Labor Group's Radio Ad Hits GOP Leader: Rush Limbaugh
Americans United For Change, the labor-backed political group that is currently campaigning for President Obama's stimulus package, has a new round of radio ads tying the GOP to Barack Obama's most vocal critic at this point: Rush Limbaugh, who is taking on the role of the true Leader of the Opposition in the current media environment.
The radio ads are running in the Cleveland, Reno and Philadelphia media markets, targeting the Republican Senators from those states. Here's the one for Pennsylvania:
"Every Republican voted with Limbaugh, and against creating 4 million new American jobs," the announcer says, referring to the House Republicans' unanimous vote against the stimulus package.
The announcer goes on to say: "Will our Senator, Arlen Specter, side with Rush Limbaugh too" --interrupted by Limbaugh's "I hope he fails!" interjection -- "or will he reject the partisanship and failed economic policies of the past, and stand up for the people of Pennsylvania?"
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Smart ad. I suspect Senator Specter will be getting a few calls. LOL.
January 30, 2009 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain says it's a mistake for Obama to go after Rush because Rush is very powerful and has a lot of followers. . . .
http://thepage.time.com/excerpts-of-mccain-interview-on-fox-and-friends/
John McCain, political genius. NOT!
January 30, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rush is powerful, but only to the extent a politician relies on voters that listen to Rush. For democrats, that's not much.
Its understandable that Republicans view Rush as powerful. He can pull their strings. Just more Republican projection in assuming that Rush can pull everyone else's strings, too.
January 30, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain? Oh, yeah, the guy who LOST. The guy who went to Obama with Lindsey G. to beg Obama so good ole Joe could keep his Senate jobs. The guy who has been confirming Obama Cabinet appointments by the bucket load. That McCain?.
Sound to me like McCain is more like Bush--so tight that one has to wear a coat and tie to even enter the Oval Office. McCain's ball cap is too tight.
Life is wonderful and politics right now is the best sport available--until Sunday.
January 30, 2009 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's the deal with the red ball caps on all the monkey-suited Republicans at their convention?
These guys have no sense of fashion, or how blatant their hypocrisy. Ball caps are for REAL PEOPLE, not CEO's.
Anyone who would wear a ball cap along with an Armani suit is a living, breathing symbol of bipolarity.
Like our friend Sarge, they are still finding themselves, after a lifetime of searching.
January 30, 2009 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice to see this kind of thing cause you've got to keep the devil way down in the hole and he got totally too far out the past eight years.
January 30, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right wing talk radio is going NUTZ this morning about Obama's statement regarding CEO bonuses on wall street.
It's so blatantly obvious how those bozo's go after workers pay but protect CEO's pay and none of their listeners challenge them. It's like an army of brain dead zombies. Does right wing radio get funded by CEO's or something? What's the deal?
January 30, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well one CEO decided to give Rush his $500M contract extension...
And I'm sure Rush belongs to the same exclusive country clubs as these greedy CEO's.
January 30, 2009 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Whether you were for or against the Wall Street bailout I would think that anyone would be pissed about those bonuses. It's surprising that the right is acting this way.
January 30, 2009 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
The right isn't...give a link to a quote from anyone with any credibility (by that I mean not some local hack no one's heard of) stating that the bonuses weren't wrong and those who got them shouldn't be raked over the coals.
January 30, 2009 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Chris Plant was ranting on about it this morning for an entire hour before I came into work. He was going off stating Obama is going to scare people getting bonuses away and they will look elsewhere for work now.
He called is socialism. Govn't controlled private firms. WMAL a DC area station.
And like I said, the listeners were all agreeing with him. He called it the class warfare the Obama administration was partaking in.
January 30, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Never heard of him so I just googled "Chris Plant" got a realator from Colorado, a DJ in Vegas,some guy from Westmidlands (wherever that is) and "Chris King of Plants"... Hannity, Limbaugh, Boortz, O'Rielly, Levin, Liddy, Savage...they are all speaking out against the idiots taking bailout money and using it for bonuses.
January 30, 2009 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently I spelled his last name wrong.
It's Plante. Look that up. The guys a raving lunatic.
January 30, 2009 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hannity, Limbaugh, Boortz, O'Rielly, Levin, Liddy, Savage...they are all speaking out against the idiots taking bailout money and using it for bonuses.
I heard Boortz this morning, defending the bonus with his often used example of a CEO who cut the company's losses from 10m to 5m and had contracted for a small percentage of the reduction in losses. He adamantly defended the bonuses.
January 30, 2009 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sarge is trapped. He's projecting his own opinion onto his media heroes, and they are doing the exact opposite of what Sarge claims.
Throughout his tenure here at TPM Sarge has always positioned himself as a fiscal conservative, and he knows what a scam these bonuses are.
But the wingnut radioheads are all beholden to those CEO's and they don't want to bite the hand that feeds them, so they are acting like the lackeys they are.
When he realizes how out of tune they are with his own ideology on this issue, Sarge will either have to admit they are wrong, or change his tune.
Which will completely disgrace everything he has stood for up until now.
Make up your mind Sarge, do you believe in yourself or do you believe in those Wingnut Radioheads.
In this scenario, never the twain shall meet, unless, of course, you are an unmitigated hypocrite.
January 30, 2009 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
SFC, Westmidlands is in the U.K.
February 2, 2009 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whoever Chris Plant is, he's not very bright. They're going to be scared away and find work elsewhere?
Where?
It's hard out there for Wall St. types.
January 30, 2009 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't bother giving SFCWallace links, you could give him a hundred and it wouldn't make him change his mind.
SFC supported Bush for 8 years (his Che userpic notwithstanding) and sometime in 2008, like many Bush deadenders, decided Bush was not a 'conservative', and folks like SFC were somehow tricked into voting for Bush twice while also backing Bush policies for 8 years.
In other words, no amount of evidence will change his opinion, and folks like SFC will not admit any responsibility for the mess caused by their immutable world view, or their poor political choices.
January 30, 2009 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Was never "tricked" about Bush, or his policies. Bush was a better choice than Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. McCain was my 4th choice in the primaries but a better choice than Obama. McCain's no conservative but I voted for him too.
January 30, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the clarification SFC.
Can TPM'ers help out SFC, our right wing Che?
SFC voted for and defends his sharp-wittedness in voting for Bush 2000, Bush 2004, and for McCain 2008, yet he has been dissatisfied with the lack of 'conservative' moxie in Republican ranks - can anyone help SFC?
January 30, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
See my most recent post above...
January 30, 2009 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
It starts "Sarge is trapped..."
January 30, 2009 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, mkay.
Hate our country much?
January 30, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
i was responding to arlington's comment. to find a quote from someone on the right with more "credibility" who had no problem with the bonuses would be impossible. they wouldn't dare say so publicly.
January 30, 2009 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
SFC - are you saying the leader of your party has no credibility? That's a stunning admission coming from you, I congratulate you for finally seeing the light.
January 30, 2009 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Into each life a little brain must fall...
January 30, 2009 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hang in there Grouch...your day will come...
January 30, 2009 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
"little" is the key word here...
January 30, 2009 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely not, the leaders of my party are as pissed off about the BS bonuses as the rest of us.
January 30, 2009 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The leaders of your party RECEIVED those bonuses, you moron... check it out, almost to a man they are active Republicans...
January 30, 2009 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK, that was rude, sorry to get so personal, but this is what's wrong with our country, that literate, educated patriots like Sarge (I mean that sincerely) can be so misled that they believe the lies without a moment of doubt.
I really don't think you are a moron, but you are certainly being misled, and you are obviously smart enough to know better.
Why don't you figure it out?
And how many more like you are still unwilling to stop the bitter, arrogant madness and join the rest of us in making the future something to be proud of?
Get smart, Sarge, you are capable of it.
January 30, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Contrition is good for the soul...
...something like that.
January 30, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
bush as Che?
January 30, 2009 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Che Arbusto?
January 30, 2009 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't hear about the bonuses but Limbaugh is zealously defending the Merril Lynch executive who spent $1 million to redecorate his office. Limbaugh says that bailout or not, the government has no right to tell a private company how to spend their money. (Odd that the usual meme about public money being wasted wasn't used for this event)
I expect that if Limbaugh liked the $1 million office redo he loves the bonuses.
January 30, 2009 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Brain Dead Zombies".
Oh, you mean "Dittoheads" who don't have a brain of their own to do their own thinking. They reply with "Yes Master, Yes Master" to whatever this clown tells them to do.
Can't wait for him to tell the Republicans to jump off a cliff. That should be an interesting sight as they obey him!
January 31, 2009 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Limbaugh is the perfect tool to use against the GOP. Remember how Limbaugh reacted when used in the Spanish-speaking ad during the primary - well rachet that up 10-fold. Does moderate politicians want to be called "Limbaugh lapdogs" for voting the way he's spouting off about on the radio.
This could also have the effect of moderate Republicans denouncing Limbaugh publicly even if they vote the way he's pushing.
January 30, 2009 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Limbaugh is the gift that keeps on giving. He's the poster child of pride in being ignorant to top it off.
January 30, 2009 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
While I have pledged to let "The Lump" go unmentioned, I have to agree with these last couple comments...
Claire McCaskill won Missouri because of the Michael J. Fox trashfest.
"The Lump"... I just made that up, but it kinda works, doncha know...
Malignant, no less...
January 30, 2009 5:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, I see it's really attacking the elected Republicans. They are just using Rush to highlight their shenanigans. They act like a bunch of two years olds throwing a tantrum. Well, I hope they hold their breath until they turn blue...
January 30, 2009 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
If the dittoheads in the GOP continue to vote against their constituents' interests, their seats will turn blue whether they hold their breath or not.
January 30, 2009 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Uh...Ditto heads are the GOP's constituents.
January 30, 2009 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
See, that's the GOP's problem in a nutshell, right there. When you are elected, your constituents are ALL the voters in your precinct, not merely the most rabid of your party's base.
January 30, 2009 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
...actually it's all the people in the district, including non-voters and dittoheads...
January 30, 2009 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Limbaugh has 14 million listeners. Even with the GOP's sinking party ID numbers, that's still only a small fraction of Republican voters.
January 30, 2009 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's vaunted e-mailing list is 13M people strong. 14M of the 57M who voted for McCain is a quarter of all GOP voters - that's pretty damn sizable.
January 30, 2009 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I thought it was brilliant how Limbaugh has been branded the voice of the GOP. Now we've got a bigoted intolerant asswipe that thinks Barack the Magic Negro songs are cute being the voice of the GOP.
What a leader to be proud of.
January 30, 2009 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wonder what he thinks of Steele?
January 30, 2009 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
What we're seeing is the real benefit of Obama's efforts at bipartisanship. Even if he doesn't attract a single Republican vote, he puts them squarely on the defensive. It's quite clear from the last election that the public is sick and tired of hyperpartisan bickering. They want things done.
As usual, when Republicans find themselves in a hole they reach for a bigger shovel. Obama just handed it to them.
January 30, 2009 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Let's not forget his drug of choice; the good old addiction to pain killers and his criminal record. Yes, he is a great symbol for the GOP and a role model for the repukes!
January 30, 2009 10:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
His other drug of choice was Viagra. What a repellent prospect for anyone else involved...
January 30, 2009 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes.
Pity the poor young boys of the Dominican Republic.
January 30, 2009 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
What a spot for Larry Flynt to send investigators to the Dominican and turn over some rocks.
January 30, 2009 11:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right...I mean, how do we know that?
January 30, 2009 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
you mean everyone else involved...
January 30, 2009 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a clever strategy by the grassroots groups and the unions.
January 30, 2009 10:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good to hear this kind of response.
(unsolicited audio advice--to those who recorded this, be careful of the "jump" audio cuts. You may have recorded the woman reading the script a number of times and spliced the best parts together--or to save time, like a second or two, you edited out natural pauses, that's why the reading sounds unnatural, with intonations that don't match.)
January 30, 2009 10:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
January 30, 2009 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
While it may seem counter-intuitive to give Limbaugh the attention, it is actually a smart move.
If there is one thing Rush loves more than bashing "liberals" it is talking about himself. The more he spews, the more the GOP will be obliged to defend him. Or not.
The single plank in the GOP platform has become the failure of the Obama administration. Good luck with that, dittoheads.
January 30, 2009 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good luck, that is, in trying to sell that platform to the American people. The result will be further marginalization of the Repugnican Party.
January 30, 2009 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Quite! Ahaa! The self-serving windbag thinks Obama is trying to marginalize him, but the real effect is the marginalization of the GOP. Brilliant!
January 30, 2009 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the more attention is fixed on Rush vs. Obama, the less attention is devoted to things that actually have an impact on people (SCHIP, e.g.).
Which I think is actually a net positive at this point. Rush Limbaugh being the head of the GOP is going to turn off moderate Republicans and independents. Heckuva outreach program, Republicans!
January 30, 2009 11:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps someone needs to publish a deck of "Ditto Head" playing cards, to highlight the most esteemed among our Senators and Representatives.
Or has that already been done.
January 30, 2009 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I got a haircut yesterday. My barber is a typical small business republican, has a rather large shop, and supported McCain in the election.
I haven't argued with him a lot -- sometimes he has a razor at my throat. But yesterday he said: "Some body has got to shut up Rush Limbaugh. If Obama fails, we all go down."
As our President said: "The ground is shifting beneath our feet."
January 30, 2009 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
That seems to be the basic feeling of the vast majority of the right wing right now. I know here in deep red Tennessee that they were surprised on fivethiryeight.com about how Obama was polling 20-30% higher now than he did during the election, and the same was happening in Texas. Fact is, people here want him to succeed. They might never vote for him because of their stance on abortion, but they are hopeful, and believe that he is doing the right things. Rush is way out of the mainstream on this, and he is making it simple for the Democrats to make him a liability. It won't surprise me if the Dems drop the ball on this somehow, but if they can tie Rush around the whole Republican party he'll sink them like a 300 pound drug addled anchor that can't get an erection.
January 30, 2009 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
It won't surprise me if the Dems drop the ball on this somehow,
I expect Harold Ford to appear on cable to tell us why bringing Rush Limbaugh into anything is going to be very bad for the Democrats.
January 30, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Its almost funny, in Tennessee hes a fundraising legend, and he is genuinely charismatic, but sometimes Harold Ford says some things that really do seem to be against the overall message of the Democratic party. He's still an asset on the national state for Tennessee, hes definately better than Corker.
January 30, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's my problem with Ford. Certainly, in comparison to Corker, he's preferable. But his constant, supposedly "moderate Democrat" pose undermines Democrats, and doesn't really gain anything for Democrats. He's had a megaphone on MSNBC for too long at this point.
January 31, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you're right, but I also believe that if he were doing the same thing on Fox he would have appeal to moderates that he could possibly help to convert. He would be a great asset in that position. He does tend to run too far to the right for the MSNBC audience. I think the problem on MSNBC is that he is to the right of the moderators, so you always see him in the light of making a more moderate argument than say Olberman or Maddow. If they were to stick him on the programs of O'Riley or Hannity you'd think he was more on our side. He's slightly closer to center than Maddow is, but he is FAR to the left of Sean Hannity. Its just a scheduling issue.
February 1, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just like when Bush failed (pre-emptive war, torture, economic chaos, domestic spying, DOJ firings, etc. ad infinitum) we all lost something...
Here's hoping Obama and his team can help us gain at least some of it back.
January 30, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beautiful.
This is one of the best things I have EVER heard.
Let that sorry ass sack of s**t be the spokesman for the Republicans.
The way the Republican's grovel before that drug addled dick is simply a gift with a pretty bow on it.
January 30, 2009 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Awesome!! I love this ad. Point out that the Republican Party has become the party of greedy, fringe, hate-mongering, lunatics. Let them continue to get 27% of the vote (the insecure-right-wing-religio-fascist voters).
It's time for the rest of us to move on and get this country moving again!
January 30, 2009 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice great job. Obama must realize that the campaign never stops. Obama must campaign for his issues with the same vigor, aggressiveness and hard hitting attitude he campaigned to become President
January 30, 2009 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
And let us please add to Limbaugh's resume the fact that he dodged the draft by having his doctor certify that he is an incurable anal cyst.
January 30, 2009 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great idea. It's time Republicans started wearing Limbaugh around their necks like Jacob Marley's chains.
January 30, 2009 2:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heard Limbags defend his comments by stating that he wants the "country to succeed" and therefore he want Obama to fail and to destroy "liberal" approach to government. He implies that the country will ONLY succeed if only "conservative" principles are in play. We have had a relatively successful country over the last 100 years with both liberal and conservative leadership so I think his "defense" is lacking in credibility.
January 30, 2009 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
We need more of that conservative success, pucka. There are still way too many people out there with jobs, homes, retirement funds, affordable health insurance, education, and altruistic dispositions. That kind of stuff has to be wiped out before it destroys our country.
January 30, 2009 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Lump has no idea what conservative and liberal mean, he's using definitions that only his twisted mind can conjure up.
January 30, 2009 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Che Arbusto?
January 30, 2009 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Limbaugh needs to be tied to the Repubs like the dead albatross around the neck of the ancient mariner. It is so nice to see the other side shoot themselves in the foot for a change. As I often ask my clients in marriage counseling when they are finally getting along well, "How can we fuck this up?"
January 30, 2009 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
This ad seems pretty unfair to me. To say that because Republican lawmakers and Limbaugh both hold the same view on the jobs bill, they both "hope Obama fails" is a pretty suspect connection. Lawmakers having a difference in opinion with Obama about the best way to proceed in fixing the economy is not the same thing as "hoping he fails", whether or not it is what Limbaugh hopes.
January 31, 2009 2:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, then Republicans are going to have to start separating themselves from Rush, rather than apologizing to him.
And it is what Limbaugh hopes. Those are his own words. And while he tried to backtrack from them, the fact remains that he said "I hope he fails".
So either Republicans back away, or they will fairly get tarred with the same brush.
January 31, 2009 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not attempting to defend Rush. Those were his words and he has to live by them.
I'm saying that automatically connecting Republicans to what Rush says is the same logic they used during the election to connect Obama to whatever Wright said.
How are Republicans connecting themselves with Rush these days? I don't really see too many lawmakers trying hard to make a connection with him. If I'm wrong, totally correct me.
I just have a problem with the ad because it seems like similar dishonest tactics that were used against Obama during the election to put words in his mouth he never said.
February 1, 2009 3:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
For some reason, my reply to you keeps getting gobbled, so I just put it in a blog:
Yes, it's fair
February 1, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
What happened the the constitution? Free Speech?
Rush can say what he has to say. Just like you and I. Why should the Democratic party want to silence someone for speaking there mind? Is this the new Obama agenda? Silence those who speak out against you? I hope not. There is no HOPE in that. But he did suggest that Republicans should stop listening to Rush. Is that the beginning of a new democratic policy. To shush the conservitives on talk radio. The "Fairness policy" is taking hold already? I hope not. We are a free people and under our Constitution and we have a right to speak our political mind. Obama has arrogantly signed bills in his first days that will bite him and his admins in the ass in later days. Review the signings and watch as he signs the bills. It is arrogance in motion. Not the humbleness he acted during his campain. It's a telling sign of things to come. He is green and I don't mean that to mean environmental. He's eating the lime light and like so many celebrities before him, he will fall into the trap of being purchased. Why would he call for our people to not listen to someone else, unless that person spoke the trueth.
February 1, 2009 6:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
No one is talking about curbing Rush's speech.
But it's perfectly reasonable to ask Republicans if they also hope Obama fails, as Rush does.
Or is that too challenging for Republicans?
February 1, 2009 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
any help getting rid of Ensign and Heller is welcome
February 2, 2009 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink