The idiot can’t shut up and it will be fun watching Young Conor’s fine, Horace-quoting, Republican friends continue to defend him:
Against my own instincts, against my own knowledge, against everything that I know to be right and wrong, I descended to their level when I used those two words to describe Sandra Fluke. That was my error.
The more this clown is in the news the more we win.
Keep saying “the war on women”.
Biff Longbotham
Me like it when Rushster talk stoopid. More, please!!
PokeyBlow
I called a local advertiser (Greek Islands Restaurant) in Chicago (WLS AM) and told them nicely I wouldn’t patronize their business any longer. The person on the line seemed genuinely surprised, distressed, and apologetic. I recommend ongoing polite contact with local advertisers on the Limbaugh hate show.
Raven
The spin machine is in full false-equivalence rotation. Keith, Ed, Rachel and the rest of the Obama MSM do this shit every day and no one says a word.
BudP
It can’t be a war on women, If it were really a war on women, el Rushbo would have gotten a deferment.
gnomedad
Yep, someone made him “apologize” and his head is ready to ‘splode.
Brachiator
What, the Devil (who is a Democrat) made him do it?
The sad thing was hearing a couple of local talk show hosts try to “explain” Rush as an entertainer and someone who provokes. And they fell back on the typical excuse of bigotry, that he was just being stupid, as opposed to hateful.
On host understood that Rush had gone to far, but strangely, didn’t think that he should have apologized. I get the feeling that a quite a number of people who get to voice off behind a microphone think that their First Amendment rights also confers a mantle of conversational infallibility.
These defenders, of course, were male.
aretino
This sounds eerily like Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennett.
jp7505a
Let me see if I have this right – Rush is all about strength and integrety and honor but the LIBERALS made hin do it. He just was powerless to resist(sigh)
Cluttered Mind
His error wasn’t calling her a slut and a prostitute. Conservatives have been calling women that for centuries with no real consequences. His error was demanding that Sandra Fluke send him videos of her activities, and saying that he was entitled to it. The fact that he has yet to apologize for that particular thing is probably why his sponsors are still dropping him. One of my closest friends is about Sandra Fluke’s age and her father is quite conservative, and she told me that if Limbaugh had said something like that about her on his show and her father heard about it, Limbaugh probably wouldn’t have long to live. That sort of thing resonates with people, and he really stepped in it this time.
TooManyJens
@StopRush on Twitter reminded us of the time many years ago when Limbaugh used to require female callers to have a photo on file with him before they could go on the air.
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201106080024
GregB
The First Amendment guarantees conservatives the right to not get criticized for saying awful things.
jomo
The Libruls made me do it. That one is right up there with Newt’s “I cheated because I love my country so darn much” speech.
c u n d gulag
Yes, those three days last week entirely belied the true respect for women Rush has displayed over the decades.
My question is, ‘How could 4 women have hated themselves enough to agree to marry him and become his “beard?”‘
For what?
Money?
Yes, Rush, it was we Liberals who forced you to yell “SLUT!” repeatedly over the airwaves.
And we tricked you into coming down to our level.
And you know what, his “Ditto-heads” will believe it!
YEEEEEESH!
kindness
“Their level“? I did not realize there are prominent voices on the progressive/liberal side who are calling women sluts & prostitutes.
@Raven: Oh, and btw – troll.
Soonergrunt
Which two words? Two words that were part of the demand that she post sex videos? Two words that were part of the statement that she had so much sex she couldn’t walk? Two words that were part of his speculation that she used condoms as a sixth grader?
Somebody needs to break his damn jaw for his own good.
kerFuFFler
Frickin’, lying bastard acts like he made a momentary slip and out popped “two words” that he now regrets. The truth is he went on and on for days coming up with novel ways of slandering and insulting a lovely young woman. His apology was insincere bull$hit, and this “stooping to their level” nonsense is too.
The only monument to Rush that would ever be appropriate would be a gigantic urinal cake that would be obliterated over time by the ministrations of full bladdered visitors.
gnomedad
@TooManyJens:
Wow. Wow. Did not know that. I’ll have to take your word for it; I can’t listen to that voice.
mistermix
I listened for a few minutes, and after the apology he spent a long time re-spinning the reasons Fluke didn’t get called to the Issa hearing (she was “unqualified”). A few minutes later, he said she was a “lifetime birth control advocate”.
Also, advertisers “don’t want you [the listeners] anymore”.
The Ancient Randonneur
Every time Pfizer sells little blue pills to Rush the war on underage Dominican prostitutes continues.
samara morgan
AOL just dropped him.
slag
I used to bristle when I heard people call Rush an “entertainer” because I couldn’t figure out from where the entertainment came. Now I get it. Watching people persist in making complete asses out of themselves does bring with it a certain entertainment value.
kerFuFFler
Two words?
“I’m sorry.”
Those are the two words this jerk regrets.
MattF
OK, students, open your notebooks. Psychology 101, Chapter 1: ‘Projection.’
Watson
“The more this clown is in the news the more we win.”
Probably the most naive statement I have ever read on BJ. It’s just the opposite actually. You understand NOTHING!
gnomedad
@kerFuFFler:
They were forcibly grafted onto his carcass and rejection is underway. Not gonna be pretty.
DougJarvus Green-Ellis
@Watson:
Oh.
Who’s being naive Kay?
amk
A much married punk lecturing about morals. Only in amurikkka.
GregB
Rush is an entertainer in the same way Jeffrey Dahmer was a chef.
quannlace
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! Ka-ching.
****************************************
That whole ‘entertainer’ thing is the bullshit excuse they fall back on when called on their crap and/or lies. Ann Coulter’s used that herself, saying things like ‘Oh, I’m not a journalist- I’m a provocateur. My job is to try and stimulate debate.”
krankor1
@kindness: Keith, Ed, Rachel and Professor and Mary Ann do it all the time. I read it on the internet
Kathy in St. Louis
At last we have an explanation, from Rush’s own lips, of the problem. He said these things withouut his own knowledge….I would then assume that he is possessed of devils. Don’t let Rick Santorum hear about this. He’ll want him in the dunking chair, as they did with witches back in Salem who were “possessed”. Unfortunately, as fat as old Rushie is, he’d float if he were Satan Himself.
cmorenc
QUERY: What pick-up lines did Rush use when he met each of his four wives?
scav
Hard to disentangle the effects of the multiple kurfuffles but post Breitapocalypse and post SlutBurstAppologyReburstOwOwOw, there are a new set of remarkably repetitive and dull trolls suddenly.
Kathy in St. Louis
@GregB:
Best line I read since the beginning of Rush’s career.
Satanicpanic
@Cluttered Mind: I second. That was really creepy. I’d love to hear all these Christian conservatives explain why a 60 year old man is on the radio begging for sex tapes.
rkdioxin
How low can he go? (he’s doing the limbo rock!)
Yutsano
@Watson: Your point escaped you. I recommend you go after it.
mistermix
Rush just said that he rejected GM advertising because of his moral values. He rejects “millions of dollars” of advertising a year.
However, he recognizes that advertising is a business decision and only the left suppresses voices of those with whom he disagrees by limiting advertising. He just won’t let GM advertise with him.
I haven’t listened to Rush in forever, but I seem to remember a tiny bit more logical consistency in the past.
And what’s this? Another apology.
Nemesis
@Raven:
Hurt fee fees are hurt over on the gop side. Bullies hate to get punched, dont they?
And last time I checked, the depth of the hate speech from the right eclipses anything uttered by the left.
No player on the left has the clout of Jiggles McOxyblob. He is the de facto leader of the gop.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
so, we made rush our bitch?
Litlebritdifrnt
I was listening just now and when he opened the show he said “this show does not depend on advertising” and then later this little snippet “I turn away millions of dollars in advertising every year, much to the chagrin of *my sales staff*” If your show does not depend on advertising Rush then why do you need a sales staff?
scav
@Yutsano: Encouraging Watson to play with sharp objects? Isn’t that forbidden by Health & Safety or something?
Cluttered Mind
@Satanicpanic: I really feel that not enough hay is being made of that particular thing he said. Slut, whore, prostitute, those words have been tossed around so much that despite how hurtful they are I truly believe he could have gotten away with just saying that. It’s when he started demanding sex tapes from her and everyone else on birth control that he crossed the line into territory that even the most conservative people should find repellant. Anyone with a daughter should be ready to throttle Limbaugh at this point.
marianne19
@#7 for the win!
Scott
@Watson: How you figure?
slag
@jomo: I put it along the lines of David Brooks blaming hippies for the Bush Admin’s torture policies. It still baffles me that he continues to have a column after that one. I know it shouldn’t but it does. Oh, personal standards and expectations–why won’t you just go away and die already?
slag
@Marcellus Shale, Public Dick: Classy.
Yutsano
@scav: Dunno. Might have to call OSHA later just to be sure.
Djur
Yeah, he shouldn’t have used those two words. How about this?
And:
As well as:
How about:
Finally:
This wasn’t just a few words. It was a multi-day rampage of defamation — and it continues, because Limbaugh has repeated the same lies in his fake “apology”. We can’t let him off that easy.
(Also, does Rush Limbaugh actually think you need to take extra birth control pills if you have a lot of sex? What a closet case.)
redshirt
Yeah but Code Pink Glitterbombed people that time. BOTH SIDES DO IT!
Jeffraham Prestonian
I think the more important thing is what I outlined at my top post, over at my blog (click my name, click my name).
And is anyone looking into this mobile site stuff…? Very annoying!
.
gogol's wife
@marianne19:
Seconded!
Culture of Truth
THAT LYING SLUT MADE ME DO IT
Comrade Dread
So putting this through my BS filter, he’s saying: “I’m sorry I called you a slut, but I only did it because you’re such a c*** that I lost my mind and descended to your level.”
Nemesis
Read a comment somewhere by a rw 27%er that Ms. Fluke spends $3,000 per month on birth control.
Seeing that the wingers believe (they really dont believe this, its just the result of their willfull ignorance) each time one engages in secks a birth control pill must be injested, thats just a ridiculous, lazy, poorly crafted argument against banging.
Its on par with “If she drowns, she was innocent!”
vickijean
The Muppets said it best
Watson
@DougJarvus Green-Ellis: Quoting lines in movies based on fictional characters doesn’t make you look any smarter…mkay.
Why stop there. May as well quote obscure monty python passages which you probably think makes you look even smarter in your naive little world. “Bring out your dead”, “come back here you coward”, “albatross, get your albatross here” etc.
vickijean
My comment about who do you think you were fooling was directed at Rush. I AM NOT a troll.
gnomedad
So the shit sandwich is complete:
1. I reaffirm what I said about you.
2. I made a “poor choice of words”.
3. I shouldn’t have stooped to your level.
So sorry, so sorry.
Mnemosyne
@PokeyBlow:
ClearChannel is notorious for selling their advertising as a block, so local advertisers may be genuinely unaware that they have ads running on Rush’s show in addition to the other local ClearChannel stations. Definitely let them know politely so they can call their ClearChannel sales rep and give them an earful.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Damn you, DougJarvis, you have forever conflated Rush Limbaugh and Elmo in my brain.
geg6
@TooManyJens:
WHAT?? Are you fucking kidding me? Gawd, I hope there weren’t many self-hating women who would stoop so low.
Birthmarker
It’s kind of like the difference between broadcast tv and cable. The standards are much different. Rush is on the public airways and should be held to a reasonable standard. If he wants to have full freedom of offense he should move to a paid model like Sirius.
What I want to hear is acknowledgement that his statements had nothing to do with her actual testimony. He made it up out of whole cloth. I hope she sues the hell out of him.
TR
@Culture of Truth:
And so, to effectively rebut this hearsay, Rush then spent three days fantasizing about Fluke having sex and calling her a whore.
Yeah, makes perfect sense to me.
Satanicpanic
@Cluttered Mind: I totally agree. What would someone like him (i.e. conservative Republican) want those tapes for? It’s not even the hypocrisy of it (which is usually about the weakest charge you can throw at these guys) it’s the sheer yuck factor. Rush Limbaugh wants college girls to make pr0n for him. Which Republican candidates are ok with that?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Soonergrunt: Sandra and Fluke. Only liberals stoop to calling women by their name.
Quarks
@Cluttered Mind: I’ve heard other people reacting to just that — the sex tape bit. Partly because frankly we all expect Limbaugh to be calling women sluts and so on — it’s Limbaugh. He says sexist and racist stuff all the time and remains on the air, so why wouldn’t he?
But the sex tape bit was new and, yeah, creepy.
g
@Raven: Funny, if they did you ought to be able to come up with one little citation…..
Rawk Chawk
@Watson:
Yup. Naivety is the primary informer of DougJ’s world view.
Oh, and keep saying War On Women!
New Yorker
I’ve started to enjoy reading David Frum ever since he started playing the Leon Trotsky role to the GOP. I can’t disagree with anything he writes here
frogspawn
@aretino:
hee hee hee
Lizzy L
One of the websites I visit frequently put up an advertising list for Limbaugh’s show: The Neptune Society of Northern California was on it, presumably as a local advertiser. I e-mailed them with a request that they pull their ads. This morning I received an e-mail assuring me that I had been misinformed, they do NOT purchase any advertising on the show, and asking me to spread the word.
So…
Rawk Chawk
@GregB:
hahahha
Watson
Why do you idiots fall for the political theater every single time?
It’s so predictable. The right wing noise machine says something outrageous to get a rise out of the left. The left responds exactly as predicted by….you guessed it…being outraged…the right wins. Meanwhile you clowns are patting yourselves on the back thinking you are winning because AOL dropped their advertising……lol. Within days Limbaugh will get new advertisers to replace them. All they care about is how many people hear their ads. That’s the bottom line. You can make the environment toxic for a few days but eventually you will move on to some other shiny object like you always do. It’s as predicable as the sun rising in the east.
Ever hear the saying “there is no such thing as bad publicity”. Well guess what, not much different when it comes to professional haters making a living doing it.
Every single fucking time you idiots fall for it. I used to think my side was smarter than that. Now I pretend you clowns are not on my side and when it comes to firebaggers that is true.
gnomedad
I’ll take the bullet for saying it: Sandra Fluke is hot. You know Rush thinks so because he didn’t call her “ugly” along with everything else. That probably amped it up for him.
eemom
A friend of mine dubbed the bailing advertisers “a ship deserting the sinking rat.” I thought that rather a nice turn of phrase.
Fwiffo
KEEP KICKING
TR
@Raven:
Do you get a different version of their shows than the one I watch? I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard Rachel Maddow call anyone a slut.
Maybe it’s time to take your meds. Don’t forget the lithium.
g
@Watson: “the right wins”
How so? How is this a win for the right?
scav
@Watson:
No Shit Watson! ‘Scuse me, Nigel Bruce. Spot on characterization, by the by.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
@cmorenc:
eazy peezy
i gave her the ring and she gave me the finger
this explains rush limbaugh’s love life.
eemom
@Watson:
How exactly does the right WIN this, not-Sherlock?
RD
@DougJarvus Green-Ellis:
Heh.
burnspbesq
@cmorenc:
“Did the marriage broker’s wire transfer go through?”
Ah dunno, just thinking off the top of my head.
elmo
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:
Hey! Do not want!
geg6
@Watson:
Yeah, you’re absolutely right and such an astute political observer. After all, look how well this is working out for Limbaugh!
New Yorker
@Watson:
They’re winning this? Have you seen Obama’s approval ratings among women of late? Have you seen how far down in the gutter the generic approval rating of the GOP’s presidential candidates is?
No, the GOP blew this big time. Maybe, 2 weeks ago, they might have had this framed as “religious freedom”, but Rush opened his mouth and made it obvious that this is simply the misogyny of a bunch of old men (Rush, the Catholic Bishops, etc.) who can’t get laid and are lashing out at young women because of it.
Yutsano
@eemom: By clapping louder.
TR
@Watson:
What the fuck are you talking about? How is this a win for the right? He’s losing advertisers and getting denounced by everyone out there, while the Republicans now are polling much worse with women and independents as a result.
pragmatism
@Watson: is this “winning” like charlie sheen’s WINNING?
Culture of Truth
Don Imus:
“He’s a fat, gutless loser, and if I’m running a radio station, he’s not on it… until he does that.”
“It’s the worst kind of cowardice. “Maybe he’s still jacked up on the Oxycontin, or whatever it is, but you can’t say stuff about somebody and not, 1) own up to it, and, 2) have guts enough to go sit down with her and say, ‘Look, I’m sorry and I won’t do this again.’ But no, he’s a punk.”
Satanicpanic
@Watson: Oh jeez. So I guess it was a good thing that we ignored Sarah Palin into irrelevance. Wait, we didn’t? We mocked her and anyone tied to her until her name becomes toxic and no one is going to beg for her endorsement? You don’t say!
artem1s
@Cluttered Mind:
thanks, I was trying to explain just yesterday how this was getting totally lost in the walk back. this is what pissed me off. It was totally as over the top as the ‘nappy headed ho’s’ comment by Imus.
I think MAYBE Limbaugh finally went too far. And it certainly looks like he thinks he can weather it through bombastic doubling down. I hope he keeps it up until he gets dropped by every affiliate in the country.
MattF
@New Yorker: I do wonder if, one of these days, Frum is going to just throw it over. He’s gotten so… rational.
Soonergrunt
@TR: I think you missed the “representing the shit wingers say” aspect of his post. Granted it was implied and not stated, but c’mon. We’re supposed to be smarter than the average bear.
Of course, Watson is making me question that premise, so ymmv.
lonesomerobot
@Watson: that’s some of the angriest concern trolling I’ve seen in quite a while.
geg6
@eemom:
Tell him/her I’m stealing that one.
wrb
@Satanicpanic:
Newt, I reckon.
Scott
@Watson: So again: How ya figure? I mean, Rush lost a buttload of advertisers, thousands of people are talking about how they’da kicked his fat ass if he’d said something like that about their daughters, the GOP candidates spent a few days looking too fearful of him to call him out, and people are getting continuous reminders that the Republican Party has no clue how contraceptives work but want them all banned anyway. Somehow this is a GOP win? Why come? Magical Troll Logic?
jibeaux
@Watson: I’m trying, but I can’t see how Rush “won” this one. Between this and the Komen bullshit, I am seeing across my FB outraged posts from women, including some who haven’t put up anything remotely political for years.
Yutsano
@Soonergrunt: Sigh. I kan haz betr trollz naow plz?
Killjoy
@Watson:
Concern troll is concerned. Is this excellent news for John McCain as well?
TR
@Soonergrunt:
Ah, good point.
It’s such a fine line between stupid and clever, really.
Brachiator
@cmorenc:
“Why, yes, that is a thousand dollars dangling out of my pocket.”
geg6
@Culture of Truth:
Wow. Really? Imus really said that? Well, he would know, wouldn’t he?
trollhattan
@wrb:
Any chance this will bring the Cain Train back into the race? He probably didn’t consider this benefit before dropping out.
Djur
My post is in moderation hell for being long and having a link, but in brief: Limbaugh didn’t just make some offensive offhand statements with unpleasant words. He repeatedly claimed that Fluke testified that she was having so much sex that, in Limbaugh’s words, it’s amazing that she’s still able to walk. He described his fantasies about women on birth control having sex with three men in the same night.
scav
@Yutsano: Greedy boy. I’ve no doubt there are blogs in China that would be very happy to have the troll on your plate in front of you. So. One mouth full of Lima Beans and we’ll see about dessert later.
ppcli
@Cluttered Mind: Yes – that’s part of the strategy of Rush’s “apology”. He concentrates on two words, as if that was all that was at issue, when only he and his defenders are talking about that. We don’t care what specific words were used, it was the content of what he said, repeatedly, over the course of three hours for three successive days, the lies he told, and continues to tell, about what her testimony was, and the openly contemptuous attitude he displayed, not just toward Sandra Fluke, but toward every woman who uses birth control.
The “apology” is just another smokescreen. (“Distraction by narrow apology” is another of those tricks the Republicans use over and over again.)
Watson
@Scott: If you have to ask well…it’s a lost cause. Most people would at least understand why some people would think that even if they don’t agree with it.
Soonergrunt
@Djur: There are no posts in mod as of 1:11 PM Central time.
RD
@Watson:
You have concerns, which is understandable.
Tell us more about the wisdom of Ron Paul.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
watson would have a point, if everyone kept up with every detail of every story on a daily or hourly basis.
the reality is, plenty of folks will just be hearing about this today, tommorrow or next week.
the reality is, liberals get tired and bored and stop hammering too soon, not too late.
someone today reads that rush limbaugh lost sponsors, then they go back and find out why. only conservatives will look past this, and only because they want to. some percentage of the “middle” just wants to pick winners and root for the person doing the takedown, regardless of the target.
Djur
@Soonergrunt: Huh. WP must have eated it. It was just a lot of quotes from the extremely good ongoing Media Matters collection of Rush’s sexist bullshit:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203010012
lonesomerobot
@Djur: yep. That’s why the advertisers are dropping him. Anyone who thinks somehow this is just “the left” overplaying their outrage is giving this episode a look because of “slut” “prostitute” and “sex tapes”.
The fact is the the stolen viagra sex tourist carried out 3 days of systematic character assassination on a 22 year old college student who merely wanted to testify in favor of basic health care rights. The only thing he left out was whether or not Ms. Fluke had granite countertops.
kerFuFFler
Seems like he just admitted to slander or libel or defamation of character or whatever.
wrb
@trollhattan: Shit, you’re right.
This would have been Herman’s moment.
He’d have stood with Rush, demanded tapes for all, and have been swept to victory.
Q. Q. Moar
@Watson: You’re SO right, Watson. If ‘the left’ had just ignored Rush’s comments, he would have spontaneously apologized and all this would have blown over without further commentary. It’s like the Taoist notion of Wu Wei, “action without action.” You’re a fuckin’ SAGE dude.
Emma
@Watson: And what would be our strategy instead? Cowering in a corner, taking the blows because the other side is so powerful and mighty that it’s useless to fight against them?
quannlace
Ha. I’m surprised Veritas hasn’t come in to yell ‘Chappaquiddick!’
***********
And Watson? The left getting sucked in again? Yes, how dare we get outraged over someone saying outrageously nasty, vicious things about a complete stranger. Oh, and Limbaugh will get all the new advertisers he needs? I thought he just said his show doesn’t depend on ads?
lonesomerobot
What a wonderful society this would be if we all only took Watson’s advice and never spoke up when we were outraged.
Scott
@Watson:
Can’t explain yourself?
Waiting for the talking points from this afternoon’s GOP blastfax?
Soonergrunt
@Djur: Well, try again, and this time, break it up to no more than three links per comment. That includes the link generated when using the “reply” button on comments. I’ll watch the filter a little closer over the next few minutes and free anything that gets caught.
Satanicpanic
@Watson:
Has any argument, ever, been defended so boldly and with such precision?
Brachiator
@Watson:
I call this the cynical fallacy. Bad, negative, confusing publicity can kill a career or a product in a heartbeat.
Tonybrown74
@cmorenc:
Coke, most likely …
Soonergrunt
Has anyone noticed that the people that are against contraception and abortion are pretty much the people you wouldn’t want to fuck in the first place?
(h/t to George Carlin)
trollhattan
This seems ancient, being from Friday, but I’d missed this gem from a California Republican Party spokeswoman:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/03/california-gop-spokeswoman-suggests-pundit-is-a-slut.html
Talk about getting meta…it’s a double-reverse slut-call salchow with a toe loop comnination. Highest point potential if you stick the landing.
Landing no stick. The entire party has a tin ear.
Killjoy
I think I figured it out. Watson is really Bob Shrum.
Mouse Tolliver
So Patricia Heaton finally apologized for her libelous Twitter attack on Sandra Fluke. But makes sure to remind everyone that the real victim in this story is named Patricia Heaton.
gaz
I love watching concern trolls like Watson smear their illusory superiority all over the thread like so much feces.
You so smart Watson… Heh..
friggin moron.
some people’s children
kdaug
@cmorenc:
“Have some more champagne. And do try some of this caviar and pate. It’s quite good.”
“Would you like to fly on my jet with me to spend the weekend at my villa in the Dominican Republic?”
Tonal Crow
Whatever you do Rush, don’t throw us in the Republican War on Women Patch! Nooooooooooo!
Soonergrunt
@Mouse Tolliver: Well, Ms. Heaton couldn’t tweet responsibly. She couldn’t control her urge to tweet all that stuff.
So now her twitter has protection. Which is pretty ironic if you think about it.
Catsy
FTFY.
JoyceH
@Watson:
Oh, bullsh!t. Demagogues like Limbaugh don’t draw power from their opposition, they gain power from their followers. I get mighty tired of those who agree with us that yes, Limbaugh is toxic, but then say to just ignore him and he’ll go away.
No, he won’t. He won’t go away because he has followers. And when his followers hear his toxic spew and the left is silent, they conclude that we’re silent because he’s right and because what he says is perfectly reasonable discourse.
Have you followed the comments threads on any of the major news outlets about this story? These people believe every word Rush says. His imitators on the internet are taking things further, with Pam Geller stating that she knows that Fluke has sex five times a day.
Do you think none of these people are contacting Fluke herself? You think she isn’t getting calls and e-mails and creepy comments in public? Remember, the dittoheads have been instructed to believe that this woman will have sex with anyone. How do you think they’d behave if they came on to her and she turned them down? You think they’d just say “Sorry, ma’am, my mistake” and walk away?
You think Rush is making these noises just to hear himself talk? He’s making these noises to tell his followers what to think, and HOW TO BEHAVE. And how they behave is by harassment of the current object of Rush’s scorn.
THIS IS WHY HE DOES IT. This is the whole point. To make speaking up for a liberal or progressive policy have such negative and nasty consequences that people will just stop doing it.
And when the left’s response to a Limbaugh jihad is to just ignore it, they’re saying that all of the above is just fine with them.
Well, count me out. I’m going to continue to call a liar a liar, a blowhard a blowhard, a dangerous demagogue a dangerous demagogue, and a toxic pufferfish of a sorry excuse for a so-called human being a toxic pufferfish of a sorry excuse for a so-called human being. I’ll do it as often as I can and everywhere I can. Just ignore him? Nuh-uh, no sir!
geg6
@Mouse Tolliver:
I have written to ABC to tell that as long as she is on any show on their network, I will not be watching anything on it. Ever.
I think I am not the only one who wrote to them. Think I’ll write another to tell them that her self-pitying “apology” is not sufficient to bring my eyeballs back.
lonesomerobot
@cmorenc:
QUERY: What pick-up lines did Rush use when he met each of his four wives?
“If I’m going to have to pay you to have sex, I should at least get a video”
Tonal Crow
@Brachiator:
You know what? Let’s take it to them. Why are they defending stupidity? Don’t we have enough problems without high-profile people promoting (and defending) stupidity? The Chinese are eating our lunch because we’re promoting stupidity. Why are Rush’s defenders AWOL in the War on Stupidity?
gaz
@Scott: No he can’t.
And he’s far too stupid to be embarrassed by his own post.
That leaves us with only one reasonable option.
Mockery.
geg6
@JoyceH:
If I wasn’t hetero and a woman, I’d propose marriage to you right now.
Frank
@Mouse Tolliver:
I never will understand why so many women have defended Rush Limbaugh on this issue. Among the more well-known people there are Patrica Heaton, the woman in charge of the CA GOP and some woman on FoxNews just to mention a few.
Boggles the mind. So I guess they don’t mind being called nasty names since they themselves think it is A-OK to call other women nasty names.
Tonal Crow
@jp7505a:
It’s Clinton’s p***s. It has powers that cannot be fathomed by mere mortals.
Democratic Nihilist, Keeper Of Party Purity
Baron Harkonnen is scared and probably back on the junk again.
Lovely. What a fuckin’ country we’ve got. A fat pill-popping radio star is the unofficial head of one of the two major parties. Why am I still living here?
redshirt
Feeling lonely? Become a concern troll! Then everyone will pay attention to you – to mock you, of course, but that’s better than being ignored.
RD
@Marcellus Shale, Public Dick:
In the eyes of Free Republic, he might as well be wearing a dress.
He also sounds hammered drunk today.
joeyess
@Watson:
You’re only saying that because you were forced to google the line….. so that belies your assertion that he isn’t smarter.
I think the more appropriate Monty Python reference should be this one.
also, too….. troll.
trollhattan
@JoyceH:
Decent people pay no attention to him and his ilk because, why would they? But shining the light on him in this fashion means forcing they/us to truly acknowledge the vile and frankly dangerous things the bloviators have been saying and doing all along. And in this instance, being so repelled as to lean on advertisers.
Honestly, has a week gone by in the last twenty years when Rush didn’t say something equally repellant as to warrant this response? Difference this time is the wound had been opened by others and he wandered into the crossfire because that’s how he do. Pity it’s costing him some income. A real shame.
redshirt
@Democratic Nihilist, Keeper Of Party Purity: Also, he’s deaf. Which I find amusing – deaf radio personality. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.
For the record, I am mostly deaf myself and was also a DJ. Hmm…
JDReign
@Watson
Calling a college student a slut & prostitute is way overboard, and if losing millions of dollars in sponsorship money is your idea of “winning” then bless your heart you probably thought you sounded so much better inside your head
gaz
@JDReign: LOL…
#winning =)
geg6
Oh, look! Watson is so right!
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/03/limbaugh-and-birthers.html
Rafer Janders
@kerFuFFler:
Seems like he just admitted to slander or libel or defamation of character or whatever.
He did, but he didn’t even have to. Calling someone a prostitute is libelous per se, i.e. the statement is considered so obviously harmful that malice needn’t be proved to obtain a judgment for general damages, and not just specific losses.
jibeaux
@Satanicpanic: Oh shoot, I really thought it was “in such detail or with such care.”
joeyess
@Watson: Get ready, little troll, because Rusty McLimpySexTourist is gonna get GlennBecked.
So you all should just lay back and enjoy it.
Just like Rusty preaches to rape victims.
geg6
@redshirt:
I’m assuming your hearing loss isn’t from prolonged abuse of oxycontin. Unless it is, in which case, I apologize. ;)
redshirt
@geg6: I wish!
samara morgan
@Cluttered Mind: genius comment.
conservatives lack empathy but any father, even a conservative one, can visualize his daughters as lovely young georgetown law students being creeped on by an old fat white multichin voyeur.
aimai
Contra Watson, the entire Rush event is bully 101: the hitbackenning.
As someone said brilliantly upthread Bullies like Rush draw their strength from their followers, not from their enemies. And in the specific case of Rush’s authoritarian followers (remember a libertarian is an authoritarian follower who thinks he’s an authoritarian leader) when a large enough proportion of the society at large turns on the leader, the followers generally start to slip away. Although they like to pose as being sturdy iconoclasts they generally are merely pathetic crowd followers. As the crowd thins, they drop off.
aimai
aimai
@geg6:
Oh, bloody hell, geg6 got there first.
aimai
Satanicpanic
@jibeaux: At the time I was typing it I couldn’t even remember what I was referencing, I just remembered it as a particularly striking bit of hyperbole from the right. You have it right, it was Jonah Goldberg, talking about his own book.
Michael Bersin
It looks like the republican majority in the Missouri General Assembly is/was about to announce placing a bronze of Rush Limbaugh in the state capitol gallery of famous Missourians.
Bad timing.
middlewest
Folks, I’m plum concerned; that there briar patch looks mighty prickly! We’d best stay away if we know what’s good fer us.
Watson
@Satanicpanic: lol….you did NOTHING but delay her descent into irrelevance. My god you people are so dumb. Your eyes are wide open and you cannot see a thing.
The right loves anything and everything you hate. The more you hate the more they embrace. Do I have to teach you how to tie your shoes and wipe your ass? Jesus titty fucking christ on a stick. You people are too dumb to even make fun of. Maybe I should go back to mocking the clowns on that orange site.
amk
so we got ourselves now freshly minted limpaugh trolls ? rwnj’s feeling a little panicky ?
amk
@eemom: Niiice. Stolen.
Elie
@Brachiator:
None of them will have much to say, however, when she sues his ass for slander and takes some of that fat cat’s fat.
jharp
How’s bout a “Sluts against Rush” facebook?
trollhattan
@Watson:
You keep repeating yourself without advancing your argument. Why is that?
Frank
@Watson:
Your statement reminds me of when Mark Halperin made his idiotic statement that it was good news for John McCain when he didn’t know how many houses he owned and the Obama campaign seized on it. Guess who is President…
It is no different than you claiming that this entire episode is a win for Rush.
gaz
@Watson: LOL. keep em coming, you moron. You’re entertaining.
I’ve provided a soundtrack for your posts, courtesy of the Dead Milkmen.
It makes you easier to read.
Wanna go to the zoo?
Cluttered Mind
@samara morgan: That’s the thing that’s important here. Limbaugh’s audience, like most right wing media, is primarily older white men. Well, it turns out that a lot of older white men have daughters around Sandra Fluke’s age. Regardless of their politics, even if they privately DO disagree with their daughter’s sex lives or preferences, they’re not going to react well to someone like Rush demanding that they make pornography for him.
Mnemosyne
I’m glad the troll brought up Monty Python, because something about the Republican strategy is reminding me of “The Lumberjack Song” when Michael Palin takes it that step or two too far …
lonesomerobot
@Watson: So your point is, we should ignore what they say so their followers will magically come to the right conclusion on their own?
And besides, that’s not even the point. Only an idiot would think that we could change the mind of any rightwinger dittohead. That’s not the goal. Go play in someone else’s traffic please.
pragmatism
@Watson: do you have access to some crystal ball that conclusively proves that but for the libtards making fun of the snowbilly, she would have just gone away on her own?
calling people dumb for not agreeing with your unfounded speculation is itself dumb.
Watson
@Frank: You are correct that the Halperin comment was dumb. Only because it was so obvious what he was trying to do.
If you want to look at how to do it right you should not be using Mark “Obama is a Dick” Halperin as an example.
Frank Luntz is your guy. Karl Roves “Willy Horton” was a good start but Frank Luntz took it to a whole other level.
harlana
aaahh, that’s more like it! resume squirming, goopers!
Shut up, that's who
I guess Watson’s point can be summed up as; ignore the troll. Take note that Rawk Chawk agrees. Awesome.
Rommie
@Watson: Maybe you should. Your Mock-Fu is getting booed off the stage here.
In other words, go find another bridge to cower under.
Back to the thread – RL is gonna have a Special Episode moment before the end of the week at this rate.
Soonergrunt
@Frank:
Well, it IS different, in that Mark Halperin may be a tool, but at least he’s SOMEBODY. He’s an important tool.
Watson is just a flailing Limbaugh-fanboy/concern troll whom we won’t remember in a couple of months.
Well, we might remember Watson the same way we remember “the helicopters aren’t laughing” guy, but that’s about it.
Satanicpanic
@Watson: Um, you didn’t understand my post at all. OK, maybe I could be more clear. Palin is a useful tool for us. We can say “look at Palin, look at the ridiculous stuff she says, would you vote for someone from a party with members like Palin? Or Rush Limbaugh? Or George Bush?” The point is not that we want to get rid of Rush so much as we want to tar the Republican party with his name. To do so we have to make sure everyone knows the stupid stuff he’s saying. It’s really not that complicated.
Scott
@Watson: Troll is not merely troll. Troll is stupid. Troll is kinda epic in stupidity.
Is that you, Jim Hoft?
Brachiator
On the other hand, some good news from radio and media land
Elie
–And let us not forget — in a single reckless explosion from his shit filled mouth, he completely wiped out the religious freedom justification that the Christianists were pumping around. That defense, such as it was, is dead. Instead, he showed us for real, what it was all about for the Rethugs… The apology put some lipstick on him but he is still a big fat pig.
middlewest
Makewi is being extra funny today.
aretino
I’ll lay ten on BoBo prattling about how public discourse would be impoverished without Rush’s impudent Falstaffian colloquy.
harlana
Calm down, Watson, and enjoy the spectacular last gasps and tortured wheezings of the GOP with us. Or not. I know I’m having a blast! Just don’t be a party-pooper
Nancy
Has anyone posted this? The Lauren County Republican party of South Carolina has devised a sexual litmus test/pledge. I can’t tell if masturbation is allowed, but if it is, I’ve got some old socks I could send them. The wingularity is definitely nigh.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/sc_county_gop_if_youve_had_pre-marital_sex_you_can.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
RD
@Watson:
Whatever.
Remember to cite God and Jesus while Obama rips your balls off in the general.
Watson
So much love around here. You idiots make me ashamed to call myself a liberal. You have no clue. Dumb does not even begin to describe it.
The only thing that keeps me going is that there is just as much dumb on the other side. Only far fewer of them and being called hitler and satan and communist or whatever over and over isn’t much fun. At least you people ‘think’ you are smart. The other side discourages such thinking.
gaz
@Scott: He wishes. While gunning for a top spot at Sadly, No! or World-O-Crap, he’ll always come up short compared to the “Gateway Pundit”. He has the stupid, but not the talent, of Mr. Hoft.
Watson even fails at failing.
It’s entertaining though.
joeyess
@Watson:
So, you’re saying that you’re irrational? Good to know.
lonesomerobot
@harlana: Don’t waste your time. Something tells me Watson isn’t exactly “with us”.
lonesomerobot
@Watson: Thanks Mother Theresa! I’ll savor all the memories of your kindness and measured thinking.
SiubhanDuinne
@Watson:
Buh-BYE.
harlana
Speaking of being paid to have sex, if she is actually sleeping with him, Rush’s latest wife is earning every penny
Soonergrunt
@lonesomerobot: Grifters gotta grift, trolls gotta troll.
Brachiator
@Watson:
Odd, I don’t know you from beans, and give less than a shit about what you call yourself.
harlana
@lonesomerobot: yup, i know, he haz a sad and i haz a :)
lonesomerobot
@Soonergrunt: I, for one, find it exceedingly sad that Watson got fee-fees hurt and can’t seem to find a group of like-minded individuals who like to take advice wrapped in insults.
So sad. There’s gotta be a Ron Paul blog that will take in this little scrapper.
gaz
@Watson: Go ahead and call yourself a liberal. We liberals have already moved on to calling you an idiot.
But no worries. I like you, Stewart. You’re not like the other people, here, at the trailer park.
J.W. Hamner
lolz
harlana
is there a Trolling for Dummies book out yet?
gaz
@harlana: They’re working on it, but case studies (Watson) take time.
jomo
The advertisers that Rush is losing? They aren’t top notch brand advertisers – they are DR advertisers – pretty much only driven by the cost and the number of times they make the phones ring. If you are losing Sleep Number as an advertiser – there is not much further to fall. You’d be heading into Glenn Beck territory where all you can really sell is gold, and conspiracy stuff.
Svensker
@amk:
Mmmmmm, I could use some nice stollen right now. With almond paste. And some French press coffee on the side….
rikyrah
ICAM
keep on saying
WAR ON WOMEN!!
colby
@Watson: @Watson: You seem to be under the mistaken impression that it matters at all what the right wing cranks. Let me help you: it does not. Yes, they are going to vote against Democrats no matter what, and anything Democrats criticize, they will embrace. But that doesn’t matter, because they are going to vote against Democrats no matter what.
And they are not a majority of the electorate. So, by all means, if you’re interested in what they say and do, continue to follow it and talk about it with others. But do not mistake them for what really matters in the political world.
colby
@Watson:
You’ve confused Rove, Luntz, and Lee Atwater in a very unique way.
But yeah, the Willie Horton ad. Elected a Republican who raised taxes, assembled an international coalition, and signed the ADA, a massive regulatory and safety net bill. And Karl Rove. Helped the guy that expanded the federal government’s role in education, passed a new entitlement program, and devised the bailouts.
Massive wins for American conservatism there, sure.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
@Watson:
Well… what would you be doing differently from the folks here, then?
Feel free to instruct.
LAC
@Raven:
Yes, quoth you…shut the fuck up…
Bex
@Watson: Didn’t you get banned over there?
Catsy
@Watson:
One or both of the following are true:
1. You are not a liberal, you just play one when you’re concern trolling.
2. The breadth of your stupidity can only be measured in parsecs.
elftx
@GregB:
I am sooo stealing that!!
elftx
@Jeffraham Prestonian:
pretty kittehs !!
TenguPhule
When you shine a light on the filth of the right, remember that double set of magnifying glasses to boost the impact.
Jeffraham Prestonian
@elftx: Thank you! I built them, myself. ;)
.
Cris (without an H)
Guys I think Raven is just the messenger here
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Cluttered Mind:
We have a daughter a few years younger than Fluke and she’s pissed off at that lying fucker, as are my wife and myself.
A conservative commenter at Redstate says:
He sees it as Rush having derailed what he views as a legitimate issue.
Rush is now viewed by his supporters as having screwed the pooch for them on this ‘issue’…lol!
Thanks Rush! ;p
Some Loser
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
He’s got a point.
dSmith
It took me a few hours but I finally got the reference. Lambeth Walk. Right?