Via Mark Blumental (via Ben Smith), Democracy Corps has a favorability poll on Rush Limbaugh and other conservative luminaries:
What that means is that even among the troglodytes who like Fox News, only about half like Rush Limabugh. Ouch.
Blumenthal speculates about the new “Rush or Obama” ads:
My guess is that some Democratic sponsored focus group conducted this week confirmed that voters in the middle perceive Rush Limbaugh as the antithesis to the Obama “bipartisanship brand,” and as such, are not unhappy to see Limbaugh’s profile in this fight rise.
“[B]ipartisanship” is as much a brand as any conceivable Washington reality. These House Republicans, as is traditional when a caucus shrinks, are more conservative, and in safer seats, than their predecessors. The notion that they’d wind up anything other than extremely rare allies of the Democratic President was always unlikely. Obama doesn’t need their votes. But his visible, cable-television-grabbing bipartisan gestures are aimed at cementing his hold on that brand, and ensuring when Republicans and Democrats go their separate ways, Republicans are seen as the partisan ones.
It’s not a particularly novel tactic, but it places the House Republicans in an uncomfortable spot. As Chris Cillizza wrote in a very smart piece today, their party is in danger of being defined as pure, intransigent, Rush-Limbaugh-style opposition, and Obama’s visit to the Hill may give their image a further shove down that road.
I think this is all right on the money.
Mega dittos.
peach flavored shampoo
After 8 fucking years, fully 10% have absolutely no opinion on GBush?
Martin
So let me get this straight…
The wingnuts accuse us of celebrity worship of Obama, yet they’re the ones that rallied behind Fred Thompson, elected Arnold and Reagan before him and Sonny Bono as well, and have made a radio entertainer the policy coordinator of the GOP.
TR
Megadittos, Doug J. Megadittos.
robertdsc
Don’t forget Clint Eastwood.
Samuel
There’s a difference between celebrity worship and electing a celebrity.
John S.
@Martin:
Haven’t you learned that Republicans are the masters of projection? Take your opponent’s strength (your weakness) and make it their weakness (your strength). That is boilerplate Atwater/Rovian politicking.
gwangung
Hm. Who’s more likely to be competent?
Zifnab
@Samuel:
Qua? Explain.
Palooza
The GOPers apparently don’t quite get it, Obama is purposely elevating Rush within the GOP. Why? Because it further radicalizes the GOP and renders them potentially extinct. The logic is simply, with Rush heading the GOP any of the few moderates left in the GOP will be further alienated (there are barely any now), until all that is left is a bunch of raving Dittoheads running the GOP. These guys love to make a lot of noise amongst themselves, but since they only constitute at most 20% of the U.S. population, they cannot carry an election themselves. So who will help them carry it? Independents, conservative dems and moderate GOPers have nowhere to go within the GOP.
The funny thing is watching this all happen. SOme GOP congress critter dares to criticize Rush’s "brick throwing" and then he calls them out and they come crawling like a beaten dog the next day. He will be challenged in the primary by a dittohead, probably lose, and then another GOPer who might have some moderation in him is gone. Mitch McConnel says the GOP needs to appeal to a wider segment of the U.S. population — Red State has 10,000 balls sent to him the next day, Rush calls him out, etc. Its like the freakin’ Soviet Union over in the GOP tent.
cmorenc
A note of caution everyone experienced in internet discussion should understand:
DON’T FEED THE TROLL
– Limbaugh is the mass media equivalent of an internet troll. If the fact that he has a substantial-sized loyal following seems at first to distinguish him from that category – it doesn’t. Even many trolls perversely often have some supporters. Their object is to grab attention and create disruptive uproar.
Instead of succeeding just in cementing Limbaugh as the image of a major leader of the GOP with the broader assumedly disapproving public, we could also wind up wrestling in the mud with that pig – and getting filthy with mud and pigshit ourselves in the process, the difference being the pig Limbaugh would be delighted to have that happen.
mgordon
megadittos doug
Gold Star for Robot Boy
What about feeding concern trolls?
Comrade Tudor
Did Blumenthal really say "not unhappy"?
After following the links, yes he did. He uses a double negative, or in other words five extra letters to say that Democratic focus groups are happy that Limbaugh is getting a rise out of this. I can understand why he used it in making his point, but it’s still really sloppy writing. I hate to be a grammar bitch, but really…not unhappy?
Punchy
I call shenanigans on those Rush numbers. How does Clear Channel (or whomever) justify that $400 MILLION dollah contract with Limby if he’s not even pushing Bush favorability values? I’m guessing this poll is an outlier.
Or, perhaps a lot of peeps listen to him who absolutely hate him, probably hoping and praying to catch live his inevitable fat ass-induced Category 5 heart attack.
The Other Steve
Yeah, better we attack those dirty fucking hippies. At least then we’ll look bipartisan.
Comrade Tudor
@gwangung:
I think you know the answer ;)
Walker
True enough, but Trolls are only a problem if you engage them directly. If you provoke one in a forum you aren’t a fan of, then you can take down that forum mighty effectively. And that is what is going on here. Obama is not engaging the troll, he is provoking it.
Samuel
@gwangung: So therefore Obama is competent? At what?
The man never produced anything of value in his entire life, yet presumes to tell us how the most productive economic engine in the world is to operate? Criticizing the profits of others, meanwhile his whole life has been spent leeching off the very same profits?
Great plan there…
Michael D.
For those who aren’t watching the news, Michael Steele has just been elected the first African American leader of the Republican Party.
sgwhiteinfla
Mike Steele is your new RNC chairman.
Michael D.
@sgwhiteinfla: Nya nya!
Persia
I don’t think they like Clint as much since he started saying nice things about brown people.
sgwhiteinfla
Samuel
And he is your President so what does that say about you?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Polish the Guillotines
Joseph McCarthy was ultimately brought down by television. The more people saw of his shennanigans, the less they liked what they saw.
The same will hold true for Rush.
Obama +.
sgwhiteinfla
Michael D
Its a tie…a tie I tell ya! ! !
Zifnab
@Michael D.:
This is truly historic. Will the GOP call him an affirmative action candidate now, too?
amorphous
@Samuel: I think I found one of those 23%ers! What do I win?
sgwhiteinfla
Zifnab
Well he DID get some votes given to him from Ken Blackwell.
Sounds like a handout to me!
TheWesson
I believe in bipartisanship – I think "Blue Dog" and "Blue Cat" Democrats should be able to reach a consensus.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
The man never produced anything of value in his entire life, yet presumes to tell us how the most productive economic engine in the world is to operate?
Gee, I remember saying something like this in 2000.
Dave
@Michael D.:
And the comparison of Steele’s win to Obama’s by the nuts at NRO should occur in 3…2…1…
TheFountainHead
My guess is Clear Channel is run by a not so smart pack of Orangutans.
Zifnab
Michelle Steel for President in 2012! If you don’t vote for him, you are clearly a racist!
GSD
Where was Michael Steele born and do we have a hard copy of his birth certificate with all the kerning clearly legible?
Also, is Michael Steele Black or half white?
Is he Black enough?
Are any of his relatives on welfare?
How did he make his way through college?
What has he ever accomplished?
-GSD
MikeJ
And nobody’s mentioned Gopher yet?
Shawn in ShowMe
1. EL Rushbo is our policy coordinator
2. Picking a black man with no ideas for RNC chair proves we’re not racist
3. Sarah Palin for Prez in 2012
4. Win!
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Gold Star for Robot Boy:
Gold star for Gold Star.
Litlebritdifrnt
So where do the racists go now one wonders?
Atanarjuat
Ah, yes…
Obama tries to tussle with Limbaugh to distract everyone from the pork-laden, liberal boondoggle that’s falsely called a "stimulus package," and the America Last crowd on BJ hopes that the nation falls for the ruse.
Sorry. Not going to work.
If Obama doesn’t strike a more conciliatory tone toward the opposition (and eventually apologize personally to Rush himself), he can expect the loyal opposition to VERY loyally oppose him even further, until Obama’s crying uncle and wish he hadn’t started this stupid fight.
The staggering economic troubles America is facing needs to be addressed with viable solutions, not more grandstanding and political posturing from the Democrat Party and its Chosen Leader.
-Country First and Always
sgwhiteinfla
This is actually perfect for the Dems. If you don’t think the "southern gentlemen" are going to go after Steele you have another thing coming. This will help further the rift between the wingnuts and the moderately wingnutty. I can’t wait to see the first report of "Steele Bucks" with watermellon and chicken on the bill
demkat620
Isn’t Michael Steele the one who talked about the Scarlet "R"?
amorphous
Oh weird, McCain, too.
LOL WUT
Josh Hueco
@Samuel:
Which is a vast improvement over our previous president, who has spent his life destroying the value of everything his fingers have been laid upon.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Don’t forget Fred "Gopher" Grandy: (R) – "Love Boat"
Josh Hueco
@demkat620:
No, Steele was the guy who said he was pelted with Oreos by a crowd of hostile liberals, a claim that turned out to be false.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Really, substantial? Able to hold power kind of substantial? Where?
Zifnab
@Atanarjuat: Shorter Atanarjuat: Standing in solidarity with Limbaugh. I hope you all fail. Country First.
Samuel
@Polish the Guillotines: Actually, Rush had a television show in the mid-90s. Failed miserably. But his popularity is as strong as ever. Sorry, but your Joe McCarthy analogy doesn’t hold water.
Zifnab
When will we elect a butcher? Or a baker? Or a candlestick maker? What did Obama do? Community Organizer? He organized communities? What does that even mean?
Edited the Harvard Law Review? He didn’t even write for the law review! He just edited other people’s work! That’s not change we can believe in! My friends!
Cain
@Punchy:
Shit, I wonder what his funeral would be like? I bet it will have even more pomp than Reagans. After that it’ll be 2 wetsuits, and a dildo party at Malkin’s place. The bathrooms in congress will be filled with activity (yuck)
cain
demkat620
@Samuel:
That show helped solidify my political beliefs as a liberal.
Part of me watched that racist gasbag and thought "What ever that bastard is for, I’m against"
He was even more disgusting on TV.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
I think we have a real live one here, where’s the net?
Blue Raven
@Comrade Tudor:
Aside from how I find the fact that the English language is forced to follow Latinate language rules that make no sense against its Germanic and Celtic roots to be highly annoying, I think "not unhappy" is a perfectly valid expression. I use it to mean "I’m not exactly flying through the clouds on wings of joy, but I will be the first to admit it doesn’t suck." "Happy" can be too strong a statement sometimes, and "I’m okay with it" is too many words. "Pleased" can also seem too perky. So we arrive at "not unhappy." And I ain’t ashamed to use it.
Xenos
@TheFountainHead:
Clear Channel is run by Republican Businessmen. They care more about maintaining class status than fulfilling their fiduciary duties to their shareholders.
Case in point: They write a 400 million contract with Rush, then scramble to make up for a 350 million shortfall.
gwangung
He’s certainly better than someone who can’t be bothered to do any research, particularly when it’s in front of his nose.
And, by the by….your original comparison was TERRIBLE. I can puke a better one than that on frat run Friday nights.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
@MikeJ:
I mentioned Gopher, after you. ::bows::
sgwhiteinfla
Atanarjuat says
Fixt. Man that took more work than usual.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
I’m thinking that "organizer" part means we’ll be much more organized when his presidency ends. ;)
Comrade Darkness
@peach flavored shampoo,
"refused to answer" == "no opinion"
"too apoplectic to be comprehended" also == "no opinion"
PaminBB
Palooza, you said:
"Red State has 10,000 balls sent to him the next day"
Really? I’m guessing you’re off by a couple of orders of magnitude. I’d love to know how much silly putty was sent.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
@sgwhiteinfla:
But it was highly worth it. Good job!
Zifnab
@The Silent Fiddle of Nero:
Yeah, you know who else was organized? The Nazis. Game over. I win. Vote Republican!
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
True that!
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Marching around in lock-step and putting things in disarray may have the perception to you of being organized; actually it was anything but.
TheFountainHead
@Atanarjuat: Quality troll. Wish we had more like him.
Samuel
@Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist: Doesn’t really help your argument
Delia
You know, I’m thinking the whole Republican pouty-face "I’m not going to come to your house to play" tantrum could work out rather well for Obama. He bent over backwards to be nice to them. He put some things they wanted in the stim package. He went and cut out some things they said they didn’t want. And then they picked up their balls and went home anyhow. Now Obama gets to be the nice guy and he also gets to say that there’s no point in trying to build broad bipartisan bills to please these guys, since they refuse to be pleased.
I imagine that he may be not unhappy with the whole result, at least on some level.
Samuel
@demkat620: Fair enough. I’m not saying everyone has to agree with everything he says. God knows I don’t. Personally I understand Rush’s schtick. It’s the Hannity’s I can’t stomach.
Zifnab
@Samuel:
Why do you hate America?
Samuel
As far as I’m concerned, Hannity is the Right’s answer to Keith Olbermann
different church-lady
You’re interpreting that chart all wrong Doug: Rush is playing to the 22% who think FOX isn’t conservative enough.
OniHanzo
@Delia:
It’s all in the works.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
@Samuel:
You understand "I want Obama (and thus America) to fail"?
In what way? Please explain yourself?
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Please stop posting drunk!
Shawn in ShowMe
Fixed.
Zifnab
@Shawn in ShowMe: I was gonna say that Bill O’Reilly is Sean Hannity minus a gym membership and hair plugs.
TheHatOnMyCat
Oh, we do. We do.
David Hunt
Because they don’t care whether people like him. They only care whether people listen to him. The purpose of a commercial radio station (or network) is to sell advertising time to sponsors. To effect this, they put on programming that (they hope) induces people to listen that programming, and thus the advertising as well.
Or more simply: they don’t give a shit if you’re cursing at your radio every second he’s on, as long as you stay tuned.
OniHanzo
My greatest enjoyment lies in their limited ability to understand they’ve lost the attention of most Americans. What they intend to do with that knowledge, if even they grasp it fully, besides doubling down… is anyone’s guess.
Get offa my lawn!!
Priceless fail.
Fencedude
@demkat620:
That show helped solidify my political beliefs as a liberal.
Part of me watched that racist gasbag and thought "What ever that bastard is for, I’m against"
He was even more disgusting on TV.
Same here. And I was only like…12 or 13 at the time.
Wile E. Quixote
@Samuel
As opposed to whom? John McCain who has never held a job in the private sector and who wrote laws to benefit his wife’s liquor business? Fred Thompson whose only work experience has been either in government, working as a lobbyist or in Hollywood? Mike Huckabee who never held a private sector job producing anything of value. Mitt Romney who was an LBO specialist in the 1980s? George W. Bush who fucked up everything he ever touched and only managed to bail out his baseball team by getting government to raise sales taxes and build him a new stadium? Dick Cheney who traded on his government career for a lucrative career in the private sector working for a company that makes most of its money from government contracts? Sarah Palin, whose only private sector job was as sports reporter for a local TV station in Alaska?
You’re garbage Sammy, I’ve seen better things than you come out of a dog’s ass after a stiff dose of worming medicine. The fact is that the Republican party is run by a bunch of useless, parasitic cocksuckers most of whom couldn’t hold a job at McDonald’s if they had to. The fact that these shitbags have convinced people that the Republican party is the party of people who do work and produce is one of the biggest cons in history, or perhaps not given the stupidity, laziness and ignorance of most Republicans.
terry chay
@Punchy: Because 23% of 300 million people is still 69 million people. Arbitron has him around 13 million listeners.
BTW, how come there has been no mention on these threads that Rush is a big big Pittsburgh Steelers fan?
Samuel
@The Silent Fiddle of Nero:
Sorry to burst the demagoguery bubble, but please read the transcript. That quote is taken out of context. As a conservative, Limbaugh disagrees with Obama’s (Democrats) solution for our economic problems…expansion of government, entitlements, etc. which are being pawned as "stimulus". Limbaugh said it was these policies he wanted to fail, because he doesn’t want increased government presence in our economy and society. He wants incremental statism to fail…
reality-based
Samuel Says:
Right. Because GW Bush – he of the three failed business, the amiable dope figurehead of a baseball club – HE created so much value in the world.
And Rush creates so much value – well, in the Oxycontin trade, anyway.
But teaching constitutional law, and organizing communities to better the lives of kids – THAT’S valueless?
Hey,speaking of trolls – does it seem to anybody else that there are a lot of them hanging around the BJ comment threads lately?
What happened – did the RS Stroke Farcers get their widdle feelings hurt by John, decide to come expose their ignorance en masse over here?
TruthOfAngels
This is totally going to happen. Right after I marry the Queen of England and magical tax-cutting ponies rain from the sky.
Srsly. I mean, Indiana’s still a red state, so anything’s poss . . . oh.
HyperIon
@Punchy:
this reason i don’t listen to him: i hate him so much i might have a heart attack.
Fencedude
@Samuel:
Good for him.
Shame that his policies have been shown to be complete and utter failure.
Delia
@Samuel:
OH REALLY??????? After the Cheney Administration????
lololololol
TenguPhule
You have a promising career ahead of you as a used car salesman.
OniHanzo
And if the patient, i.e. the nation, has to die to prove his myopic agenda, so be it right? We’ll just build a better world from the ashes. Wolverines!
That’s the goddamn irony in pseudo-patriotic conservatives. You don’t give a tinker’s fuck about this country, about the livelihoods or the lives of the people in it… you just want what’s yours as fast as you can possibly get it, to hell with anyone else.
It’s impossibly difficult for you to grasp that unchecked, unmitigated greed and selfishness is what put the nail in the coffin of conservatism’s potency. Without some kind of accountability, the perpetual blind eye of anarcho-capitalism would drive this nation to its doom.
Something that clearly matters not one iota to you. As any checks on corporate greed enforced top-down from the people is synonymous with "statism" in your eyes.
Requirements like this…just a slippery slope to a Communist state, am I right?
Samuel
In a free society (and assuming, you’d still like to live in one), exactly HOW does the government "check" and "mitigate" greed? Can we "check" fear while we’re at it?
And I didn’t mention the issue of "corporate greed". Of course executives of these companies who received bailout funds should be kept in check. Return all the bonuses and payouts…and their accomplices as well.
Let’s start with Chris Dodd–receiving a "VIP" loan from Countrywide. Can we expect him to return the money he saved in his sweetheart deal, while everyone else’s loans kicked in with higher rates after their ARMs expired? Are Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines (both of Democratic affiliation) going to be returning their $90 million in bonus pay from falsifying earnings reports over 6 years in corporate/political fraud which dwarfs the Enron debacle in spades? How’s that for a start?
Conservatively Liberal
Samuel, there is so much straw in your shit that I am concerned for your health. Anyone who eats that much straw is putting their health at serious risk. If you are eating any oats then they must have gone bad because you are obviously hallucinating. It is clear from your poor performance that your masters are not taking proper care of you.
Some advice: Quit grazing on the loco weed and stick to the fine grasses. Oh, and go see a vet. If you are lucky, the foam around your mouth might only be distemper.
Xenos
@Samuel: Whooooosh!
(That was the point passing 20 feet over your head.)
The issue is not whether some members of the Democratic Party are enmeshed in the corruption caused by a corrupt corporate culture – like, no shit, dude!
The point is that while most Democrats are trying to clean up the corruption, most of the GOP is happily swimming in it, perpetuating it, and profiting from it. The fact that there are a few corrupt Democrats and a few honest Republicans does not disprove the generalization.
Samuel
Yes, of course. Oh wait! Don’t look now…but our president appointed yet ANOTHER tax-cheat to the Cabinet:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_go_pr_wh/daschle_taxes
Oh…and the administration is banning lobbyists from the Obama administration…unless, of course, when it hires them. (The current count is now 4….not including Tim Geithner’s deputy, who was a registered lobbyist for Goldman Sachs….but we can just laugh that off, too.)
Now back to those redneck, corrupt Republicans…..
Xenos
@Samuel: You compare four ex-lobbyist to the hundreds under W? Two minor tax snafus with an anti-constitutional criminal syndicate under W? Don’t wast your time on the LSATs, buddy.
Samuel
@Xenos:
Last I checked, a federal court reaffirmed the president’s power to allow security surveillance without court warrants. A power I’m sure president Obama will use to his advantage, having voted for it as senator, after all. But that was BEFORE he campaigned against it during the primaries.
Sorry to let the air out of the "let’s prosecute Bush/Cheney because they’re older white men" parade, but it is what it is. The rule of law…remember?
See, with most liberals (and most conservatives), its not a matter of principle, just WHEN you make the statement that counts…
PaulB
Um, no, it didn’t. You really should read the opinion since it manifestly did *not* say what you claim, nor did it rule on the issue of the imperial presidency. It was, instead, a ruling on *Congress’s* power, not the President’s,
Uh-huh, which is why the Bush administration has been doing everything in its power to prevent the courts from ruling on its shenanigans. They’ve lost more than they’ve won. Sadly for the country, they have managed to successfully stonewall far too often, even so.
You might want to do your homework before you post again, because you’re just embarrassing yourself now.
PaulB
Dear heart, we do not, by any stretch of the imagination, live in a totally "free" society. In fact, nobody does. One checks and mitigates greed the way it has always been done – through regulation, transparency, and taxation. Doing so is good for the entire country, as the historical record has conclusively demonstrated, time and time again. Failing to do led us to the Great Depression and to the fiasco we face today.
Mnemosyne
Since Hannity was on the air a good five years before Olbermann was anything other than a sportscaster, how is he the "answer" to Olbermann? Did Hannity get in his time machine to find out what Olbermann was going to say so he could counter it five years before Olbermann said it?
ThymeZoneThePlumber
Thus does another troll reel in his fish, even getting the obnoxious fish to toss a gender lame on the way into the net.
Well played, D …. er, Samuel!
Mnemosyne
You see, in a free society, we have these things called "laws" and if you break one of these "laws," you could go to jail or pay a fine.
I realize this is all new to you. Perhaps this will help explain this mysterious concept of "laws" to you.
PaulB
LOL…. Still smarting from the drubbing I gave you a couple of months ago, are you? Free clue for you, dear heart: I know precisely what I’m doing and what effect it has on trolls, and on others.
TenguPhule
Yep, that’s why Bush and Cheney have their place on the wall all reserved.
TheHatOnMyCat
Sure, sure you do.
You da man.
Say, who do you think is writing the part of Samuel?
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Cut the act, we already know that term you are using actually means "you piece of shit".
By the way, if anyone is going to go around calling TZ "dear heart", it’s me.
TheHatOnMyCat
Can I call you Sweetie?
Meanwhile, I think it’s time for PaulB to come out of the closet. We don’t discriminate against gays around here. We treat them just like everyone else …. in other words, like crap.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Absolutely baby! ;)