Right-Wing Media Already Feeding Its Post-Election Anger

An article in Sunday's Los Angeles Times takes a look at how the right-wing media is responding to Obama's victory last week. Already, it seems, the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have started to rile up their listeners/viewers by going after Obama. The relationship of Fox News and the Obama administration will be particularly interesting to watch, given that Fox News was cut out of the questioning at the first Obama press conference. As for Obama's harshest critics among fellow politicians, the New York TImes reported yesterday on how many of them have, for various reasons, rushed to praise him.

From the LA Times:

Opening his first post-election rant against the president-elect, Limbaugh launched in with a certain relish. "The game," he told his radio listeners, "has begun."

Sean Hannity, on the other hand, insisted on feigning a post-election detente, telling his Fox News television audience last week, "I want Barack Obama to succeed."

Didn't he think anyone would notice that, just a moment later, he was back parroting the failed campaign argument that Obama is a "mystery"?

"I fear [this] is the guy that has these radical associations 20 years ago," Hannity added, an odd way of demonstrating support for the new commander in chief.

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Heard any other big names already turning up the vitriol against Obama? Let us know.

Comments

[BelGazou]

It certainly seems that long-term substance abusers are particularly attracted to the neocons (ie: Limbaugh, Cindy McCain, President Bush II, Dennis Hopper) to name a few that come to mind immediately. It does appear that a good amount of self-inflicted brain damage is necessary to be a neocon.

[BruceNM]

If I had a really filthy sock, four is just what I have been wearing while I was looking out of the cow barn, I can't think of a more useful thing to do with it then stuff it in to Rush Limbaugh's mouth. I would have of course an additional sock and I'm sure that would fit right nicely in Sean Hannity's mouth. And I could buy a lot of socks if I need to.

[Faultline]

Nice... if you can scare up some boots I could suggest where to put those as well.

[BruceNM]

Let me try that again:

f I had a really filthy sock, fhat I had been wearing while I was looking out of the cow barn, I can't think of a more useful thing to do with it than stuff it in to Rush Limbaugh's mouth. I would have of course an additional sock that I'm sure that would fit right nicely in Sean Hannity's mouth. And I could buy a lot of socks if I need to.

[dotbed1]

There are many on the right on the verge of suicide and it is quit refreshing to watch . Shawn Hannity. Bill O'Reilly , Limbaugh , Joe Scarbrough,and Pat and Bay Buchanan are yesterdays news and mouth piecies for the far right and no one is listening to them .The new voices of change are Keith Olberman , Rachel Maddow {wonderful }, and Chris Mathews who did a complete 3/60 in the last days of the campaign . It was very refreshing to watch as Chris gradually mad the change and become an Obama man .Chris is really one of the smartest journalists on tv when it comes to all the ends and outs of Politics . As a political junky I watched Chris to fully understand politics.

[Forester]

angry frightened overfed white men following the rants of rush

[harveylisbon]

Speaking of where the right is headed, take a look at this (below). Some electoral maps that show what it would have looked like if only white people had voted, only men, only people making under a certain income, et cetera. Very cool, and it shows the extent of Obama's sweeping victory:
http://washingtonindependent.com/17988/this-is-what-the-2008-electoral-map-would-look-like-if-the-election-were-decided-by-fill-in-the-blank
I've never heard of The Washington Independent, but it seems like it's worth checking out.

[Zork4]

Check it out. And then imagine 4 and 8 years from now.

Thanks Harvey

[HamletsMill]

Thank you! Very useful information.!

[JaneDesMoines]

Fox stooped to a new low Sunday 11-9-08 . I just happened to be channel surfing and caught the "Redeye Show." They showed a clip of Barack Obama giving his press conference, BUT they had a voiceover of what sounded like a white guy imitating an old stereotypical Black southern drawl, in the Amos and Andy manner. I was astounded that they could get away with this! I emailed Fox -- how can they allow this to happen?

[bnye]

I've tried to listen to Rush again recently. The hate and divisiveness that you hear on that show is really disturbing. HIs audience must be a really bitter, hate-filled bunch.

[janh64tx]

Welcome to MY world - that is the disgust I feel every time I read Newsweek, NYTimes, Time, WaPo, HuffPo, etc...etc

[11907281]

Simple things for simple minds. You know all I see here is hate too, from the neocon t-rolls. God you ditto heads are divorced from reality.

[HillbillyBob]

If you dislike it here so much, no one is keeping you here. I don't read the right wing anymore.
Same ol same ol. I m tired of it being on the airwaves, the radio and almost no escape from the drumbeat of how much the right hates us for being gay, or of color, or of a different religious opinion than their version of religion which bears very little, make that no relation to what Jesus said.
Just disjointed quotes from Leviticus about how abominable we are. Don't care anymore either. I have reached the point after 30 years (since ronnyraygun, I have been an adult that long) of the strident hate that their wishes, dreams etc do not mean diddly squat to me, since they have spent so much time, energy and money doing this vilification and demonization of gay people. Oh I am gay, have faith, bitter and we have guns to keep our family safe because we are afraid of what the insane right might do.

[nasada]

we are waiting for them to don their sheets any day now. rush is their grand wizard. so he'll wear red.

[HillbillyBob]

I have had to defend my home from white sheeted kkkreestians before. I can do it again. If I had to. I am so sick of the right wingers.
I used to have a sales route through PalmBeach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. There were areas in the western end counties that had only that blabber mouth on.
I hear he is even worse now. gag How can they live with them selves? Well what ever it is it may not be that they are alive, but just animated effigies of ...........

[peggyleg]

Boo!!! Did I scare you?? You're ignorance of conservatives is very telling by our ridiculous comment...

[ShareTheWealth]

Like a shark that must constantly be moving or die, the right wing hydra-headed Limbaugh/Hannity/O'Reilly/Coulter/Malkin spin-monster must constantly be chomping the truth and spewing it back as venomous hateful and fearful lies into the willing open mouths of their idiot-yahoo audience.

Rather than slither away into darkness now that Obama has been elected president, the wretched beast will grow in its grotesqueness, coiled and endlessly striking out with its slime to sew hate, fear, ignorance and discontent like a monster in nightmare that doesn’t die. . .

[janh64tx]

Yeah....if only the conservative critics would sit down, shut up or disappear, just as the liberals did from 2000-2008 - RIGHT?

[Zork4]

Many conservatives felt that the management of the war and the politicizing of US attorneys and the allowing of torture was bad policy, but they took a while to speak up.

If the conservative critics had acted like conservatives and not given the Administration a pass while they doubled the national debt for a war based on lies, they wouldn't have got much criticism from me. But they politicized everything after "winning" two very very narrow "victories" and made a complete hash of things. Unless you buy the theory that the point was to make government unworkable by loading it up with so much debt it couldn't work. These clowns may have destroyed the USA.

Karl Rove's idea of bi-partisan was "do it my way". Now that Obama has won a real mandate you watch, he'll be a lot more bipartisan than Cheney, Rove, Delay, Frist, McConnell, Gonzales and Rumsfeld ever were. I don't count Bush, he was never his own man--not bright enough.

If you think the Bush Administration has been a friend to America's long term interests you are misguided and ignorant and only talking from disappointment. Give the Obama guy a chance, he isn't the radical maniac the right said he was as they tried everything to defeat him. He's a half Irish-American, half Kenyan Christian American. A highly intelligent family man who has the toughest job in the world and is inheriting a great big mess. He's going to need your help too.

[firelass]

I voted for Kerry last time around and have been pretty much opposed to Bush these last eight years, but no one can honestly say that the Dems left Bush alone. That is what we have in this country...freedom of speech. For eight years Bush has been the whipping boy, now it's the other side's turn and you they don't like it.
Unless Obama takes away freedom of speech, then expect things to remain quid pro quo.

[berrycooda]

Here we go again....

The Bush bashers are leaving and the Barack bashers are starting....

America the beautiful.....

Damned if you don't and damned if you do.

Keeping them honest sounds more like ....lets dig up the dirt.
How else can the media make big bucks if they don't keep it juicy so people
will want to get to hear the rest of the story. That may or may not be relevant.

[poppyphil]

All those who truly love America and want our country to face the future with optimism and energy went out last Tuesday to vote for Obama and change. Unfortunately, there are those in the MSM whose very raison d'etre is to provoke, to cajole, to rile those who opposed this president's election. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'reilly and others face a potentially bleak professional future with the Obama team taking the reins of power. These men are professionals, and they each have a right to make a living. But, please, for the sake of those who founded and developed America, in respect to the oft-mentioned Founding Fathers, change your tune immediately.

The provocateurs of the extreme right hold on tenaciously to a core of rabid knuckleheads as their base audience..With any luck, the market for right-wing shock radio will dry up with a successful democratic administration. Those who now decry Obama's historic victory with radio program vitriol might thoughtlessly incite the listening public to violence. You will be held responsible if anything untoward should befall the president-elect.

[AzOutlawz]

What i find funny is the word Anger ,lmao i know Rush is not angry and being a republican myself im not angry and i do not know anyone that is.its seems to be wishfull thinking on behalf of the dem's and liberals.For the main reason reupublicans did not have a real republican even running this ellection,mccain is a freaking democrat with a republican name.But make no mistake about it he is in now way what a republican is nor do we want him in power,between Obama and mccain there was hardly any defference so us republicans felt no real reason to even vote this round..So angry ??? lol no not even close i personally am glad the whitehouse was finnally hit the way most white American men have been for over 20 yrs now with affirmative action in the white house lmao,now that felt good to see.

[Faultline]

Sorry, but what the Hell are you talking about??? Are you trying to say that Obama won the election because of affirmative action? Right after stating that there is no difference between McCain and Obama. Apologies again... but that reminds me of something my Dad used to always say when confronted with nonsense: "sounds like diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain".

[BruceNM]

You expect those people to have a coherent thought, to know what they are talking about? You're wasting your time.

[FunkyP]

Rush not angry? You obviously haven't been listening.

[zest]

Rush and cos revenue stream will go down to a trickle when advertisers track positive programming out performs negative.

[monseree]

I enjoy listening to Rush...he does not spew hate. You should actually listen to him before commenting. You may learn something at "The Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies"

[Vyvjala]

Monseree, you shouldn't let your mind wander, its too small to be out by itself................

[balrog221]

I am a rebublican and I want to barf when I hear him spout off. He was almost single handedly responsible for Clinton getting elected the first time...remember "read my lips" He maligned and punished a great statesman and conservative George HW. Then he made hay on the 8 years of trasjhing Clinton. The definition of dishonest.

[Pastilles]

Rush doesn't spew hate...? Are you kidding me?

[ghostflame]

GOD gave Rush throat cancer. Unfortunately, Science cured it.

[FunkyP]

Make that the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Republican Studies
or LIARS

[Writeonwater]

When fools, buffoons and jackanapes,
will listen to with mouth's agape.
A media man with falsely turgid protrusion,
convinces masses of absurd delusion.
He stabs at wit and jest yet lacks the reason,
the lies he spins are just north of treason.
Pretends to serve the public good,
from his vein infectious falsehood.

He's dares he works to prepare,
and pretends his foes to be unfair.
Though rich and fat and otiose,
avoiding a near overdose.
He remains alive to bicker,
an errant conservative foot-licker.
I wonder if he could manage a Hot Dog on a Stick in a mall.

[lorenzo48]

You should write lyrics for Rage Against the Machine, great lil poem

[foofy]

Rush Limbaugh and Fixed News needs to be marginalized, they are a pathetic minority. Ignore them, they have too long fanned the fires of hatred, lies and scare tactics. They have hijacked our country and turned Americans against each other. It is time we took back our Proud Nation. THEIR WORST FEAR IS THAT WE WILL ALL WORK TOGETHER FOR A BETTER AMERICA. THEY MAKE THEIR LIVING BY DIVIDING US. STOP FANNING THE FLAMES OF FEAR AND TURN THEM OFF. WRITE TO THEIR ADVERTISERS AND STOP BUYING THE PRODUCTS ADVERTISED ON THEIR SHOWS.

[diagonal]

Exactly the correct tactic: go after the advertisers, not the speakers of hate-radio.
In the immortal words of Samuel Goldwyn: "Critics...don't even ignore them".

Just as millions like me contributed $25 to elect Obama, we on the internet can wipe these "hate-rant-entertainers" from the airwaves by writing to their advertisers with the written promise that you will privately NEVER buy their products so long as they sponsor certain people on radio (no need to even mention them by name) and that you will hang signs on freeway overpasses denigrating their products (e.g. "ABC Soap causes skin rashes! DO NOT BUY!"). Also promise to tell everyone by e-mail in a similar "mass campaign" as done by the Obama=Biden team, that the e-mail recipients should also NEVER USE, NEVER BUY their product....even if they stop sponsoring "hate radio"...until "hate radio" leaves the air.

Freedom of speech. You and I cannot get on the radio for "free". Let these "hate radio" people sponsor their own shows.

[foofy]

RIGHT ON!!! CONTACT THE ADVERTISERS FOR RUSH LIMBAUGH AND FOX NEWS!!! STOP USING THE PRODUCTS ADVERTISED ON THEIR PROGRAMS AND LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE DOING IT.

PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. STOP THE HATE SPEAK NOW!! AMERICAN NEEDS TO COME TOGETHER AND WORK TOGETHER. THESE PEOPLE MAKE THEIR LIVINGS BY DRIVING US APART.

[balrog221]

Correct... and the religious zealots of the right as well.

[janh64tx]

A "BETTER America" ???? Who are you kidding? In a BETTER AMERICA, we don't tax businesses so we can PAY 40 bucks an hour to college students for "volunteer" work.
Nor do we charge property taxes to pay for a school which FORCES students to "serve the community" in exchange for a diploma. In a BETTER AMERICA, we don't take money from one family and give it to another, simply because they crossed some arbitrary threshold of income.
In AMERICA, we don't cherish the economic system of VENEZUELA. In a BETTER AMERICA, we don't send barely literate common THUGS door to door registering voters and making up more voters - for $$$. In a BETTER AMERICA we don't force people to rely more and more on a 401K then PENALIZE the profit earners. In a BETTER AMERICA we don't slander innocent OFFSPRING of political opponents for pleasure (or for ANY OTHER REASON). In a BETTER AMERICA we don't destroy a working father who asked a question in front of his home, and LISTENED to the response RESPECTFULLY.

So here is my promise to YOU - I will support YOUR efforts to build this BETTER AMERICA in the same way your ilk has supported BUSH's efforts to build a stronger democracy in EMEA. I will fight you at every intersection. This, I solemnly swear.

[sagopalm]

The republicans remind me of the Knight from 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. They've had their arms and legs cut off and they remain as defiant as ever. "Come back and fight like a Man"!

The general public is turning and walking away, shaking their heads in disbelief.

Give it a rest Rush. The republicans proved they don't deserve the public's trust.
They're thieves. And you? A disingenuous fool filled with more hot air than a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon.

[balrog221]

Not all republicans should be painted with the same brush. I am one who detests the likes of Rush... and you realize that many of us voted for Obama. Hey come back here

[decrepittex]

Welcome to our side. I hope we earn your continued support.

[janh64tx]

All due respect - which arm of the Republican party do you align with, then?
I could not find anything to support from the Obama agenda which could negage the underlying socialist policies. We've already had enough of that from the Republican side. The foreign policy...sounds nice - sounds peaceful....but not realistic. Remember, Bush too thought we could keep our military at home, out of the nation building business, etc....that was wishful thinking, and it will be for Obama as well.