Al Franken on Rush Limbaugh

I've heard Al Franken say this on a television interview.  He repeated it in an interview with Geov Parrish at WorkingforChange.com (05/02/05) to which we can conveniently link:

GP: What do you think the differences are between you and Limbaugh?

AF: I'm glad you asked me that. I use this example a lot. A few months ago, Rush was talking about the minimum wage. Conservatives like to portray it that no one has to raise a family on the minimum wage, the only people who get the minimum wage are teenagers who want to buy an i-Pod. So Rush says, "75 percent of all Americans on the minimum wage, my friends, are teenagers on their first job." And one of the researchers brings this to me, with a smile, and I say, "Well, can you look it up?" And they look it up, the researcher goes to something called the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 60.1 percent of Americans on minimum wage are twenty and above. 39.9 percent, then, are either teenagers or below twelve (laughs). I had several jobs as a teenager, so you figure, what, 13 percent might be teenagers in their first job. Not 75 percent. So where did Rush get his statistic? Well, he got it directly from his butt. It went out his butt, into his mouth, out the microphone, into the air, into the brains of dittoheads. And they believe this stuff.

So we get our labor statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He gets his from the Bureau of Rush's Butt. And that's the difference. We don't do that. That's one of the main differences.

• Al Franken on Rush Limbaugh - Democrat
  • If the scarecrow had a brain (sm) - Republican
    • And if it didn't have a brain, it would be - PRESIDENT.
      • You basically got that right.nm - Democrat
      • and the personal attacks continue - Reality check
        • And ignoring posters who ask intelligent questions (below) because you don't know the answers - continues.
          • Explain please - Reality Chec k
            • There was a question posed to Republican below... - Democrat
              • If the question wasn't posed to me - Reality Check
    • And this has WHAT to do with the fact that the majority..sm - Democrat
      • I guess this question goes unanswered. Seems Republican..sm - Democrat

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hero of the great unwashed said SP was a "babe", "could wear a skirt", had "definable ankles."   I thought sexism was sexism whether complementary or derogatory.  I'll know more after my bath.

I don't think I have wait for the liberal analysis of what Rush said.  I was actually listening on the days he said all the things you referred to above,  Of course, the so-called impoverished in this country are not the only ones with an obesity problem.  Anyone who eats more calories than their body can burn on a daily basis will end up with an obesity problem it's not exclusive to race or class. 

The UNICEF remarks were making fun of a U.N. charity program which, I believe, just last year was documented to be funneling money to Kofi Anan and his cohorts, but of course it was nicely swept under the rug.  Actually, Rush was making fun of Sally Struthers for standing around truly starving people making us feel guilty for not sending money to UNICEF while she's standing there weighing all of 300 pounds herself, and I would bet my life she didn't miss a meal while doing that shoot.

That's not the point.  I know what Rush said, because I heard what Rush said when he said it.  It was satire whether you believe or not.  Again, Rush does it, because he knows it will inflame liberals, and the PC crowd.  He didn't talk about the bloated bellies of the starving people in the context you and the article want to spin it to be. 

You don't get it, and I don't expect you to.  I politely suggest you stick to Air America (for however long it remains on the air), and don't bother yourself with what Rush has to say, because when you call him or anyone else bloated or fat you are seriously defeating your own cause in being outraged that he called someone else fat.

The liberal double standards just don't fly anymore.

Not even in the same league.  Moore and Franken care deeply for our country and presents opinions and facts to make people aware and think about issues.  Coulter churns out books with juvenile insults as titles.

GOP campaign chief John Cornyn (R-Texas) vowed Friday that Republicans would block any attempt by Democrats to seat AL Franken when the Senate gavels into order next week.

Franken is leading Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by a slim 49-vote margin, but more than 1,000 votes have yet to be counted and legal challenges remain.

In a conference call with reporters today, Cornyn, the newly selected head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said: “I think it’s very clear that the people of Minnesota and the courts of Minnesota” should choose between Franken and Coleman, “and not politicians in Washington, D.C.”

“It is the height of arrogance for any leader in Washington, D.C. to tell Minnesota voters whose votes should count and whose votes shouldn’t count,” Cornyn added.

The Texas senator was responding to comments made by Minnesota’s Democratic junior senator, Amy Klobuchar, suggesting Franken should be seated in the upper chamber if he is certified as the winner by the State Canvassing Board. The Board is scheduled to meet Saturday to count at least 1,350 absentee ballots.

"If the Canvassing Board declares a winner, that should be our senator," Klobuchar said last week. Even if a court challenge were to follow, Klobuchar said, "[The Senate] could seat a senator pending the litigation."

But Cornyn said Republicans were prepared to filibuster any attempt to seat Franken.

“There will be no scenario in which Republicans agree” to seat Franken without the complete resolution of legal cases surrounding the election and a certification from the state’s Democratic secretary of state and Republican governor, Cornyn said.

As the recount drags on, legal obstacles await. On Wednesday, Coleman filed a lawsuit alleging that election officials had not adopted uniform vote counting standards across the state. And Cornyn was quick to note that any Minnesota citizens have the right to file legal challenges of their own in the days ahead.

“I really think we need to be patient and allow the process to work its way through,” Cornyn said.

Limbaugh runs away from Limbaugh (Keith Olbermann)

NEW YORK - There is nothing wrong with an unpopular opinion.

Nor is there anything wrong with a subversive one, nor a crazy one. This country was founded on opinions that were deemed by the powers-that-were to be unpopular, subversive, and crazy. Dissent - even when that dissent strays from logic or humanity - is our life’s blood. But if you have one of those opinions, and you express it in public, honesty and self-respect require you to own up to it.

Unless you’re Rush Limbaugh.

On his daily radio soap opera, on August 15, Limbaugh said “Cindy Sheehan is just Bill Burkett. Her story is nothing more than forged documents, there's nothing about it that's real…” The complete transcript of the 860 words that surround those quotes can be found at the bottom of this entry.

Yet, apparently there was something so unpopular, so subversive, and so crazy about those remarks that he has found it necessary to deny he said them - even when there are recordings and transcripts of them - and to brand those who’ve claimed he said them as crackpots and distorters. More over, that amazing temple to himself, his website, has been scrubbed clean of all evidence of these particular remarks, and to ‘prove’ his claim that he never made the remarks in question on August 15, he has misdirected visitors to that site to transcripts and recordings of remarks he made on August 12.

Limbaugh is terrified. And he has reason to be.

Understand this about Limbaugh. He doesn’t believe half the junk he spouts. I’ve met him, and had pleasant enough conversations with him, twice - at the 1980 World Series when he was still a mid-level baseball flunky with a funny name, and once in the mid ‘90s at ESPN when he was just beginning his campaign to get a toehold there. He is a quiet, almost colorless man who, if he could be guaranteed similar success in sportscasting, would sell out the sheep who follow his every word - and would do it before close of business today.

But with that ESPN bid having gone up in flames just under two years ago, and sports forever closed off to him, he’s gotten into what the novelist Robert Graves called a “Golden Predicament” - overwhelming success in a field he really had no intention of pursuing - and he has to keep churning this stuff out every day. And when you’re just free associating to kill time and keep the ditto-heads happy, you sometimes drive right off the end of the pier.

Like on August 15^th.

Since we declared Limbaugh “The Worst Person In The World” two nights later for the remarks about Sheehan, he has had the transcript of his pier-drive expunged (even though he initially thought so much of it, that it was posted as a “featured quote” for paying subscribers to his website). Simultaneously, the hapless Brent Bozell, who runs that scam called The Media Research Center, declared that I was guilty of “distortion” in quoting the Sheehan remarks.

Well, as you’ll see below, the only distortion here, is that which lingers in Limbaugh’s ears. His remarks about Sheehan were so embraced by at least one of his fans that they were preserved on another website, and we can present them in full here. You will notice that nothing has been taken out of context, nothing in the minutes before nor the minutes afterwards mitigates against the utter callousness and infamy of his comments about Sheehan.

A reminder that that’s Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Mother, who when I asked her bluntly if President Bush wasn’t serving her purposes more by not seeing her, was honest enough to answer “yes” without hesitation. And it’s Rush Limbaugh, who so believes in his case against her that he’s too afraid to admit he said this (and who, by the way, has since said of her that, "I'm weary of even having to express sympathy... we all lose things” - as if her son had been a misplaced, er, prescription).

The long preface concluded, here is what Rush Limbaugh said, crazily weaving in and out of the topic of Cindy Sheehan, in his broadcast of August 15. He even wanders back into football, and the very topic that proved his end at ESPN, Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles (honestly, if he ever wanted to be analyzed, he would be such a juicy case that psychiatrists would bid for Limbaugh’s rights). So, as you get deeper into the thicket, you can find the relevant portions about Sheehan, I’ve italicized them. Limbaugh had wandered into this via the news of the withdrawal of the anti-John Roberts advertisement from NARAL:

“They pulled this ad because it wasn't working. They didn't pull this ad because of a bite of conscience or, ooh, this is wrong. And their mistake was they're telling themselves they came out of the barn too soon with it. If they'd have come out of this say a week before September 6th. Well, stop and think about it. If they would have run this ad, if this would have started a week before September 6th, CNN carrying it, and none of the Democrats denouncing it, and without a whole lot of time to gin up, it would have probably had more effect. So I think they're going to learn from this that they didn't keep their powder dry, they just were too eager.

“But the fact that they are too eager -- I mean, Cindy Sheehan is just Bill Burkett. Her story is nothing more than forged documents, there's nothing about it that's real, including the mainstream media's glomming onto it, it's not real. It's nothing more than an attempt, it's the latest effort made by the coordinated left. And all of these efforts are bombing; they're all failing miserably, in and of themselves.

“Now, this is not to say that all is rosy. I don't want you to misunderstand. But I don't get that worked up about it. I have an attitude about it. I've been sharing this with you for the longest time. So I think we're in a new era. The left doesn't get away with this stuff anymore. They're not getting away with it now. I know it's irritating, I know it's frustrating, I know it makes you mad, does me, too, but it's not helpful to the people who are doing this, it is not assisting them.

“They are going to try to claim that Cindy Sheehan is responsible for the Bush poll numbers on Iraq being down, but those numbers were falling before Cindy Sheehan did this. I'm not saying the mainstream press isn't effective in certain areas anymore, I'm not saying the mainstream press doesn't have the ability to shape opinion. Just saying on this, this is not the thing everybody should be worried about. I don't have one in my mind that is, something everybody ought to be worried about, but if you're going to be angry at this, and I understand the anger, and I share some of it, too, the anger here, to me, is how the left and the media are trying to make this bigger than it is.

“But that still takes me back to the fact that they know they're losing, they know they're losing big time. These people are throwing it up against the wall. It's the fourth quarter and all they're doing is throwing long bombs and their quarterback's gotten too tired to finish the game and their wide receiver is out there making all kinds of disparaging comments about the quarterback and getting kicked out of camp.

“The situation with the Philadelphia Eagles pretty much dovetails what's going on with the Democratic Party right now if you ask me. It does. I don't think that we're looking at people who have a posture of confidence. This is not the kind of thing that winners do. It's all done in total desperation, as is the mainstream press's ability to prop it up.

“What's she got? A hundred stragglers have showed up down there, a hundred peaceniks, a hundred long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-smoking FM types, essentially, are down there joining her. And if this were genuine, if this were like it was back in Vietnam -- remember, that's what they're trying to turn this into. They're just reliving the old halcyon days of the anti-war movement in the sixties. They would have had hundreds of thousands of people down there. They would have had mass marches. There would have been the need for riot cops outside Bush's ranch down there. This is so obviously a desperation move.

“Now, I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the woman. I think she's taken the grieving process here to lengths that most people don't, and she's being fueled by all of this attention. But this is just a long way of saying I'm not -- you can call about it and you can talk about it but I just am not that worked up about it because, to me, it's sort of like -- I got an e-mail today from a guy said, "Rush, why aren't you talking about that radio scandal going on?" Why should I talk about it? Why should I talk about that, folks? There's a cardinal rule, when your enemy is destroying themselves, you shut up and you get out of the way and let them do it. And it's happening in countless areas and times on the left. Certain things you do need to give a little nudge, other things you just get out of the way.

“But the longer the Sheehan thing goes on and the longer she's treated as some sort of super-celebrity by the press and the more outrageous things she says, trust me on this, the more people are going to get fed up with it. She's going to become the next Natalee Holloway before it's all said and done.”

E-mail:



KOlbermann@msnbc.com KOlbermann@msnbc.co

Flashback: Carville Wanted Bush to Fail

The press never reported that Democratic strategist James Carville said he wanted President Bush to fail before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But a feeding frenzy ensued when radio host Rush Limbaugh recently said he wanted President Obama to fail.

By Bill Sammon

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just minutes before learning of the terrorist attacks on America, Democratic strategist James Carville was hoping for President Bush to fail, telling a group of Washington reporters: "I certainly hope he doesn’t succeed."

Carville was joined by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who seemed encouraged by a survey he had just completed that revealed public misgivings about the newly minted president.

"We rush into these focus groups with these doubts that people have about him, and I’m wanting them to turn against him," Greenberg admitted.

The pollster added with a chuckle of disbelief: "They don’t want him to fail. I mean, they think it matters if the president of the United States fails."

Minutes later, as news of the terrorist attacks reached the hotel conference room where the Democrats were having breakfast with the reporters, Carville announced: "Disregard everything we just said! This changes everything!"

The press followed Carville’s orders, never reporting his or Greenberg’s desire for Bush to fail. The omission was understandable at first, as reporters were consumed with chronicling the new war on terror. But months and even years later, the mainstream media chose to never resurrect those controversial sentiments, voiced by the Democratic Party’s top strategists, that Bush should fail.

That omission stands in stark contrast to the feeding frenzy that ensued when radio host Rush Limbaugh recently said he wanted President Obama to fail. The press devoted wall-to-wall coverage to the remark, suggesting that Limbaugh and, by extension, conservative Republicans, were unpatriotic.

What an evil, hateful, intolerant, ignorant person, but that explains the following he has with some on these boards.  Birds of a feather stay together.  Maybe it makes them feel more powerful somehow.  If they weren't so hateful, I might even feel sorry for some of these poor misguided souls. 

There seems to be an increasing movement of hate and intolerance in this country, wrapped around the Bible and the flag, neither of which is undeserving of such sacrilage by people who claim to love God and country. 

It's becoming scarier every day to be an American who (1) might not belong to the "right" religion (no pun intended), (2) who thinks that Bush is taking us backwards in time, and (3) who supports our troops by wanting them to come home to their families safe, alive and intact, and to only be used when absolutely necessary, not at the whim of a president who has lies and who can't be trusted.

Who said anything about Jesus?  Maybe I'm a Jew! 

If you go to Rush's w/s, you'll see his "official Obama criticizer," aka "Bo Snerdley."

And speaking of the Jews, it was a Dem. strategist who made the comment in FL that the Jews wouldn't vote for a black man.  That may well be on Rush's w/s as well.  Even Rush hadn't heard that one.

Y'all just make this way TOO easy  too much fun for me!

If you actually studied this stuff you'd know what you're talking about.  Even Greta played the soundbyte of what he said.  It was printed on his web page, and is probably still there. 

I don't have time to get into having studied this literally all my life.

Regardless, if you think that having a Socialist in the White House is the answer and that border security means nothing, then vote away for one.  Ironically, the person who wrote the book "Real Change" before Obama picked it up as his buzz word was Newt Gingrich.  You may have no idea who he even is.

Try looking at JusticeOnTheBorder.com or EyesOnTheBorder.com if you want to compare what Obama & Clinton said about opening our flood gates even more as they pandered to all the illegals. 

You probably also had no idea that he has over 20 million listeners daily.  Literally nobody can touch him.  When you're on top, they always try to topple you. 

Rush is NO racist.  Even so, there's no law against it, whether it be black against white, white against black, etc.

I can't even believe when read things like this. 

Have a nice day.

Did anyone hear R. Limbaugh's comments?  I only caught part of it, but it sounded like he was talking about liberals as though we are satan or something.  "You can't let them do this, or you can't let them do that".  All the time saying "them" like it's a dirty word.  Years ago I used to like him.  Now he disgusts me.   Now more than ever do we need a democrat president - just so I can see their faces and hear them whine.....oh wouldn't that be good.

no meaningful dialogue, just name-calling. 

There Is No Crisis--Summary by: Chris BowersTue Sep 23, 2008 at 16:22

Things are getting a little suspicious about this crisis.

1) Why did the Bush administration suddenly declare a crisis during the final two weeks when Congress would be in session during his presidency? Is it maybe because, after the election, Congress would know it wasn't dealing with Bush anymore?

2) If this is such a sudden crisis, why is it that the Bush administration was drawing up the plan for this bill for months beforehand?

3) Why is it that Congress is supposed to bail out many banks and firms that are actually quite successful and profitable right now, and not just those that are failing?

4) Why is Paulson blatantly lying to Congress about oversight?

5) Where did the $700 billion figure come from?

6) Why is Paulson urging that debate on the matter be held after the legislation is passed?The burden of proof should always be placed on those who are demanding a huge government bailout, not upon those who are skeptical that one is needed. And yet the questions keep mounting, with no answers in sight.

I am not saying that there is no need for government intervention. I am saying that the case for a $700 billion bailout is far from having been made. Until the case is made, there is no need to go forward. We will elect a new President in 42 days. We swear in a new Congress in 103 days. What is the rush? Why does this all of a sudden need to be done while the Bush administration is still in charge? The case hasn't been made, and answers are slow in coming, if they come at all. Chris Bowers :: There Is No Crisis--Summary

The whole point of his show is to create controversy.  Rush isn't just to the right....he's beyond right field.  So, Gingrey had to grovel and apologize to Rush because he disagreed with him and ticked off his *base.*  So, now we know who the *base* is.  I was actually expecting that, and I personally hope it stays that way.  It makes it easier for dems to win elections. 

The funny thing to me is that Obama just mentioned Rush's name in what I took to be a joke.  The pub party is so desparate for leadership that they took it to heart and managed to elevate Rush to a position of supposed power.  Good luck defending Rush's background.....the drugs, the comments, etc.....ROFL.

Unless I missed something, I find it unbelievable that so many here either missed Rush on Saturday at CPAC.  FNC ran it.  I found out (as did Rush) that CNN streamed it, as did CSPAN.  While I haven't looked any other places for what I've heard (and have known for years), Townhall.com has a plenty there. 

Of course, the drivebys will still try to miss the boat on who conservatives are, either by stupidity or by wanting us to (continue to) appear as something we have never been.  Of course, Rush has the entire transcript on his home page.

Where do the majority of these other posters around here get their news?  Wow.

"Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream."

"The difference between Los Angeles and yogurt is that yogurt comes with less fruit. "

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. ... This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting." --on an ad by Michael J. Fox endorsing Claire McCaskill for Senate for supporting embryonic stem cell research

"This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation...I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of the need to blow some steam off?" --on the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal

"And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs,
using drugs, importing drugs.  And the laws are good
because we know what happens to people in societies and
neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if
people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought
to be accused and they ought to be convicted and
they ought to be sent up."

"I am addicted to prescription pain medication."

"Why should Blacks be heard? They're 12% of the population.
Who the hell cares."

"One of the things I want to do before I die is conduct the
homeless olympics...the 10-metre shopping cart relay,
the dumpster dig, and the hop, skip, and trip."

"The only way to reduce the number of nuclear weapons is to use them."

Awesome leader you have there!