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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.

03 Mar 2012 20:46

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Politics: Rush Limbaugh apologizes for language, sticks by Fluke argument

  • good! A couple hours ago, Rush Limbaugh apologized to Sandra Fluke for calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute” for speaking about contraception funding to Congress: “My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”
  • however The apology didn’t avoid tough words, though including a series of lines attacking the thrust of what Fluke said in front of Congress: “I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress.” Is his apology good enough? source

03 Mar 2012 10:20

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Politics: Sandra Fluke ‘outraged’ by Rush’s attempts to silence her

  • I’m certainly not going to be silenced.
  • Georgetown student Sandra Fluke • Responding to the controversy that began Wednesday, when conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh began a series of attacks on her character and asked that she upload videos of her sexual encounters for his viewing pleasure. Fluke became the target of Limbaugh’s rage after testifying before Congress on Georgetown’s contraceptive policy; however, Limbaugh’s comments cost him four sponsors, and condemnation from pundits across the country. Friday afternoon, President Obama called Sandra to offer words of encouragement and support, and Georgetown president John J. DeGioia defended the student in a statement calling Limbaugh’s attacks “misogynistic” and “vitriolic”.  source

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

27 Feb 2011 21:00

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Politics: Michelle Obama’s healthy food fight has some bipartisan support

  • It’s not all Rush Limbaugh inexplicably calling Michelle Obama fat over on the right. For some reason completely confusing to anyone with half a brain, Michelle Obama has gotten criticism from some conservatives, who somehow have equated “the First Lady encouraging good dieting and exercise” to “forcing people be healthy.” But not everyone is going crazy about what is pretty much the stupidest controversy ever – especially one in an era when there’s a government shutdown and insane unrest in the Middle East. Here are a couple of examples we can get behind:
  • supporter New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has struggled with weight, supports her campaign. “I think it’s a really good goal to encourage kids to eat better,” he said. If a kid can avoid that in his adult years or her adult years, more power to them, and I think the first lady’s speaking out well.”
  • supporter Mike Huckabee, who famously lost a ton of weight while in office, says that while he doesn’t think the government should tell us what to eat, “I think Mrs. Obama being out there. encouraging people in a positive way to eat well and to exercise and to be healthy, I don’t have a problem with that.” source
 

19 Jan 2011 21:24

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Politics: Rush Limbaugh’s Chinese mockery: A possible double-standard?

  • 2006 Rosie O’Donnell made a kinda-crude impersonation of Chinese people when she was on “The View,” leading right-wing bloggers to jump all over her and force an apology from the firebrand.
  • 2011 Rush Limbaugh does the exact same thing – except five times as long, more exaggerated and while talking about the Chinese president. So, what’s gonna happen this time, guys? source

12 Nov 2010 22:17

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Politics: Keith Olbermann, Pat Sajak have war of words, vowels, consonants

  • It’s not often we have Pat Sajak on the blog twice in a week – he’s a nice guy and all, but we’re not regular watchers of “Wheel of Fortune” by a long shot. But this clip right here is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it’s one of Keith Olbermann’s first network television appearances, and he’s on Pat Sajak’s, lost, lamented talk show with his ‘stache talking about sports. Second, Sajak (a conservative) pulled the clip out of the vault, apologizing for being the first to give Keith a wide audience. Keith, however, denies this, claiming that he had been on CNN years earlier, and had been the subject of segments on The Today Show and the CBS Evening News before that. Finally, no matter what happened, this clip is great. Keith was really funny back in the day, even though he was more wacky newscaster than second coming of Edward R. Murrow. (Pat Sajak’s show did give Rush Limbaugh his first wide audience on television.) source

06 Jun 2010 12:00

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Culture: The odd couple: Elton John sang at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding

  • somehow, Limbaugh has been married four times. The radio-show gabber drew a diverse set of guests for his marriage to Kathryn Rogers over the weekend, including James Carville, Fred Thompson and Sean Hannity (OK, maybe not), but the most diverse guest was the musical act. Elton John was reportedly paid $1 million to sing “The Bitch is Back” to the audience. Considering his show’s theme music, you’d expect him to grab The Pretenders. But no. source