Lighten the F Up!
Rush Limbaugh calls the President a “jackass,” an “economic illiterate,” and an “idiot, where capitalism is concerned.” This, somehow, equates to “taking his contempt for the President to a new level,” and “opinion media rhetoric gone too far,” and leads to the question “Is it appropriate for an individual broadcasting over government regulated airwaves to call the sitting president a jackass?”
A year ago, we were worried about right-wing talk show hosts using the language of revolution and paranoid fear-mongering in a way likely to incite violence (which, it must be emphasized, has not actually materialized). And there are indeed legitimate concerns about the spreading of inaccurate and intentionally misleading allegations of fact (ie, Obama’s a secret Muslim, a Kenyan anti-colonialist, a terrorist sympathizer, etc.), and the effects those have on our democracy.
But now we’re saying that worse than any of this is Rush Limbaugh expressing his opinion that the President is a “”jackass,” an “economic illiterate,” and an “idiot, where capitalism is concerned”? Crikey – if that’s inappropriate, then I don’t see how any criticism of a sitting President would ever be appropriate. Indeed, I struggle to name more than two or three politicians that I would consider to be something other than a “jackass.” Fer crissakes, this sitting President’s party proudly uses as its symbol…..the noble jackass!
There is a difference between disrespecting the office, and disrespecting the man. This is the latter. Need I remind everyone of the things said about Bush? Or the off color jokes about Clinton? The ability to freely criticize our elected officials is part of what separates us from Iran or Venezuela. People need to stop being to thin skinned.Report
@Casey Head, what’s wrong with disrespecting the office?Report
The first quoted phase occurs in the article linked; the second does not. Unless the second link is not pointing to the right site, the links you provided don’t support the case you’re making. The ABC blog simply says that Limbaugh is ramping up his invective; it does not make a value judgement.Report
@Leah @ Unequally Yoked, Link fixed.
I’d also add that to say that calling the President a “jackass,” “economic illiterate”, etc., equates to Limbaugh ramping up his rhetoric is just, well, bizarre. That’s pretty mild rhetoric – not only for Limbaugh, but for just about any ideologically partisan commentator.Report
@Mark Thompson,
At least he didn’t call Obama an upstart.Report
@Mike Schilling, linky no worky.Report
@Trumwill,
Damnation. Try this: http://www.filmsite.org/duck3.htmlReport
They might have used better language, but The Economist made the same basic argument a few weeks ago- namely, that Obama needs to prove that he’s not an economic illiterate and quick or investment is going to dry up completely.
But, I agree- the emphasis on speaking appropriately is totally bizarre (and not just because the left once led the free speech movement, although, you know, I’m just saying!).Report
@Rufus F.,
ABC News is not “the left”, even if Rush thinks it is.Report
Hamilton talked about his, “..unqualified conviction of his unfitness for the station contemplated” with regards to John Adams and the Presidency. He didn’t call him a jackass…but insults are as old as the Republic. I thought it could never get uglier than the Clinton years and then liberals proved me wrong during the Bush administration. I have no doubt we’ll be looking back wistfully on the Obama administration when President BlahBlah is in office 20 years from now.
The media sucks. That should be the takeaway from this post IMO.Report
Agreed, they seriously need to lighten up.Report
if that’s inappropriate, then I don’t see how any criticism of a sitting President would ever be appropriate.
Which is what the Dems want – at least for themselvesReport
Obama is an economic illiterate. Look at his idea to socialize student loans. In his Rolling Stone interview he said, “We wrestled away billions of dollars of profit that were going to the banks and middlemen through the student-loan program, and now we have tens of billions of dollars that are going directly to students to help them pay for college.”
Those profits don’t stay with the bank dummy, they go to the shareholders, the largest of which are state pension funds. Why let the market work when the gov’t and taxpayers can subsidize low interest rates for student loans?Report
@Scott,
And what’s better for the economy than transferring wealth from the young to the old?Report
@Mike Schilling,
I suppose folks should be provided with a college education at gov’t expense or should the lenders lend money for free? An education is an investment that pays off in the long run.Report
@Scott, not always.Report
@Scott, Paying economic rents to private corporations to administer government programs is not “making the free market work”, its a state-granted monopoly, the very worst possible form of organization. Ignoring this because you want to complain about Obama is economic illiteracy.Report
Wake me up when people start trotting out the Nazis.Report
@Jaybird, Mr. Iott, line 1.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/men-who-play-nazis-for-fun-try-to-explain/?partner=rss&emc=rssReport
@Gold Star for Robot Boy, The problem with the politicians today is that they can’t even do the Nazi thing right.Report
You, Freddie, and probably many others here are “jackasses,” “neurological illiterates,” and “idiots, where autism is concerned.”
Women, blacks, Asians, Irish, homosexuals… This time is always different.
Gentlemen indeed. You don’t meet your own standards. I dare you to post this or not delete it!!!Report
@Bill, wait, we have Irish here?Report