Journalist Howard Fineman, who previously slammed Rush Limbaugh as a
"werewolf," who knocked Rick Perry and Sarah Palin as stupid, who
smeared Tea Partiers as "secessionists," touted his non-partisan
credentials on the website of the liberal Huffington Post [1]. Fineman
absurdly proclaimed, "I'm pretty well known for keeping an even keel
ideologically and for steering clear of partisanship."
Fineman, who once lectured Mitt Romney to tell Limbaugh, "stuff it," added, "I'm old-fashioned, even out of date, in this deconstructionist era, in which everyone is assumed to have an ulterior -- political -- motive. I don't. I really don't."
Fineman's defense came after a public squabble with Limbaugh. The radio host derided the journalist for tweeting of the Olympics: "Brits long ago lost their empire, powerful currency. They've got social strife, but overall show us how to lose global power gracefully."
This prompted Limbaugh to go on his radio show [2]
and announce, "Obama is overseeing the decline! Obama is the author of
the decline! And now we find that that's good. We can learn from the
Brits how to lose power gracefully! Yes, there is a graceful way to lose
global power. There is a wonderful way to go out there and become a
doormat."
Writing in the left-wing Huffington Post, Fineman conceded Limbaugh's
clout while lamenting that Tea Party members "are conducting a hostile
takeover of what used to be a mainstream Republican Party."
Fineman's claim to be "steering clear of partisanship" and not having a
"ulterier...political motive" is demonstrably ridiculous. See examples
below for just a sampling of the ex-Newsweek editor's extreme liberal bias.
Clearly, Fineman has a grudge with Limbaugh. On July 16, 2012 [3],
Fineman foamed, "So, if you have an establishment Republican [Mitt
Romney] behaving like an attack dog, you're going to have the Rush
Limbaughs of the world behaving like werewolves." On March 11, 2012 [4], he insisted that Romney tell the host to "shove it."
On August 14, 2011 [5],
he highlighted aides to George W. Bush who opposed then-presidential
candidate Rick Perry: "And you know when proponents of George Bush...are
accusing Rick Perry of being shallow, you've got some questions to ask,
okay?"
Calling conservatives stupid is a habit of the supposedly non-partisan Fineman. On August 29, 2008 [6],
he said of Sarah Palin: "[McCain has] done it [picked Sarah Palin] at
great cost, because the whole Republican convention...was going to be
the slogan, 'He's not ready to lead,' meaning Barack Obama. Well, Sarah
Palin makes Barack Obama look like John Adams. I mean, it's just, it's
no contest."
However, according to Howard Fineman, it would be wrong to look at this
evidence and think he has some sort of "political motive."