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05 Mar 2012 10:36

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Politics: Three analytical takes on Rush Limbaugh’s current controversy

  • one David Frum asks an important question: “Are we being fair to Rush Limbaugh?” Frum’s answer: “Even by the rough standards of cable/talk radio/digital talk, Limbaugh’s verbal abuse of Sandra Fluke set a new kind of low.”
  • two James Poniewozik of Time suggests that the moment could become Rush’s Imus moment: “Limbaugh’s situation may not be exactly parallel, because all analogies break down at some point, but there’s a lot of basic similarity.”
  • three Columnist Joel Mathis of Philadelphia Magazine loosens the focus on Rush and suggests that the reaction shows a major problem: “We stopped talking about the issues. And we focused very deeply on our own hurt feelings.” Hm.

04 Mar 2012 20:00

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Politics: Gingrich predicts Big Oil will hand the election to the GOP

  • “That’s a pretty big burden while he’s waging war on the Catholic Church and apologizing to Islamic extremists”: In which Newt Gingrich tells CNN’s Candy Crowley that Big Oil will intentionally tank the American economy, placing an insurmountable obstacle on President Obama’s path to re-election. source

04 Mar 2012 10:08

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Politics: Super PACs aggressively spend ahead of Super Tuesday. Super.

  • $10 million in Super Tuesday ads bought by Super PACs source
  • » Four states getting strongest focus: Ten states are holding primaries and caucuses in a couple of days, but the ones that the GOP candidates are really focused on? Ohio, Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Much of the advertising seems to be focused on trashing other candidates, with both Mitt-and-Newt-affiliated Super PACs attacking Rick Santorum — who is currently leading in Ohio. In other news, Mitt won a caucus in Washington on Saturday with Ron Paul scoring second place, though the caucus is non-binding.

02 Mar 2012 17:45

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Politics: Sandra Fluke vs. Rush Limbaugh: What you need to know, in a nutshell

  • cause Last week, a Georgetown law student, Sandra Fluke, testified in front of Congress on the Jesuit school’s policy on contraception, an issue which has drawn many emotions of late.
  • reaction Many on the right attacked Fluke for her testimony, but none as harshly as talker Rush Limbaugh, who called her a “slut” and a “prostitute” on his radio show. Yeah, that’s not cool.
  • result Limbaugh’s comments drew strong reactions from the left especially. Republican House Speaker John Boehner criticized Limbaugh. The president even called her up today. Really. source

02 Mar 2012 17:38

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Politics: Advertisers start pulling out of Rush Limbaugh’s show

  • 4 companies pulled their ads from Rush Limbaugh’s show today source
  • » Why? Because of this, of course. Really, we’re surprised that any advertisers offended by this weren’t offended by anything else Limbaugh’s said over the last twenty years. Regardless, advertisers aren’t the only ones reacting negatively to Limbaugh’s comments.

02 Mar 2012 17:34

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Politics: The Republican establishment isn’t pleased with Rush Limbaugh

  • Rush’s attempt to increase his ratings and get noticed again do hurt Republicans…beating up on a college student is not good optics.
  • A senior Republican strategist • In response to Rush Limbaugh’s calling a pro-contraception college student a “slut” and a “prostitute” earlier this week. What we find interesting is that the speaker in question is identified by the Washington Post as “a senior party strategist granted anonymity to speak candidly out of wariness of crossing Limbaugh publicly.” This speaks not only to the enormous power Limbaugh wields amongst the Republican base, but also the sense of legitimacy that the GOP establishment continues to bestow upon him by refusing to denounce his statements publicly. To his credit, Rick Santorum, who’s as anti-contraception as anybody, called Limbaugh’s comments “absurd.”  source

28 Feb 2012 14:36

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Politics: Newt Gingrich explains what he means by “San Francisco values”

  • I’m here in 1983, and I’m part of a truth squad… for the convention. And we’re having a great time. It’s a great city, as you know, there’s a reason it’s one of the great tourist cities in the country. We’re down at Union Square, and CBS is interviewing me… literally, at that moment, a six-foot-two transvestite comes up to me and hands me an invitation to an exorcism of Jerry Falwell.
  • Newt Gingrich • Explaining, when pressed by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Joe Garofoli and Carla Marinucci, what precisely he means when he decries “San Francisco values.” His response, as you can see, is not one that will go over well with LGBT advocates, or people who believe a personal anecdote is shaky grounds for a broad-based political narrative. It does bear mentioning that Gingrich had some compliments for the city as, well, a city, and he also had some unexpected praise on California Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. source
 

26 Feb 2012 11:25

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Politics: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer endorses Mitt Romney for president

Brewer, whose profile grew significantly as a result of her stances on immigration, says that she likes Mitt’s business background and says that the race will effectively be over after Super Tuesday. Arizona’s primary is Tuesday. (photo by Gage Skidmore) source

24 Feb 2012 11:06

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Politics: How Mitt Romney’s dad lost his presidential momentum: Brainwashing

  • About 45 years ago, George Romney was looking hot. A popular Michigan governor who did well in the 1964 Republican primary (but did not win), he was considered a frontrunner in the 1968 race. Until this interview above, that is, done in August 1967 by Detroit news personality Lou Gordon. When asked about the Vietnam war, he explained why his views changed so that he was suddenly against the war. His answer? “When I came back from Vietnam, I had just had the greatest brainwashing that anyone could get.” This one comment derailed his campaign, decades before Twitter would’ve made that comment blow up like a forgotten third thing in a debate. MLive has a really great history on this interview that’s worth a read. source

23 Feb 2012 22:54

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Politics: Buddy Roemer: More entertaining than the last GOP debate

  • A long shot who’s quick with a tweet: Buddy Roemer is out of the running for the Republican presidential nomination, but even though he didn’t get a chance to take part in any of the debates, he’s used Twitter as a way to stay in the conversation. Roemer, now running as an independent, is still hoping to one-line your way to a vote in the 2012 election. A couple samples from last night:
  • one On Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a former GOP candidate: “Perry is in the audience. (The clown car needed a driver.)”
  • two On Rick Santorum, the current frontrunner in the race: “Don’t anger the sweater vest. It doesn’t like to be challenged.”
  • three Overall: “BREAKING: The CNN debate has been replaced with a 4-way earmark cage match.” Boom. source