Huff TV: Arianna on Countdown Discussing Rush Limbaugh And The GOP

Arianna discussed Rush Limbaugh and The GOP Smear of Graeme Frost with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Comments

[drblack]

If Rush were an "average" American he would be doing at least 10 years for his Oxycontin troubles. Forging prescriptions, having his maid get them, possession, possession with intent etc....,an­y non-famous person would be in jail.

[drblack]

Rush, O'reallY?, Coulter etc...thes­e guys are all entertainers. Anyone who actually takes them seriously or uses their ideas as a template for reality is truly mad.
They are funny in their insanity.

[Clarabell]

drblack,

You may be right, but how funny is it that these lunatics picked our president?

[9Hockeyman]

They are not entertainers. If they were, their bullshit would have been old many years ago. They are the messengers of hate sent by the wingnuts. They are not funny, they are stupid

[ParacleteofKavorka]

Unfortunately, they are not harmless.

[bikerdude]

I love it when Keith Olbermann refers to Rush as the comedian Rush Limbaugh..­.

[umber2echo]

So, you think that Coulter is funny when she attacks 9/11 widows and says that Jews need to be perfected?

Yes, that's so funny I'm falling off my chair. I can't breathe. When Coulter says things that could come out of the mouths of Al Quaeda or Ahmadinejad she's NEVER BEEN FUNNIER!!!!

[Zenobius]

I don't know. Rush is playing a valuable role for the Republicans. People who are getting worked up against Rush's insults to the kid are not not getting worked up at George Bush's veto. It is better for the Republicans to have Rush, who's just a media agitator, take the flak than Bush. And they probably prefer Bush taking the heat to someone who might run for election again doing so.

The real problem is, after all, the lack of a US National Health insurance system. After all, it is not only kids that need health care. The reason for the this lack is Republican resistance to European style social democracy. The Democrats have accepted SCHIP as a poor substitute for a real national health insurance program; the Republicans are unwilling to accept even that.

In passing I note that the reason Rush stays on the air while Imus is run off is that the advertisers wouldn't back Imus. If we want to run Rush off the air, we'd have to go after his advertisers.

[Opus007]

Very good point. Rush is like the clown at the rodeo diverting the bull's attention to save the comboy's ass.

[skatscan]

I would boycott the products advertised on Rush's show if only a legitimate company with a product I liked advertised on his show.

[mpgarr]

If you have listened to Rush any amount at all over the years--should it be any surprise at what Rush did in this case--Arianna is so correct about the modus operandi of the rightdings talking heads-they project their worst behavior on their "enemies" (their enemies being anyone who does not accept at face value what they believe)--
Ann Coulter is certainly a practicioner of projection----
As Ariana pointed out---the Frost family should otherwise be the kind of family the right would champion and hold up as good Americans but only so long as they play along with the "right" side and will serve as a prop for the right-but be a prop for the "left" and ohhh boyyy--they are dupes, evil, not good Americans and all of that crap.

[moderationsmuse]

I have to point out that Arianna is, of course, doing the same thing herself. "Projecting," she calls it.

And you're doing it too. And perhaps I'm doing it. So what.

Back to specifics. Everyone here comes back to a small little group: Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, et al, as though they represent the Repubican view. They represent their own views and they are entertainers who exaggerate views for the sake of stirring up just the sort of argument that you see here.

Want to hear the serious, intellectual Republican view? Okay, let's have a long conversation about some column by David Brooks.

The readers and writers at this forum are the ones who are setting the tone. Want a more elevated tone? Ask some more intelligent questions.

What, however, is gained by the continual ranting about Coulter, the RightWing, and all that? Doesn't it get a little tiresome?

How many of your libbers are watching Univision? This "Republican" who lives in an area with a large hispanic population sees an opportunity and is trying to learn Spanish. I've got a show on Univision that I watch -- and sort of get -- called "Yo Amo A Juan Querendon.­"

It's very funny and wonderfully familiar and yet very different from American tv.

We live in an amazing time when exposure to ideas and culture is available as never before. You ought to get out more, see life, smell the roses!

[johnmorgan]

No, Arianna Huffington is NOT projecting in this interview.

[AnnoyedCanuck]

But Coulter, Limbaugh, O'Reilly DO represent "the Republican view". Their dismissive, distorted and predictably ideological views are very alike, and are consistent with the views of a wide range of conservative pundits, from Peggy Noonan to William Kristol to David Frum to David Brooks, etc - a consistency, moreover, that does not compare with the varied range of Democratic opinion.

Many of these spokespersons for the right actively co-ordinate their collective media message. For example, Conservatives pundits, reporters, legislators, appointees and bureaucrats in Washingon DC have been meeting for years at Grover Nordquist's breakfast meetings to co-ordinate strategy. Think-tanks and conferences provide other venues for strategy and planning. This is far more developed and systematic than what happens on the Democratic side.

Given these facts, going after "the Republican view" is entirely appropriate.

As for "ranting about Coulter, the RightWing [sp], and all that", well, what's your problem? Don't you think people have a right to express their views? And what about the fact that so-called conservatives have violated almost everything their philosophy supposedly stands for (i.e., fiscal restraint, limited government, the judicious use of military force)? This hypocritical disconnect demands criticism.

Have fun with Univision. I hope you also are also open-minded enough to look as what other cultures and countries have done to successfully address the need for access to health care, social services, education and equality of opportunity. There's a big world outside the blinkered limits of conservative philosophy.

[AtticusinPa]

Yes, I want to hear the serious Republican view. Which is why I used to read Bill Buckley and still read George Will et al. And will follow this weeks testimony by former Republican AG Dick Thornburg about the politicization of the Dept of Justice.

But as the Republicans in power still rely on Rush, Ann etc. and refuse to renounce such ad hominem attacks, you cannot blame us for thinking that they, too, express the Republican view. It was the Republican house members who passed a resolution praising Rush.

This is your problem and it is damaging the country. Care to stop it? and then we can have a civil dialogue.

And dont hand out that crap about meeting us halfway. Everytime we give you an inch you take a mile. NCLB? Okay, we compromised and W stuffed the funding. FISA, okay we compromised and W ignored it and did as he pleased.

You want civil discourse? Lose the harpies.

[MEHRRH]

Arianna's comments at the end are quite accurate. It's hard to see the line between the mainstream and the lunatic fringe. When the mainstream is supporting so much that has been antithetical of America, the difference between them and the lunatics at the edges is nearly non-existent.

[Maxx61]

Conservatives decry the appearance of this boy alongside Democrats yet have no problem with Bush standing in front of uniformed props...oo­ps, I meant soldiers..­.everytime he wants to talk about why we should remain in a broken country like Iraq to fight the "war on terror."
I've never seen a President whore out the soldiers and its bases like Bush. You couldn't get the guy anywhere near the cockpit of a plane when he was in the 'Guard but these past few years, you'd think when he's not in the oval office, he's down at the local VFW chomping on a cigar and telling war stories.
Spare us CONS your fake anger at seeing this brave 12-year-old tell it like it is.

[moderationsmuse]

I think there's a difference between the commander in chief standing with soldiers, with the very men and women he is PUTTING IN HARMS WAY, and Reid's use of the boy. And obviously you aren't much of a fan of soldiers and thanks for sparing us crocodile tears over causalities. Meanwhile, au contraire, as a "conservative, I really have no problem with Reid's trying to put a human face to his claim. I just want to hear more about the specifics of a program, as to why one is to be preferred to another. I think your stereotypes are so silly. Republicans have kids, too, my dear. I, a rather poor Republican, am a parent and need health insurance. But it's more a question of what works, what doesn't, and the best way of financing and administering it.

One might ask why Democrats are so willing to dismiss the details as though the mechanism of the program has no significance at all. Usually the things you hide are the very things that cause the contention.

[bdl0715]

The bill is available online at c-span.org or house.gov for anyone that cares to actually read the truth.

[LindaJay]

"Republicans have kids, too, my dear. I, a rather poor Republican, am a parent and need health insurance. But it's more a question of what works, what doesn't, and the best way of financing and administering it."

Sounds like you don't realize that SCHIP has been around for awhile and was already helping people and already supported by both dems and repubs - and the president himself before he decided that he wanted to show his base that even though he has brought us the largest deficits in history, spending money we don't have, that he is really about fiscal restraint. All this bill does is keep the program going and expand it to more people.

Why expand it? Well if you really are a poor person without health insurance, then you know very well that health insurance costs have leaped in the past few years. I barely afford my own health insurance, and my premiums over the past couple of years have gone up by over 70%. Fuel prices have also soared. People who might have barely scraped up enough to pay for health insurance a couple of years ago would not be able to afford it at today's rates.

So why did our moron-in-chief really veto it? So he could show his base how tough he is on spending. Of course, that's only spending that helps anyone in the US who is not a corporation. Those folks have an open checkbook, and it doesn't matter how bankrupt the US will be for the next couple of generations paying off his little greed fest.

[bikerdude]

No one is dismissing the details. The republicans are the ones who try to obscure the fact that they don't want to expand any government program. We will eventually have to have single-payer, universal healthcare or we will perish. The government will take the lead and fund this program or we will perish. The future of our country relies on us doing the right thing now. Eventually a brave soul will not only point out, but push into law the same health care plan that cover the legislature and the executive branch. You would think that they would use this plan to

[Maxx61]

I'm a retired soldier...­nice effort in putting one's foot in one's mouth. Do a search and you'll fine I've been here quite some time and few HuffPo regulars support the military as vigourously as I, which in no small part, explains why I can see right through the transparency of this President while he "uses" my fellow vets as backdrops. At least the good news is many of them (especially returning ones) are now beginning to realize it.

[brooklyncitizen]

"One might ask why Democrats are so willing to dismiss the details as though the mechanism of the program has no significance at all. Usually the things you hide are the very things that cause the contention­."

Yes . Iraq. Enjoy spending more$$$$ down the toilet for this illegal invasion and murder of 1 million people.

Surely if we can find more and more money for this madness then health insurance for poor kids should not be a burden.

Why aren't you asking what happenned to the 12 BILLION that DISSAPPEARED in Iraq????????
THat could have financed many childrens.

[hellenhat]

Not to mention trotting out all the
"snowflake babies" when he vetoed stem cell research..­.....isn't selective memory wonderful?

Now if we are able to practice that in January '09, maybe our nightmare will be over.

[lisakaz]

Rush must still be on drugs. Can't believe the Scrooges won again.

[srmorris]

In a strange way, I think Rush is like Lindsay or Brittany or Anna Nicole, with lives so ridiculous many people can't help tuning in to see what happens next. I've done it myself. I've been on a long drive and, while rolling through the stations, stopped on Rush's show and listened for a while, appalled and disgusted but strangely fascinated.

The problem is that their isn't a a large percentage of our population which actually use LIndsay Lohan as a political rallying point. It's one thing to uncontrollably slow down to glance at a car wreck. It's another thing to build a philosophy on rubber necking.

[TimmySlagle]

BTW,

The accusation that Rush was imitating the way the boy talks is way off base. If you ever listened to Rush regularly, you would know that's the same voice he uses anytime he imitates a child.

Secondly, did you all forget Rush is deaf? How could he be doing an impression, of a voice he's never heard?

Silly Liberals..­..

[SaskiaStars]

he has an implant that helps him hear - how else could he be able to hear the words the kid said?

silly rush apologist.­........

[TimmySlagle]

"he has an implant that helps him hear"

Yeah, but it's not very good. He has to have a transcriptionist type up what callers are saying on the phone.

He also never listens to the News. He just reads the close captioning. SO--UNLESS­--THE--CNN­--CAPTIONE­R--TYPED--­THE--BOYS-­-REMARKS--­LIKE--THIS­, Rush would have never known he had an impediment.

[transendentilist]

Wow, that's a lame excuse. I hope rush doesn't call himself a christian. No genuine christian, anywhere, would veto a bill that protects and strengthens our children's hope for a healthy life.
And tim, I hope you don't call yourself a christian either. These people in the white house are robber barons, and don't give a rat's ass about our nation's children.

[TimmySlagle]

"I hope you don't call yourself a christian either"

I don't.

And by the way, this expansion wasn't about "children," it was about expanding benefit elegibility to adults up to the age 25.

The President and the Republicans in Congress were perfectly willing to increase SCHIP spending on children, they objected to insuring adults. The "children" debate is a Democrat attempt to distract from the real issue.

[moderationsmuse]

What is a Christian?

Christians can have good cause to veto this bill since some of the financing would come from revenues on cigarettes. And smoking is an addiction and terrible health problem itself. This is what I mean about not bothering about boring details of the program.

And Republican­s-the-robb­er-barons. Some Republicans are indeed very rich, as are some Democrats who are very, very rich. Why are people so stirred up about the rich? Are you envious? If so, why? Some people have turned out rather badly thanks to their money, young Paris Hilton is a famous example.

What you don't wish to know or appreciate is that most Republicans are not rich. I myself am the farthest thing from rich. And, moreover, I am a parent, I need health insurance and cannot afford it, and I'm against this bill even though it would presumably benefit me. But I think more serious, more genuine legislation is in order. I only wish we had members of congress of both parties who were serious enough to deal with the complex reality.

And back to the initial question, what is a Christian?

[Opus007]

transendentilist
Did you catch Bill Maher's new rules last night?
"What Would Jesus Veto?"
It was funny but so sadly true. Why are we not impeaching all of them?

[ffakr]

Timmy,
Rush is not "deaf" in the commonly accepted sense. Granted deaf is defined as "lacking the power of hearing or having impaired hearing" but the commonly accepted definition is "lacking the power of hearing" not "impaired".
You implied Rush lacks the power of hearing by stating that Rush has never heard the child's voice. Rush is not Deaf as in your inference. If Rush were truely deaf, he would not be able to respond to questions. Rush would certainly not be able to respond to phone calls on the radio unless the calls were pre-recorded and transcribed which is not the case.
Rush has developed his hearing problems over time. Rush does not speak normally like someone with a life-time serious hearing problem. Is it purely a coincidence that Rush adopted the dopey voice when mocking the child? Rush only adopts dopey speach when imitating other people and that's not mocking?

Come on. You can't be deluded enough to buy that Timmy.

[TimmySlagle]

" Rush would certainly not be able to respond to phone calls on the radio unless the calls were pre-recorded and transcribed which is not the case."

He HAS a transcriptionist, who can work very fast.

And he claims that he never listens to TV, he always uses the closed captioning. He often apologizes for his mispronunciition of Names in the news, because he only reads the news.

He is 100% Deaf.

[surfcitysteven]

Rush is deaf? How in the world did that happen?

[transendentilist]

Yeah, and his poor old mother needs an operation. His chillins ain't got no shoes, and the mortgage is due. Oh woe is me.

[bikerdude]

Fuck rush. Let's get back to the issue at hand...

[ignatov]

I heard he went deaf from the massive amounts of oxycontin he enjoys. Hey, I'm not perfect but then I never assumed a mantle of superiority. Oh, how the righties have fallen.

[klondiker]

Great appearance, Arianna. Insightful and intelligent, as always.

[animalhamilton]

dang, arianna looks smoking hot.

[transendentilist]

Greek women are known for their beauty.

[TankerRat]

You got that right. Hubba, Hubba, and brains to go with. WOW!!!!!!!!!

[VictorLudorum]

Gopers seldom take intellect ,in Mr Limbaughs case its psuedo too...

[cowboyneok]

I saw Arianna, and she did a wonderful job, as usual. I love the part about projection. PROJECTION needs to be pounded into the American psyche because SO MANY idiots do it... over and over again.

[ScottPalmer]

Keith has it right. We need to focus on those in power who remain smug and silent, therby giving stature to the harsh voices of right wing pundits.

[Januarycarol]

And not just idiots--it's a human trait to put down in others what we most dislike in ourselves. It behooves us all to be aware of this defense.

[transendentilist]

It might be one of your traits, but it's not one of mine.

[Boris]

I knew a family from Austria, at one time. I read a lot about Hitler so I could understand how a nation of literate and artistically sensitive people could become a nation of murderers.

Then I heard Rush Limbaugh and I thought, "That Joseph Goebbels must be so proud to have an American personality who can change the country like Goebbels changed Austria and Germany." Limbaugh is no different from the propagandists of Germany. He lies, he distorts, he attacks, he makes money.

And, although Rush's fans still believe in the stuff he says, only 24 percent of Americans still support his point of view and most Americans are disgusted by him. The evidence is in the commentary on this blog. Those who cannot think, Parrot.

So, 25 million dollars a year to twist the minds of the mindless. Wow...what a legacy.

[Uselessboy]

We shouldn't ignore world war, reparations and depression afterward. That kind of trauma has a tendency to make societies a lot more vulnerable.

Of course, it wasn't as bad as 9/11, but you get my point.

[transendentilist]

Actually, no, I don't get your point. Maybe I'm stupid or something. Why don't you explain it to me??

[realitytrumpsbull]

I just want to see Pvt. Limbaugh march a mile
with the rest of the company, and stay in step
and not fall behind nor drop his rifle or fall down or something.­..someone write to FOX, let's
have one of those reality show things, Rush joins the Army!

[RichardD]

I am with you on that one. He would really need oxycontin after that little exercise!
He doesn't even have to march, just walk. Should take him about 20 minutes - I'll bet he wouldn't last 10.

[transendentilist]

Excellent idea rt. I would go even further and have him go on a 32 mile forced march, with full pack, rifle, and ammo, like I had to do in the Marines.

[whomung]

That's a hoot of an idea....RU­SH, THE REAL SOLDIER

better than Paris and Nicole trying to be cute for TV and charming to poor people