Barack Obama

No Apology From Rush Limbaugh For Defending 'Christian' Terrorists

Thomas Lane | October 26, 2011, 6:01AM

Rush Limbaugh is nothing if not stubborn. He's now obstinately resisting an international outcry over his incendiary comments about Africa's Lord's Resistance Army.

This band of child-abductors, rapists and killers is acknowledged as bad news by pretty much everyone. Everyone, that is, except for Limbaugh, who took to the air shortly after President Obama announced he was dispatching 100 military advisers to help take them on.

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Barack Obama

Rush Limbaugh Hearts Terrorists... As Long As They're Christians

Thomas Lane | October 17, 2011, 5:49PM

We've all heard the saying that "my enemy's enemy is my friend." In Rush Limbaugh's case that's just put him in bed with some rather unsavory characters.

The characters in question are the Lord's Resistance Army - a notorious gang of child abductors, rapists, mutilators, thieves and murderers who have marauded across Africa's "Great Lakes Region" for more than 20 years. President Bush declared them a terrorist organization in 2001, and the U.S. has ramped up its efforts to help African governments battle the group ever since then.

However, now that President Obama has committed 100 combat advisers to the region to help finish them off, the right wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh has suddenly discovered these murderers are in fact princes among men.

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Barack Obama

How The U.S. Came To Fight The Lord's Resistance Army

Thomas Lane | October 17, 2011, 5:58AM

Soldiers from the Lord's Resistance Army

Rush Limbaugh's reaction to the news that President Obama was sending 100 combat-ready troops to help fight the Lord's Resistance Army was probably similar to that of many Americans.

Speaking on his radio show last Friday, shortly after the President's letter informing Congress of the deployment had been released, the right wing talk show host did a mini-straw poll among his callers.

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Pres '12

Gingrich: 'And By The Way, It Was Not A Reference To Paul Ryan' (AUDIO)

Eric Kleefeld | May 19, 2011, 3:55PM

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Newt Gingrich appeared on Rush Limbaugh's radio show this afternoon to explain the whole dust-up since he blasted Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) Medicare-privatizing budget proposal as "right-wing social engineering." Gingrich's latest explanation: He wasn't talking about Ryan or the budget at all!

And what's more, he's supported that budget and Ryan's plan ever since Ryan briefed him on it, weeks before its public announcement.

Limbaugh took issue with Gingrich's statement that he opposed both left-wing and right-wing "social engineering," and asked Gingrich to define the term "social engineering."

"It's very straightforward. It's when the government comes in and tells you how to live your life and what you're gonna do -- whether the values that lead it to do that are left-wing values, or the values that lead it to do that are right-wing values," said Gingrich. "I believe in personal freedom. I believe in your right to lead your life. I believe that we are endowed by the Declaration of Independence, by our Creator, with the right to pursue happiness. And I want a government that is much more humble about its ability to tell you what to do, whether it's people on either side of the ideological spectrum.

"And by the way, it was not a reference to Paul Ryan. There was no reference to Paul Ryan in that answer."

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Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh Mocks Chinese President Hu's Language (AUDIO)

Eric Kleefeld | January 19, 2011, 2:59PM

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is known for often using coded racist language, then accusing people of race-baiting if they complain. But this time, in commenting on the press conference held by President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, he's just gone for some straight-out racist caricature.

As Media Matters has picked up, Limbaugh complained on his radio show today that there was not a constant voiceover translation on the broadcast of Hu's speech. In imitation, he then proceeded to do a mocking impression of Hu's language, as might have been featured in a movie or radio show from the first half of the last century.

Give it a listen.

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Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh Calls Dem Leaders Racist, Says Clyburn Should Chauffeur Pelosi

Brian Beutler | November 11, 2010, 5:48PM

Talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh accused House Democratic leaders of racism today, for attempting to squeeze Jim Clyburn (the highest ranking African-American congressman in history) out of party leadership... only to then suggest that Clyburn would be a good fit for a new position as Nancy Pelosi's chauffeur.

"We've got the Democrats worried that Clyburn's getting the shaft because he's not going to have a car, he's not going to have a driver, he's not going to have security, he's not going to have any of the stroke, or the perks," Limbaugh said. "A white, racist leadership of the Democrat party trying to ace out Clyburn." Limbaugh got his information on Clyburn's driver from Martin Frost, who appeared on MSNBC.

If Clyburn loses his race to be Democratic whip, he'll either have to drop out of party leadership, or move into a lower-ranking leadership position, with fewer perks. Limbaugh claimed that this supposed avarice is what's animating Clyburn's fight to stay in leadership... and then noted that Clyburn could keep his car if he was willing to drive around the party's white leader.

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Barack Obama

Freak Out! Right Wingers Howl Over Obama's India Trip (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 4, 2010, 5:38PM

President Barack Obama, with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck inset.

As you may have heard, President Obama will travel to India on Saturday, part of an overseas diplomatic mission that will put the president face-to-face with the leaders of a key strategic and trade partner, not to mention a regional nuclear power. For Obama, the India visit is a chance to get all presidential after his recent "shellacking." For India, it's a change to further a relationship mutually beneficial to both nations. For the right wing, it's a one-way ticket to Freakoutville.

Here's the right-wing India trip meme: Obama is spending more money -- $200 million per day -- than the nation spends daily on the war in Afghanistan, in order to fly something like one million planes full of his closest friends to a multi-day bacchanal on the steps of the Taj Mahal, all paid for by you, the taxypayer. Or something.

As Eric Lach reported earlier today, the meme is just about 100% garbage, according to the White House. "No basis in reality" was the way Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest described it.

But that hasn't stopped the engines of right-wing panic from spooling up to 11 over what is, basically, a totally normal -- though inarguably incredibly expensive -- part of being President.

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2010 elections

Karl Rove On The Wrong Side Of The Tea Party Again (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 25, 2010, 10:05AM

Karl Rove

Karl Rove is pushing back on tea party accusations that he embodies the worst of the GOP establishment. Again.

Rove has found himself on the wrong side of the tea party quite a few times this election season. Yesterday, on CBS' Face The Nation, he stood up to critics on the ultra-right who say he's part of the failed Republican establishment they're hoping to purge with nominees like Sharron Angle, Ken Buck and Christine O'Donnell.

Rove's stand lasted less than one minute, before he hastily apologized to the tea party and He Who Must Be Obeyed among the GOP, Rush Limbaugh.

The most recent flap began last week, when Rove told Der Spiegel that the movement driving the GOP these days lacked the "well-organized, coherent" and "ideologically motivated" backbone of the Reagan Revolution.

"If you look underneath the surface of the Tea Party movement, on the other hand, you will find that it is not sophisticated," Rove told the German paper, according to the Huffington Post. "It's not like these people have read the economist Friedrich August von Hayek. Rather, these are people who are deeply concerned about what they see happening to their country, particularly when it comes to spending, deficits, debt and health care."

So there you have it. Rove, the Architect, thinks the modern driving force in the GOP -- you know, the one that stars a woman who had to assure voters that "I'm not a witch" in her campaign commercials -- lacks the, er, polish of the party during the Reagan era. (As HuffPo noted, the Der Spiegel interview wasn't the first time Rove's said it.)

Bring on Rush's outrage, Rove's desperate attempts to redeem himself with his conservative Republican friends, and Rove's eventual apology to all involved. It's a movie we've seen before, but yesterday was a far more truncated version.

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Joe Miller

Joe Miller Consultant Is Anti-Gay Christian Activist

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2010, 4:39PM

Candidate for U.S. Senate Joe Miller (R-AK)

David Corn at Mother Jones keys in to Alaska Republican Joe Miller's views on gay rights issues. Miller himself keeps pretty mum on the subject, though in a letter to voters he defended a pastor who claimed that "homosexuality is a sin, and therefore immoral."

But whatever his views, he paid $2,500, for consulting services unknown, to a veteran anti-gay activist named Terry Moffitt, who runs a project called Hope for Homosexuals.

Moffitt of the school of thought that homosexuality is a sickness that can be cured. Quoth Corn:

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Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh Defends O'Donnell: Separation Of Church And State Not In The Constitution

Brian Beutler | October 19, 2010, 6:21PM

Rush Limbaugh

A prominent Constitutional scholar has entered the fray to defend Christine O'Donnell from the people criticizing her for suggesting that the Constitution does not provide for the separation of church and state. And by "prominent Constitutional scholar," we mean Rush Limbaugh.

In one of his signature rants this afternoon, Limbaugh excoriated O'Donnell's detractors by claiming the left has used the shorthand "separation of church and state" as a rationale for excluding religious people from government -- as evidenced by the profusion of atheists serving in national office.

"Are you telling me separation of church and state's in the First Amendment?" Limbaugh asked. "It's not. Christine O'Donnell was absolutely correct -- the First Amendment says absolutely nothing about the separation of church and state."

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Karl Rove

Karl Rove Walks Back His Diss And Gives In To O'Donnell Fever (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 16, 2010, 10:36AM

Karl Rove

Well, that didn't take long. After being pounded for a full day by some of the conservative movement's biggest names, a bruised and battered Karl Rove took to the Fox News airwaves this morning to get on board the Christine O'Donnell train.

Rove, you'll recall, refused to buy the tea party hype about Delaware's new Republican Senate nominee, telling Sean Hannity on the night O'Donnell won that the "nutty" things O'Donnell says meant that the GOP had no shot at winning a Senate majority with her representing the party in Delaware (a race the GOP was expected to win with establishment choice Mike Castle as the nominee.)

Since he made that comment, commentators from Michelle Malkin to Sarah Palin to Rush Limbaugh have called Rove everything from incompetent to traitorous. The end result? Rove has come to embody the "establishment" in discussions about O'Donnell. And as anyone knows, this year, the "establishment" label on a Republican resume is about as popular as a meat dress at a PETA meeting.

So perhaps it's no surprise that Rove buckled under the pressure of his right-wing critics, rushing onto Fox this morning to change the narrative. How can you call me establishment? he asked. I supported Sharron Angle for goodness' sake! And as to that whole "the GOP Senate majority is doomed" thing, Rove is now claiming that not only does he think O'Donnell can win, he actually orchestrated sending NRSC money to her campaign.

As Rove might have said in a moment of honesty, it's all kind of nutty.

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Karl Rove

Rush Limbaugh Apoplectic Over Rove's O'Donnell Diss (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 15, 2010, 4:52PM

Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh

Add Rush Limbaugh to the list of prominent conservatives tearing into Karl Rove's hide today. As Rove continued his tour slamming freshly minted Delaware Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell over the considerable number of skeletons in her closet, Rush was almost literally beside himself with frustration at the idea that anyone -- much less The Architect -- would dare violate the 11th Commandment so brazenly.

O'Donnell's nomination has created deep divisions between the Republican Party and right-wing activists. Last night, Rove bashed O'Donnell -- and her chances of being elected -- and insisted that she's said a lot of "nutty things." He was attacked by some right-wingers for those comments. O'Donnell whacked him back in a televised interview this morning. And then Rove responded to O'Donnell and his right-wing critics, daring them to 'prove me wrong'. Then Palin slammed Rove. Now it's Limbaugh's turn.

"If 51 seats was really the objective -- if getting the majority is really that important, then let's go balls to the wall for Christine O'Donnell!" Limbaugh screamed on his radio show today after playing a clip of Rove's already infamous anti-O'Donnell interview on Hannity last night.

"Why not fight for it?" Limbaugh asked. "Why not fight for it? Castle's OK as the 51st vote but this woman isn't?"

Rush seemed in danger of having an aneurysm at the idea that Rove would do something as heretical as point out that O'Donnell has more than a few very serious character flaws and -- as the polls show -- is a serious underdog against her Democratic opponent in November, in a race that Republicans had once thought was theirs for the taking.

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Karl Rove

Karl Rove Guest Hosting Rush Limbaugh's Show Next Week

Thomas Rhiel | August 5, 2010, 9:55AM

Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh

When Rush is away, Rove will play.

Renaissance man Karl Rove -- a master campaigner, a shrewd senior adviser to former president George W. Bush, and a pretty bad emcee -- will apparently be filling in for conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh next Monday. Earlier this morning, Rove tweeted, "Rush Limbaugh will be out Monday, 8/9/10. Tune in as I make my EIB Network guest-host debut!"

We certainly will!

Joe Biden

Biden: We Should've Kept Anna Chapman -- And Sent Rush Limbaugh To Russia (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | July 12, 2010, 9:12AM

Vice President Joe Biden told Jay Leno on Friday that he wanted to make something very clear -- "It wasn't my idea" to send redheaded Russian spy Anna Chapman back home in a swap for captured U.S. spies. He added: "I thought maybe they'd take Rush Limbaugh or something."

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Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh Is Now Too Oily For Republicans To Touch

Brian Beutler | June 23, 2010, 10:37AM

Rush Limbaugh

If more politicians were as forthright as Rep. Steven King (R-IA), Rush Limbaugh might have more friends in Congress these days. In fact, Republicans are so on-message with the idea that Joe Barton was wrong, and speaking for himself, when he apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward that they're even willing to throw the conservative talk show host and noted GOP opinion-mover under the bus.

King says that's mostly for show. Republicans, he suspects, are publicly distancing themselves from Tony Haward apologist Joe Barton while privately acknowledging that he was right to accuse the White House of shaking down BP.

"I think there will be a few that, like me, will agree with JB's words, and his description, and there will be a lot of others that privately agree with what he said," King told TPMDC yesterday.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Say What? GOPers Slam White House Over BP Gulf Spill Fund

Eric Kleefeld | June 17, 2010, 10:18AM

(clockwise from top left) Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), Rush Limbaugh, Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) and Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)

BP is ponying up $20 billion for Gulf Spill oil damages. And quite a few Republicans don't like it one bit.

The Obama administration and BP seem to have come to a solution on paying for damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with the $20 billion escrow account to pay out damages to claimants. And since everything that a president does will get attacked by opponents, some Republicans have come out strongly against it -- with the sum total of charges being that it will turn into a political slush fund procured through dirty Chicago thug tactics that will be paid out to ACORN.

• Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) vigorously attacked the idea: "The president just called for creating a fund that would be administered by outsiders, which would be more of a redistribution-of-wealth fund," Bachmann said on Tuesday, also adding that BP should say, "We're not going to be chumps, and we're not going to be fleeced." Bachmann later backtracked on Wednesday, saying that BP should pay for all of the damages involved, but that the fund should not be "an unending pot of money."

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Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh: McConnell Told Me Republicans Are Proposing Amendments In Order To Stop Health Care Bill, Not Improve It

Eric Kleefeld | December 11, 2009, 2:52PM

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Rush Limbaugh.

On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh said that none other than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told him that the Republicans are offering amendments to the health care bill, not to improve the bill, but as a parliamentary maneuver to "flush out" Democratic centrists Ben Nelson and Jim Webb, and to try to peel them away and thus stop the bill:

"Plus there are the Republicans using procedures, parliamentary procedures, and offering all these amendments. Now the purpose -- I talked to Sen. McConnell about the purpose of the amendments. He said we're trying to flush out with these amendments, just who it is that really we have to focus on here. And the two names that he mentioned were Ben Nelson and Jim Webb in Virginia. Because there's something that Webb is not going along with the Democrats on, I forget specifically what it is. My point in mentioning all this is, that the Republicans in the Senate are using parliamentary procedures, they are offering all these amendments, not to make the bill better, but to flush out and to find out who it is that they really need to work with to stop this. That is their objective, to stop it.

When contacted by TPM, McConnell's office could not immediately comment.

Rush Limbaugh

Poll Data: Conservatives Really Do Like Limbaugh -- And Dems Could Be Under-Estimating Glenn Beck

Eric Kleefeld | December 1, 2009, 11:10AM

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh

The recent Vanity Fair/60 Minutes poll finds that Rush Limbaugh is widely seen as the single most influential conservative in America -- but the poll internals, provided to TPM by Vanity Fair and the CBS polling department, also suggests that Democrats could be seriously underestimating the pull of Glenn Beck.

The poll had asked: "Who among the following do you think is currently the most influential conservative voice in America?" The top-line result was Rush Limbaugh 26%, Glenn Beck 11%, Sarah Palin 10%, Dick Cheney 10%, Sean Hannity 8%, and John Boehner (the only current elected official in the poll) at 4%.

My honest expectation, before receiving the internal data, was that Democrats would be overestimating the pull of Limbaugh, while self-identified Republicans and conservatives -- the best people to ask if you want an answer for who is the most influential conservative -- would shy away. But not so at all.

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Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin: Hero Of Talk Radio Listeners -- But Anyone Else?

Eric Kleefeld | November 30, 2009, 12:13PM

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

The new Washington Post poll illustrates the extent to which Sarah Palin's political appeal is a disproportionate one, focused on the harder line of the Republican Party -- which also happens to be where the GOP's energy is these days. The key question we have to really answer in the next few years, then, is how far Palin's disproportionate support among the hard right can really get her, and whether she can expand from there.

Overall, Palin had an 18% plurality when Republicans and GOP-leaners were asked who their choice for president was in 2012. But among Rush Limbaugh listeners it was a whopping 45%, and also a third among Glenn Beck viewers (we can probably assume that these two groups overlap to some extent). When asked who best represents the GOP's core values, Palin attracted 17% support -- with 48% among Limbaugh fans, and 35% among Beck's audience.

Palin certainly has built up a following with these two hosts and their audiences. She's not ruled out a Palin-Beck ticket in 2012 -- though Beck has ruled it out with some very colorful language. Limbaugh has praised Going Rogue as "one of the most substantive policy books I've read." And no less a voice than Bill Kristol, a frequent advocate of Palin's, has said that the GOP's "center of gravity, I suspect, will instead lie with individuals such as Palin and Huckabee and Gingrich, media personalities like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh."

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Republicans

Top 10 Wild And Wacky Political Voices -- For Whom We're All Very Thankful

Eric Kleefeld | November 25, 2009, 6:04PM

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Rush Limbaugh

Here at TPM, we definitely have an eye for the weird -- and speaking for myself, I particularly enjoy the crazy stuff that right-wingers often say.

The American right often uses the rhetoric of a persecuted minority, even when they're actually in power. So having a Democrat in the White House, let alone a progressive black Democrat from Chicago named Barack Hussein Obama, has driven them to whole new heights (or lows, depending on how you count it) of rhetoric.

So let's take a look at some real stars of our current political rhetorical wars. The list is mostly Republican -- and you betchya that it was an obvious choice for the top spot -- plus one Democratic "Congressman With Guts" who gives the opposition a taste of their own medicine. We've got politicians, talk show hosts, and people who seem to be both at the same time. So sit back, and enjoy the crazy.

I'm certainly thankful to them -- for making my job a lot more interesting. If they weren't around, what would there be for me to write about?

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FL-SEN

Rush Limbaugh: 'I Like Rubio'

Eric Kleefeld | November 25, 2009, 11:38AM

Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R)

The Marco Rubio campaign has now posted a very interesting YouTube video, in which the conservative insurgent candidate for Senate wins the praise of a notable right-wing activist and Florida resident: Rush Limbaugh.

"I like Rubio," said Limbaugh, in a guest appearance on a local Florida radio show. "I've never met him, nor have I met Crist, but I know that there's a sea change brewing and effervescing in this country."

And Limbaugh took aim at Charlie Crist's provocative insistence that he's a conservative, and Crist's ridicule of his detractors: "I noticed that Crist is out there now, 'Hey what do you mean, who says I'm not conservative? I'm pro-life, I'm pro-gun, well I don't know what more I have to be, except angry.' That's not gonna sit well."

Eric Cantor

Cantor Says Tea Party's Dachau Photos 'Inappropriate,' Takes Issue With Limbaugh

Rachel Slajda | November 6, 2009, 4:58PM

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)

At yesterday's tea party rally on Capitol Hill, at least one protester brandished a large graphic photograph of the victims of the Dachau Nazi concentration camp, comparing health care reform to Nazi policies. Today, Rep. Eric Cantor's (R-VA) spokesman called the photograph "inappropriate."

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) has also condemned the poster.

Cantor, in an interview today with Bloomberg, also offered some criticism of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's comparison of President Obama to Adolf Hitler.

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NY-23

Owens: Limbaugh's Attack On Scozzafava 'Offends Me Personally' And 'Exemplifies Exactly What's Wrong With Hoffman'

Eric Kleefeld | November 2, 2009, 6:16PM

NY-23 candidates Dede Scozzafava (R) and Bill Owens (D)

Democratic NY-23 candidate Bill Owens is jumping to the defense of Dede Scozzafava, his Republican former rival who dropped out of the race and endorsed him against Conservative Doug Hoffman, following an attack on her by Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh declared today that Scozzafava was "guilty of widespread bestiality. She has screwed every RINO in the country." Owens released this statement:

"This despicable attack on Assemblywoman Scozzafava offends me personally and exemplifies exactly what's wrong with Hoffman and his right wing backers. Assemblywoman Scozzafava is an honorable public servant who has served Upstate New York as an independent and principled leader who always prioritized the best interests of Upstate New York ahead of a partisan agenda. Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing special interests that are running Hoffman's campaign can't even begin to compete with what she has accomplished over her career."

"Doug Hoffman and his supporters have sunk to a new low today. There is no excuse for this kind of shameful rhetoric and Doug Hoffman ought to denounce Limbaugh immediately."

Sunday Shows

The Sunday Show Line-Ups

Eric Kleefeld | October 30, 2009, 1:05PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

Here are the line-ups for the Sunday talk shows this weekend:

• ABC, This Week: Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett.

• CBS, Face The Nation: Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

• CNN, State Of The Union: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Gov Haley Barbour (R-MS).

• Fox News Sunday: Rush Limbaugh.

• NBC, Meet The Press: Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, Obama 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe.

VA-GOV

Deeds Camp Raises Money Off Rush Limbaugh's 'Mealy-Mouthed Idiot' Insult

Eric Kleefeld | October 13, 2009, 4:27PM

Creigh Deeds is now raising money from yet another apparent Republican attack -- this time from none other than Rush Limbaugh, who declared yesterday that Deeds is a "mealy-mouthed idiot."

In a new fundraising e-mail, Deeds supporters are urged to "make a contribution and show Rush Limbaugh and our childish opponents that when they launch personal attacks on Creigh, they only embolden our resolve to keep Virginia moving forward."

Last week, of course, McDonnell supporter Sheila Johnson got in hot water for making fun of Deeds for stuttering. It's not clear whether Limbaugh's "mealy-mouthed" line was a reference to Deeds' speech, or whether it was simply a random insult.

Check out the full e-mail, after the jump.

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Nobel Peace Prize

Van Hollen Condemns Limbaugh, Steele For Agreeing 'With The Taliban And Iran' On Obama's Nobel Prize

Eric Kleefeld | October 9, 2009, 5:41PM

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) released this statement, making it clear that Democrats will use Republican condemnation of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize as an issue of the GOP's basic patriotism:

"The outrageous reaction by Rush Limbaugh, RNC Chairman Michael Steele, and others to President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize is the latest sad example of Republicans putting politics before country by rooting for America to fail. House Republicans should immediately condemn these outrageous statements asserting that they are 'on the same side as the Taliban.'

"Rush Limbaugh and his Republican allies may, as Rush Limbaugh said, 'all agree with the Taliban and Iran,' but millions of Americans see the President's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize as an affirmation of our nation's values and it should be celebrated.

"Democrats and Republicans should join President Obama in seeing this award as a call to action against the common economic and security challenges we all share."

Nobel Peace Prize

Right Wingers Pitch Fits Over Nobel Peace Prize

Eric Kleefeld | October 9, 2009, 12:44PM

Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol

In the immediate wake of President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a lot of right-wingers have simply gone nuts over it.

To be very clear, we're not talking about any old criticism or disagreement. Reasonable people can believe this award was not deserved and that Obama has not at this time demonstrated the true accomplishments required. (Unreasonable people can do it, too -- Glenn Beck's got a pretty good joke about it.) We're talking about real over the top invective.

Bill Kristol likens Obama receiving the prize to Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union -- except that Kristol thinks the Communist leader was more impressive:

Mikhail Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. A year later, he was out of power and the Soviet Union had dissolved.

I don't mean to compare Barack Obama to Gorbachev, who was, whatever his faults, a truly historic and courageous figure. But let's hope the parallel extends this far: that a year from now the Democrats suffer a major electoral repudiation, and that the New Liberalism goes the way of Reform Communism. And that, beginning in 2013, Obama will have lots of free time to spend hobnobbing with Gorbachev on the international celebrity circuit.

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Nobel Peace Prize

Limbaugh On Obama's Nobel Prize: 'They Love A Weakened, Neutered U.S.'

Eric Kleefeld | October 9, 2009, 10:09AM

Talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh has already responded strongly to President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, declaring that this amounted to international praise of Obama's "intentions to emasculate the United States":

"This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama," Limbaugh told POLITICO in an e-mail. "And with this 'award' the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States."

Limbaugh continued: "They love a weakened, neutered U.S and this is their way of promoting that concept. I think God has a great sense of humor, too."

John McCain

Limbaugh Blasts Schmidt's Palin-Bashing: McCain Crowd Has 'Done Enough Damage' To GOP

Eric Kleefeld | October 2, 2009, 11:55AM

Talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is definitely not happy with former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, who said that a Palin campaign for president would be "catastrophic."

Limbaugh, who has been a long-time Palin fan, gave this comment to Greg Sargent:

I think it's time for the McCain crowd to acknowledge they are losers and pack it in. They've done enough damage to the Republican Party. Move aside and let a brighter, more principled, and more competent generation of people clean up the mess they helped create.

Rush Limbaugh

Early Poll Data: Arkansas Likes Limbaugh More Than Obama

Eric Kleefeld | August 21, 2009, 2:25PM

Rush Limbaugh

If Rush Limbaugh ever decides to run for President, he can probably count on carrying the state of Arkansas against President Obama.

Public Policy Polling (D) is currently in the field in the state that gave us Bill Clinton, and their survey includes this question: "Between Rush Limbaugh and Barack Obama, who do you think has the better vision for America?"

So far, PPP communications director Tom Jensen tells me, Limbaugh is winning by about ten points. The numbers could potentially narrow between now and when the survey is finished over the weekend, but Jensen is sure that Limbaugh will end up winning.

Although Arkansas is the home of Bill Clinton, and generally elects Democrats to both state and federal offices, John McCain easily carried the state in 2008, winning by a margin of 59%-39%.

Late Update: PPP has also Twittered this other early bit of info: "Arkansas is definitely the birtherest state to date...it's been fun but I think we'll stop asking about it after this poll."

Barney Frank

Limbaugh Cheers On Woman With Obama-As-Hitler Sign At Barney Frank Event

Eric Kleefeld | August 19, 2009, 2:12PM

Rush Limbaugh

On his show today, Rush Limbaugh cheered on the woman who showed up at Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) town hall with a sign depicting President Obama as Hitler:

"I think it's fabulous and fantastic, and hilarious," said Limbaugh, "that a woman shows up at a Barney Frank town hall meeting with an Obama-as-Hitler poster and this Nazi stuff, in his district. I mean, this is unreal."

"But the killer for me was, here's Barney Frank saying, 'What planet do you live on?' to this woman. Isn't it an established fact that Barney Frank himself spends of his time living around Uranus?"