Tag: Radio

Nearly 1 Mil Evacuated in California – Limbaugh Says Crisis Is ‘Hyped’

Jon Ponder

Local news here in Southern California is reporting that upwards of 1 million people have been evacuated because of the fire storms. Last night, when the number was about half that, Keith Olbermann suggested that this could be the largest forced migration of Americans since the Civil War.

“I am very confident in our ability to do just about anything. You said not on to get overconfident but, I’ll tell you what, the Republican Party is more, gosh, we’re stronger than God Almighty himself.”
— Dittohead caller on Limbaugh’s show yesterday

But yesterday Rush Limbaugh told his easily deluded listeners that the mainstream media is “hyping” the wildfires — and the poor semi-retarded Dittoheads are believing it:

RUSH: No, I’ve been wondering about this, having not been out there. I know how media works. They love this kind of stuff. The worse they can make it sound, the better. The more crisis-prone, the more disaster-certain it is, the more excited by it they are — and I’ve been e-mailing people in Los Angeles. I’ve been e-mailing friends in Southern California. “Are you in trouble from the fires?”

“No, not really. It’s not anywhere near us.”
In fact, a couple people I e-mailed on Sunday didn’t even know about it ’til they got back home Sunday night, even though the fire has been raging through the weekend. You’re right. A lot of people are losing a lot of property here, but the idea that it may not be quite as bad as it is, is an interesting media study.

This is standard Limbaugh. “Global warming can’t real because it’s chilly in my living room. And if I can’t feel it, it is not happening.”

And who’s to blame for the fires — that, as Big Dan pointed out — he says are not happening? Take a guess:

RUSH: [And] these environmental groups, they are to blame for this … They are the ones that are making these fires.

Gotta love this from a caller — a Dittohead who is a Christian but apparently hasn’t gotten the word from church central that you’re not supposed to put mankind above the Almighty:

DITTOHEAD: I am very confident in our ability to do just about anything. You said not on to get overconfident but, I’ll tell you what, the Republican Party is more, gosh, we’re stronger than God Almighty himself.

I’ll bet God is pissed and She will smite this sinner very soon.

H/t: Big Dan

Did CNN’s Rightwing Nutcase Glenn Beck Say Malibu Liberals Hate America, So Deserve Wild Fires?

Jon Ponder

Most of the 300,000 Evacuees Are from Republican Enclaves

On his radio gabfest yesterday, CNN’s resident rightwing crackpot Glenn Beck implied that because residents of Malibu, Calif., “hate America,” they were therefore unluckily suffering the loss of their homes to wildfires:

I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire [sic] today.

Leaving aside the fact that there isn’t a “forest” within miles of Malibu, just seconds before that outrageous, though half-baked, assertion, Beck made a statement that contradicted what he was about to say:

[We’re] all one America, that just because I disagree with you doesn’t mean you hate America, and I love America. We all love America. We just disagree on how we should function…

He then contradicted himself in the same sentence a second time, saying he was not referring to Democrats but to nefarious people (liberals? terrorists?) who pretend to be Democrats:

There are a few people that hate America. But I don’t think the Democrats are those. I think there are those posing as Democrats that are like that.

Huh? It’s always dicey trying to parse logic from the ravings of an unbalanced mind, but since the fires being reported in the national news yesterday were mostly in the Malibu area, it appears that Beck’s “America haters” are Hollywood liberals who live in Malibu.

Or maybe he was referring to Muslim terrorists who are hiding out in Malibu pretending to be Democrats. (If so, they are rapidly burning through Osama bin Ladin’s fortune.)

Ironically, while the wildfires on Sunday did significant damage to the tiny but wealthy and politically liberal beachfront enclave of Malibu, the widespread and horrendous destruction that is going on now is in the politically conservative areas of inland Los Angeles County, coastal Orange County and throughout northern San Diego County, where around 300,000 people have been evacuated.

This recalls TV preacher and diamond-mine owner Pat Robertson’s prophesy in 1998 that God would destroy Orlando, Fla., with a hurricane because Disney allowed a gay group to host activities in its theme park. Instead, God smote Robertson by hurling Hurricane Bonnie directly at his headquarters in Virginia Beach that August.

Limbaugh Caught on Tape Mocking Speech of 12 Year Old Graeme Frost

Jon Ponder

Rush Limbaugh phoned into the Oct. 18, 2007, edition of “Hannity & Colmes” on Fox News to deny charges he’d attacked 12-year-old Graeme Frost, the boy who dared to speak out against Pres. Bush’s veto of the health insurance program for children. But in denying he attacked Graeme, Limbaugh trashed him again. He imitated the boy’s speech, even appeared to mock Graeme’s slight speech impairment (his vocal cords remain slightly paralyzed) — but you be the judge.

The mockery gets underway on the video at the 5:54 minute mark but, depending on your intestinal fortitude, you may not want to miss the ass-kissing Sean Hannity lays on Rush at the start of the tape. Boys, get a room!

Transcript via Newshounds:

LIMBAUGH: No, Alan, that’s an interesting question. I never once attacked this family. I attacked the Democrats for exploiting them. I attacked the Democrats for putting lies into the head of a 12-year old. A 12-year old they send out before microphones and cameras, to sit there and say, [mocking Graeme Frost, age 12, who suffered brain damage in an automobile accident] “I only want health care for the rest of American children like I got and George Bush is against it.”

A 12 year-old can’t write that garbage. The fact of the matter is, Graeme Frost was covered and got the health care he and his sister — both got the health care they needed under the current circumstances of the program. …I never attacked this family. I simply reported what their financial circumstances are. I actually feel sorry for ‘em to be used… I never once attacked — I wouldn’t attack a 12 year-old kid. I feel sorry for the fact that the kid is having words put in his mouth. He’s sent out before the whole country to lie, when he can’t know any better because he’s 12 years old, simply to advance another lie that the Democrats want to put forth.

This is not the first time Limbaugh, who went deaf reportedly because of the mass quantities of OxyContin he consumed, has mocked someone who is disabled. In October 2006, Limbaugh did a takeoff of Michael J. Fox’s loss of motor control as a result of Parkinson’s disease. Fox earned Limbaugh’s derision because he appeared in an ad for Claire McCaskill, a stem cell research supporter who was running for the U.S. Senate in Missouri.

Here’s Keith Olbermann’s take, including video of Limbaugh imitating Fox’s disability and an interview with Michael J. Fox:

Limbaugh Had Himself Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, Now Is in a Snit of Jealousy over Gore’s Win

Jon Ponder

While it may have been common knowledge in the Dittohead universe that Rush Limbaugh was nominated for the Nobel Prize this year, the story went largely unreported out here in the real world.

Rush is so busy smearing 12 year olds and wounded veterans that he probably wouldn’t have had time to go to Norway to accept the award.

Even though Limbaugh had no chance, now that Al Gore is the official winner, Limbaugh is in a snit of jealousy:

LIMBAUGH: My lawyers at the Landmark Legal Foundation are looking into the possibility of filing an objection with the Nobel committee over the unethical tampering for this award that Al Gore is engaging in. This is clearly above and beyond the pale. I mean, this might happen in high school class president elections and so forth, but this is shameless.

Rush’s nomination sounds on the surface like a stunt dreamed up by Sascha Baron Cohen. A deeper dig reinforces the perception that it was a stunt.

For starters, it appears that Limbaugh de facto nominated himself. The nomination went out under the letterhead of “his lawyers” at the Landmark foundation, a rightwing nonprofit for which Limbaugh is an unpaid adviser. (Landmark’s donors include relatives of Richard Melon Scaife, the Pittsburgh heir and newspaper publisher who funded the Arkansas Project, a smear campaign against the Clintons that served as the prototype for what we now know as Swiftboating.)

Landmark’s president, Mark Levin, is a snarling, unappealing ideologue who made his name in the 1990s as a Clinton-basher on cable news. Levin is a Rush acolyte and wannabe who, despite having a voice that would curdle milk, has his own talk show.

Levin and Landmark are Limbaugh’s lapdogs. Even if the idea for the stunt didn’t come from Limbaugh himself, it was done with his approval and, more than likely, guidance.

Here is Levin’s cynical and unintentionally laughable rationale for the nomination, quoting Landmark’s news release:

Limbaugh … was nominated for the prestigious award for his “nearly two decades of tireless efforts to promote liberty, equality and opportunity for all humankind, regardless of race, creed, economic stratum or national origin. These are the only real cornerstones of just and lasting peace throughout the world,” said Landmark President Mark R. Levin.

“Rush Limbaugh is the foremost advocate for freedom and democracy in the world today,” explained Levin. “Everyday he gives voice to the values of democratic governance, individual opportunity and the just, equal application of the rule of law — and it is fitting that the Nobel Committee recognize the power of these ideals to build a truly peaceful world for future generations.”

Only in the “up is down,” “black is white” opposite world of rightwing spin could the nation’s leading pro-war cheerleader be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Of course, the nomination had no official standing from the getgo:

Nominations for the Prize may be made by a broad array of qualified individuals, including former recipients, members of national assemblies and congresses, university professors (in certain disciplines), international judges, and special advisors to the Prize Committee. In some years as many as 199 nominations have been received. The Committee keeps the nominations secret and asks that nominators do the same. Over time many individuals have become known as “Nobel Peace Prize Nominees,” but this designation has no official standing.

Rush is so busy smearing 12 year olds and wounded veterans that it is doubtful he could have found the time to go to Norway to accept the award had he won.

O’Reilly Unhinged: ‘I‘m Going to Hunt You Down, And I Mean It … I‘m Coming for You’

Jon Ponder

Keith Olbermann believes the controversy over Bill O’Reilly’s racism-embued comments about Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem have pushed O’Reilly to the edge of sanity:

“I think he‘s on the verge of having a breakdown. I think he needs psychiatric help.”
— Marvin Kittman, O’Reilly biographer

O‘REILLY on his radio show: I‘m going to hunt you down, and I mean it. The smear stops here. You‘re all on notice out there. I‘m coming for you.

Is Olbermann serious? Hard to say:

OLBERMANN: [It‘s] time to consider another question, is Bill ill? Not to equate racism with mental defect, although the argument can be made, but last night Mr. O‘Reilly demonstrated some classic signs of paranoia and an inability to distinguish between the rest of the world and the contents of his own head.

As an example of paranoia, Olbermann cites O’Reilly’s new enemies list:

REILLY: Besides CNN, the worst offender in the case is the “New York Daily News,” the CBS Early Show, which actually described Media Matters as a watchdog group. How dishonest is that? The “Chicago Sun Times,” the “Philadelphia Inquirer,” ABCNews.com, and the “Louisville Journal” also completely distorted the story.

(O’Reilly’s enemies list used to be a lot more democratic. Back in 2005, we invited readers to write Bill and ask to be included on his list.)

Olbermman interviewed an expert on O’Reilly’s mental condition, Marvin Kittman, author of “The Man Who Wouldn’t Shut Up,” a bio of Billo:

KITTMAN: To use the technical word, [O’Reilly is] losing it. He seems more unhinged than usual. You can tell in his debates, for example, he has two people that are debating an issue, when we‘re lucky. But even when somebody is on his side, if they‘re slightly off, like one degree, he comes down on them and he‘s just about ready to implode, I can see looking at him.

Later, Kittman points to a contributing factor to O’Reilly’s coming breakdown:

And, you know, Keith … I do want to say that you are responsible for contributing to O‘Reilly‘s seeming to be unhinged. By your mentioning him all the time, you are making a star out of him. You know, he lives for media attention. It is spinach. He‘s like Popeye and he has to get involved with some network or some newspaper column or some book and you‘re doing it. I should point that out to you. You might not be aware of it.

Kittman’s bottom line:

I think he‘s on the verge of having a breakdown. I think he needs psychiatric help and, of course, he told me that he would never pay a psychiatrist money to listen to him. And I would suggest we have a telethon in his honor to raise money.

Earlier in the week, Olbermann floated the idea that Fox might fire O’Reilly just as MSNBC fired Don Imus over his racist comments. By Friday, Olbermann had backed off that prediction, however. If anything, the controversy has probably boosted O’Reilly’s ratings, and the tiny percentage of conservative blacks who watch Fox News probably aren’t complaining.

Celebrity Dirt Goes Green

Trish

We welcome a new addition to our blogroll, er, sorry Jon, “web sites list.” This one was discovered by Buck during his live reporting from Florida’s “Serve to Preserve” global warming conference.

Ecorazzi bills itself as The Latest in Green Gossip, with current features on Rob Lowe’s testimony in Washington on behalf of hybrids, Courtney Cox’s line of global warming awareness t-shirts, and Madonna’s new movie on Malawi. At last, a way to waste time on celebrity scoop while feeling virtuous. Thanks, Ecorazzi!

Tune in Live Earth 7/7/07

Trish

Take a break from whatever you’re doing tomorrow and check out Live Earth, the international music event to combat global warming.

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

Live Earth will reach this worldwide audience through an unprecedented global media architecture covering all media platforms – TV, radio, Internet and wireless channels…

Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, the Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, an event that brought together one of the largest audiences in history to combat poverty. Wall formed a partnership with Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to ensure that Live Earth inspires behavioral changes long after 7/7/07.

Live Earth will stage official concerts at Giants Stadium in New York; Wembley Stadium in London; Aussie Stadium in Sydney; Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg; Makuhari Messe in Tokyo; the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai; and HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg.

Live Earth concerts will be broadcast to a live worldwide audience by MSN at www.LiveEarth.MSN.com.

The newest artist to be added to the list of performers is Yusuf, formerly known as Cat Stevens.

Neuharth on Limbaugh: What a Comedian!

Buck Banks

From Al Neuharth, the guy who brought us USA Today (or the Newspaper for Dummies Without Comics) comes this little gem about right-wing blowhard Rush “I Know a Babe When I See One” Limbaugh:

Well, when I travel across the country, my amusement comes from Rush Limbaugh’s show. I find that that’s one of the funniest programs on the air. I don’t become offended by the idiotic things he says; I become amused by them. But I also think that from my perspective that it’s OK for idiots like him to voice their opinion because that’s what this country is about and that’s what the First Amendment is about. I might add that I have become convinced, although a little reluctantly, that all the bloggers on the Internet have a right to all of their stupidity, too. And there’s a lot of it.

But I really think we’re better off with those kinds of opinions and dissenting voices than we would be if we or the government tried to control them.

Official to Limbaugh: We Don’t Have to Do Business with You

Trish

Newsflash for Rush Limbaugh: When somebody says they don’t have to contract with a station that carries your show, that’s not a First Amendment issue for you.

A Broward (Ft. Lauderdale) commissioner suggested the county not renew its contract for emergency broadcasts on a station that transmits the wisdom of the fat one, since a lot of people (like me for instance) avoid such stations for that very reason. But Rush and his supporters are crying big, Viagra-enriched tears, saying it just ain’t fair.

WIOD Program Manager Ken Charles agreed. ”It’s a shame people would let politics get in the way of saving lives during a hurricane,” he said.

Under the partnership, the station agrees to broadcast county press conferences in their entirety; the county lists the station on all its preparedness information.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner John Rodstrom brought up First Amendment concerns. ”When we start censoring what people write on radio, TV or newspapers, that is a slippery slope,” he said.

I’m not sure when the last time a county press conference saved any lives but I’ll allow as to how that could happen. One thing’s for sure though, just not doing business with somebody is not a slippery slope. Nobody’s telling Rush what to say or trying to keep him from saying it.

”We don’t have to do business with them,” [Commissioner Stacy] Ritter declared…

Ritter said Wednesday that commissioners should have made partnership deals with three stations.

”To limit it to one probably was not the way we should have gone, especially one that some people won’t listen to,” she said.

That makes too much sense, Stacy, and it looks like the rabid Rush-ites, whipped into a frenzy by their leader, have won this round. The county will likely renew the contract with just the one, Limbaugh-infused station.

But wait. I saved the best for last. What do you suppose Rush — in between whining about how mean the commission was to consider taking its business elsewhere — concluded about the matter live on the air?

“It’s just amazing to watch liberals in action. They can’t stand competition.”

UPDATE FRIDAY, JUNE 15


Broward County Commissioner, District 3, Stacy Ritter

From today’s Miami Herald:

Rush Limbaugh declared Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter ”a babe” on his radio show Thursday, eyeing her photo in the newspaper.

”Liberal babes are rare,” he said. “That’s why they stand out. It’s in The Miami Herald. It’s not Photoshopped.”

We can forgive Rush, however, it’s just the Viagra talkin’. — Buck

Stephanie Miller Gets a Rave Review for Her Stint on MSNBC

Jon Ponder

Brent Budowsky at The Hill:

Progressive radio talk show host Stephanie Miller is doing a great job in the old Imus spot on MSNBC, and I hope everyone has a chance to catch her show.

Stephanie is a comedienne, radio host and progressive impressario, and it’s great to see her doing cable television.

She’s funny, pointed, provocative, progressive and her time on MSNBC is a mini-breakthrough and I suspect we’ll be seeing more of her.

There are some exciting developments in progressive radio and entertainment.

MSNBC is famously located across the river from Manhattan in Seacaucus, NJ. Stephanie talked a lot about being homesick for Los Angeles, so I’m not sure she’ll be back on the air anytime soon, which is a shame.