This just keeps getting better and better:
In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”
Steele’s criticism makes him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host.
But the new RNC chairman’s extraordinary comments won’t sit well with the millions of conservative listeners Limbaugh draws each week, and Steele aides scrambled to limit the damage Monday morning by trying to change the subject.
And Rush fires back:
Yes, said Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, I’m incendiary, and yes, it’s ugly. Michael Steele, you are head of the RNC. You are not head of the Republican Party. Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the RNC and right now they want nothing to do with it, and when you call them, asking them for money, they hang up on you. I hope that changes. I hope the RNC will get its act together…
It seems to me that it’s Michael Steele who is off to a shaky start….
Now, Mr. Steele, if it is your position as the chairman of the Republican National Committee that you want a left wing Democrat president and a left wing Democrat Congress to succeed in advancing their agenda, if it’s your position that you want President Obama and Speaker Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid to succeed with their massive spending and taxing and nationalization plans, I think you have some explaining to do.
Why are you running the Republican Party? Why do you claim you lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it that President Obama succeeds? I frankly am stunned that the chairman of the Republican National Committee endorses such an agenda…
I am wondering how Mark Halperin will spin this as excellent news for John McCain.
*** Update ***
This is my mental image of the current inner workings of the Republican party:
Follow me! Follow me to Freedom!
*** Update #2 ***
More here.
Incertus
Political civil war is awesome when it’s not your party.
joe from Lowell
I guess we now know why the Republicans spent 2003-2008 accusing opponents of the president’s foreign policy of rooting for the defeat of American troops in the field: because if the roles were reversed, that’s what they would do.
Jay
I say that from now on we just start calling the Republican Party the "Dittohead Party".
Bulworth
I don’t know if this is good news for John McCain, but I’m sure it must be good news for the Republican Party. All in the name of healthy, vital "Socratic debate" and all that.
Comrade Darkness
Short memories forget that their boy, Bush started the nationalization plan. But never mind that.
jeffreyw
Well, wasn’t Rush a big backer of McCain?
I’m sure he was using the old reverse psychology.
joe from Lowell
The best part of watching this unfold is that by egging it along, bloggers like John are making Rush’s "Operation Chaos" tactic work – against Rush Limbaugh and the Republican Party.
Duh, there’s gonna be riots at the convention, doncha know.
Hugh
This would be pure fun if it weren’t for the distraction of our imploding economy. And these guys have perhaps enough sting in them still to screw with the passage of Obama’s programs and make things much, much worse than they currently are. Imagine the failure of health care reform, energy reform, etc. Christ we’re living in frightening times.
Comrade Stuck
Halperin will claim it’s Obama’s fault for not being more bi partisan in the first place so as not to cause republicans to lose their power and mojo, and therefore making them say bad things to each other.
Mike S
Your old friend Erick is upset too.
But it’s not surprising since they also have a post up asking people to sign up and help Obama fail.
Josh Hueco
I love the old SportsCenter commercials.
Ned R.
Said Rush:
It puts the lotion on more than its skin.
sgwhiteinfla
Please understand that this was all made possible by one little quote from President Obama about Congressional Republicans not listening to Limbaugh. Otherwise nobody would have even asked Steele about it. I got out the popcorn just to see how vicious this is going to get. "Steele the Magic Negro" anyone?
bootlegger
Get in line bitches! Or git!
Could you imagine the liberal wing of the democratic party making purity demands like this? I don’t think we have to, we’re seeing it play out in the Republican party right now.
I’m giddy as a little schoolgirl.
robertdsc
So does that mean we don’t get our Strike Force unit patch?
[weeps uncontrollably]
MattF
Uh, wow. I think. Should we all start agitating for a Palin/Limbaugh ticket?
ET
Schadenfreude. I has it.
Seriously the GOP has spent years using Rush without putting any limits on him and this is what happens. They could fight back but frankly they still need him – hence all of the apologies from those who popped their heads up and said something negative about Rush. So in essence Rush is the head of the party and Steele is only head of the RNC. I know I wouldn’t put money on Steele to come out ahead in a Limbaugh v. Steele cage match.
nwithers
Who thought that the current administration’s plan of saying that Limbaugh was the REAL leader of the Republican party would bear fruit so quickly? Steele can’t back down unless he is willing to kiss Limbaugh’s ring, proving the administration’s point, and Limbaugh probably won’t back down because he’s Limbaugh and it would ruin his whole take-no-prisoners shtick. Obama and company may have put in the bit of grit that will keep these two groups from papering over their differences and drop the Republican party into a full-fledged civil war.
I don’t think the world popcorn harvests will be able to keep up with demand.
Brien Jackson
So that makes, off the top of my head, Boehner, Cantor, Steele, and Sanford who have brushed off Limbaugh publicly in the past month.
I’m not saying that it’s not a good strategy on the White House’s part to make Limbaugh the face of opposition, but come on, obviously the GOP doesn’t take him that seriously.
MikeJ
Time to get out my DVD of A Face in the Crowd.
Lonesome Rhodes: This whole country’s just like my flock of sheep!
Marcia Jeffries: Sheep?
Lonesome Rhodes: Rednecks, crackers, hillbillies, hausfraus, shut-ins, pea-pickers – everybody that’s got to jump when somebody else blows the whistle. They don’t know it yet, but they’re all gonna be ‘Fighters for Fuller’. They’re mine! I own ’em! They think like I do. Only they’re even more stupid than I am, so I gotta think for ’em. Marcia, you just wait and see. I’m gonna be the power behind the president – and you’ll be the power behind me!
demkat620
You gotta love this. Who wins this fight? Can the dittoheads force Steele out? Watching them try will be hilarious.
John Cole
Can one of you graphically inclined folks work on a bumpersticker that says the following:
Palin/Limbaugh 2012: Because Ideas Don’t Matter
or
Palin/Limbaugh 2012: I can see Rush from my house!
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
So is it really fair to call Rushbo "popular", or is that one of those meaningless tics like calling Bush "an extremely popular wartime president" when his approval was around 40%?
Comrade Stuck
@John Cole:
Yes!!!!
joe from Lowell
sgwhiteinfla has a good point: Please understand that this was all made possible by one little quote from President Obama about Congressional Republicans not listening to Limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh Show production meeting, circa February 20th:
…and that’s why you need to hit back hard on this "ugly" stuff, Rush.
Yeah, and reiterate that you want Obama to fail.
*murmurs of assent*
All right, we’re all in agreement, so…sigh. Yes, Admiral Akbar, what is it?
SalParadise
All I can say is that with the market down nearly 300 points, investors are obviously highly upset by this feud.
bootlegger
Just their core voters. I’m sure The Corpulent One’s rantings will bring back the voters, I mean he has a 25% favorability rating so its just gotta work.
HyperIon
@Hugh: and don’t forget what is happening on the DOJ front.
Folks, read this article and then explain how the Obama Administration is NOT arguing for the continuation of Bush’s position. I do not understand this at all.
Ned R.
@John Cole: I can see Rush from my house!
I think I could see that gleaming patch of his head from the moon, really.
Ninerdave
Well for starters Rush doesn’t know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Rush:
nwithers
Palin/Limbaugh 2012: Too stupid to be disloyal
(With apologies to John Barnes)
gwangung
Which hurts Obama…how?
Kirk Spencer
@Brien Jackson: Your point would stand were it not that all (except Steele, so far) have had to publicly apologize for the brush-off.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Brien Jackson: obviously the GOP doesn’t take him that seriously.
Which is why they fall all over themselves to reassure him that they support him.
bootlegger
@HyperIon: I realize you and Glenzilla are tire of hearing this, but let this play out before you pin the Bush mask on Obama.
MBunge
"Seriously the GOP has spent years using Rush without putting any limits on him and this is what happens."
I suspect Karl Rove realized this as he watched his dreams of adding Latinos to the GOP coalition go up in flames, with Rush, Hannity and the rest pouring gas on the fire.
Mike
joe from Lowell
That’s the rub, Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist: Rush Limbaugh is a radio personality, not the leader of a party or a movement.
If 20% of the population of the United States likes a radio personality, he is well on his way to being the most popular, influential, powerful radio personality of all time.
Jon H
"He called Rush’s CPAC speech, which was very well received, “incendiary” and “ugly.”"
No, he said Rush’s show is incendiary and ugly, which is indisputable.
bootlegger
We all knew it was coming, but this is just wrong.
Mike S
Last night on Gerraldo the box on the bottom of the screen said smething like "Rush is the GOP’s path back to power."
Michael
Somebody needs to remind Lord HawHaw that his advertising "reach" book does not translate out to 20 million followers.
For FReepers and former FReepers who might get this reference, Lord HawHaw is making the same mistake as TLBSHOW in multiplying the numbers of people exposed to his punditry.
Limbaugh controls only 2-3 million, not 20.
bayville
You mean
PalinLimbaugh/Limbaugh 2012.Cyrus
I thought it began with a Republican Congressman. I can’t find a link or exact quote; can someone help me out here?
But I seem to remember some Republican saying some time in January that it’s easy for Limbaugh to sit back and make noise because he doesn’t have to get elected and govern. And then, just a day later, he walked back that criticism back and apologized profusely, no doubt after hearing from legions of irate dittoheads. And soon after that Obama said basically the same thing to some Republican Congressmen during a meeting, which is what you’re referring to.
Does anybody know the Congressman I’m thinking of? Maybe having the record straight on this is trivial, but then again, maybe not. After all, it’s important to note that the Republican Party’s problems are self-inflicted. Giving credit to Obama makes it sound like their only crime was being haplessly outmaneuvered.
GP
Like D.L. said
That cotton won’t pick itself
Michael
That would requqire that he had a bit more education than a couple of semesters of college.
Jon H
@HyperIon: "Folks, read this article and then explain how the Obama Administration is NOT arguing for the continuation of Bush’s position. I do not understand this at all."
I’m just hoping that, like a company saddled with a bunch of bad complicated trades that need to be slowly unwound rather than just quickly disposed of, the Obama administration is stuck having to gradually undo some parts of the damage of the Bush administration, because a rapid change of policy could blow up in their face.
Royston Vasey
@sgwhiteinfla:
"Doesn’t she look tired" – Dr Who, 2007
Comrade Darkness
I’m not saying that it’s not a good strategy on the White House’s part to make Limbaugh the face of opposition, but come on, obviously the GOP doesn’t take him that seriously.
The republican politicians are just as out of touch with their constituency as the democratic ones. Setting the rushbo up against the party itself for a little who can shout louder about what purity test will best suit the party cage match . . . yeah. There just isn’t enough popcorn for that. I often wondered why the worst of the right wasn’t aired as broadly as the worst of the left always was. About time.
Atanarjuat
It’s only been a little over a month since President Barack Obama’s been inaugurated, and the leftist clown posse is already declaring the conservative regrouping a colossal failure. Such knee-jerk impatience. Or wishful thinking, for that matter.
This lame attempt to turn a molehill into a mountain is only going to backfire on you, lefties. The only people who care about pitting anyone against anyone else are liberals, who are obviously unable to abandon infantile, playground behavior. Keep it up, though. You’re only helping to re-energize the conservative base with your sore winner shit.
-A
Martin
Of course. However, they gave Rush all the power so they created this mess for themselves. But they hold Rush out there as this one way valve – that they can dismiss what he says when they don’t like it or its over the top, but they use him to deliver their message and gum up the works. Obama is showing them that they can’t have it both ways. I wonder who’s wishing for a Fairness Doctrine now.
Expect some kind words for Steele from Obama/Rahm soon, all the while only referencing Rush’s ideas.
Hugh
@HyperIon
Your point is well taken. I am also quite concerned about this. My post probably read as uncritical of Obama. I do strongly support his health care reform and energy reform. And I believe he is moving us towards a society that leaves behind the gilded age. But his stand on wiretapping/privacy appears to be problematic to say the least.
Mike S
@Atanarjuat:
And you wonder why we, and the rest of the country, laughs at you silkly kids. Keep it up, sweety, we all need to laugh a little more in these times.
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: Does anyone else want to give Attanut a wedgie?
cyntax
This post over at MyDD catalogues the reaction on RedState and other sites: pure comedy gold.
And the RedState Trike Force send-up isn’t to be missed.
Fwiffo
@John Cole:
I was thinking "Palin/Plumber 2012: Ignorance is Bliss", but "I can see Rush from my house!" is solid too.
I have some left over graphics and stuff from the campaign, maybe I’ll whip something up tonight. I should open a cafepress store to hawk some "official" 2012 merch.
bootlegger
@Jon H: Right now its playing out in the courts with NO decisions in Obama’s favor. If Obama can get the courts to reject the Bushman’s arguments then he has much stronger legal leg to stand on. I’ll admit its troubling, but given that he made specific campaign promises in this regard I have a hard time believing he’ll just pretend he didn’t.
[delurk]...[/delurk]
I know that the conventional wisdom is that the Peak Wingnut Theory™ is invalid, but…I’m really afraid that it’s not, and we’ll reach Peak Wingnut too soon at this rate.
I want the insanity to peak in 2012, after the Republican convention. Failin’/Limprod 2012, bitches! I want it. I want it bad! Anybody share my concern about premature jackoffulation?
CalD
LOL!
God I love Balloon Juice.
Comrade Darkness
If he uses the taps to nail some lily white financial ass to the wall before shutting it down, that’d be fine.
First they came for the bankers and I said, whoo hoo!
Comrade Stuck
@bayville:
Yes, but can we cut that big a baby in half?
gbear
It’s just about time for Rahm to offer the republican party just.. one.. more.. mint.
It’s wafer thin….
daryljfontaine
@Atanarjuat:
We look forward to all seven of you being thusly energized.
D
Atanarjuat
@Mike S:
Mike, I really don’t wonder why Obama-Juicers and leftists in general giggle and titter all the time. It’s part of that grade school mentality that you libs have never outgrown, and, without question, you don’t take anything seriously because talking shit about your enemies is so much more fun. Amirite, lefty?
-A
Tom65
So if I’m reading this right, Rush just told his minions to stop funding the RNC, whose job it is to elect more Republicans.
Cool.
Kirk Spencer
@Atanarjuat: There’s a difference between regrouping and culling.
When you are the minority, debating which of you is ‘impure’ (paraphrasing) and needs to leave is counterproductive – regardless who wins, the end result is an even smaller party. However you wish to gloss over it, pretty much everyone involved is saying, "My way or the highway."
You’re right that it’s too early to declare the GOP dead. Frankly I think it’s quite capable of resurging – eventually. I do think the GOP will lose house and senate seats in 2010. I admit to uncertainty regarding governor seats – I don’t know enough. But the campaigning has already begun for the house and senate, and the GOP’s general position is to dump the impure and declaim their reform.
Tonal Crow
@Atanarjuat: We won and you lost, and we all know that "elections have consequences". And the consequences are that we get to govern, and you get to debate whether to buy Limbaugh-style clown shoes or Steele-style clown shoes.
cyntax
@Atanarjuat:
Not unlike some of your other posts asking why the economy isn’t fixed.
But I’m sure you’re right: economies the size of ours can turn on a dime, while evaluating the rhetoric of eloquent speakers like Rush must await the steady hand of history (as must GWB’s legacy).
Comrade Darkness
"Absolutely not," Cantor said. "And I don’t — I don’t think anyone wants anything to fail right now. We have such challenges. What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today."
Traitorous pig.
joeyess
That rings all kinds of bells. What’s that from?
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: Aw Mike, that’s gotta sting! Attanut called you a playground bully. Forget the wedgie, I say we pants him.
SixStringFanatic
@Cyrus: Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) is who you’re thinking of, but his comments were a response to Limbaugh’s comments which were a response to Obama’s original remark that GOP legislators should follow Rush’s lead when it came to actual negotiations over legislative bills.
Limbaugh’s response was that those remarks showed that Obama was "more frightened of" Limbaugh "than he is of John Boehner."
In turn, Rep. Gingrey had this to say:
“I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach. I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell."
from Politico, Jan 27, 2009.
Tonal Crow
@bootlegger: Swirlee! Swirlee!
Porkulus fka Media Browski
@Atanarjuat: Reenergize the Republican base . . . all 18% of them?
binzinerator
@joe from Lowell:
You can always tell what conservatives are up to by listening to what they’re railing against in other people. Rooting for America’s defeat, voting fraud, treason and sedition, un-american activites — all of this shit is what they either are doing or want to do, or would do if the roles were reversed.
Really, why do you think they constantly assume everyone is cheating/oppressing/victimizing/lying/acting in bad faith to them? Because that’s what they’d do themselves to others.
These people see everything in the world in terms of how they act: They bully and lie to people, so that’s what everyone else must be doing to them.
And the behavior becomes a self-confirming justification: they shrug and say they are only doing what everyone else is doing, so what’s wrong with that?
You will see this circular justification in every area, an example is how they defend Fox news for the obvious lies, biased reporting and naked propaganda ("all the news is biased/entertainment/propaganda so Fox is only leveling the liberal media playing field.")
Projection is just how conservatives, like bullies, thugs and the inveterately dishonest, engage the world around them.
By the way, that video is awesome. Whenever I think of the goopers flailing around now I will think of that guy in the bunny suit and the office-rambo dude with his tie like a headband yelling "Follow me!" (didn’t Peter Sellers have a scence with the tie-on-the-head thing during a dustup with Kato in one of the Pink Panthers?)
The only thing that could have made it better was if the guy was yelling "Wolverines" instead.
dmsilev
@joeyess:
_Return of the Jedi_. Akbar is the alien guy running the Rebel attack on the Death Star. When they discover that their "surprise" attack was in fact fully anticipated, he shouts out "It’s a trap!".
-dms
Tonal Crow
@binzinerator: That’s spot on.
Bubblegum Tate
This right-wing freakout is actually making this crappy day enjoyable. Limbaugh vs. Steele? Off the hook bling bling!
robertdsc
Return Of The Jedi. The Rebels are about to attack the Tunch Star.
Atanarjuat
@cyntax:
Quote me chapter and verse, NOW.
You can’t?
I’ll tell you why: because I never questioned why the economy isn’t fixed already. What I have done multiple times, on the other hand, is point out that Obama’s deficit-swelling Porkulus budgets are only going to worsen, not improve the economy. Try to keep this shit straight, lefty. It’s not hard.
-A
gnomedad
@bootlegger:
Title: "If I Sold It".
Hugh
The thing about Rush is he’s a flaming narcissist, probably DSM diagnosable. He will not back down unless forced to for his own survival. Short of that, he won’t. This is why taking him on without being ready to deal a killing blow is foolish. He’ll hit back with everything he has. And if you’re a Republican, he has a lot to hit back with. Steele will lose this. His time in his position is short-lived. And if he goes down then Rush will be the clear winner, and Obama will have scored big time.
Mnemosyne
@binzinerator:
Yep. If you ever wonder what a conservative is doing, look at what they claim their opponent is doing. Every time, you will discover that said conservative is doing exactly what he’s accusing his opponent of doing. (Single example: adulterers Henry Hyde, David Vitter and Newt Gingrich denouncing Bill Clinton for adultery.)
It’s projection every. single. time.
Captain Haddock
If you think it is fun, and funny now, wait a day or two for Steele’s groveling on-air apology. That will be radio gold people, radio gold!
Mike S
Is it a lack of irony or sheer stupidity that makes you use grade school name calling to make your point that the left has a grade school mentality? I mean seriously, are there any intelligant Republicans left?
Mike S
Is it a lack of irony or sheer stupidity that makes you use grade school name calling to make your point that the left has a grade school mentality? I mean seriously, are there any intelligant Republicans left?
Porkulus fka Media Browski
@Atanarjuat: Wow, thanks for the dose of nostalgia Atty-boy!
I had almost forgotten all the times I experienced schadenfreude at the demise of the GOP while playing dodge ball.
bayville
The head spins.
Hinderwacker:
LimPAC:
Napoleon
@Mnemosyne:
Most recent high profile example is Rove in the last week accusing Obama of something like raising using the straw man argument to new levels.
cyntax
@Atanarjuat:
So how do you know already that the Stimulus plan won’t work unless you have a crystal ball or expect to see results now?
Fwiffo
I can just picture Rahmbo watching this latest intra-Republican skirmish, then running around the office with a shit-eating grin, giving his high-four-and-a-halfs to all his staff.
gnomedad
@Hugh:
Which is why the one thing he can’t allow into his consciousness is the idea that he’s helping Obama marginalize the Republican party and that Obama has no interest in "silencing" him.
joeyess
Star Wars!! No wonder it rang bells.
Thanks.
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat:
Not too hard for little swirlie on our Attanut girlie.
Mike S
@Atanarjuat:
All Hail Big Pharma Rush!
Please keep it up, little one. Not enough Independents link the GOP to the fat, drug addled, racist, mysoginist fat ass yet.
bootlegger
@gnomedad: Rightous.
Michael
Prespoofed for your convenience
To: Federalist Patriot
I THINK IT IS TIME FOR RUSH TO RUN FOR OFFICE!!!
CONGRESS IN 2010 and PRESIDETN in 2012
Limbaugh/Palin 2012
9 posted on Monday, March 02, 2009 5:14:36 PM by Mr. K (physically unable to proofreed (
And yes, Mr.K is a real-life FReak, not a fake.
bootlegger
@Mike S:
Is this a rhetorical question?
Brien Jackson
@bootlegger:
I’m not sure how "core" they can really be if they can’t even keep John McCain from the Republican Party nomination.
They make a lot of noise, and that’s about it. They’re something like Edwards supporters were online in 2007.
Porkulus fka Media Browski
There must be a direct correlation between Atty-boyz high post rate in this thread and how much the topic of this week’s amusing GOP cannibalism undermines his reality.
Shinobi
The Republican party is my new favorite reality TV show.
Comrade Kevin
@joeyess:
It’s a trap!
Ed in NJ
Rush telling Steele he needs to know his place:
As for the ESPN promo- one of my favorites. Always great to see the Scarlet Knight beating down the hated Huskies.
Michael
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Creosote/Palin 2012.
Mumbles can deliver the ideology while the little lady can keep her place two paces back, delivering winks.
And he should avoid the little wafers.
Eric K
Am I the only one who suspects some kabuki going on here?
Steele’s job is to raise money, most of which comes from corporate types who tend to be from the socially liberal/fiscally selfish wing of the right. Limbaugh appeals to the illiterate Joe the Plumber admiring base.
They’re simply dividing up the tasks here. Steele can reassure the CEOs in Conneticut not to worry about the yahoo brigade. Limbaugh keeps the lower income masses hoodwinked into supporting them.
daveinboca
Bootlegger, Rush has way over 60% favorable ratings among males polled about him, so we know what gender you are.
El Tiburon
"…excellent news for John McCain."
This never gets old.
Bubblegum Tate
@Shinobi:
That’s probably the best way of putting it. I’d compare it to "MILF Island," but I just ate and would like to keep my lunch down.
AnotherBruce
It will be huge fun when Steele goes groveling to his Rushness to atone for his sins. Let’s hope that takes awhile though. I’ve got a good supply of popcorn.
Comrade Darkness
It’d be less aggravatingly hypocritical if these same so called "fiscal conservatives" actually pretended to give a rat’s ass when Bush was wracking up record deficits – – when the economy was booming hard, no less. Given how much money was flying around at the top of the boom the government should have taken in 5 trillion extra. Tax cuts dig holes just the same as spending. Or they do in the Real World, that place Bush and his minions never occupied.
BethanyAnne
@cyntax: Yeah, that Trike Force image is perfect. I’m still giggling. :-)
Atanarjuat
@bootlegger:
Actually, the giggling and tittering is likened to the backstabbing, gossipy clique who spend all their waking hours talking shit about the "uncool" kids and what’s in style. That’s a fair summary of leftist behavior toward conservatives. You’re unable to abandon the childish behavior that most adults have grown out of.
So it becomes, "oooh! Steele’s talking trash about Rush! Pass the popcorn — this oughta be good!"
I’ve got news for you, lefty: conservatives and the Republican Party will fall back, regroup, and mount a counterattack that will make you Obama-Juicers WISH you’d never wasted so much energy on your sore winner routine. You’re giving the conservative base a nice assist, and you refuse to notice it.
Thanks!
-A
bootlegger
@Brien Jackson: They split between Huckabee and Romney, otherwise McCain was toast.
cyntax
Look, if this involves you guys trying "tea-bag" us anymore, we’re just not that into you…
Shinobi
Bubblegum Tate:
I think of it more like "Bad Girl’s Club" or possibly "Tool Academy" or some combination thereof. Maybe "Bad Tool Island"?
And when they vote someone off they feed them to the ravenous looking Anne Coulter.
Comrade Darkness
@Michael, as lovely as it would be, it won’t ever happen. He has everything he could ever want, he’s filthy rich, and after bloviating for a few hours a day he gets to go home and get stoned and not give a crap about anything he says, which means he can say anything he likes. Politicians have to take responsibility for things, at least occasionally, why the hell would he want that life?
John PM
"It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I go…"
I read this post and for some reason that song popped into my head.
bootlegger
@daveinboca: What polls? Did Rush have one on his website or did you ask his mother? And yes, I’m a transgendered eunuch paraphiliac, what of it?
CT
Just caught a bit of Lakoff on Neil Cavuto’s show (10 TVs at my physical therapists office, 9 on ESPN, 1 on Fox, I drew the short turd). Guess what his prescription for solving the economic crises was? Here’s a hint-It rhymed with "wax butts". Unfortunately, that was the intellectual high point of the show-Cavuto then moved on to the ever popular "hey, how can there be global warming when its snowing outside?"
Then Glenn Beck came on and I can’t remember much after that.
cyntax
@BethanyAnne:
=)
How I’m thinking of Atanarjuat’s avatar from now on.
Stooleo
Shorter Atanarjuat: "Silence, I keel you"
Tonal Crow
Aww, the little cons is angwy that the Big Bad Wiberel Socialist Communist Whale-Loving Gay-Promoting Global-Warming-Scam-Creating Porkulastic Wabbit is making fun of them. They’re thweatening to surrender and drink wots of Kool Aide and grow up big and stwong and whip our asses! Aw, ain’t it cute!
Michael
Why would he want it? Stupid, shortsighted ego.
Kinda like when he fucked up the Monday Night Football gig. Here was something fun, coming at a good time in life to make a switch and do something positive and upbeat.
Mike S
DougJ
Now that you are a poster here is it really necessarry to keep spoofing the site?
Porkulus fka Media Browski
@Atanarjuat:
Please stop pretending that we can’t just pop over to Redstate and Hotair and read all about how energized the GOP base is to eviscerate Steele.
As for the GOP falling back, to where? You’ve already backed yourselves into a 25% party identification corner with no hope in sight for the next two generations.
Atanarjuat
@cyntax:
Well, Cyntax, you got me beat on that one. I mean, I’ve stated that enacting a budget that will tremendously swell the deficit can only hurt, not fix economy. But I keep forgetting that in liberal la-la land, spending and spending is the path to happiness, debts and loans be damned.
As I said, I’m not at all questioning or even slightly wondering why the economy’s not "already" fixed. With the Great Redistributionist at the helm and so many of his greedy, self-centered supporters all eager for a free handout, the last thing you leftists care about is seeing the economy getting back into any reasonable shape. The world owes you a livin’, after all, and working hard and saving is just no fun, right?
Yeah, I figured as much.
-A
Michael
It is a testament to my self-discipline that my TV survives Glenn Beck appearances. There’s something about his face and tone that inspires me to want to throw heavy objects.
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: Then let me give you another assist Attanut, we were NEVER the cool kids, we’re the ones who stood up to narcissistic bullies like you and The Corpulent One, we’re the ones who didn’t care what the football captain and head cheerleader did (see W and Malkin), and we’re the one’s who grew up and formed a party of many faces that can work together toward a common cause rather than array ourselves in an ideological circular firing squad. You’re going to regroup? As Carl the Assistant Greenskeeper said, "I have to laugh."
JL
Tomorrow Rush will explain that "Republicans want Steele to succeed because he’s black."
cyntax
@CT:
Wow, so is Glenn still doing the crazy eyes-inset thing, and does your memory loss mean his Hypno-Toad impression is getting better?
bootlegger
@CT: Of course waxed butts is required for proper tea-bagging.
Comrade Darkness
@Michael, president is maybe a high enough ego boost. Anything short of that would just be work. I still can’t see him doing all the stupid smiling and nodding crap that goes with the gig. The hand-holding of oil sheiks expected of republicans, for example.
I don’t think he would be happy being positive and upbeat. How could he?
demimondian
@Atanarjuat: Look, dude, your schtick is old and tired. We’re really just not that into you.
Why don’t you take it somewhere else?
joe from Lowell
Ding! Cut lightbulb.
This, exactly. Rush Limbaugh talked himself out of his dream job on Monday Night Football because he couldn’t keep his pathological need to demean black people in check, and now Michael Freaking Steele is calling him out?
Oh, man, this is going to just keep going.
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: The last time we had deficit spending like this was WW2 and it led to the largest economic expansion in American history. But yeah, please hold your breath waiting for it to fail.
me
Hey Ajarag, get that stick out of your ass.
The Moar You Know
I hate clowns.
cyntax
@Atanarjuat:
Oh, I see what the problem is; your only schema for understanding complex events is to impute your small-minded Randian self-interest to everyone else. So since you can’t look beyond your own self-interest, you assume everyone else can’t either, and that any concerted effort at developing a plan to stimulate the economy is really just swindle. Cause if it ain’t a tax cut it ain’t kosher.
And I’ve got a job, thanks, that I intend to keep. The idea you have that the people out there hurting, who need a hand, are doing this on purpose to swindle you is everything that’s wrong about the world view of right-tards like you.
binzinerator
@Martin:
One-way valve is right!
This has been what the goopers have been using others like Rush for — the Coulters, the Hannitys, the Becks and Goldbergs — getting the racist, the eliminationist, and the crazy bullshit of their racist paranoid knuckledragger base mainstreamed while avoiding any responsibility or accountiblity for it. Because whenever one of these fucktards tells the nation about castrating liberals, or shooting them, or hanging them from lampposts, or killing just a few so the rest get the message, or death to ragheads, or that liberals = fascists or that liberals = culture of death — even when delivered as keynote speakers at the national level, any backlash from this ugly shit was shrugged off by conservatives, saying hey, these guys are only ‘entertainers’, or whatsamatta with you, Lib, can’t you take a joke?
Only we don’t even have to be a lib to know they were not joking. And they were indeed the real face of the GOP.
They were pretty smug about their one-way valve, having the Rush-fucks puking in the punch bowl for years and never getting called on it. But Obama just figured out how to make the GOP drink its own vomit.
Atanarjuat
@bootlegger:
That’s an interesting reminder, bootlegger. During WW II, America had deadly enemies to fight on two fronts, and the common, overarching goal was to defend our way of life by defeating those who would destroy it.
What deadly enemy are we fighting now, booty? Unless you’re talking about the investors, entrepreneurs and businesses that Obama declared war on, I just don’t see what existential threat we’re facing now that’s similar to that we faced during WW II that can justify just staggering levels of deficit spending.
-A
bootlegger
@binzinerator:
FTW! Thread over.
JL
@joe from Lowell: Rush now blames the blacks for his losing his fance gig at ESPN. Conservatives believe personal responsibility doesn’t apply to them.
cyntax
@Atanarjuat:
Good Gawd that’s funny. So the amount of debt we’ve incurred from the war in Iraq just went down your memory hole? That deficit spending is a big part of what’s made our present position so precarious.
Tonal Crow
Hey Attanut! Have you got your Obama autograph yet?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090302/us_time/08599188249100
Blue Raven
@Atanarjuat:
Aw! Atannut is so cute, I just want to hug him and squeeze him and pet him and call him George.
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: Really Attanut? Wow. If the only thing you think happened then was the killing then I can’t help you. It wasn’t the enemies that made it work, it was the massive investment in infrastructure, technology and education. Killing folk never makes you rich unless you loot their homes. It’s the investment you moron.
Take your lame-ass name calling somewhere else troll, I’m done with your brand of stupid.
Svensker
Does anyone else get leg tingles when the words swelling and Porkulus are in the same sentence? No?
chopper
see, i knew obama and emanuel poking this wound was gonna pay off.
The Moar You Know
@Atanarjuat: You’re very involved today. I think we’ve hit a bit of a sore spot for you, amirite?
That or you really need to wash that sand out of your vagina.
Mike in NC
Attanut the goatfucker probably saw this article from Sully that appeared in the London Times yesterday:
Flailing Republicans Pray for Meltdown: The American right is shattered and knows only a national disaster can save it
chopper
christ, the retarded, it burns.
yeah dogg – you’ve got us just where you want us. we’ll rue the day we crossed you guys.
solid_snake
Sullivan had this Frum piece posted. heehee
Faux News
Again, PLEASE do not feed the atana-whats-its-name Troll. It will eventually slither away and Troll some other board.
CT
@cyntax: Naw, he wasn’t doing the weird eye cam thing-I think it was the shock of the transition from what I thought was a basement level of wingerdom in Cavuto to a whole new level of freakitude in the person of Beck. Cavuto’s Blue Velvet weird-just a light hearted tale about a missing ear. Beck’s like watching the last reel of 2001 while on acid after staying awake for week straight doing nitrous.
I also second Michael above-Beck’s face was made for roundhouse kicks.
Atanarjuat
@bootlegger:
Hey, booty, I notice you dodged the comparison of WW II to the current circumstance. What a surprise!
The reason is obvious: because there IS no comparison. The circumstances of the time, including gearing up the nation’s infrastructure, technology and education in order to defeat deadly enemies are a unique period in history. It wasn’t just the "killing," as you so inanely tried to impute to my view.
Anyway, I’d be careful who you call a moron or dismiss so easily as stupid, considering that you’re the one who’s eager to embrace dissimilar historical periods for the sake of political expediency.
President Barack Obama, right out the gate, has proven to be an unapologetic deficit spender of the greatest magnitude ever. And this is just the beginning. Keep defending that, lefty, because the American people (the "morons" you sneer at) are not quite convinced that this is the best approach in these times of economic peril.
-A
Robin G.
@Royston Vasey:
Erm… it’s actually:
‘Cause it’s six words. "Not a single word. Just six."
I’m not a Whogeek or anything. Really. I swear. :cough:
Atanarjuat
@The Moar You Know:
Hey, Moany, when I’ve posted just one comment in a thread, I’ve been accused of simply being a hit-and-run troll who is not interested in debate or discussion.
When I post more than one comment, then the post must have "hit a nerve."
Make up your minds, willya?
-A
Mike in NC
The Emperor of the GOP, indeed. If he doesn’t drop dead in the next year or so, he’ll be the nail in the Republican coffin.
Fulcanelli
@Atanarjuat: How much do they pay an undergrad english lit major like this fop to cruise and soil his britches amongst the "lefty" adults on the "lefty" blogs these days. With a handle like that I’m thinking the GOP oursourced this task just like they did with that laughable Republican response to Obama’s speech last week.
Using speech, syntax and expressions in public like this turd-polishing peckerwood uses here would get him "deliveranced" in 90% of Red State "Real America(tm) for sure. Christ, what a phucking phony.
Obviously you weren’t around when all the Bush Tea-Baggers were gloating and howling "Get Over It" from the rooftops after the stolen election in 2000, eh, Asshat? Project much?
It’s pronounced "sha-den-froid-uh", bitch, and there’s a lot more where that came from.
robertdsc
As if more of Reaganomics will help the country now, given the last 30+ years of catastrophe.
miss wild whiskers
@Cyrus: Was it Phil Gingrey?
Olliander
I’m not a liberal by any means. But statements like this only reassert the fact that the Republican "base" is still confused and in pathetic disarray, and refuse to acknowledge the causes of the drubbings it has received in the past two election cycles.
Michael Steele wants to rally minorities and the urban vote to the GOP? Look at his exit polling from the 2006 gubenatorial campaign in MD. I think he managed barely a quarter of the black vote. Correct me if I’m wrong, but before you start dictating your plans to a national party you’d think that you’d have your own personal experience to back it up.
Michael Steele is just as big of a buffoon as Rush is.
binzinerator
@Comrade Darkness:
Two things a fat greasy authoritarian narcissist like Rush can’t resist: Fame and Power.
He will root after a political role as king-maker in the GOP like any suety drug-addicted hog would root for a double handful of oxycontin.
And what does taking responsibility have to do with this bunch? This is the GOP, remember? When has Rush taken responsibility for anything he has said? Never. This, along with Bush’s accountability-free 8 years and hearing nothing but accolades from his own dittohead echo chamber has lulled the Pilonious One into thinking the Bushco rules still apply.
Rush is about to become the acknowledged head of a racist, know-nothing, delusional regional party of conservatives Goldwater correctly identified as ‘extra chromosome conservatives’.
Tim C.
Atanarjuat is spoof folks, I enjoy him/her, but come on it’s just performance art. Quit getting angry about it.
The Moar You Know
@Atanarjuat: You seem very agitated. Very…concerned, if I may say so.
Fulcanelli
@binzinerator: Rush is never going to acknowledge he is the head of a racist, know-nothing, delusional regional party of conservatives Goldwater correctly identified as ‘extra chromosome conservatives’.
Fixt. But for the WIN, anyway!
TenguPhule
Republicans nearly ruin the country.
Democrats end up having to fix it.
Deja vu all over again.
TR
Great clip. I was thinking more along these lines, but that’s solid.
miss wild whiskers
I completely agree with your analysis of Iraq War spending.
dadanarchist
Well the apology from Steele certainly didn’t take long.
Mike S
And Steele admits that Rush leads the party.
Sean
Not sure if anyone heard Rush’s "Larry King Goes to Heaven" joke, but how do all the religious right types feel about the idolatry of Limbaugh fans?
I can’t stand the fat fuck. I swear I can hear him sweating over the airwaves.
Max
I know a few people who are fairly moronic, but none of them are stupid enough to presume to speak on behalf of "the American people" on no authority whatsoever.
miss wild whiskers
Kinda hard not to be a deficit spender when you inherited the thing Day One on the job. While it would have been nice if republicans had not created this deficit, as such, it still exists. Also would have been helpful if they had expressed an iota of concern about deficit spending during the Bush era and tried to stop or slow it. They didn’t.
Atanarjuat
@miss wild whiskers:
mww, I can appreciate the lengths a die-hard partisan will go to defend their side, but come on now… excusing Obama’s Porkulus spending boondoggles on JUST Republicans?
It’s just so incredibly nice and convenient to ignore all those other Democrats who voted aye for every spending bill that Bush signed into law, eh?
One thing’s for sure: under the Obama regime, the number of new money printing presses will dramatically increase (spend, spend, spend!). I suppose that will be rather stimulating for the Chinese companies that will assemble the actual machinery. How nice.
-A
Ash Can
@Eric K:
You raise a good point. And even if this isn’t kabuki, given the general ADD of the American public news-cycle-wise, this is a situation that could go on indefinitely, with both sides giving each other the cold shoulder and solidifying their respective bases until election time rolls around, and they’re somehow able to pool their support for the GOP.
This is why, if Steele does try to make nice with Limblow, on his own initiative and with no conciliatory gesture on Limblow’s part (and especially if it happens before this incident has faded in the collective memory of the great unwashed), I’m going to declare the GOP — well, probably not dead, but certainly in long-term deep-freeze.
miss wild whiskers
Nope, I was *blaming* the deficit on the republicans since they inherited a surplus.
Ash Can
@dadanarchist:
@Mike S:
OH. SNAP.
binzinerator
Oh god no. I didn’t mean Rush. Or the goopers.
But everyone outside of the GOP will. Rush has been a leading agent in mainstreaming of the right wing fringe of bigotry and rage for the GOP. Most people have heard of him, but really only a small subset of America has heard him, really heard him rant. Steele was right. Everything Rush says is incendary and ugly. And lots and lots of people will see that exposed, and being King of the Idiot Rightwing AM Radio is gonna be different from being known as the Big Man of the GOP.
This is great because the GOP is about to lose their one-way valve with the rantings of the extra-chromosome set. No more pretending the vomit isn’t theirs. They won’t ever acknowledge their own vomit, but that will be done for them anyways, and their refusal to do so will only solidify in the minds of a larger public how deluded and/or dishonest they are.
miss wild whiskers
@dadanarchist:
OMG! bwahaha! I feel even better now. Brave, brave repubes
Dennis-SGMM
"His leadership." Well, that’s the end of that; Steele capitulated to Rush Limbaugh. The GOP takes its cues from a porcine, drug-addicted, radio bigmouth. Of all the things they might have done to come back from defeat this strikes me as the least promising.
Chris Johnson
Limbaugh/Palin? I’d be afraid for Limbaugh. That lady would have a knife in his back the instant she had a clear path to power. Name one Republican not in the media being made to do pratfalls towards her own demise? You betcha. She is calculating RIGHT NOW how to take advantage of this. She’s a narcissist too- but she’s better at it.
Rather like the famous XKCD with the hat guy losing his hat on a train…
As for the Obama fighting to retain Bush powers… I shall make a small bet that somewhere, someday, Barack Obama is going to reference the Star Trek episode ‘Measure of a Man’ about this, and win nerd love for eternity in so doing. I honestly believe that’s what he’s doing. He is going to fight in earnest, with all his political ability, while still hoping to be defeated in the long run for the good of the country. But his place is not to seek the good of the country right now- he’s been handed the Riker role, and has no choice but to play it. Look to other people to be the hero in this one. Obama is obligated to be the villain because he is acting as the office of the executive, not from his own personal feelings.
Mentis Fugit
Save the Country by Helping Obama Fail Posted by Erick Erickson
We had to destroy the superpower in order to save it.
JGabriel
Politico:
Where’s Atanarjuat? Wasn’t he just complaining yesterday that:
Hey hey Fast Runner, are you calling Michael Steele, chairman of the RNC, a "spitballing, leftist partisan?"
You really gotta get your talking points straight with the rest o’ the party, Ata.
.
Frank
This is great! Mel Brooks was a genius…a man ahead of his time. He scripted the great GOP pie fight in the early 70’s in Blazing Saddles. Rush is reprising Slim Pickens character, John Boehner or Mitch McConnell, take your pick reprising Harvey Korman’s character…A classic!
Punchy
I too cannot understand while all you peeps are responding to a clear spoof. Just look at his overuse of "lefties" in all his posts. Obvious spoof. Just saying
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Brien Jackson: obviously the GOP doesn’t take him that seriously.
Bwaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahaha
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: Unlike you the American people are quite bright, its why they voted Obama into office.
Now about that historical comparison, well it seems that the economy to which I refer didn’t pick up until after the end of hostilities when the GIs returned home to take advantage of the GI Bill (education), the investment in technology and the increased infrastructure. To suggest that we cannot do in peace time what we could do under existential threat is, in point of fact, to focus on the "killing" as part of the equation. So yes, you are still a moran.
Conservatively Liberal
Awesome title John, absolutely fitting. I have been like a kid in a candy shop today watching the Repub pols hemming and hawing about Rush vs. Obama. Watching these assholes consume themselves is bittersweet considering the damage they have inflicted on our country, so I am enjoying this for all it is worth.
I think John was on to something when he thought we had reached Peak Wingnut, he just didn’t define it in a way that was quantifiable. I believe the problem John ran into lies in the fact that Peak Wingnut can be best expressed using the pi symbol. To overcome the problem in stating Peak Wingnut in a way that is meaningful for analytical purposes, I propose that we adopt what I call "Peak Effective Wingnut". For ease of discussion it can simply be expressed using the acronym: PEW.
I believe that quantifying Peak Wingnut using the PEW factor will allow us to determine when Peak Wingnut reaches a level that forces fellow Republicans to repudiate them in the name of saving their careers or conversely, by starting new careers for some by their rejecting Peak Wingnut for sane governing. I believe that the PEW factor can be best viewed as the level of wingnut stench that the public and more importantly, the Republican politicians, will tolerate before demanding a change in direction.
Now we have to figure a way to calculate if Peak Wingnut can dominate the Republican party permanently, which would force out moderates and turn it into a minority party, possibly allowing one of the current crop of minority parties to step into the void left. In that case, PEW would be meaningless as Peak Wingnut would be free to escalate much like any attempt to calculate the value of pi.
MNPundit
It’s a bit scary what the left can accomplish with a competent leadership that thinks republicans are wrong.
TenguPhule
It would get stuck in the lard, then he’d go all Jabba the hutt on her slave dancer bikini.
TenguPhule
Yeah, it’s not like the GOP majority strongarmed anyone by labeling any resistance to Bush’s will as treasonous, right?
Clio
@The Moar You Know:
ROFLMAO!!!!!
Atanarjuat
@bootlegger:
I thought you were done with me? And talk about name-calling… my, my, the projection — I can has it?
Meanwhile:
And now you’re moving goalposts. I’m stunned! Really, I am.
The only thing I "suggested" is that the historical period of WW II is unique, and can in no way be compared to the current economic crisis. There were no CDS’s or Fannie Maes back then, no real estate bubbles, no easy credit, etc., etc. If you continue to insist there can be a valid comparison to then and now, then it’s obvious you’ve lost all perspective (likely due to your die-hard, leftist partisan ways).
Next time, booty, I "suggest" you come armed with stone-cold facts rather than hand-waving desperation. You won’t end up looking as incredibly foolish.
-A
Atanarjuat
@TenguPhule:
Yeah, Tengy, that’s exactly right. Those mean old Cons bullied the hapless Dems into doing everything Bush and the GOP wanted.
It’s not like those same hapless Dems actually agreed with the War in Iraq, right? All those filibusters, all those impassioned speeches protesting Bush on the Senate and House floors. I think if I shut my eyes real tight, I can pretend those things actually happened!
But no, no, no… the Dems were so easily cowed. They had no choice but to go along — or else!
Keep saying that to yourself, Tengy. The Congressional and Senate record says otherwise, but that’s just not as comforting, is it?
-A
Conservatively Liberal
Fixed.
Cabalamat
Y’know, if Rush Limbaugh was secretly a mole for the Democrats, he couldn’t do a better job.