xanathemax

Preaching to the choir? I've never seen Rush persuade anyone that wasn't already on his side.

Kerostasis

After thinking about this for awhile, I've decided that while the "Betray-us" ad was much higher on the revulsion scale than anything Rush said or was alleged to have said, I cannot identify a qualitative breakpoint that would make one a legitimate target for Senate rebuke and the other not. So I will withdraw complaint #2 for now. Complaint #1 still stands.

I'm thinking part of the difference lies in the fact that members of the senate had expressed sentiments similar to the "Betray-us" ad the same morning that it ran, so there was a greater incentive for the rest of the Senate to try and distance themselves from it. As I said, there's all sorts of rediculous statements that pass through the media every day without comment by the Senate. I'm just thinking that their choice of statements to respond to in this particular instance was poor judgement, but perhaps it does not rise to the level of abuse of power.


Come now...with all due respect, if that was true, who would even care what rediculous things Rush said? He's only considered to be dangerous because he does persuade people. Perhaps not anyone you've met personally, but they're out there.

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[tR]Greasy_mullet

What Reid and the Senate did was illegal and they should be tried in a court of law for it. They have absolutly no understanding of what the 1st Amendmant is about and what they did was a huge violation of it. I have an issue with any government official doing this from either side of politics.

If they had merly come out and opposed his alleged comments, then Reid and company would have done nothing wrong but when they use their government position to condem a persons speech or pass a resolution against it (even non binding), then that is an abuse of their power and exactly what the first Amendment protects us from.

Reid is a disgusting souless liar who has no honor or integrity like much of the rest of his party.

El_Gringo_Grande

I don't think this violates the 1st amendment. Nobody is stopping Rush from saying what he wants. Nobody is suggesting a law to limit his speech. And Rush is a political animal. He is nothing without politics. And he isn't exactly a "little guy". As Kero pointed out he has a lot of power and he does influence loads of people.

And I don't think it is against any person in government to say what they believe, even officially. It may be bad politics though. In fact I believe one of the problems is that many in government don't express their true feelings and they hide behind the party line.

And as far as the this letter having any kind of negative effect on his Free Speech? Whaaaaa!?!?! This is exactly what Rush wants. This empowers him and his ditto-heads (or whatever they call themselves). That letter is pure gold for them. It confirms everything that they believe. The ones that I know are very happy about that letter.

I personally would be much more offended if they went after a true little guy just speaking his mind. But, as I said, Rush is not a little guy. He works very hard to make certain political figures look bad. And he gains from this. The letter was asinine anyway you look at it. But breaking a law or infringing free speech? Nahhhh.

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Sen. Barack Obama (IL) For President '08
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I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

tHa_KhAn

I wasn't necessarily speaking about his powers of persuasion. In general Radio, Television, and the internet are mere Entertainment. If you like what he says, he's fun to listen to. If you hate was he says, he's fun to listen to. Either way people listen and make his advertisers happy. At the end of the day he's not doing a public service, he's padding his pockets enough so he can match a 2.1 million dollar bid to a charity.

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Steeler

I'd call it waste of power.

That statement shows what little understanding you have about the 1st Amendment.
"Congress shall make no law..."

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Buckets

Rush Limbaugh is still on the air? Shouldn't he be in rehab or something?

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The artist formerly known as "pecker"

Kerostasis

...

A little behind the times there Buckets.

Rush has the biggest audience of any political show in the entire country, and the whole "drug addiction" issue was finished years ago. Right now Rush is busy raking in so much cash that he can afford to do things like match a $2 Million charity donation without batting an eye. The only way to get someone THAT successful off the air is to do something stupid like have the government shut him down.

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Buckets

I guess I just figured that people would be over the whole "hypocritical blowhard rants and raves about a bunch of crap that doesn't work in the real world" thing. Has he re-invented himself or something? The donation seems like a pretty commendable thing for an otherwise detestable human being to do.

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The artist formerly known as "pecker"

tHa_KhAn

As I mentioned earlier, people either love him or (the cliche) love to hate him. Either way people listen to nod their heads or yell obscenities at the radio. In both cases advertisers are happy and so is Rush's bank account.

Another good example, Dennis Rodman. He was perhaps the best, yet most boring, rebounder in the game. So he went the freak route and got paid for it. Look at old school film of him in the NBA like his first all star game when he was just another guy on the floor. Point is being controversial in the spot light pays because as many people like you, more hate, despise, or are appalled by you and they pay attention just as much if not more than the people that like you. Advertisers are in a win win.

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Yanu

Well Buckets, when was the last time you listened to the Rush Limbaugh radio program? If you want to listen again, you can catch his show on the radio between 12 Noon and 3 PM Eastern. If you care to participate the number is 1-800-282-2882. You can also listen online at http://www.rushlimbaugh.com

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|TG| Yanu - Bad handwriting since the 8th grade.

Kerostasis

I was under the impression that you needed to be a paying member of his website to listen at that link. If you wanted to listen for free, you would have to find any random radio station that broadcasts Rush and listen to their online broadcast. For example, I use KFI AM 640 Streaming Radio even though I'm not in their geographic broadcast area since my last move.

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