Scritti Politti: March 30, 2009

L.A. Times contributor Andrew Klavan DOUBLE DOG DARES YOU intolerable lefties to listen...just listen!...to Rush Limbaugh's show! Because if you did, maybe you wouldn't be so intolerant! EVEN YOUR COMMAS ARE INTOLERANT. And Klavan is here to tell you that in all his many-splendored days, he has "never heard the man utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word!" BETCHA YOU WON'T EITHER, he seems to be saying. He's actually, really, really juvenile.

Klavan is pretending to be publishing an honest account "from liberals who took the bait" next week. I have a good feeling that this won't be a very honest accounting of Limbaugh's history of objectionable cakehole bleats. Before you even send Klavan such Limbaughian classics as "Take the bone out of your nose!" or "Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?" or "James Earl Ray deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor," [CORRECTION: Many thanks to our Media Monitor Brian Dennert for urging me to check into this last quote. Sorry to say, it's an example of me being snookered by what amounts to an online urban legend. At best, the James Earl Ray quote is "disputed," for what it's worth, I think there's credible evidence that it's simply a lie. I regret the error!] let me head you off by saying that this guy is ABSOLUTELY going to weasel out of explaining past instances, so don't bother. But, if you find yourself listening to Rush this week, and you send Klavan an example of Limbaugh saying something "racist, hateful, or stupid," just CC me, and I'll make sure your comments are accounted for.

I guess Rush needs all the ratings help that the L.A. Times can provide. Times are hard, I guess, and everyone's in need of a bailout.

Your Pissing Match Of the Week: Via Taegan Goddard, from this past Sunday:

Both ABC's This Week and NBC's Meet the Press will host Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner this weekend and they are both touting it as his first interview with a Sunday morning program, the Huffington Post reports.

The difference: ABC will tape Geithner's interview first, while NBC's interview will be live.

Jesus, nerds. It's just Timothy Geithner. Settle down.

Annals Of Greetings For Liberators: Sure, I really can't imagine why the average Iranian would have any problem getting part of their country bombed unilaterally, so long as it's the right part. I mean, I can allow an argument over whether the idea has merit, but can we stop all the deluding ourselves, please?

Mother, Courage: Postcards From Your Momma bloggers Jessica Grose and Doree Shafrir are celebrating the publishing of Love Mom: Poignant, Goofy and Brilliant Messages From Home by taking on all of your momma-centric inquiries - with special guests: THEIR MOMS - over at Jezebel.

Another Potentially Lucrative Print-Media Market Ruined By The Web: From Freakonomics: "Does panhandling work better through the web? A Houston father and son team thinks so. They gave a homeless man named Timothy Dale Edwards a sign to hold while panhandling; it directed passersby to his website, PimpThisBum.com. In less than two months, the site has garnered $50,000 in pledges and donations." Okay? How much revenue do you have to raise before the feelings of UTTER, GHASTLY SHAME start to diminish?

Wayback Machine: You know, the failure of the press and of pollsters to correctly suss out how the New Hampshire primary was trending last year is legendary. It's been written about, discussed, debated, blogged, rued, lamented, cited, and recited, over and over again for months. Still can't get enough? Well, celebrate the the structural flaws underpinning the statistics in a single instance of polling all over again with a commemorative 123-PAGE PDF DOCUMENT. Treat yourself to the PDF that people are already calling the "What, now?"

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Comments

[Joey2250]

04:19 PM on 04/01/2009

Klavan = Epic Fail, Where do we collect our winnings?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/01/limbaugh-obama-may-give-g_n_181888.html

[serecovery]

11:07 AM on 03/31/2009

Why can't Huffington Post get an up to date picture of him? The picture for this article, he's barely 275 pounds. Now he's way over 350 pounds.

[BelGazou]

08:58 PM on 03/31/2009

I thought that was an old pix, either that or he's back on the Hillbilly Heroin Diet.

[thaggas]

03:36 PM on 04/01/2009

It's all very airbrushed. They did the same thing for Kardashian.

[Genep34]

10:28 AM on 03/31/2009

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Mr. Limbaugh, as well as M. Backmann, Glenn Beck, S Hannity, Eric Cantor, Mr. McHenry, Fred Phelps, A Coulter and many more for providing the means to bury the republic party. They are quite entertaining and doing to the GOP what the Dems could only have hope to do in their wildest dreams.

Thanks guys.

[BelGazou]

09:04 PM on 03/31/2009

Now that they're outta here, they are quite fun. Limbaugh - Palin in 2012!

[BlackJAC]

08:42 AM on 03/31/2009

I'm reminded of how some gop told me that the burning of Harry Potter books wasn't the intolerance I claimed it was but rather the practice of free speech.

[Christober]

07:46 AM on 03/31/2009

Mr. Linkins,

As much as I dislike Limbaugh I feel something must come to your attention here. First of all, if I am not mistaken you are a proponent of using factual information. If that is the case, then you should have really took the time to find out whether or not Limbaugh actually said the quote involving James Earl Ray. I had always thought you were better than those other people who simply see something on the internet and regurgitate it; which in this case is effectively passing on a lie. Do your homework next time! It's mistakes like this which give people like Limbaugh credibility when he screams about being taken out of context, etc., etc. Sheesh!

[walk0nwalls]

09:20 AM on 03/31/2009

Who gives a flip.

[Christober]

02:19 PM on 03/31/2009

Obviously not you. I guess you feel it is simply fine to print false quotes. I can see your integrity, shining brightly all the way from here. What a beacon for all to follow. Hey everybody, its now o.k. to make crap up and attribute it to people and write about it in a setting where hundreds of thousands if not millions will read it. "walkonwalls" has now given his approval. Remember though, when conservatives make up quotes and attribute it to Obama or other Democratic leaders, it won't matter cause as in the words of our now great philosopher walkonwalls....who gives a flip?

BTW, I went ahead and inserted the question mark for you walkonwalls. Usually one is needed when a interrogative sentence is formed.

[klayne]

07:33 AM on 03/31/2009

I stopped listening to Rush Limbaugh about 3 weeks ago, was able to get off anti-depressants. No more doom and gloom for me. Life is good!

[ena]

07:08 AM on 03/31/2009

Jason, I enjoy your column so much. Thanks.

[joceeco]

06:58 AM on 03/31/2009

That guy put so much junk into his body. I am surprised he's not dead already!

[proudblackman]

06:52 AM on 03/31/2009

at least he didn't triple-dog-dare me.

[swo68]

05:53 AM on 03/31/2009

First, Klavan is right.

Second...

"I guess Rush needs all the ratings help that the L.A. Times can provide."

That's backwards. This is news worthy because Rush is in the article. Not because the article is in the LA Times.

[tmaxPA]

11:42 AM on 03/31/2009

I heartily disagree. Rush has been in lots of places the last few weeks (months/years/decades). It is newsworthy (as far as being mentioned on HuffPo) because it was in the LA Times.

And in point of fact, Rush does need the ratings help. He was never very popular to begin with (as opposed to widely distributed, mostly to AM stations and the AFN, where he is generally the only talk radio available in the timeslot) and his audience has been evaporating along with Republican popularity in general.

[ccclj]

12:50 PM on 03/31/2009

He has the highest ratings of anybody in radio. if he is in trouble then the rest are f'd

[swo68]

04:01 PM on 03/31/2009

"It is newsworthy (as far as being mentioned on HuffPo) because it was in the LA Times."

If you were making a logical argument, all stories from the LA Times would be posted here. Rush is driving the story. Not the LA Times.

"He was never very popular to begin with (as opposed to widely distributed...etc"

Again, zero logical thought. WHY does someone become so widely distributed? WHY is he "generally the only talk radio available in the timeslot?" Not because he isn't popular.

[FightingTheRight]

12:01 PM on 03/31/2009

After the 2006 Congressional elections, Rush admitted to lying to his listeners.

You are still falling for it.

Conned by a Republi-con.

[swo68]

03:57 PM on 03/31/2009

Obama admitted to having 5 wives.

See how we can say whatever we want without providing a link?

[sandan]

03:02 AM on 03/31/2009

I did listen to Limburger in his earlier days when I was ferrying cars to major cities in Texas , and on the outskirts, Limburger was the only station I could get in english.

He made a standing offer to his listeners that if they caught him in a lie, he would pay them $10K.
I can't recall how many weeks his offer lasted, but they were few.

If he made the same offer today at $10, his office phone lines would be swamped.

Relax folks, this plump Turkey will have his day and it will be Thanksgiving for us all!

[propitiousmoment]

10:04 AM on 03/31/2009

and no pardon from the governor!!!!

[jsgaetano]

11:02 AM on 03/31/2009

Or commuted sentence from the Pretzelnit.

[jsgaetano]

02:43 AM on 03/31/2009

So in other words, he's going to print true story accounts of far-right lunatics pretending to be liberals "converted" by the genius of Rush.

[HST]

02:24 AM on 03/31/2009

Klavan? Is that the guy from Cheers? Cliff Klavan? Wasn't he a postal worker?

[thundermummy]

11:07 PM on 03/30/2009

I had an 8 hour drive between home and college in the early 90's, most of it on route 17 through NY. Most of the time the only radio stations I got were bible thumping religion, top 40 country, and Rush Limbaugh. I learned to be alone with my thoughts thank you.

[ena]

07:07 AM on 03/31/2009

Thank you, I avoid route 17 whenever possible. The further upstate you go you can see confed flags in windows.

[kareemachan]

10:48 PM on 03/30/2009

I read through Rushie's "speech" at the CPAC convention in DC, and seriously think that he's on multiple drugs again. He was fairly incoherent, jumped from subject to subject - kinda sounding like Palin at her worst - and stumbled on his words a lot. So having waded through that pile of merde, I'll pass on listening to him. I've looked at comments he has made in the past, and I refuse to listen to anything else he'll spew out.