Rush Limbaugh responds to Obama’s call to conservatives to stop listening to him via Byron York at The Corner:
There are two things going on here. One prong of the Great Unifier’s plan is to isolate elected Republicans from their voters and supporters by making the argument about me and not about his plan. He is hoping that these Republicans will also publicly denounce me and thus marginalize me. And who knows? Are ideological and philosophical ties enough to keep the GOP loyal to their voters? Meanwhile, the effort to foist all blame for this mess on the private sector continues unabated when most of the blame for this current debacle can be laid at the feet of the Congress and a couple of former presidents. And there is a strategic reason for this.
Secondly, here is a combo quote from the meeting:
“If we don’t get this done we (the Democrats) could lose seats and I could lose re-election. But we can’t let people like Rush Limbaugh stall this. That’s how things don’t get done in this town.”
To make the argument about me instead of his plan makes sense from his perspective. Obama’s plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR’s New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts. It would allow a majority of American voters to guarantee no taxes for themselves going forward. It would burden the private sector and put the public sector in permanent and firm control of the economy. Put simply, I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing “eternal” power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy. If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of this TRILLION dollar debacle.
Obama was angry that Merrill Lynch used $1.2 million of TARP money to remodel an executive suite. Excuse me, but didn’t Merrill have to hire a decorator and contractor? Didn’t they have to buy the new furnishings? What’s the difference in that and Merrill loaning that money to a decorator, contractor and goods supplier to remodel Warren Buffet’s office? Either way, stimulus in the private sector occurs. Are we really at the point where the bad PR of Merrill getting a redecorated office in the process is reason to smear them? How much money will the Obamas spend redecorating the White House residence? Whose money will be spent? I have no problem with the Obamas redoing the place. It is tradition. 600 private jets flown by rich Democrats flew into the Inauguration. That’s fine but the auto execs using theirs is a crime? In both instances, the people on those jets arrived in Washington wanting something from Washington, not just good will.
If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of the trillion dollar debacle.
One more thing, Byron. Your publication and website have documented Obama’s ties to the teachings of Saul Alinksy while he was community organizing in Chicago. Here is Rule 13 of Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals:
“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
Rush is dead on target. If Obama is successful in growing those federal and state unions while bribing infrastructure contractors he will have ensured that the Democrat party is entrenched in Washington for years. This warning is Obama telling Republicans that they better play ball if they want some of the slop.
And he is using Saul’s playbook to a T
Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.
Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people.
The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.
Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.
Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”
See author page
I was out driving around the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania and passed a couple of those electronic billboards sporting the image of Obama with “Hope”.
Frankly, I got a creepy feeling that I hadn’t had since I first watched the older version of “1984″ decades ago. All that was missing was .. “Big Brother .. Big Brother”
Exactly who is paying for these signs ? Isn’t the election over ?
Rush has it only half right. He says Obama’s goal is to scare GOP legislators into voting with Obama, lest they be lumped with Limbaugh. Actually, Obama’s play is a classic chess “fork.” Either the GOP legislators vote with him and give him his way, or else he blames the failure to improve the economy on a GOP which is a poodle to a fat blowhard drug addict.
Limbaugh is being too ego centric. He thinks that Obama wants to marginalize Limbaugh. Limbaugh doesn’t realize that Limbaugh is already “marginalized” in the eyes of the average swing voter and Obama is just taking advantage of that fact.
What’s interesting is that Obama has intentionally “baited” Limbaugh, and Limbaugh has taken the bait. Obama wanted a public war with Limbaugh, and now he’s going to get it. It will be a very interesting 4 years. Obama’s tactic is to use Limbaugh as a tool to destroy the Republican Party. The early reaction shown on Flopping Aces indicates that Obama’s plan may be very likely to work.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
@openid.aol.com/runnswim: “The early reaction shown on Flopping Aces indicates that Obama’s plan may be very likely to work.”
Either you are insane or the CO2 level inside your house has reached dangerous levels. Open a window and then comment again so I can determine which it is.
Rush is a genius and Obama is not. Rush is right and when you are right, there is not much to fear (except hubris) which Rush has to watch out for, although I believe he is a very humble guy that comes across as pompous as part of his schtick.
We should all be scared of this 1 trillion stimulus deal. I fear there are not enough people talking about the repercussions.
@Neo:
Check this out:
http://www.the-two-malcontents.com/2009/01/24/introducing-pocket-obama-must-have-anthology-of-obama-quotes/
How’s that for creepy?
@Missy: Obama’s little blue book? That is creepy.
But when you consider that the secularists have torn God from his throne and raised up Obama it’s not suprising.
Interesting, because I see it exactly opposite. Obama, the Leader of The Free World, the most powerful man in the world for four days running, has already been reduced to trading barbs with a “marginalized” radio talk show host.
Frankly, I think Obama has now undermined the ability of any defense of a possible return of the “Fairness Doctrine”. By going after Rush Limbaugh, Obama has now focused with specificity a “laser beam” on Rush Limbaugh, which was the reason the last time the SCOTUS struck down Congressional action against a specific person.
I seem to recall it started in 1988 involving the Boston Herald, then owned by R Murdoch, being critical of Sen. Kennedy and the Kennedy slipping an amendment into legislation to force the sale of Murdoch holdings including a Boston TV station and the New York Post. Kennedy had bragged that this was a hit job on Murdoch and eventually the SCOTUS agreed, striking down amendment because it targeted an individual with the specificity a “laser beam”, a practice specially prohibited by the US Constitution.
Obama’s signaling of personal attacks on Limbaugh will provide plenty of room to use the same defense against any legislation involving the reinstatement of the “Fairness Doctrine” as a method of pushing Limbaugh off the air.
Limbaugh 1 Obama 0
Mega dittos to what Wisdom said.
Larry W:
ROTFLMAO, Larry! First of all, if there are bets going down on these two in the ring, I’ll take Limbaugh and give you points to boot.
Second of all, the most laughable is Obama telling the GOP legislators that they have to stop listening to Rush. Hang, they haven’t listened to Rush since before 1996. Barely… if any… a true conservative resides in Congress anymore. Had they listened to Rush, they wouldn’t be in the pickle they are now – hanging their futures on a moderate nominee like McCain and scratching their heads wondering why conservatives – like myself – are looking at them askance.
As they are slowly learning, Republicans can not win elections by trying to out-Democrat the Democrats.
The GOP from the past decade needs to go away, and the GOP who used to believe in small government, and responsible fiscal spending needs to return. If Obama wants to destroy this recent
incarnationdistortion of the GOP… have at it, and thank you very much. The RINO virus must be extracted for it to survive.BTW, as the #1 talk show host in the nation, and an ever growing audience over decades that now numbers over 13.5 mil, I would hardly consider Rush “marginalized”. Obama may be flying high on approval rates via promises (over actual action) in his early days of reign. But Rush has proven longevity, and increasing appeal over the years.
I doubt the same will happen with Obama.
i think rush gets a bit uppity at times, but he is usually pretty dead on. he sees what obama wants to do to this nation and he is speaking out about it, what is wrong with that? he is calling obama out and he isn’t being shy about it. seems alot of the gop are afraid to actually call a spade a spade and rush is doing it for them.
Can someone remind me how things worked out last time a Democrat (Harry Reid) took on Rush Limbaugh?
I seem to recall that Dingy Harry made a speech on the Senate floor attacking Mr. Limbaugh, a private citizen, for exercising his first amendment rights to free speech. I also seem to recall that Dingy Harry lied about Mr. Limbaugh in that Senate floor speech.
Furthermore, didn’t Mr. Limbaugh turn the tables on Dingy Harry and make a public mockery of him through his radio show?
I seem to recall a letter excoriating Limbaugh, written on Senate letterhead, being sold on eBay for somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million dollars.
Yes, President ODumbo has stepped in it with both feet on this one.
Suddenly, I cannot wait until Monday.
Luva,
I’ll save some of the Lefty trolls the trouble and go ahead and say this to you 🙂
What a week with the big O, so far he’s managed to go from an 83% approval to 68%, yep, in a week. Throughout his campaign he targeted Hannity, now Rush, clearly the two are getting under that very thin Saran Wrap skin he is known for, about the only thing transparent about him.
Cut & paste from the Radio Equalizer, information posted that just might be causing his jitters about the cuddley fuzzball.
“Beyond the absurdity of a Democrat barking orders at his political opposition, he’s especially foolish to air his fear of Limbaugh and talk radio in a public setting. Now, what was long suspected by conservatives has been verified by the man himself.
The timing was no coincidence: after a rocky first week in office, the Obamists are also faced with a resurgent Fox News Channel, where ratings have been climbing since the moment he took office.
In particular, Hannity’s Limbaugh interview, which took place in the latter’s Florida studios, scored fantastic audience figures for the former’s network. In overall viewers, Thursday’s Hannity nearly trebled his MSNBC competition and almost doubled CNN’s Larry King.
And after a wildly successful fall ratings survey, talk radio is looking forward to record numbers with the installation of the Obamists.
Obama’s words are also perfectly timed to meddle in another big battle underway right now: the race for leadership of the Republican Party, a fight that pits conservative grassroots supporters against traditional, elitist blueblood interests.”
http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2009/01/obama-pushes-gop-to-renounce-rush.html
_______________________________________
I think he flubbed it. Don’t send a boy out to do a man’s job.
Obama wants the republican legislatives on board with him so in the event of failure, he can somehow put the blame on them or at least not have the dems shoulder all the blame. What he doesn’t want is the republicans saying “I told you so” and totally blameing the democrats.
I have long thought the democrat party puts party before country. Due to events over the last few years I think the house and senate puts legislature over country. At least the republicans do. In other words, all the sill self defeating rules and regulations are meant to uphold these entities not the country and to these members these rules and regulations are sacrosanct. I call to mind Hastert’s defense of Jefferson on the FBI searching Jefferson’s congressional office and Hatch’s firing of one of his aides for discovering on the internet the dems stategy to marginalize the republicans and made her/him destroy it. Stupidity like this is what will destroy the GOP. They must be gentlemen at all times. Nevermind their opponents are vicious dogs out not to marginalize them but to destroy them. On the other hand, where will republicans go. Certainly not to the democratic party.
Heh.
Found at Five Feet of Fury.
I said months ago that the Republican Party needs to use the methods of the Democratic Party to fight back. We should adopt Alinski’s methods to promote our own values and agendas. theOne and his Obots will not stop attacking the Republican party, ever, because we are a threat to their long term power. If we don’t get on the guns fast, and start picking apart their plans, this isn’t going to be a four or eight year vacation from power.
Larry,
The new pres is not Darth Sidious. Sorry. He is in react mode after amateur hour this week.
I have a “dirty little secret” for Rush. The GOP leadership dosen’t need any help from Obama isolating themselves from the voters. They’ve been doing that for years now. I guess the contract with America had an expiration date.
1. Limbaugh’s 13.4 million doesn’t include anyone who would ever vote for Obama, under any circumstances. These are the same people who strongly support Dick Cheney, who leaves office with an approval rating of less than 20% and the same people that were thrilled with the Clinton impeachment. These people will never vote for a Democrat for dog catcher, much less President.
2. To the rest of the political universe, Limbaugh is a fat blowhard drug addicted nutcase, or else they don’t know him at all.
3. Obama is giving the GOP a choice, either you play ball with me or you are aligned with Limbaugh.
4. Obama would love to have a public feud with Limbaugh, and have the mainstream media start covering the feud, to publicize it. Obama is not Harry Reid.
5. This election was decided by 20 somethings and by Latinos. Each group will play an increasingly important role in elections to come. Rush Limbaugh offers these people absolutely nothing.
6. I seriously doubt that applying the “fairness doctrine” to talk radio is a priority of Obama’s. He knows it would be politically stupid to try and muzzle talk radio. What he does want to do is to lump all of his opposition in with Right Wing talk radio and have them all together, stewing in their own juices, and marginalized in the minds of the sector of the electorate which really decides the outcome of elections, which are not people who listen to Limbaugh, watch Fox, watch MSNBC, read the Daily Kos or read Flopping Aces.
I stand by my previous comments and analysis.
P.S.
Someone on this thread wrote: “I’ll save some of the Lefty trolls the trouble and go ahead and say this to you”
As the only “lefty” who had commented on this thread, at the time of the above post, I’d like to ask the definition of a “troll.” Seriously, please explain to me what a “troll” is. Is it someone who has an honest difference of opinion with you and then actually stands behind what he wrote by signing his own name?
Strange evolution in political discourse I have seen since the time I wrote a weekly political column in my college newspaper in the 1960s.
Troll, indeed.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
Ummm unfit, obama won by running on a more Conservative platform than McCain. Don’t let reality get in the way of your fantasy. You are going to learn real fast that people don’t subscribe to your leftist values. Not that you’ll admit that. Denial of reality is par for the course for leftists like you.
Larry, you have clearly become a brainless obamabot. How sad.
BTW, by the “political universe” it’s clear you mean people like you. Uninformed and fully invested in your messiah.
obama is making a big mistake by taking on Rush. I know people like you think the messiah can do no wrong, but you will also find out otherwise. Not that you’ll admit to that either.
I replied (formerly # 20), but it disappeared. ???
Of course Obama can do wrong. I think that both political parties are making a mistake with these crazy 2 trillion dollar bail outs of financial institutions and all the rest which has been proposed. I think that the root cause of all this mess was treasury debt, caused by massive tax cuts combined with massively increased spending (both of which had the net effect of massively inflating the debt) which led to the maintenance of artificially low Fed rates, which led to a capital glut, which led to the creation of house of cards investment schemes (securitized mortgages and credit default swaps). The way out is a return to Robert Rubin “pay as you go” treasury policy. Taking on such massive new debt will be an albatross around our economic neck for a generation.
But this all began with Bush and would have continued had McCain won, as well.
I also think that Timothy Geithner’s nomination should have been withdrawn.
But taking on Limbaugh is a very shrewd political strategy, as I tried to explain further in my recent comment which disappeared off into parts unknown of cyberspace.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
First of all, I didn’t call you a troll.
In fact, I didn’t call your name, or refer to you, at all.
If you think that you are the only Lefty who comments on this site, the absence of Leftward comments on this thread notwithstanding, then you are indeed not paying close enough attention.
Here at FA, it’s not all about you Larry.
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
“Limbaugh’s 13.4 million doesn’t include anyone who would ever vote for Obama, under any circumstances. These are the same people who strongly support Dick Cheney, who leaves office with an approval rating of less than 20% and the same people that were thrilled with the Clinton impeachment. These people will never vote for a Democrat for dog catcher, much less President.”
Actually, *Obama* has done a lot to increase Limbaugh’s audience, there are plenty of his liberal listeners that would vote for a democrat, just not Obama. Over the years of listening I have heard numerous liberals call in claiming they listen all the time, some had decent conversations with Rush, some were rediculous, proving his points. Then there are the organized liberal hit calls that have to be weeded out, happens all the time to conservative talk radio.
As far as his addiction to oxycontin, you just voted for an admitted cocaine using smoker. Not always a good idea to throw stones, eh?
Here we have liberals discussing Rush Limbaugh’s show:
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/01/24/dont-listen-to-rush/comment-page-2/
BTW, Radio Equalizer exposed the 13.4 million figure as bogus. Rush Limbaugh has over 20 million listeners. Not all of Limbaugh’s stations were included in the 13.4 mill figure.
Larry: A troll is someone who refuses to analyze both sides and merely regurgitates the talking points which best fit with his own personal prejudices….
Of course someone who made an effort to honestly examime both sides of an issue could not be called a troll.
http://en.sevenload.com/videos/UsTF3KX-The-Great-Global-Warming-Swindle
Which are you?
I watched your video until 2 in the morning last night and wrote out a long comment, only it disappeared into the spam filter.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
Just a quick fly in here, as I’m swamped and blogging is a luxury last and this week.
The spam filter really tends to fill up in the wee hours, Larry. I’ve pulled a couple of your posts out of the filter today, and checked the settings. There is nothing there that deliberately throws you into the filter. It’s just a random thing, and we’ve all found ourselves stuck in there at one time or another.
Depending on who empties the filter, and whether or not they go thru the (often) page after page of junk to find the legit posts, you may find yourself accidently discarded. But I assure you, despite differing opinions, you are not being monitored by specific settings.
What Mike says is a habit even I do. Once I compose a post, I do a Ctrl A to copy all before I hit send/submit as a just in case.
You response to the movie is here Larry
1. I got the 13.4 million figure from Mata.
2. I agree that Rush is entertaining; I listen to him from time to time, myself, when there’s nothing compelling on NPR.
3. I watched the Global Swindle video and responded, only my response got sent to the spam filiter, as did a message I just wrote explaining this. I’m trying one more time, right now, and then getting back to work. – Larry W/HB
Larry: I found no comment of yours in spam.
You should know by now that if you write a long comment, it is advisable to copy it until you know the comment has been posted.
I’m looking foward to your comments on the film.
http://en.sevenload.com/videos/UsTF3KX-The-Great-Global-Warming-Swindle
It’s onlyl an hour and fifteen minutes long. Certainly short enough for most people to view within normal waking hours.
P.S. Rush gets more than 20 million listeners per week.
If a real battle occurs between Barrak and Rush, I think it could safely be characterized as titanic. If the Prez would actually debate Rush one-on-one, it would be laughably one-sided. Rush is too quick on his feet, far funnier and has spent too much time honing his arguments against liberalism/socialism.
Obviously that debate won’t happen…Obama only brought Limbaugh’s name into it as a signal to the press and the rest of the democrats as to what he wants the strategy to be. Then he can step back and let the army ants take down the wildebeest. But, it’s still a big gamble for Obama, bigger than he realizes, I think.
For one thing, The Big Zero takes his grip on the youth voter for granted. That’s always dangerous. If there’s a single overweening tendency among young adults, it’s the desire to join the “rebel forces”. That could have described Obama during the campaign, but now he’s “the man”, and if those of us who already view him as a wannabe dictator are right, he’s the-man-on-steroids. He’s also over-hyped, particularly by a media that has crossed WAY over the line into butt-kissing. That’s not attractive, but more importantly, it’s not cool.
Kids start fads. Kids kill fads when they become too popular. And even if you were engaging in faddish behavior yesterday (you know, when it was cool), today anybody you see that hasn’t grown out of it is a total loser.
With Obama singling out Rush Limbaugh, the press will think it’s their slavish duty to put a magnifying glass on a marketing genius who is not only diametrically opposed to everything the president stands for, but is infinitely more witty, and will be in the position of being a happy warrior against the establishment. Furthermore, the only reason most of these kids thought Rush was some kind of racist, bigot homophobe is because the same aforementioned butt-kissers told them so, which means they’ve been both lied to and used.
Big gamble.
@Curt: ROTFLMAO! The Doctor posted his comment on the wrong thread and then bashes you moderators because he thought you spammed him…PRICELESS!
Number one, I didn’t post it on the “wrong thread.” I posted it on the same thread where Mike provided the video link. This was the correct thread. I only remarked about it on this thread in response to Mike’s comment. Number two, I hardly bashed the moderators. You feel bashed, Curt/Mata? Number 3, my 2:30 AM comment was caught in a spam filter, as Mata acknowledged. When I went to bed at 3:30 AM, it was still not up and didn’t appear until later this morning.
Getting back to the topic of the current thread, I note that most of the major mainstream media outlets are picking up the nascent Obama/Limbaugh “feud.” This will be good for Limbaugh’s ratings, but Limbaugh is playing into Obama’s hands, rather than vice versa. We don’t need to argue about it; we’ll all have the chance to see how it unfolds.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
Nursing the bruises now… LOL (yes… that *was* sarcasm!)
But, in Wisdom’s defense, he had no clue what you were talking about on your missing comment, Larry. Neither did I Was one of those Mike/Larry W things that carrie over from one thread to another that most of us missed. I guess any or all of us were expecting to see such an analysis here. on this thread.. sorta.
Back to the continuing ed… joy joy.
***********
PS: I had to dig my *own* dang comment out of spam…. go no, eh?
hey larry from huntington beach, ca.
when you get your state straightened out, i’ll listen to what you have to say. last i read, california is in a heck of a mess. it seems your leftest ideas and views are not working out.
huntington beach, california? you also sound like one of the leftest elites that sit in their ivory tower looking down on the common people. fix your own state then come here and give some ideas to fix our great nation. until then we will watch your state sink even lower. btw, rush rocks!
funny post sothernsue. In due respect though, would you agree that we need to have something here at flopping aces that many places don’t have… honest debate over real issues? Believe me, I am a God fearing, gun loving, baby keeper-aliver…(?), but I still think healthy debate is good. I am glad people like larry and fit fit post here. Even though some of the views infuriate me at times, I also realize I like that feeling, because I am not shaking my head in agreement with everything. That, on the other hand, would be a bad thing and would not separate Flopping Aces from other sites such as the Huff Post. Some people come in and are truly obamatrons just like some people are bushatrons. If we put all our faith in the government, or one human man for that matter, we will live and fall by that person. That is why I fear for the left. They are going to rise and fall with a man, I believe, is nothing short of corrupt. For the most part I think larry brings up some valid points and articulates himself well. Fit fit gets bashed constantly, but I think still manages to post some good points of views that conservatives should really understand. If not for gaining a broader world view, but to know how to further educate ourselves against/for what we really believe. Remember, be in the world but not of it.
.
@Mike’s America:
@Aye Chihuahua:
Here’s a bit of a nice recap:
@Wisdom:
Much of Alinsky’s playbook just sounds like a rehash of military strategies you can find in ancient texts, like the Seven Military Classics.
From the same Russel Cook American Thinker piece, it sounds like Rush knows well how to turn the table around on his opponents: