Gasp!
Billions of ones and zeros have been spilled over Rush Limbaugh, but my favorite comments came from the thouroughly ludicrous Jay Nordlinger, who effused:
One of the creepiest, most disturbing things about the “war on Rush” — particularly as orchestrated from the White House? Limbaugh is a private citizen. A reader wrote, “The same people who gasped because the FBI surveilled John Lennon are more than happy to have government employees — including Emanuel and Gibbs — conduct a campaign to demonize and diminish a radio personality for political purposes.”
Rush is a big boy, and he can handle it. But still . . . There is something creepy about bringing the weight of the government down on a radio host, even if that host is prominent, influential, and brave.
“Bringing the weight of the government down”? One might get the impression from Nordlinger’s little fantasy that the Obama administration was sending the IRS to audit Limbaugh instead of building him up as the leader of the Republican party. I defy Nordlinger and his correspondent to name one person who gasped when government surveilled John Lennon but praised the Obama administration’s response to Rush Limbaugh.
Should Obama begin a new COINTELPRO to go after rightwingers, I will be among the first to denounce him, but I don’t see that happening quite yet.
Tell it to Joe the plumber, Mr Ostrich. Or to any of the victims of the Clinton “IRS audit our enemies” machine.
Obama’s reputation is one of “clearing the field” rather than debating on the issues. Tell it to anyone who has run against him in the last 10 years.
How long has it been since Clinton’s Project Echelon has been in the news? How many even know about it? Think Obama has scrapped it? Not a chance.
Just because Obama plays dirty (and he does) doesn’t mean that Rush is a victim of anything more than criticism, which is very legal.
People like Obama are bullies; they don’t go after people their own size, and Limbaugh is nearly Obama’s size.
People like Nordlinger are cowards; they don’t stand up for people who actually need it, preferring to grab attention by defending those who can defend themselves.
TomT: I addressed the IRS issue, which you will notice if you read the extremely brief post. I have seen nothing alleged that indicates that Obama is doing anything to Limbaugh other than to try to make him the leader of the opposition.
If you are suspicious, like me, that much of what Obama says really means just the opposite, then what are we to make of his denial that he is interested in the “fairness doctrine”, when members of Congress are raising precisely that issue. Because, of course, Mr Obama has raised the spector of a “localization doctrine”.
You actually said, “One might get the impression from Nordlinger’s little fantasy that the Obama administration was sending the IRS to audit Limbaugh…”. And in fact, this is a tactic that the Democrats use often (ask Paula Jones).
You actually said, “…instead of building him up as the leader of the Republican party.” Which of course is the party lie, and NOT what they were doing at all. There was NO BUILDING UP intended.
To say that there is no evidence of “dirty tricks” since Obama has been in office, may be true for you. To say we have no evidence of lying or dirty tricks by Obama or any of his associates, ever, is in itself a lie.
So, the honest question is, “Are we seeing an opening salvo of an attack by the Presidency upon this private citizen?” You say, “There is no evidence.” The rest of us, in all honesty, will have to wait and see.
In response to Clark’s comment TomT wrote:
“You say, ‘There is no evidence.’ The rest of us, in all honesty, will have to wait and see.”
Meaning … you too see no evidence now, which is what is necessitating you waiting and seeing.
Dude, slow down.
Cheers,
Click the link one further, to Nordlinger’s “Impromptus” column:
“I like Rush. I think he’s right about almost everything.”
Tony Orlando on Bob Hope, 1979:
“If you could put all the laughs that Bob Hope has gotten, one after another, they would stretch all the way to the universe and fill up the black hole in space.”
For more on the sort of beyond-parody amateur-night covers of Warren Zevon’s”Poor Poor Pitiful Me” warbled by the bot NR runs under the screen-name “Jay Nordlinger”, see my comment to a post here by fellow aficionado Clark, from four months ago.
I was on the floor of the CBT for 20 yrs. Rick Santelli happens to be a nice guy and very astute. He was right in what he said and shouldn’t have been attacked by an administration that knows NOTHING about the economy. Either that or they want this collapse in order to advance socialism.