is not forgotten -- and he won't be. Full of ... bluster Limbaugh is full of bluster in public. It's his trademark.
In his loud condemnations of President Barack Obama and liberal causes, he gleefully plays the role of the heavy. Perhaps even someone as savvy as Limbaugh was surprised by the hostile reaction to his interest in the Rams. But he needn't worry much about shedding any serious street cred -- Limbaugh's supporters will appreciate him more than ever.
This is the rub of his liberal foes. No matter how Limbaugh behaves in public, the more popular he becomes with his crowd. They can't keep him down. Limbaugh earlier this year signed an eight-year contract for about $400 million, The Wall Street Journal reported, making him one of the most well paid figures in the entire media universe. Read related story.
If Limbaugh's enemies really wanted to hurt him, they should ignore him. A complete radio silence. Let him rant. Let him attack the president. Let him carry on. But, of course, they won't do anything of the kind. When Limbaugh is in the spotlight, for whatever reason, he casts a very wide shadow. There is so much media exposure available, as Limbaugh's detractors know. They attack him so they can enjoy the media attention themselves.
President Rush?
Limbaugh's supporters have made noises about wanting him to run for the presidency in 2012. The media have proclaimed him to be the New Face of the G.O.P. It would be highly ironic if the movement proved to have legs. Previously such rabble-rousers as Chris Matthews of MSNBC /quotes/comstock/13*!ge/quotes/nls/ge (GE 15.83, +0.50, +3.26%) and Lou Dobbs of CNN /quotes/comstock/13*!twx/quotes/nls/twx (TWX 31.30, +0.29, +0.94%) have been rumored to be thinking about entering politics.
But these conversations seemed, ultimately, to be attempts to get publicity -- probably for the purpose of remaining in the public eye prior to contract re-negotiations. If Limbaugh ever got Potomac Fever, he'd make Matthews and Dobbs drool. Meanwhile, the liberals will continue to slam Limbaugh at every turn. They'll point to his diatribes and declare that he is a public menace.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rush-limbaugh-more-dangerous-than-ever-2009-11-09
ObamaCare legislation in trouble! Awww!
Sure to be a talking point during Rush Limbaugh's show today:
GOP calls ObamaCare legislation DOA!!
Not so fast.
President Obama's victory dance yesterday for the House-passed health-care bill came as Senate foes -- mainly Republicans with one key Democrat moderate -- pronounced the measure mortally wounded, if not outright DOA. Speaking from the Rose Garden after the squeaker 220-215 Saturday-night vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people."
Instead, he met with immediate resistance.
If a government plan is part of the deal, "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote," Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome a GOP filibusters, told "Fox News Sunday." Lieberman said he was concerned about new government spending the health-care legislation would entail, saying deficits have gotten gargantuan.
"I don't want to do that to our children and grandchildren," he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), on CBS's "Face the Nation," declared, "The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate." "It was bill written by liberals for liberals, and people like Joe Lieberman are not going to get anywhere near the House bill . . . It is a nonstarter in the Senate."
He said he firmly believes "the public option will destroy private health care."
The House-backed bill would expand coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. But in the Senate, moderate Dems have balked at Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan for a public option, an insurance plan run by the government rather than private companies.
Reid (D-Nev.) has yet to schedule floor debate and hinted last week that senators may not be able to finish health care this year. Democrats have no margin for error: They control exactly 60 seats in the 100-member Senate. The overhaul would lead to the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion health-care system -- which accounts for one-sixth of the US economy -- since the 1965 creation of the Medicare government health-insurance program for the elderly.
The House vote was a vital victory for Obama, who staked much of his political capital on the health-care battle. A loss in the House could have ended the fight, impaired the rest of his legislative agenda and left Democrats vulnerable to big losses in next year's congressional elections
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/obamacare_legislation_in_trouble_n12JvzOZLO36ngE5VaFVmI
GOP calls ObamaCare legislation DOA!!
Not so fast.
President Obama's victory dance yesterday for the House-passed health-care bill came as Senate foes -- mainly Republicans with one key Democrat moderate -- pronounced the measure mortally wounded, if not outright DOA. Speaking from the Rose Garden after the squeaker 220-215 Saturday-night vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people."
Instead, he met with immediate resistance.
If a government plan is part of the deal, "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote," Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome a GOP filibusters, told "Fox News Sunday." Lieberman said he was concerned about new government spending the health-care legislation would entail, saying deficits have gotten gargantuan.
"I don't want to do that to our children and grandchildren," he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), on CBS's "Face the Nation," declared, "The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate." "It was bill written by liberals for liberals, and people like Joe Lieberman are not going to get anywhere near the House bill . . . It is a nonstarter in the Senate."
He said he firmly believes "the public option will destroy private health care."
The House-backed bill would expand coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. But in the Senate, moderate Dems have balked at Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan for a public option, an insurance plan run by the government rather than private companies.
Reid (D-Nev.) has yet to schedule floor debate and hinted last week that senators may not be able to finish health care this year. Democrats have no margin for error: They control exactly 60 seats in the 100-member Senate. The overhaul would lead to the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion health-care system -- which accounts for one-sixth of the US economy -- since the 1965 creation of the Medicare government health-insurance program for the elderly.
The House vote was a vital victory for Obama, who staked much of his political capital on the health-care battle. A loss in the House could have ended the fight, impaired the rest of his legislative agenda and left Democrats vulnerable to big losses in next year's congressional elections
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/obamacare_legislation_in_trouble_n12JvzOZLO36ngE5VaFVmI
Krugman paranoia strikes deep!
Last Thursday there was a rally outside the U.S. Capitol to protest pending health care legislation, featuring the kinds of things we’ve grown accustomed to, including large signs showing piles of bodies at Dachau with the caption “National Socialist Healthcare.” It was grotesque — and it was also ominous. For what we may be seeing is America starting to be Californiafied.
The key thing to understand about that rally is that it wasn’t a fringe event. It was sponsored by the House Republican leadership — in fact, it was officially billed as a G.O.P. press conference. Senior lawmakers were in attendance, and apparently had no problem with the tone of the proceedings.
True, Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican, offered some mild criticism after the fact. But the operative word is “mild.” The signs were “inappropriate,” said his spokesman, and the use of Hitler comparisons by such people as Rush Limbaugh, said Mr. Cantor, “conjures up images that frankly are not, I think, very helpful.”
What all this shows is that the G.O.P. has been taken over by the people it used to exploit.
The state of mind visible at recent right-wing demonstrations is nothing new. Back in 1964 the historian Richard Hofstadter published an essay titled, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” which reads as if it were based on today’s headlines: Americans on the far right, he wrote, feel that “America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion.” Sound familiar?
But while the paranoid style isn’t new, its role within the G.O.P. is.
When Hofstadter wrote, the right wing felt dispossessed because it was rejected by both major parties. That changed with the rise of Ronald Reagan: Republican politicians began to win elections in part by catering to the passions of the angry right.
Until recently, however, that catering mostly took the form of empty symbolism. Once elections were won, the issues that fired up the base almost always took a back seat to the economic concerns of the elite. Thus in 2004 George W. Bush ran on antiterrorism and “values,” only to announce, as soon as the election was behind him, that his first priority was changing Social Security.
But something snapped last year. Conservatives had long believed that history was on their side, so the G.O.P. establishment could, in effect, urge hard-right activists to wait just a little longer: once the party consolidated its hold on power, they’d get what they wanted. After the Democratic sweep, however, extremists could no longer be fobbed off with promises of future glory.
Furthermore, the loss of both Congress and the White House left a power vacuum in a party accustomed to top-down management. At this point Newt Gingrich is what passes for a sober, reasonable elder statesman of the G.O.P. And he has no authority: Republican voters ignored his call to support a relatively moderate, electable candidate in New York’s special Congressional election.
Real power in the party rests, instead, with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin (who at this point is more a media figure than a conventional politician). Because these people aren’t interested in actually governing, they feed the base’s frenzy instead of trying to curb or channel it. So all the old restraints are gone.
In the short run, this may help Democrats, as it did in that New York race. But maybe not: elections aren’t necessarily won by the candidate with the most rational argument. They’re often determined, instead, by events and economic conditions.
In fact, the party of Limbaugh and Beck could well make major gains in the midterm elections. The Obama administration’s job-creation efforts have fallen short, so that unemployment is likely to stay disastrously high through next year and beyond. The banker-friendly bailout of Wall Street has angered voters, and might even let Republicans claim the mantle of economic populism. Conservatives may not have better ideas, but voters might support them out of sheer frustration.
And if Tea Party Republicans do win big next year, what has already happened in California could happen at the national level. In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1
The key thing to understand about that rally is that it wasn’t a fringe event. It was sponsored by the House Republican leadership — in fact, it was officially billed as a G.O.P. press conference. Senior lawmakers were in attendance, and apparently had no problem with the tone of the proceedings.
True, Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican, offered some mild criticism after the fact. But the operative word is “mild.” The signs were “inappropriate,” said his spokesman, and the use of Hitler comparisons by such people as Rush Limbaugh, said Mr. Cantor, “conjures up images that frankly are not, I think, very helpful.”
What all this shows is that the G.O.P. has been taken over by the people it used to exploit.
The state of mind visible at recent right-wing demonstrations is nothing new. Back in 1964 the historian Richard Hofstadter published an essay titled, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” which reads as if it were based on today’s headlines: Americans on the far right, he wrote, feel that “America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion.” Sound familiar?
But while the paranoid style isn’t new, its role within the G.O.P. is.
When Hofstadter wrote, the right wing felt dispossessed because it was rejected by both major parties. That changed with the rise of Ronald Reagan: Republican politicians began to win elections in part by catering to the passions of the angry right.
Until recently, however, that catering mostly took the form of empty symbolism. Once elections were won, the issues that fired up the base almost always took a back seat to the economic concerns of the elite. Thus in 2004 George W. Bush ran on antiterrorism and “values,” only to announce, as soon as the election was behind him, that his first priority was changing Social Security.
But something snapped last year. Conservatives had long believed that history was on their side, so the G.O.P. establishment could, in effect, urge hard-right activists to wait just a little longer: once the party consolidated its hold on power, they’d get what they wanted. After the Democratic sweep, however, extremists could no longer be fobbed off with promises of future glory.
Furthermore, the loss of both Congress and the White House left a power vacuum in a party accustomed to top-down management. At this point Newt Gingrich is what passes for a sober, reasonable elder statesman of the G.O.P. And he has no authority: Republican voters ignored his call to support a relatively moderate, electable candidate in New York’s special Congressional election.
Real power in the party rests, instead, with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin (who at this point is more a media figure than a conventional politician). Because these people aren’t interested in actually governing, they feed the base’s frenzy instead of trying to curb or channel it. So all the old restraints are gone.
In the short run, this may help Democrats, as it did in that New York race. But maybe not: elections aren’t necessarily won by the candidate with the most rational argument. They’re often determined, instead, by events and economic conditions.
In fact, the party of Limbaugh and Beck could well make major gains in the midterm elections. The Obama administration’s job-creation efforts have fallen short, so that unemployment is likely to stay disastrously high through next year and beyond. The banker-friendly bailout of Wall Street has angered voters, and might even let Republicans claim the mantle of economic populism. Conservatives may not have better ideas, but voters might support them out of sheer frustration.
And if Tea Party Republicans do win big next year, what has already happened in California could happen at the national level. In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1
Obama's logic train has left the tracks!
The physics of the impossible!
This physicist is another apparent "Dittohead" and easily debunks the envoronmental straw men this administration is propping up. His view of politicians and economists is summed up in this statement: "Statistics are a way to quantify your ignorance!"
This physicist is another apparent "Dittohead" and easily debunks the envoronmental straw men this administration is propping up. His view of politicians and economists is summed up in this statement: "Statistics are a way to quantify your ignorance!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Pollster.com daily update!
Official Dittos Rush Link Banner.....
