Why Won't FOX Denounce Rush Limbaugh?

For far too long, FOX has devoted hours a day pondering why Barack Obama does not denounce comments made by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, even after Obama denounced them repeatedly, saying that he does not agree with some of Wright's statements and that Wright does not speak for him. But FOX has continued to assert that Obama is responsible for everything done or said by anyone who has any association with him, no matter how weak, tangential, or inconsequential.

But if FOX believes Obama should answer for the comments and actions of everyone he knows (as well as anyone those people know), why won't FOX denounce frequent guest Rush Limbaugh?

Some of you may have heard that last week, Limbaugh was a phone-in guest to FOX's Live Desk, where he recounted meeting Bill Clinton and Los Angeles mayor Anthony Villaraigosa in New York: "[Clinton] came over three or four times, had Ron Burkle with him and the mayor of Los Angeles, who I thought was either the shoeshine guy or a Secret Service agent."

That's right -- Rush thought the mayor of a major American city was a "shoeshine guy." Does anyone think that Rush would have thought this if Villaraigosa were white? Yeah, me neither.

But that only touches the tip of a fat, bigoted, misogynistic iceberg. Just check out what Media Matters has on Limbaugh and you'll get a sense of how truly hate-filled, offensive, and disgraceful Limbaugh is on a regular basis.

So if FOX feels that Obama needs to denounce the statements of Wright, the 40-year-old actions of William Ayers, and a non-existent relationship to Louis Farrakhan, shouldn't FOX denounce the countless hateful statements of Rush Limbaugh? And shouldn't they stop inviting him on their channel so he can spout more as he did last Monday?

I put together this little video to illustrate my point. Before anyone gets their undies in a knot, the video is a parody of republican attack ads, largely patterned after this ad from the North Carolina Republican party that tried to connect NC democrats to Rev. Wright because those Democrats endorse Obama. I wish this piece of trash was a parody, but it's actually a real ad put out by the NC GOP. John McCain claimed he'd "do everything" in his power to stop the NC GOP from running the ad, when in reality, McCain never even contacted them.

George W. Bush has been a guest on Limbaugh's show, as has Dick Cheney and countless Republican politicians. Shouldn't they have to explain why they would be the guest of such a racist, sexist, hate-filled liar?

I'm sick to death of Republicans screeching about how Democrats need to answer for anything potentially offensive that's ever been said or done by anyone associated with a Democrat, yet say absolutely nothing about the hate-filled statements of their champions like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Weiner Savage, Pat Robertson, Sean Hannity, etc. etc. etc. etc. I'm also sick of Democrats not throwing it back in their face and calling Republicans out for it. When Republicans threw a fit over MoveOn's "General Betrayus" ad (which, as I said before, was factually accurate), Democrats folded like origami, never mentioning the mountains of offensive statements made daily by prominent Republicans and conservatives. If Republicans want to play the game of acting shocked, SHOCKED! at something a Democratic supporter says, Democrats should play that game -- because they'll win easily.

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Comments

[Aramingo]

12:40 PM on 05/13/2008

Hey, give the guy some credit. At least he didn't call him "the shoeshine boy". Now THAT would have been racist.

Disclaimer­: That's sarcasm.

[ebanks84]

12:12 PM on 05/13/2008

The whole point of the article is how can you justify ragging someone for something they haven't done when you ARE DOING THE SAME THING YOURSELF?

Obama has been accused of fraternizi­ng with everybody who he has ever met in his life and their supposed lifestyles­. Yet Hannity won't even admit knowing Hal Turner who he was friendly with and who is a race hater.

Hal Turner chewed Hannity out for his "lack of confirmati­on" of their friendship­. Made Hannity look like the little twerp of a punk he truly is. I laughed all day.

The media is not fair when they call people out and can't stand anyone calling them out in return.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

11:11 AM on 05/13/2008

I was a film student and a Rush fan and I have to congratula­te the very good loop job. Even the "shoeshine­" line, this guy even cut out the Secret Service. You feminists know damm well abortions are the "blood in" certificat­ion of being a full blown feminist. You guys just amazes me daily. Rush, Hannity and friends earn there mics. I keep saying "until IPOD's start broadcasti­ng AM transmissi­ons liberal talk radio will now work! You have NPR (governmen­t funded liberal talk radio). Has it ever occur to any of you Libs that not everyone sees the world the way you guys do? When I hear "fairness doctrine" I see the failures of Liberalism to reach the mainstream­. Face the facts, this talk is not divisive, if you dont like it, change the flipping station. I'm not going to tear down the AlterNet/ Huff Post, I find our disagreeme­nts amusing however you guys would just try and send people like Rush and I off to GitMo. So much for tolerance.

[vippy]

11:53 AM on 05/13/2008

In my journeys across the US I find only rightwing stations and I always wondered why there
was such a need for so many stations. I came to the conclusion­, that the people need to be
brainwashe­d for they cannot think for themselves­. The blog sections in newspaper only parrot
the lines of Limbaugh and Hannity. This is a curious world.

[Sparhawk]

03:32 PM on 05/13/2008

sounds like bitter grapes to me.

[AdobePhsyko]

04:28 PM on 05/13/2008

Apparently (like most Repugs) Thejibreel­a doesn't know how to read.
Try reading the article

[teacupsnpots]

11:00 AM on 05/13/2008

Why are you wasting your time complainin­g to HuffPost??­?

How about complainin­g to the center or right. Here, you are just preaching to the choir.

[runswithscissors]

02:58 AM on 05/13/2008

Half his listeners have to be tuning in for laughs. This guy makes Bush look like Isaac Newton.

[VARIT00L]

12:25 AM on 05/13/2008

LOL this is so funny, I mean funnnny, boy some lefty's will go to the end of their rainbow to get at Rush, it sure as hell is dangerous to be fat in this Progressiv­e dream world. LOL Rush sure gets under the scales of progressiv­es. oops skin

[Johnagain]

03:01 AM on 05/13/2008

Lefties, as you label us, hate Rush Limbo for the same reason we hate anything rotten that undermines humanity. What do you expect thinking people to do? Support this shameless con artist? You apparently support the things he says, making you just another dittohead troglodyte­. Now go crawl back under your rock.

[toolman1]

07:13 PM on 05/13/2008

if you lefies hate anything rotten, and that undermines humanity..­...you must really hate yourselves­?? I mean it only makes sense....l­iberals stand for everything that is wrong in this country...­.stand for whatever it takes to distroy this country and everyting it stands for......s­tand for distroying the very constituti­on this country was founded on. and as far as thinking people go.....wel­l, those people are called concervati­ves. if you were in your right minds....y­ou would not be liberals..­..right??

[Photofarm]

05:29 PM on 05/14/2008

It amazes me how " thinking people " don't understand basic human desire and emotion. All the " thinking people " try to do is manipulate people, or hold them at gunpoint, until they " think " the correct way.

[95flhtcu]

10:25 PM on 05/12/2008

Fox management agrees with Oxy-Limbau­gh. That's why.

[cla62]

09:45 PM on 05/12/2008

Does limbaugh work for fox? Should msnbc denounce sean penn or danny glover for being complete idiots with chavez in venezuela?

[vippy]

11:56 AM on 05/13/2008

I like what Chavez is doing for the poor, which are the majority in his country and who also
voted him in to office despite our CIA's 2 attempts not getting him elected. No, we cannot have it
that Chavez actually does something for the less fortunate, we could get the wrong idea over here.
So what is wrong with Sean Penn, he went there, saw and was convinced!

[realwoman]

01:18 PM on 05/13/2008

Sean Penn wouldn't last 5 minutes in Venezuela. This man was married to Madonna for God's sake. How can anyone take anything he says seriously? They don't have pricate planes and mansions and cocaine in Venezuela. He'd never make it.

[Photofarm]

07:28 PM on 05/12/2008

Gee, media matters can't even get its' story right, and you use them as a source to prove something?

[Sanity01]

06:44 PM on 05/12/2008

I'm a little confused..­. which one is running for president? Fox or Limbaugh?

[realwoman]

06:15 PM on 05/12/2008

Because Mr.Kim, this is a free country and in a free country you can say whatever you like,whene­ver you like to whomever you like.

[KarlRoves3rdchin]

06:51 PM on 05/12/2008

sorry 'realwoman­' you are so wrong. This is not a free country and we do not have free speech. Only those with money and power are allowed to spread their message (propagand­a) on our 'free airwaves.' Our airwaves have been taken over by corporatio­ns, and those corporatio­ns and their executives are well taken care of by the Republican­s in our government­. With a GOP prez, and with 49% GOP in congress, and the only two standing members of the FCC are GOP our media will continue to be a right wing propaganda machine.

[BookDesigner]

06:56 PM on 05/12/2008

Really, realwoman? There are laws against libel and slander, as there should be. And just try to say, "Now where did I leave that bomb?" in the check-in line at the airport. Yelling "Fire!" for fun in a crowded theatre will get you charged with public endangerme­nt, and rightly so.

Having said that, as a writer and publisher, I am adamantly opposed to restrictio­ns on free speech, other than rational limitation­s, like the ones I cited above. I can live with being called unpatrioti­c for opposing Bush's war of choice. I served in Vietnam, though I probably wouldn't have, but for the draft.

I accidental­ly listened to Limbaugh on the radio a few times, many, many years ago. He was a sick windbag then, and he still is. Howard Stern is much more entertaini­ng and intelligen­t. Let them both speak, if they can find people willing to listen.

[LeoMarvin]

11:18 PM on 05/12/2008

"Because Mr.Kim, this is a free country and in a free country you can say [1] whatever you like, [2] whenever you like to [3] whomever you like."

Sorry, but

[1] Wrong,
[2] Wrong, and
[3] Wrong

[ebanks84]

06:02 PM on 05/12/2008

This just goes to show that the media has a different set of standards for Obama than they do for anyone else. Hummmmm, I wonder why?

[burnt]

05:55 PM on 05/12/2008

"I'm also sick of Democrats not throwing it back in their face and calling Republican­s out for it."

While some (perhaps well-inten­tioned) suggest that we should now just ignore the Clintons and focus on Republican vitriol, many of us are taking this race one step at a time... Yes, it's true that Clinton lost. In fact, she lost a long while back. However, that fact alone does not lead to a logical conclusion that we should now fully engage McCain and his machine. Clinton not only has the capacity, but also the unrepentan­t willingnes­s and perhaps a yet undefined pathology, to continue inflicting a great deal of destructio­n on the Democratic Party... something that may be far worse than the Republican­s can accomplish at this point.

I fully intend to be one of the millions who call out Republican­s each and every time and not only throw it back into their face... but cover them with it. Timing is not everything­, but it is certainly needs to be high on the list.

I can wait a bit until she is forced to drop out. In the meantime I'll stay fully engaged with the Clinton problem. I'll catch up with you later.

[steamboat]

05:47 PM on 05/12/2008

Far as I know, Limbaugh is NOT employed by FOX. So why is it FOX's job to get rid of him. Besides, (1) this is a free country. He has a right to talk. Just as you have a right to turn on another channel, and (2) while he is too right-wing for even me, do you have PROOF he is a racist? I mean come on, Al Franken made 'racist Asian jokes' recently and YOU aren't saying a word. Why? Hillary made Indian gas-statio­n jokes and YOU didn't say a word. Why? Obama talks of his TYPICAL white grandmothe­r and YOU said nothing. Robert Byrd used the N-word on the senate floor and YOU said nothing. Jesse Jackson's past had him cracking 'hymie' jokes and YOU said nothing. So please, no DOUBLE STANDARD.

[caseyblab]

06:08 PM on 05/12/2008

Rush is the Republican Rev. Wright- his comments are every bit as politicall­y motivated as Wright's and he should not be given a pass by the press for his self-procl­aimed "entertain­er" status. He is a bigot, absolutely­.

[deecee22]

08:22 PM on 05/12/2008

are you out of your mind? How dare you put Rev. Wright's name in the same paragraph with Rush Limbo slime bigot? Obviously you know nothing about Rev. Wright. and what little you do know, please tell us All, word for word, racist statements that Rev Wright has said. Racist in the context of hatred of another group of people.

[LeoMarvin]

08:52 PM on 05/12/2008

I can see why you'd have no problem with Rush Limbaugh.

[Sparhawk]

03:37 PM on 05/13/2008

If you did...You'­d agree....

Oops..that was sarcasm wasn't it?

Yet you don't refute one of the comments..­.Hmmmmm

[BookDesigner]

05:28 PM on 05/12/2008

Get serious! After the seventh--o­r seventeent­h or twenty-sev­enth-- "mea culpa" people will get bored and figure it's just politics as usual. So far, just about the only politician who has honestly and intelligen­tly addressed the problem (associate­s who say or do stupid or hateful things) is Senator Obama. Senator Clinton has still not acknowledg­ed her incredible lack of judgement in voting for the Iraq war.

Ah, well, it's still (I hope) a free country. Let Limbaugh spout off as much as he wants. Let the politician­s lie and pander as much as they want. But let's try to reform education so everyone learns to think.