Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Republicans in disarray!

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

It’s possible to be a liberal firebrand without crapping on the party.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

You are here: Home / Rush Wins

Rush Wins

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First, a definition:

Hoekstroika

hohk⋅stroi⋅ka

–noun

Wingnut. A ridiculous statement that greatly minimizes the suffering of one group of people while wildly escalating the suffering of another group of people, when no such comparison exists. Usually for partisan political point scoring.

Origin: a “twitter” from Rep. Peter Hoekstra comparing the violent repression of peaceful demonstrators in Iran with Republicans in congress:

    Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House. 8:56 AM Jun 17th from TwitterBerry

Our first verifiable Hoekstroika:

“Look at this from Iran’s press run television, state run media in Iran. Ahmadinejad gains votes in recount, just like in our country. It happened just like in our country. Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount, so they keep having recounts, and Al Franken wins, so they have the recount in Iran and shazam Ahmadinejad gained votes.” – Rush Limbaugh, 30 June 2009

That is a keeper.

Reader Interactions

41Comments

  1. 1.

    BDeevDad

    I think Hoekstroika deserves its own tag. You know its going to be used repeatedly

  2. 2.

    handy

    That Rush Limbaugh sure is a bright one. Except, you know, actually Coleman was ahead before the mandatory recount, which by my watch hasn’t led to rioting and bloodshed in the streets. So yeah, way to craft the analogy, Rush.

  4. 4.

    demkat620

    WTF does that even mean? Put don’t the hillbilly heroin Rush, you’ve had enough.

  5. 5.

    Morrigan

    But…but…what about the Florida recount in 2000? It was OK then, right? Right?

    I can feel neurons in my brain popping, one by one, in a futile attempt to let go of all logical reasoning so I can follow these conversations Rush has with himself. It hurts.

  6. 6.

    Tsulagi

    I think Hoekstroika deserves its own tag. You know its going to be used repeatedly

    Limbaugh crying Coleman is the victim. Yep, no one could ever have predicted that from the wingnuts’ overlord.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    “It happened just like in our country. Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount, so they keep having recounts, and Al Franken wins, so they have the recount in Iran and shazam Ahmadinejad gained votes.”

    Man, you gotta give Rush credit. He is picking up where Karl Rove left off, so I guess he is officially the chief representative of the Republican Party.

    So like clockwork, he keeps beating the drum, “the Democrats are not your legitimate representatives.”

    Asswipe.

    By the way, in actual Iran, the authorities are cracking down with brutal efficiency (Report: Hospitalized Iranians seized)

    Iranians wounded during protests are being seized at hospitals by members of an Islamic militia, an Amnesty International official told CNN. … Amnesty International has collected accounts from people who have left Iran and expatriates with relatives there who say the Basij has prohibited medical professionals from getting identification information from wounded demonstrators who check in, Akhlaghi said on Saturday. They are also not allowed to ask how the injuries happened, and relatives are hard pressed to find the wounded.

    By the way, although I fully endorse the intelligent caution which Obama used in commenting on the Iranian elections, I sincerely doubt that any perceived US “meddling” would have been irrelevant to the way in which the Iranians are re-asserting control.

  8. 8.

    Rusty Nails

    But there is rioting in the streets over this, it’s just that the liberal media won’t show it to us. If you want to support those who are fighting to overturn this injustice, please set your twitter location to St. Paul.

  9. 9.

    JenJen

    Speaking of right-wing reaction to Franken’s delayed victory, our awesome liberal media keeps saying this really is good news for Republicans, because the Democrats now have 60 solid (Chuck Todd just ridiculously called them “automatic”) votes, and no more excuses.

    Can somebody check my math? I mean, I think the Democrats can count on Bernie Sanders, but not Joe Lieberman, and only both get Democrats to 60, right? (I am not at all sure about that, so someone please correct me.)

    And “solid”? “Automatic”? Have these people been living in the same would as I?

  10. 10.

    Bubblegum Tate

    Here’s the question I always ponder in the face of this kind of stupidity: Does Rush actually believe himself? Like, when he says this type of bullshit, is he really sharing his genuine beliefs, or is he just doing what he thinks is expected of him/what gets him the big bucks?

    Coulter, for example, strikes me as not really believing what she’s saying all the time. She’s created this character*–Oh, that Wacky Ann Coulter! I wonder what zany thing she’ll say next! Ha ha ha! On the flip side of the coin would be Malkin, who takes herself absolutely seriously (to the great bemusement of normal people).

    So which is it for Rush? Do you think he believes his Hoekstroika, or is he just playing it up for “controversy” i.e. ratings?

    *This is not to say that I think Coulter is some sort of closet liberal or something; I believe she really is a conservative, but in her columns and such, she’s exaggerating for the sake of popularity.

  11. 11.

    Comrade Dread

    Yes, a recount watched carefully by both sides with each party getting ample opportunity to present valid challenges before an election committee and courts is JUST LIKE an unmonitored election tightly controlled by the ruling junta.

  12. 12.

    Joe Max

    For Rush, this is personal.

    “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot”, remember?

    Franken’s book could arguably be viewed as signaling the the first small ripple of cultural pushback against the mainstreaming of wingnuttery.

    And here we are, after more than a decade, with US Senator Al Franken.

    Win.

  13. 13.

    Zifnab

    So does that make the Minnesota SC the equivalent to the Council of Experts? Is the Governor now the equivalent of Ayatollah Khomeini?

  14. 14.

    SpotWeld

    Okay.. did this ever actually happen: “Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount” ?

    If anything, the recounts continued to to give Norm Coleman a increasingly slimmer lead in a “too close to call” win that just sparked more recounts?

  15. 15.

    mcd

    Post/comments just made me spit tea on the screen. And since you’re not asking me, Hoekstroika definitely deserves its own tag!!

  17. 17.

    Aqualad08

    Jenjen, it’s not just Lieberman…Ben Nelson, Arlen Spector, Robert Byrd, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Evan Bayh, Max Baucus, Diane Feinstein, Kent Conrad and Mark Pryor do not inspire trust…and they are currently led by the spineless Harry Reid, so “automatic” means nothing…

  18. 18.

    AnotherBruce

    Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount, so they keep having recounts, and Minnesota Senator Al Franken wins,

    Fixed your qoute for ya, Rush, no need to thank me.

  19. 19.

    Bulworth

    “…Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount, so they keep having recounts, and Al Franken wins, so they have the recount in Iran and shazam Ahmadinejad gained votes.” – Rush Limbaugh, 30 June 2009

    But wasn’t Coleman trying to persuade the state to ADD more votes? He wasn’t calling on the state to go back to some golden age vote count from November 4. Isn’t that…oh wait, never mind. We are talking about the lunatic fringe here.

  20. 20.

    LD50

    And “solid”? “Automatic”? Have these people been living in the same would as I?

    No, theirs is a world where Harry Reid is a fanatical radical leftist.

  22. 22.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @Bubblegum Tate: Does Rush actually believe himself? Like, when he says this type of bullshit, is he really sharing his genuine beliefs, or is he just doing what he thinks is expected of him/what gets him the big bucks?

    I’m not even convinced he remembers what he said five minutes ago. It’s just this constant stream of needling designed to keep an audience tuned in and outraged.

  24. 24.

    JenJen

    @Aqualad08: Well, exactly. But I suppose it’s a better “story” for the media if the Democrats can’t hold a block of 60 together. I imagine this will become conventional wisdom shortly; we’ll see what Mark Halperin decides!

  26. 26.

    Da Bomb

    Yeah, Rushbo has a personal issue with Franken. I mean, didn’t Franken create this scenario called Operation Chickenhawk in his book making lots o’ fun of Rush and his flabbiness?

  28. 28.

    Zuzu's Petals

    @SpotWeld:

    Okay.. did this ever actually happen: “Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount” ?

    Nope:

    On November 18, the State Canvassing Board certified results of the election with Democratic challenger Al Franken trailing incumbent Republican Norm Coleman by 215 votes, less than 0.0075% of the more than 2.8 million votes cast.[3][4] The close margin triggered a mandatory recount, which was ordered by the Canvassing Board to begin on November 19 and largely finished on December 5.[5][6] On December 16, the Board began reviewing ballots that had been challenged by each campaign, ruling on more than 1,300 individual ballots and reallocating 5,300 whose challenges had been withdrawn.[7]
    ……………..
    On January 3, 2009,[8] Coleman’s term officially expired, leaving the Senate seat vacant. On January 5, the results of the recount were officially certified with Franken holding a 225-vote lead.[9][10][2] On January 6, Coleman’s campaign filed an election contest with the Minnesota courts. The contest prevents the state from issuing an election certificate and seating a winner until the contest is resolved.[11][12][13]

  29. 29.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @Xecky Gilchrist:

    I’m not even convinced he remembers what he said five minutes ago. It’s just this constant stream of needling designed to keep an audience tuned in and outraged.

    Good point.

  30. 30.

    chopper

    “Look at this from Iran’s press run television, state run media in Iran. Ahmadinejad gains votes in recount, just like in our country. It happened just like in our country. Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount, so they keep having recounts, and Al Franken wins, so they have the recount in Iran and shazam Ahmadinejad gained votes.” – Rush Limbaugh, 30 June 2009

    hey, where was franken the day neda agha-soltan was shot? hmm…

  31. 31.

    D-Chance.

    Speaking of revolutions, I’m glad the Iranians have solved all their problems and the “green” revolution is over.

    Wait… it IS over, isn’t it?

    I mean, Sully has returned to his obsession over Sarah! with a multi-post flood of PDS over at the Dish…

  32. 32.

    chopper

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    dogg think about it. his first line was “Look at this from Iran’s press run television, state run media in Iran”. that there’s a giveaway. if he’s quoting the state-run media in iran as any sort of comparison, he’s obviously just making it all up as he goes along.

  33. 33.

    Mike G

    Yeah, Rushbo has a personal issue with Franken. I mean, didn’t Franken create this scenario called Operation Chickenhawk in his book making lots o’ fun of Rush and his flabbiness?

    The ‘index’ of Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot is hilarious.
    An endless stream of fictitious entries like —

    Dirigible, Limbaugh size of, 6, 18
    (see also Hindenburg)

    gas, hot, Limbaugh full of, 3, 27

    Grapefruit diet, denounced by Limbaugh, 114-120

    syrup, Limbaugh’s purchase in thrity-gallon drums, 17, 43

    waist, Limbaugh’s inability to measure without special instrumentation, 66

  34. 34.

    asiangrrlMN

    Told ya. This is gonna push Limbaugh into personal insanity because this time, it’s personal. And no, Coleman never won a recount which is why there were a bajillion recounts. Our system is actually pretty dang good. It just needs a few tweaks such as how we do Absentee voting.

  35. 35.

    gbear

    best comment over at Wonkette:

    BREAKING: HARRY REID ANNOUNCES IT NOW TAKES 61 VOTES TO BREAK A FILIBUSTER

  38. 38.

    Ed Drone

    What’s the difference between Rush Limbaugh and the Hindenberg?

    — One is a flaming Nazi gas-bag, and the other is a dirigible.

    Ed

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