The White House on Wednesday admitted that their public comments about conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh and cable news personalities in recent days has been “counterproductive.”
Counterproductive? That’s not quite the word I would use.
This Rush Limbaugh episode is pretty disturbing. Even though the White House is trying to be dismissive and even claim that President Obama was not even giving Mr. Limbaugh’s criticisms any thought, the president’s official spokespeople launching an all out assault on a US citizen for criticizing said president is inappropriate at best.
Look at it this way, imagine if President George W. Bush did it.
Freedom of speech anyone?
And not only are Pres. Obama’s goons attacking Mr. Limbaugh, but they are grossly mischaracterizing his words, knowing that most people who hear them will not have actually heard what Limbaugh said.
I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh, but I do know that he didn’t say he wanted the US economy to fail. That is utterly moronic (to think that). The man is a capitalist. Why would he want capitalism to fail?
What he said was that he wants Pres. Obama to fail in his pursuit of turning the country into his socialist utopia.
Me, too.
Why should Limbaugh, or I for that matter, want a massive expansion of government power? We are conservatives. We don’t like that sort of thing.
Just curious, how many on the left wanted George W. Bush to succeed in enacting conservative policies?
Did the left want Pres. Bush to succeed in Iraq?
Did the left want the Bush tax cuts to succeed in stimulating the economy?
(Answers: no, no, and no.)
Rush Limbaugh did not do anything that liberals were not doing for the past eight years.
Tell me again what a tyrant Bush was. I don’t recall his administration launching a full-scale media assault on any liberal commentators.
Hope and Change.
One more question: If conservaitsm is really dead, why is everyone so afraid of Rish Limbaugh?
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For background, USA Today has a decent summary in this opinion piece by Chuck Raasch.
March 6th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Hmm. I’m fairly leftist (surprise surprise) but I would have loved it if Bush had managed to enact more financially conservative policies. I always hope that people in power who call themselves conservative will err on the side of underspending, but in the last decade that I’ve been watching politics, I rarely see it happen.
While I never thought it was a smart or justified idea to go to war in Iraq, once we were committed, I would have loved to see it end quickly and cleanly. It would have been much nicer to save the countless American and Iraqi lives, not to mention the $350 billion, than to have it be the mess that it is and feel justified in my initial reaction.
And it also would have been great if Bush’s tax cuts had stimulated the economy. I don’t like the fact that things are as bad as they are, and if the economic slide had been cut off at the knees by Bush’s tax cuts, that would have been great.
Now, I know I’m just one person, but by and large I am fairly positive if you ask anyone, left or right, if they wish the Iraq war had cost less and been over more quickly, or if they wish that Bush had managed to keep the country’s economy from falling to the point it has, they’ll say yes.
I don’t like the White House’s reaction to Limbaugh; by and large, I think the government shouldn’t respond to pundits, especially in a way that adds fuel to the fire. I’m glad they realized their mistake relatively quickly, but you’re right, calling it “counterproductive” is pretty lame. Hopefully they won’t get involved in this sort of flamewar again in the future.
And finally, I don’t believe, and sincerely hope that conservatism isn’t dead. It’s important to have balance, which means leaning towards conservatism in some ways and progressivism in others.
March 6th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Barry Goldwater had it right. Rush is no Goldy. Limbaugh is simply mean-spirited. You get the impression of a fat cat who would love Fascism. He kind of reminds me of Hermann Goering too. I wonder? Maybe his DNA should be checked–did Goering have kiddies?
But all this has simply been theater. I’m waiting for Obama to get serious.
Thank you for covering this, Charity. And STILL no word from the Left on CPSIA.
March 6th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Ryan, I should clarify that I was talking about Rush’s counterparts on the left. I am sure that most regular people, left or right, want the government to work, no matter who’s in charge.
If Obama actually does make the country better, I will be happy to be wrong.
March 7th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
“What he said was that he wants Pres. Obama to fail in his pursuit of turning the country into his socialist utopia.”
Well, that’s nice, but that’s not what Obama is out to do.
“Did the left want Pres. Bush to succeed in Iraq?”
What does the word “succeed” even mean (then or now) as it pertains to Iraq?? Even the Bush Regime couldn’t define it and stick to one defintion. What we on the Left (if I might be so bold to speak for the entire Left) wanted was for the Bush Regime to tell the truth about Iraq (that they were really no threat to anyone…let alone us) and then not needlessly invade them.
“Did the left want the Bush tax cuts to succeed in stimulating the economy?”
They didn’t stimulate the economy in the long-run (just like always)…that “recovery” was basically jobless if I remember correctly, and it left us with a mountain of debt, again….just like always.
“Maybe his DNA should be checked–did Goering have kiddies?”
He did, but I don’t think Rush is one of them. Rush just loves attention…any attention…he proves the adage that all publicity is good publicity.
“I am sure that most regular people, left or right, want the government to work, no matter who’s in charge.”
Hmmmm, that’s kind of hard to say when all I seem to hear from the Right is how bad govt. is. Take the whole Katrina debacle…they staff the agencies responsible with repsonding to that type of disaster with people that have no clue what they are doing, those agencies “assist” in an almost complete & utter lack of any planning to mitigate such a disaster (which had been well-known for many decades), those agencies (surprise, surpirse) screw up the repsonse to Katrina, then “conservatives” can go around and say, “See…you can’t depend on govt. to help you out in a crisis!”. It’s a self-fullfilling process sometimes IMO.
March 8th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Mister Guy:
I guess I should say my comments are generally about reasonable, rational people. There are always going to be those on either end of the spectrum who are perfectly willing to cut off their noses to spite their faces, so to speak. By and large, though, I’m fairly certain people want government to be efficient and effective, and would rather see a positive net gain for the country no matter who wrote the legislation that achieves it.
March 9th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Mr. Freebern…I respectfully submit that you are underestimating the sheer number of people in the Right-wing that live in fear of their own government. It’s their bread & butter…
March 11th, 2009 at 9:15 am
I agree C. Great post. P.S. If you do sell soap again, let me know!
March 11th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Tirade, yea! How good to see you! (Well, not really see.) I read on Hastings’ blog a while back that you two got hitched. That’s awesome!