Limbaugh’s America

I understand that Rush Limbaugh has been going on lately about “Obama’s America.” Really? Does America belong to its President? Are we owned by our President? Does the President proscribe our actions and control the social environment in our country? Though that is the way conservatives would like it to be (only with a conservative authority figure controlling society), that is not the way it is.



Truth be known, this is much more Limbaugh’s America than it is Obama’s. When Limbaugh started his radio show in 1988 after the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, the political dialogue in this country, though very imperfect, was not nearly as ugly and lacking in civility as it is now. The following is an excerpt from The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution by Gregory L. Schneider:

“One of the most unheralded parts of the Reagan years was the decision made in 1987 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), established by the New Deal in the 1930’s, to abolish The Fairness Doctrine. The Supreme Court had ruled that the doctrine-which stipulated that broadcasters provide “equal time” during coverage of political events or discussion- was not law, but rather a regulation, freeing the FCC to get rid of it... With the equal time provision ended, talk radio helped catapult conservatives to the forefront of control of the nation’s AM airwaves.”

At that time in this country, there was general Conservative complaint about the state of society. One of their biggest complaints was that Liberals were bullying people into “Political Correctness.” Nobody was allowed to speak their mind and it was impossible to thoroughly discuss and explore any issue because only half of the story could be told, they complained.

Rush Limbaugh was on the front line of that argument. His eventual rise in power and popularity has allowed him the freedom to say whatever he wants no matter how racist, intolerant, insensitive, sexist or just downright ignorant. His popularity and resultant power have given him the opportunity to spout the following gems over time:

"Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."

"We're not sexists, we're chauvinists -- we're male chauvinist pigs, and we're happy to be because…We think that's what women want."

"Sorry to say this, I don't think he's [Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb] been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."

"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

"They oughtta change Black History Month to Black Progress Month and start measuring it."

"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."

And let's not forget the "Barack the Magic Negro" song he plays on his radio show.

As Rush Limbaugh ascended his throne as the voice of the conservative movement and his listenership increased, his followers delighted in their newly found freedom and proudly proclaimed themselves as “dittoheads,” agreeing with everything he said not just regardless of the naked racism, homophobia, sexism, and intolerance being communicated, but because of it. Many uncivil tongues were freed to spout hate and intolerance, to whine and finger-point when things did not go their way, to paint themselves as victims and to vilify and attack anyone that disagreed.

While pretending to be a patriot, Limbaugh reveled in questioning the patriotism of soldiers who served their country (though he never did) and dared to come home and air their concerns about war. He childishly attempted to accuse actor Michael J. Fox of “shamelessly” faking symptoms of Parkinson’s disease that were actually side effects of the medication that he was taking to combat the disease. Fox’s crime? He disagreed with Limbaugh on a topic of which Limbaugh has neither knowledge nor experience-stem-cell research—and had the nerve to speak out in favor of it. In short, Limbaugh has gradually become the bully that he accused the “liberal elite” of being when he started out. And while doing so, he emboldened all of his dittohead followers to speak their minds without filter as well.


Now that there is no true leader in the Republican Party, some have pointed to Limbaugh as the titular head. Though he has officially rejected the title, he is nonetheless reveling in the power of the role. The recent proof of his role was a steady stream of politicians that rushed to apologize to him for saying anything with which he disagreed. The list includes Congressmen Todd Tiahrt and Phil Gingrey and even the figurehead of the Republican Party, Michael Steele.

This phenomenon became so ridiculous that Democrats created a website where you could create your own apology to Rush using a form letter: http://www.dccc.org/content/sorry

There is no denying that Limbaugh has become the standard to which all other talk radio and right-wing talkers measure themselves. According to Wikipedia,

As of 2006, Arbitron ratings indicated that The Rush Limbaugh Show had a minimum weekly audience of 13.5 million listeners, making it the largest radio talk show audience in the United States.
According to a 2001 article in U.S. News & World Report, Limbaugh had an eight-year contract, at the rate of $31.25 million a year. On July 2, 2008, Matt Drudge reported that Limbaugh signed a contract extension through 2016 that is worth over $400 million, breaking records for any broadcast medium — television or radio. In 2007, Limbaugh earned $33 million.

So Rush is King and has inspired such imitators as Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. They spout the distributed talking points from the conservative propaganda machine and disrupt political discourse on important issues like healthcare, as we have all witnessed this summer. And they reap millions of dollars in reward.


Limbaugh boldly and unabashedly encouraged his followers to interfere in Democratic Caucuses in the 2008 Presidential election in order to disrupt the political process, because the Republican Party employing conservative policies had made such a complete mess out of the country that the only way Republicans had a chance to win was to interfere with Democratic political process. And Limbaugh faces no consequences while he laughs up his sleeve all the way to the bank. From Wikipedia:

In an attempt to undermine the Democratic campaigns, Limbaugh encouraged his listeners to vote for whoever was behind in the vote, an effort dubbed "Operation Chaos". In Ohio, Limbaugh encouraged his listeners to register as Democrats and vote for Hillary Clinton. In Ohio, voters changing their registration must attest that they support the principles of the party to which they switch. About 16,000 Ohio Republicans switched parties for the election. The Ohio Attorney General's office stated that it would be hard to prove any voter's fraudulent intent. Limbaugh said that there is nothing wrong with Republicans voting in Democratic primaries, as Democrats were able to vote for John McCain in Vermont, New Hampshire, Florida, and other states. Limbaugh has said that "The dream end of [Operation Chaos] is that this keeps up to the Convention, and that we have a recreation of Chicago 1968 with burning cars, protests, fire, and literal riots and all of that, that is the objective here."

Fraud, lies, deceit, disruption, intolerance, and an anything-goes-fratboy mentality rules the Limbaugh mob. He is unapologetic about it. He wants to sew chaos and despair, then turn around and blame anyone that is not part of the conservative elite for the consequences. He has stated that he has no interest in seeing government succeed in anything and has shown over and over again that he is willing to label anyone that disagrees with his views as “Socialist,” “Fascist,” or “Marxist” regardless of any evidence to the contrary and regardless of whatever consequences this labeling might bring.

The state of civility in America has decayed considerably since the rise of Limbaugh and his hateful brand of talk radio. It was the conservative movement’s complaint in the 1980’s that there was no respect in public discourse and in society, no tolerance for their religious views, a growing decay and disrespect for authority and decency. The rise of Limbaugh and his ilk has seen discourse, tolerance, respect and common courtesy degrade to nothingness. And Limbaugh’s latest race-baiting tactic is to twist a story of simple bullying into a racist attack against a white child:

It's Obama's America, is it not? Obama's America, white kids getting beat up on school buses now. You put your kids on a school bus, you expect safety but in Obama's America the white kids now get beat up ..."

NO, this is Limbaugh’s America where it doesn’t matter how many white kids are the target of white bullies, but if a black kid is the bully, it’s reverse racism.

In his book, The Culture of Complaint, author Robert Hughes posits that "The fraying of America" has come about as a result of excessive polarization and politicization.” He also states “…during the Reagan years conservatives managed to conflate all government intervention in economics with creeping Marxism. Over the past fifteen years, conservatives have succeeded, virtually unopposed, in depicting as left wing, agendas that, in a saner polity, would be regarded as ideologically neutral.”

The conservative machine, lead by it’s propaganda minister Rush Limbaugh, has implemented its strategy of smear tactics, fear tactics and disruptions over and over again, destroying civil discourse and ratcheting up hysteria to a dangerous new level, making it absolutely impossible for American society to function together.

Divide and conquer, slash and burn, lie and smear. This is Limbaugh’s America.

This is Limbaugh’s America where it is perfectly fine for him or one of his minions to bully anyone that disagrees with lockstep conservative ideology, because somehow THEY are the ones that are the victims of oppression.

This is Limbaugh’s America where there is no discussion of the FACT that conservative policy destroyed our economy by allowing runaway capitalism tantamount to gambling, but it is somehow Obama’s “Socialist” policies that have destroyed our economy.

This is Limbaugh’s America where a confused woman stands up at a political rally and is vaguely sure that somehow Obama is somehow not one of us, an Arab or something, she just isn’t sure, but not one of us.

This is Limbaugh’s America where a physically disabled woman is shouted down at a Town Hall Meeting while she practically begs for some relief from the greedy corporate healthcare system that is beggaring her just because she had the misfortune to become ill.

This is Limbaugh’s America where you can’t even have civil public discourse about a vital issue like healthcare reform without name-calling and threats of violence. He has his dittoheads so convinced that they are the oppressed minority about to be interred in a camp or killed by some mythical “Socialist” government that they are packing guns to attend Town Hall Meetings with the President and are busily organizing for some coming revolution.

This is Limbaugh’s America, where a large percentage of the populace is somehow convinced that the media in this country is run by Liberals who are out to destroy our economy and turn the country into a giant Marxist commune. It matters not that conservatives have publicly outed this notion as a lie:
William Kristol (influential Conservative and editor of Weekly Standard) in 1995

“I admit it…The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures.”
Brent Bozell (head of the right-wing “Media Research Center”)
"…In his lecture to the Heritage Foundation in 1992, Bozell admitted…The “monopoly” liberals held in the media had been “broken” by the “conservative network.”…“We have learned that many in the media are quite open to the conservative perspective if it is presented properly. We provide journalists with the conservative argument on a given issue, lead them to the organization expert in it, and recommend qualified spokesmen…It is amazing how very receptive some journalists are to this assistance…” http://media.eriposte.com/1.htm

This is Limbaugh’s America much more so than it is Obama’s. Rush knows this but it does not serve his interests to admit it. It serves his financial, political, egotistical and personal interests to continue to sew fear, distrust, and hate by smearing and lying and spreading conservative propaganda and whipping people into a hysterical frenzy. Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly and other Fox News disinformationists would not have a podium had he not paved the way. THIS is Limbaugh’s America and he does NOT get to stand aside and pretend that the toxic seed that he helped to sow and its resultant poisoned harvest belongs to anyone else.

Lest you accuse me of being overly biased about the hate speech of Rush Limbaugh and the affect that this hate speech is having on our society, please take a moment to visit the extremely reasonable blog of a self-proclaimed conservative on the very same subject:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/09/rush-limbaugh-hits-racial-bott.html

Finally, one of the reasons that people can be convinced that Limbaugh has any credibility at all is because of the utility of call screeners on talk radio. The call screeners on talk radio now exist to weed out any caller that might have a reasonable argument against any idea that the Host of the show is propagating. Here is an instance where the call screeners on Limbaugh’s show obviously dropped the ball. And, you will notice, that when they realized they had dropped the ball, they then dropped the call, enabling Limbaugh to label and name-call, which is the only recourse of someone without a real defense. Watch:

Rush gets Served

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My Man Keith Lays It Down

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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To Be A Republican

You have to believe that some people are better than others and that those people deserve to be handed things while the rest of us have to work for them.

You have to believe that Democracy is a great idea on paper, but all governments are evil and that the only thing that they do right is handing out tax breaks for the wealthy and sweetheart contracts to corporate contributors.

You have to believe that this country was founded by people who subscribed to the exact same religious beliefs that you currently hold, and that those religious beliefs were actually written into the Constitution, meaning everyone in this Country should hold those same exact religious beliefs--or leave the country.

You have to believe that it is in your best interest to vote against your best interest.

You have to believe that corporate entities are people, just like you and me, with the same rights and freedoms as any other citizen.

You have to believe that corporations have your best interests at heart, work for the greater good, are always run efficiently and responsibly and that it is better if they run our government rather than letting the people have control.

You have to believe that evil government liberals are out to destroy your freedoms while brushing off the fact that your current Republican administration is taking away your rights one by one.

You have to believe that your religious beliefs are the only “true” ones and that the world would be better off if everyone was Christian like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld.

You have to believe that George W. Bush has heard the voice of God, has followed His commands and that God supports our war in Iraq.

You have to believe that guns, violence and war are the best and only way to solve disputes, that if everyone was packing a pistol there would be no crime and that if we have a bigger stockpile of nuclear weapons than China and Korea, that will make us safer.

You have to believe that teen-agers will not have sex if you make them promise not to, that they never did before the sixties, but that if you tell them about birth control they will immediately run out and have sex with everyone that they can find.

You have to constantly look at the world from your singular, selfish, narrow point-of-view as if your experiences and beliefs are the same as everyone else’s or are the only ones that are meaningful.

You have to believe what your preacher tells you to believe over what scientists can prove with evidence and facts and you have to demonize the scientists and attempt to demoralize anyone that agrees with them.

You have to believe that ATM fees can never be too high (especially if YOU can afford them), that usury is an antiquated notion and that taxes should be done away with completely because citizens have no need of government services (maybe the corporations can just pay your elected officials directly instead of under the table?).

You have to believe that corporate managers deserve exorbitantly high salaries but that government workers should do their jobs for free.

You have to believe every piece of corporate or government propaganda you see on television or heard on your radio (what will you do with all that plastic and duct tape??)

You have to believe that George W. Bush is intelligent, (he did graduate from a prestigious college) and reasonable and that people in other countries really do hate us for our freedom.

You have to believe that a “Free Market” exists and that corporations aren’t propped up with taxpayer dollars in the form of subsidies, tax credits and laws that give them the ability to hide their assets in ways that would be illegal for regular citizens.

You have to believe that Mel Gibson made “The Passion of the Christ” and then pimped it to every church in the country because he wanted to LOSE money (and that people tried to suppress his film because Hollywood is full of Christian-hating JEWS, but that Mel is not anti-Semitic).

You have to believe that racism and sexism do not exist, that it is just a coincidence that the prisons are packed with minorities and that most of the wealth and power in this country is held by white men. (What did Condi mean when she said that being black is a birth defect?)

You have to believe that forcing children to take standardized tests is the answer to equality and quality in education; not teaching them how to learn and think for themselves. (Who needs analytical skills; someone else will tell us what we should think and believe.)

You have to believe that Socialism has never worked anywhere in the World and that Socialist Democracies are the same thing as Communist Dictatorships.

You have to believe that Democracy means the same thing as Capitalism.

You have to believe that only Democratic administrations should ever be questioned, but that it is unpatriotic to question the motivation of a Republican administration.

You have to believe that it's okay for Rush Limbaugh to be sddicted to prescription opiates that he obtained illegally, but that crack addicts are dangerous criminals that should all be in prison.

You have to believe that pork barrel spending, unbalanced budgets, and soaring deficits are all things that the Democrats will do, and that Republicans will fight against and that everything that has gone wrong in the past eight years is Bill Clinton’s fault.

You have to believe that capital punishment is an effective deterrent against murder.

You have to believe that the government has the right to make a woman bring a child into the world, and that if she does have children, the responsiblity is solely hers and the government has no responsibility to assist in the care of that child.


You have to believe that it is good to trade with Communist China, but not with Communist Cuba or democratically elected governments that don’t conform to our religious beliefs.

You have to believe that Communist China does not own the debt that George W. Bush has racked up over the past eight years, that there was a budget deficit left to him by Clinton, and/or that China will never, ever call in our loans or that loans don't need to be repaid because they disappear, as if by magic.

You have to believe that it is offensive for two gay people to marry, but it is a temporary lapse of judgment for conservatives to have public sex in airport bathrooms and that, if they do, it doesn’t mean that they are gay, and that people can be “cured” of homosexuality if they pray hard enough.

You have to believe that there is no difference between legal marriage and religious marriage ceremonies.

You have to be unable to grasp the difference between enforcing equal rights for gay people to marry each other, and having the right to use taxpayer dollars and community-owned property to promote any one religious belief. (Thomas Jefferson believed in the separation of church and state and believed that he had written those beliefs into the Constitution, which must make him some kind of liberal or something).

You have to desperately hold to the belief, no matter how many times it has been proven false, that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11, that our army found his weapons of mass destruction and that it isn’t that important for us to get Osama Bin Laden because all of the "Al Quedas" are in Iraq now.

You have to believe that the Republican Party is made up of and operated by moral, ethical, principled people who haven’t lied, slandered, wrongfully accused and prosecuted their political enemies, suppressed minority votes, cheated, broken the law multiple times, subverted the Constitution, committed war crimes and broken both our democracy and our military and that they always act for the greater good, not for the economic gain of wealthy friends or corporate contributors (GW calls them his “Base”—How’s that war in Iraq working for Haliburton and OPEC?)

You have to believe that people would rather collect a pittance from welfare and live in abject poverty than work and live a decent life, especially if they are black or illegal Mexican immigrants.

You have to believe that Mexicans risk their lives crossing the border illegally to take the jobs that Americans don’t want and believe that they are stealing jobs from American workers (at the same time).

You have to believe that it is better to punish illegal workers rather than the businesses that hire them for cheap labor, because companies that hire them illegally should not be held responsible for those actions, but that the impoverished people who come here looking for work and a better life for their families are criminals who should be punished harshly.

You have to believe that the Republican Party is the party of “Accountability,” but that 9/11, the mess in Iraq, runaway budget deficits, the mortgage crisis, rising unemployment, crime, lack of affordable health care, soaring tuition rates and a growing class or working poor are not their fault or the result of any policies that they may have put in place.

You have to believe that it is okay to lie about torture, government leaks, subverting the constitution, political dirty tricks, breaking the law and breaking the faith of the citizenry, but not about having extra-marital sex in the oval office.

If you believe that it is acceptable, even admirable, to pretend that you will not negotiate with terrorists when you are secretly making deals with them, hide those dealings and deny any knowledge of them in a court of law, illegally use funds that you illegally gained through your illegal deal with terrorists to support an illegal war in Central America, illegally using American military personnel, subverting the Constitution that you took an oath to defend;

If you believe that it is ethical and/or morally justifiable to lie about your involvement in the Arms-for-Hostages deal, aid in the overthrow of Democratically-elected governments, encourage relationships with cruel dictators and then initiate war against them or have them jailed when they are no longer politically useful; encourage the Sunnis in Iraq to rebel against Saddam Hussein and then abandon them to be slaughtered when retaliation comes;

If you believe that it is proper, maybe even patriotic, to lie repeatedly (and continue to lie) in order to gain support for a war in Iraq for personal, financial and political gain, authorize the use of torture by our military, then suppress the truth about ordering torture, then punish whistle-blowers and underlings that carried out your orders, to order the leak of the identity of a government agent for political gain and in order to suppress the truth, then to shield liars and law-breakers from justice, to spy on the citizens of this country and your political enemies and dissenters using government agencies paid by taxpayer dollars, to regularly subvert the Constitution that you took an Oath to defend and to lie about it, hide the truth, and let others take the blame;

You were either a Republican President during the past twenty-five years or you supported one or more of them.

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Who's Controversial??

Did you hear the statements made by Reverend Jeremiah Wright?
If you watch any television at all, you most likely did. Of course, you heard them completely out of context.

In the modern “journalistic” style, the media did not provide any context for the statements, just put them out there and called them “radical,” “extremist”, etc., as is their tendency.
These words might not sound so “incendiary” if you heard what came before the “controversial” statements and even what came after.

What you heard on television was Reverend Wright saying “God damn America.” Inflammatory rhetoric. But just who was attempting to inflame what?

The context of the sermon addressed the notion that governments change over time, but God does not. Reverend Wright talked about the framing of the Constitution, the differences of opinion regarding slavery that almost prevented the Constitution from being signed. Then he spoke of Abraham Lincoln and the freeing of the slaves. He touched on the inhumane treatment of the Native Americans, the internment of the Japanese during World War II then the way that laws changed as a result of the Civil Rights movement.

Reverend Wright’s infamous phrase came after he pointed out some particularly heinous things that the American government has been responsible for and of which God would surely not approve. He spoke of God damning the government for its actions.

Yes, if you believe in God, and believe that the Bible is the word of God, he would be damning the actions of our government. It IS written in the Bible, as the right Reverend stated.

You can disagree with his phrasing, or have difficulty relating to the context under which his statements were made, but what people are truly angry about is that truth was spoken.

Oh, how the American public hates to hear the truth.

Reverend Wright is now branded a radical, controversial, racist, extremist, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseum. This is the media attempting to inflame racial tensions and to question Barack Obama’s patriotism by innuendo and sensationalism. It only works if you buy into it, folks.

So now I must ask-- do we despise all truth-speakers or is it particularly hard for us to hear the litany of our collective history of sin coming from the mouth of a black man?

Slavery was legal here long after it was abolished everywhere else in the World. It took a deadly, perilous war to finally rid this country of the scourge, but it did not rid us of the sin that haunts us still. Nor did it bring equality for black Americans, who then had to fight for decades for the rights that they were entitled to under the Constitution.

Black Americans have been treated horribly in this country, but they are supposed to leave their bitterness in the past. What’s past is past and can’t be righted. So they are told to look to the present. But what about the present?

Has institutional racism been eradicated? If so, then;

Why are there more black men than white men in prison ?

Why are there more black men than white men on death row?

Why are there less black men in college?

Why are there less black men in management positions, positions of authority, government leadership?

Why is it easier for blacks to get a payday loan than a mortgage?

Why were so many blacks targeted recently in the subprime mortgage debacle and why did it take an international crisis to finally bring attention to these predatory loan practices?

Racism exists today. It is a FACT of life for black people daily. Prejudicial practices occur in real estate, credit-lending, employment, commerce, education and many other areas that white people may not even realize.

Americans don’t like to hear that from black people, but does it sound any better coming from a white woman?

It is time for the white people in this country to STOP pretending that racism is a thing of the past, that racial profiling is justifiable, that there is equal opportunity and/or equal justice for people of color in this society. The facts do not support this idea and it is time for the denial to end.

If we won’t admit that we see black people pulled over by police in our suburban neighborhoods far more often than whites;

If we can’t recognize that we see college-educated black men taking jobs in grocery stores because they can’t get hired in the jobs for which they are qualified;

If we refuse to acknowledge that many African American families still suffer from the effects of the complete destruction of the cultural family unit during slave times;

If we blind ourselves to the fact that the life experiences of and opportunities open to the half-white man that is running for President this year are not the same as those that exist for the average black man;

If we can’t stand up and recognize the problems that still exist for many black Americans every single day in this society, and the historical evolution of those problems, how can they ever be resolved?

As long as we can’t admit any responsibility for the problem, it will always exist.

That’s a good lesson for us to learn now, as it also applies to the terrorist threat.

Reverend Jeremiah Wright also said some supposedly controversial things regarding 9/11. “America’s chickens came home to roost.” He isn’t the only one that has said those things and the truth is that there are facts to support that statement to a certain extent.

Our government’s policies created Osama Bin Laden. Our government’s current policies continue to inflame tensions in the Middle East. Our government’s policies in Iraq have created a whole new arm of Al Queda and a whole generation of people who may potentially hate all Americans for what has been done to them, their country, their families. These are the ugly facts.

Nobody said that the 9/11 terrorists were justified in their actions against innocent Americans, but we must acknowledge that they believed they were and we must examine whether our government’s policies contributed to that in any way.

If we don’t acknowledge any responsibility for the problem, it will continue to exist. Fighting it the way we are now is just destroying this country, its military, its economy and its families.

Barack Obama should not have to apologize for the true statements made by Reverend Wright.
The fact that he felt it necessary, that the talking heads declared it necessary, that some “commentators” are saying that he didn’t go far enough; these facts prove that America is not prepared to move forward and/or act rationally on either the issue of race nor the problem of terrorism.

[And on a side note, the fact that Hillary Clinton has joined in on the attack on Obama for not going far enough, shows what a lousy President she would make. Shame on you Hillary; your ugly side is showing].

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