Using Bogus Quote to Slam Rush and "Idiot America"
"Those are Limbaugh's words. So are these: 'I mean, let's face it, we didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back. I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.' I know how those words play out in Idiot America. They are embraced as gospel. But inside the locker rooms of the NFL, where the overwhelming majority of the players are descendants of slaves, Limbaugh's ignorant ramblings resonate with entirely different emotions."
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports writer Bryan Burwell in an October 7 column [1], the first to cite the false "slavery" quote in a story about Limbaugh's participation in a bid to buy the St. Louis Rams.
"Should a person who says there are merits with slavery be able to have this privilege of owning a team?"
- MSNBC Live co-anchor Tamron Hall, October 12.
"Several NFL players have already said they would not play for Rush because they know he would love to say he owns a plantation full of black men."
- MSNBC contributor Toure on Morning Meeting, October 14. [Audio/video (0:18): Windows Media [2] | MP3 audio [3]]
Three Days After False Smear: "Our Bad"
"Limbaugh's perceived racist diatribes are too many to name but here's a sampling: He once declared that [words on screen] 'Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark,' said Limbaugh."
- CNN's Rick Sanchez on the 3pm ET hour of Newsroom, October 12.
"i've know rush. in person,i like him. his rhetoric,however is inexcusably divisive. he's right tho. we didn't confirm quote. our bad."
- Twitter posting [4] from Sanchez on October 15, after Limbaugh was dropped from the group trying to buy the Rams.
Even If It's a "Horrible Fabrication," Writer Says He's Still Right
"Let's go along for the full ride and believe that it [the slavery quote] was all a horrible 'fabrication.' So what are we left with? Well, essentially, I think we just threw a deck chair off the Titanic. There is still a huge pile of polarizing, bigoted debris stacked up on the deck of the good ship Limbaugh that he can't deny or even remotely distance himself from."
- Bryan Burwell, who launched the "slavery" quote into coverage of Limbaugh, October 14 St. Louis Post-Dispatch [5] .
"Mullah" Rush Limbaugh vs. "Reasonable Republicans"
"It's important to know who is actually sounding off against this....You've got the mullahs in the Taliban, and then you've got Mullah Rush - you know, you have his critics here at home. Other than that, you don't see, you know, John McCain attacking it....Reasonable Republicans would agree that when a President of the United States is recognized with probably the most prestigious award in the world, it's not something to attack."
- Newsweek senior editor and MSNBC news analyst Jonathan Alter discussing President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, MSNBC Live, October 9. [Audio/video (1:28): Windows Media [6] | MP3 audio [7]]
Obama Wins "Olympic Gold" After All
"President Obama, nine months into his presidency, has won the Nobel Peace Prize. And it's really, kind of, the Olympic gold of international diplomacy."
- Diane Sawyer starting off ABC's Good Morning America, October 9.
"He has been in office nine months. The Nobel committee citation seemed to take note of that, saying, 'Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope.'"
- Charles Gibson on ABC's World News, October 9.
"It happened so fast and was so unexpected the White House had to figure out what to say. It's also one of the last remaining towering honors on Earth...."
- Brian Williams on the October 9 NBC Nightly News.
Will Nobel Prize Make ObamaCare More Popular?
"Perhaps, this [Nobel Peace Prize] could be something that helps this administration not only push through on the front in Afghanistan, but also, you know, health care as well, a lot of hurdles involving health care. And so perhaps this is something that the administration can use to say, 'Hey, listen,' you know, in the world community, 'the President has some juice here.' So this could help him."
- CNN's Dan Lothian on American Morning, October 9.
Excited by Socialism's Progress
"Good evening. In 1912, almost a hundred years ago, Teddy Roosevelt called for universal health care. It now may be closer than at any time since then. The Senate Finance Committee today voted 14 to 9 in favor of a bill that would overhaul the nation's health care system. President Obama called it a milestone...."
- ABC's Charles Gibson leading off World News, October 13.
If You Ignore the Huge Price Tag, ObamaCare "Saves Billions"
"The Senate Finance Committee said today it will vote on its reform plan next week, and according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the plan costs less than expected and would actually reduce the deficit. So why do Republicans still oppose it?"
- Fill-in anchor Maggie Rodriguez on the CBS Evening News, October 8.
"President Obama's health care plan gets a green light from the Congressional Budget Office, as a key bill not only pays for itself, but actually saves billions....This morning Democratic leaders are cheering a report that shows that the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill actually saves money."
- CBS's Maggie Rodriguez on The Early Show, October 8. In fact, the 10-year projected cost of the health care package is estimated at $829 billion, much of it paid for with new taxes and penalties.
Letting "Half the Country Die" Just to Thwart Obama
Host Dylan Ratigan: "Some Republicans and conservatives celebrating Obama's failed attempt to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Down with Chicago! Contessa Brewer has the latest."
News anchor Contessa Brewer: "Can you imagine this, that some people actually went as far as to cheer?"
Ratigan: "Sure. I mean, there are people that are actually trying to derail health care in order to take down Obama, even if it means half the country dies."
- Exchange on MSNBC's 9am ET Morning Meeting, October 5. [Audio/video (0:33): Windows Media [8] | MP3 audio [9]]
Spinning Obama's Olympic Failure Into a Plus
"It would have been great had he come home a winner....But maybe not so much for him. Why? Because then he would have then really irked his critics. They're already secretly and not so secretly peeved that he's been voted the world's prom king. Another victory would have just started a wave of dangerous, uncontrollable seething."
- ABC national correspondent Claire Shipman in an online column posted October 5 at True/Slant.com [10].
And on the Obama Sycophancy Beat Tonight...
"The White House gave us a look today at a picture of the President during his down time. We hear he's pretty proud of this picture. It shows him playing basketball recently and blocking a shot by his aide, Reggie Love, who is younger, taller, and by the way, a former ball player at Duke. Now at the President's request, Love autographed it, writing, quote: 'Nice block.' It now hangs in the West Wing so the President can savor the moment every time he passes by."
- Fill-in anchor Maggie Rodriguez on the October 8 CBS Evening News.
Sir, What Makes You So Special?
"If I were writing the American people's guide to understanding President Jimmy Carter...what should people, once and for all, understand about you and what has set you apart from other chief executives - in mind set and your wiring?"
- NBC anchor Brian Williams to former President Jimmy Carter, October 1 Nightly News.
Missing that Comfortable Iron Curtain
"Was Russia Better Off Red? Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has seen an increase in oligarchs and Louis Vuitton outlets. But by many other measures, Russians are worse off."
- Headline and explanatory paragraph of Newsweek's last page "Back Story" graphic [11], October 12 issue.
Chris Amused by Fantasy of Rush's Demise
"Rush Limbaugh is looking more and more like Mr. Big, and at some point somebody's going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he's going to explode like a giant blimp. That day may come. Not yet, but we'll be there to watch."
- Chris Matthews on MSNBC's Morning Meeting, October 13. [Audio/video (0:27): Windows Media [12] | MP3 audio [13]]
"It was a movie reference, with which I am very proud to relentlessly give you. But, in this political atmosphere, I shouldn't have gone into such detail about Mr. Big's demise at the end of that movie, about that CO2 capsule, especially in reference to Rush. And certainly I shouldn't have speculated, even metaphorically or cinematically, about that happening to Rushbo in the real world."
- Matthews backpedaling on the October 14 Hardball.
Olbermann: Always a Class Act
"...the total mindless, morally bankrupt, knee-jerk, fascistic hatred - without which Michelle Malkin would just be a big mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it."
- Countdown host Keith Olbermann talking about the conservative columnist and author, October 13.
Conservatism = One Big Racist Conspiracy
"It's obvious to anybody who has eyes in this country that tea-baggers, the 9-12ers, these separatist groups that pretend that it's about policy - they are clearly white-identity movements. They're clearly white power movements. What they don't like about the President is that he's black....These people, who are also being led by the Glenn Becks, the Michelle Bachmans, the Rush Limbows [presumably Limbaugh], whomever, they are no different than any other white identity movement that's part of our history."
- Left-wing activist and actress Janeane Garofalo on HBO's Real Time, October 2. [Audio/video (2:02): Windows Media [14] | MP3 audio [15]]
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