Summary: Featuring guests Tony Garr, Executive Director of Tennessee Health Care Campaign and Karl Frish Senior Fellow for Media Matters for America.

Part 1: Yes We Did (Part 2 in a Series) There’s really one one news story this morning – woohoo! health care reform legislation! – and really one “to do” item – call and thank your congressperson who voted for woohoo! health care reform legislation. And then there’s the congressmen from Tennessee who didn’t vote for it. Call those guys too. Plus, what’s good about the legislation and Tony Garr, executive director for Tennessee Health Care campaign joins us to talk about why it’s specifically good for Tennesseans. [27.47MB download mp3]

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Part 2: Yes We Did (Part 2 in a Series) So just what was the contemporary Republican party’s agenda during this health care reform debate? Freddie’s got a few ideas. Plus, we take your calls, don’t answer a few questions, and talk to Karl Frisch of Media Matters (who bought Limbaugh not one but TWO plane tickets to Costa Rica) and Mark Naccarato of SEIU Local 205.” [24.14MB download mp3]

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Talk Radio At Center Of Health Care Debate

Rush Limbaugh TimeDecades of building a message delivery system infrastructure is paying off today big time. From NTS Media Online:

As Democrats in Congress mount the final push to approve President Obama’s health care reform proposal, conservative Talk radio hosts across the country are mobilizing the “troops” to defeat the controversial bill. Premiere Radio Networks talker Rush Limbaugh deviated from his usual policy of not giving out DC phone numbers on his show and actively called for listeners to “flood Congress with calls and emails.” Fellow Premiere talkers and FOX News Channel personalities Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck have also called for active protests from their listeners,…Meanwhile, Salem Radio Network hosts Bill Bennett, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Janet Mefferd and Michael Medved have all placed “Say No To Obamacare” buttons on their websites to encourage listeners to email Congress. So far, the hosts combined efforts have generated nearly 1 million emails urging defeat of the pending legislation.

There. So now you also know how “death panels” became a talking point so quickly.

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(Because I am too much of a lady…)

“Rush Limbaugh is the fart in America’s elevator.”Frank Schaeffer, on the Thom Hartmann Show

T/F/B: R. Neal of Knoxviews.

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Not taking it anymore.

Not taking it anymore.

What’s the difference between the loud white guys on the radio yelling me that “it’s not about race, we just hate his policies” and this loud white guy telling me that, in the words of Jimmy Carter, the “intensely demonstrated animosity towards Barack Obama” certainly is about race?

This loud white guy backs up his assertion with, you know, actual facts put into context:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

If you listened to the radio or watched the cable yesterday you were hit with the false equivalency Olbermann outlines: if you say that anything critical of President Obama is racial then your words will be twisted into, “all criticism of Obama is racial.” Then if the deniers find one instance that isn’t racial, they will exaggerate that lone proof into proof that all criticism isn’t racial.

That’s how the screaming tightie righties roll. Twisted. And so you got to ask, which of the President’s policies do comments like Glen Beck’s “Obama is a racist” and Rush Limbaugh’s “Barack the Magic Negro” and Michael DelGiorno’s “Obama is the antichrist” address? Which policies are they arguments for or against?

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Antiracist writer and educator (and Tennessean) Tim Wise gets some air time on CNN to ask the question that’s on everyone’s mind, “when will Republican leaders take a stand against the kind of rhetoric that stokes white racial resentment?” Or, I might add, are they so desperate for power that they will continue to allow the most radical fringe to speak for them?

LEMON: OK. So we are going to continue our discussion now over the health care rallies and the tone of what’s going on in the country. Tim Wise joins us. He’s frequent here on the show. The author of “Between Barack and a Hard Place” and among the most prominent anti- racist activist in the country. Thank you, sir. Always good to see you.

TIM WISE, AUTHOR “BETWEEN Barack AND A HARD PLACE”: You, too.

LEMON: You heard the chairman from Florida say no, it is not race.

WISE: I did.

LEMON: It does a disservice. You heard David Sirota say it is the elephant in the room.

WISE: Right. Well like I said in the show before, it is the background noise of a lot of the opposition, not all of it but a lot of it. You know, when you have someone like Glen Beck saying as he did about a month ago that the health care debate isn’t really about that. It is just reparations for black people, where you have Rush Limbaugh yesterday on the air saying first that community service is the first step towards fascism, which is bizarre even for him.

And then almost immediately after that saying one of the problems with America is too much multi culturalism [This is one of local talker Michael DelGiorno's favorite lines!]. You wouldn’t say that unless you are trying to stoke white racial resentment. And so when you say those things, I want to know when are Republican leaders going to condemn that kind of rhetoric because that is where race is being interjected. It is interjected by us, it’s interested by the leading talk show hosts in this country.

Read the rest of the transcript.

Hat tip: Crooks and Liars

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Media Matters has been listening to every hour of Rush Limbaugh’s show (so you don’t have to) and today reports that during the second hour of today’s show he “officially” resigned as “titular head of the Republican Party.”

But then, during his third hour, he took up the mantle again by making a crude Bill Clinton joke:

“I’m just gonna tell you, if I was named envoy to Haiti, I’d quit government. Envoy to Haiti? You can’t even pick up a prostitute down there without genuine fear of AIDS. This is not Clinton’s place.”

Just when he thought he was out…

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Sykes, a Limbaugh Wanda Be

Unbelievably, comedian Wanda Sykes is getting grief over jokes she made about Rush Limbaugh at the White House Correspondents dinner.

Media Matters reminds us, by revisiting “the numerous instances in which Limbaugh has attacked Democrats, progressives, and the media by linking them to terrorists,” that she simply learned from the master.

Here’s just one example (the other 10 can be found at MediaMatters.org):

June 24, 2008: Limbaugh stated: “I will guaran-damn-tee you there will not be a terrorist attack before the election. And you know why there won’t be one? Because they want Obama elected.” He later falsely claimed, “Hamas has endorsed Obama. Hamas has endorsed Obama.” Limbaugh also asserted that “every time I hear [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad speak, every time I hear a tape from [Al Qaeda leader] Ayman al-Zawahiri or a so-called dispatch from bin Laden, whenever I hear from any of these Middle East Al Qaeda terrorists, I think I’m hearing Democrat [sic] Party talking points.

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Taking the Rush Challenge (Not At All Refreshing)

Serr8D over at TennesseeFree jumps on the Andrew Klavan LA Times article bandwagon and accuses liberals who have a healthy disdain for Rush Limbaugh of not listening to his show:

Liberals who hate Rush Limbaugh – why don’t you actually listen to his show before bashing him?

If you are reading this newspaper, the likelihood is that you agree with the Obama administration’s recent attacks on conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh. That’s the likelihood; here’s the certainty: You’ve never listened to Rush Limbaugh.

Oh no, you haven’t. [Oh yes, we have.] Whenever I interrupt a liberal’s anti-Limbaugh rant to point out that the ranter has never actually listened to the man, he always says the same thing: “I’ve heard him!”

Serr8D agrees. Liberals don’t listen directly to the harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, he writes, rather what we’ve likely heard “is the snarling spittle-flecked responses from Rush’s detractors…and similar left-wingers who’ve taken their talking points from media voices…and the latest lefty darling, that bimbo Meghan McCain.”

[By the way, I'm sure Serr8D is aware of the hypocrisy of his excoriating "Libruls" for not being tolerant of a wide range of views while labeling someone he disagrees with a "bimbo," i.e. "an attractive but stupid young woman, esp. one with loose morals." Or maybe not...]

Doing his part to keep the world safe for those who are “having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have,” Klavan writes that what we do is typically take a “Rushian piece of outrageous hilarity completely out of context” to feed our “Liberal Outrage.” Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – Rush is just an entertainer! “Outrageous hilarity? Gag. Ack. Barf.

To answer Klavan, who apparently listens to Limbaugh “every chance I get, and I have never heard the man utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word,” here are just a few of his most outrageous pieces of “hilarity” (which I’m sure I’m just taking out of context).

Racist

“Hey, Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry. “As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry’s support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,” Obama said. He didn’t say it, but — anyway, there are those out there — greetings.” –Rush Limbaugh [1/24/07]

“I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.” –Rush Limbaugh (101 People who are REALLY Screwing Up America (2006) by Jack Huberman)

“Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.” –“Hey Rush, when it comes to sports … shhh!” by Mike Freeman at CBS SportsLine (1/27/07)

Hateful

“Now, this is Michael J. Fox. He’s got Parkinson’s disease. And in this commercial, he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He is moving all around and shaking. And it’s purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has. I know he’s got it and he’s raising money for it, but when I’ve seen him in public, I’ve never seen him betray any of the symptoms. But this commercial, he — he’s just all over the place. He can barely control himself. He can control himself enough to stay in the frame of the picture, and he can control himself enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter. But his head and shoulders are moving all over the place, and he is acting like his disease is deteriorating because Jim Talent opposes research that would help him, Michael J. Fox, get cured.” –Rush Limbaugh

A French journalist has been kidnapped in Iraq, but I don’t believe it. I think the guy surrendered. –Rush Limbaugh [4/13/04]

“You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed. –Rush Limbaugh (101 People who are REALLY Screwing Up America (2006) by Jack Huberman)

Stupid

“Too many whites are getting away with drug use…Too many whites are getting away with drug sales…The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.” –Rush Limbaugh

“You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life, so I need to tell you that part of what you have heard and read is correct. I am addicted to prescription pain medication.” –Rush Limbaugh

“A little interesting story, folks, this out of Boston. [Reading from AP story] “The new police chiefs in four of the nation’s largest cities — Boston, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Detroit — share some credentials. All boast more than two decades of [cop] experience. All have worked their way up the ranks. And all are women.” [Gasping.] Yes, my friends. Some say it’s just coincidence that four women within six months have been named to the top [cop] position in four major cities, a natural evolution two decades after consent decrees and affirmative action cases forced departments to hire more women…Women still make up an average of only 13 percent of police officers…” They’re never happy. And I don’t mean women. I’m talking about the activists. Don’t lose your cookies out there. This is according to the National Center for Women and Policing, which is a division of the Feminist Majority Foundation of American, which is the feminazis. So here we’ve got progress. This is exactly what I’m talking about. Here we’ve got four new police chiefs are women, again, San Francisco, Boston, Milwaukee, Detroit, and the feminazis find the bad news. “Well, there’s still only 13% of women on the forces of the general police population, so…” This is exactly what I’m talking about. So what’s the reaction to this? Well, here’s my reaction, in the typical Rush fashion: If we’ve got four new female police chiefs out there, then I guess we can watch out for some naked pyramids among prisoners in these new jailhouses that these women ran, because we had a woman running the prison in Abu [Algore pronunciation] Grab. That’s how you do it.” –Rush Limbaugh [4/27/04]

An Outrageous “Entertainer”

“The difference between Los Angeles and yogurt is that yogurt comes with less fruit.” –Rush Limbaugh

“Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?” –Rush Limbaugh (File this one under “racist,” too).

Sexist

“I think a lot of the American culture is being feminized. I think the reaction to the stupid torture is an example of the feminization of this country.” –Rush Limbaugh [4/06/04]

Some of these babes, I’m telling you, like the sexual harassment crowd. They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them sometimes. –Rush Limbaugh [4/26/04]

Today’s morning update, for those of you who missed it, let me share it with you. Angry Democrats and radical femi-Nazis are demanding an apology from Karen Hughes, presidential adviser, over some remarks that she made on CNN. Now, since very few people watch CNN any more, let me tell you what she said. While the femi-Nazis’ pro-abortion march was taking place in Washington on Sunday, Karen Hughes, on CNN, was asked how the issue of abortion would play in the elections. –Rush Limbaugh [4/29/04]

“You know, the feminazis forgot one thing. Well, one of the objectives of the feminazis over the last 20, 25 years has been to dominate the public education system so as to remove the competitive nature of boys. You know, there’s a crisis of young man-boy education in the schools. And they did this on purpose, to eliminate male competition in the work force. This is part of feminazi grand plan. They forgot affirmative action for black guys. And because of that, every bit of their plan has gone up in smoke now, because they — if — they had to come out in favor of affirmative action for black guys, and that’s — see, this is one of the things that really irritates the women. And there are women all over this country fit to be tied — trust me on this. And it’s — one of the things is affirmative action is exactly — it’s, you know, liberals eventually are going to be devoured by their own policies. And it has happened here. Because Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate. There’s no question, the way he is being treated by the drive-bys and so forth and so on. The way he’s been puffed up here with the magical, messiah-type message with no criticism allowed. So, it’s just — they just forgot that one thing: affirmative action for black guys. And if they had remembered to oppose that, then they wouldn’t face the situation they face today.” –Rush Limbaugh [5/27/08]

Bonus*

Remember the time he said that service members who wanted the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq were “phony soldiers,” and then he edited the audio from his show to make it sound like he didn’t say that? Good times.

And when he mistakenly used an essay by a 10th grader to attack then-candidate Barack Obama? Ah, karma.

I need a shower.

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OctoRush by Barry Blitt

OctoRush by Barry Blitt

Retired Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” weighed in on recent antics certain high-profile Republicans.

He also criticized former Vice President Dick Cheney for claiming that the Obama administration has placed the nation in danger and noted that Cheney was partly responsible for the “mess” the Bush administration left behind.

On the show, Hagel took a shot at new Republican Party chairman Michael Steele. Asked about Steele’s threat to support primary challengers against Republican Senators Arlen Specter, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe, who each defied GOP leaders and voted for Obama’s stimulus package, Hagel called it “a very foolish, foolish move,” commenting, “there’s no room for that kind of silliness.” He added, “People expect serious people to deal with serious issues and to govern seriously. And when you don’t do that, you become irrelevant.”

Prior to the taping, he also let David Corn of Mother Jones know that there is no love lost between he and El Rushbo:

Rush Limbaugh is “the center of gravity” of the Republican Party, and “we need a new center of gravity,” Hagel told me on Tuesday night….Maddow did not ask Hagel about Limbaugh. But prior to the taping, Hagel was not shy about bemoaning Limbaugh’s drag on his party. He told me that Limbaugh was the opposite of what the Republican Party needs now. “We blew eight years of governing,” Hagel said, excoriating GOPers for having “run up” the national debt. “You can only blame Ted Kennedy for so much,” he remarked.

Hat tip: A Kleinheider Joint

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He looks pretty good.

He looks pretty good.

Mike Morrow over at the Tennessean’s In Session blog asks a very good question, “Why is it so bad that Rush Limbaugh said he wants President Obama’s economic policies to fail when Nashville talk radio host Steve Gill said it would be good if John McCain were elected and ‘dies maybe’?”

Back on Oct. 3, just after the vice presidential debate, Gill, whose program airs on WLAC-AM, said there wasn’t a “dime’s worth of difference between Barack Obama and John McCain,” then said about one-quarter of the way through the program,

“Now, you know, vote for John McCain, because then Sarah Palin gets to be vice president, and we can just hope John McCain dies maybe. And yeah, then you get something good.”

Morrow has more. I guess this is the kind of stuff that passes for humor over at the radio shack that Gill built.

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