Rush Limbaugh Challenges President Obama to a Debate »
Posted By capj71 9 months, 3 weeks ago in NewsToday, on his radio show, Rush Limbaugh challenged President Barack Obama to a debate on his show. Obviously, the chance of this happening is nil, because the President of the United States has better things to do than call into talk shows.
Read Full Story at politicususa.com »
1081 Views Share Story 294 Comments Report
Submitted By:
capj71
Hi I am Capj71, but my friends call me Jason. I love politics. I am a liberal, and proud of it. I share and prop ...
Who Also Submitted: All »
Other Related Articles: All »
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentShowing 282 of 294 Comments (view all)
-
91%
bubba29 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Rush wants to control the setting and the conditions and everything else. That is not a debate - it is a set-up.
Reply
If Rush can't even manage to meet Obama at a neutral site for a REAL debate in person, then he is not worth the effort. (He's not worth the effort anyway ...)-
95%
Beau78909 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Funny thing--just last night I was having a conversation with a friend about whether Rush's fans--or rather, those who blindly believe in everything he says--are intellectually lazy, or just stupid. She was saying they were intellectually lazy, because they refused to do any research on Rush's false and misleading claims, but would comprehend the facts if they had looked them up. I said they were stupid, because they might not actually comprehend the facts, or they might ignore them if brought to their attention because facts don't support their leader, el Rushbo.
Reply
We finally both agreed that whatever else these people are, they're closed-minded.
The reason I bring this up is because everyone who actually considers the question knows the president is not going to give Rush control over all questions, microphone volume, break times and the like in a debate. As usual, Rush is going to say the president is afraid to defend himself and his policies, because he'll turn down this "challenge." And there will be a good number of Rush supporters who will believe that, and parrot it on forums like this.
I think Obama should turn it around--not by offering to debate Rush at the White House with questioners and rules of Obama's choosing, but by challenging Rush to a fair debate governed by the same rules as presidential debates--independent moderators (no, it doesn't have to be Gwen Ifill), preset times for answers and rebuttals, an open audience or no audience other than television viewers--but not an audience stacked with anyone's supporters. -
-
86%
hyperbola9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
This is about the power of money versus democracy. At the best Limbaugh has 15 million listeners (about 10-15% of voters): He only exists as a "phenomenon" because he provides populist propaganda which is convenient for the corrupt "elite" billionaires that find democracy an impediment to them and "finance" things like Limbaugh propaganda in the interests of their own power and profit. It is no accient that today's propeller also includes articles abut the buying of politicians and legislation by the super-rich (see also below)
Reply
In contrast to the argument above about whether Limbaugh followers are stupid or intellectually lazy, I would contend they are more like a sect. Many people seem to need someone else to tell them what to do and think in a complicated world. I say sect because idolation of sect "leaders", automatic rejection of any facts that contradict the sect's teachings, and the need for "external enemies" are amongst the salient characteristics of sects.
Right-Wing 'Tea Party' Movement Was Planned Months Ago by GOP Billionaires
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/03/02/right-wi...
The latest so-called "populist" revolt against the federal government was a pre-planned PR stunt.... Populist revolt against the U.S. government is all the rage in the Republican Party, these days. As they tell the story, the public is so outraged by the recovery and reinvestment efforts of the Obama administration that Americans everywhere are turning out to overthrow the tyrannical king of the federal government by re-enacting the Boston Tea Party.
Funny thing, though: it turns out this whole "populist" movement was a planned PR stunt funded by big-money right-wing backers of the GOP who specialize in faking grassroots movements to drum up opposition to Barack Obama.
... What hasn’t been reported until now is evidence linking Santelli’s “tea party” rant with some very familiar names in the Republican rightwing machine, from PR operatives who specialize in imitation-grassroots PR campaigns (called “astroturfing”) to bigwig politicians and notorious billionaire funders. As veteran Russia reporters, both of us spent years watching the Kremlin use fake grassroots movements to influence and control the political landscape. To us, the uncanny speed and direction the movement took and the players involved in promoting it had a strangely forced quality to it. If it seemed scripted, that's because it was.
-
-
94%
epiphannyy9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Rush Limbaugh, if he's so brave and powerful, should put his money where his mouth is and appear on Keith Olbermann. That is actually a debate I would love to see....the yin and yang of political bloviators going head to head in a winner take all championship.
Reply
Obama should never have lowered himself to even mention his name. It legitimized him in a way that wasn't productive. Rush Limbaugh is a joke and, up until recently, had a following largely limited to the extreme right who still approved of the job Bush was doing. Now, he's capitalizing on this victim role he's trying to exploit since Obama mentioned him in an offhanded comment. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of ignorance and hatred looking for a leader in this country and Rush is all to happy to step into that role by telling them what to think.
It's really sad that ignorance is embraced by so many Americans nowadays. I mean really....what used to be a stigma is now a sought after goal. How disturbing is that?-
94%
Goppy9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Yes, it is disturbing.
Reply
When I was young, Republicans used to be so staid ... the picture of reserved competence.
The Modern Republicans revel in their own outrageous incompetence ... they actually seem to have PRIDE in their ignorance.
Sad.
-
-
92%
ADAGUY9 months, 3 weeks ago
-
94%
Goppy9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
When Newt Gingrich fashioned his so-called 'Republican Revolution' in the 70's and 80's - we all could have predicted that Rush Limbaugh (or some facsimile thereof) ... is the ultimate result of that re-formulation.
Reply
For the Republican Revolution was never a revision of ideals ... it was a revision of style.
And that style ... which was outlined in numerous talking points ... was to be overtly hostile - duplicitous - and to not be afraid to use any and every cheat available .... because the ultimate goal is to get elected.
This style has awakened and appealed to the deepest perversions within the spirit of the current followers of Republicanism.
So it just makes sense that Rush Limbaugh has emerged as the Leadership Figurehead for This Modern Republican Movement.
He's a proven hypocrite ... with absolutely no spiritual integrity ... an ego machine ... driven by a passion not to his nation ... or even his political ideals ... but simply to enjoy the sound of his own voice.
When solid Conservatives realize how depraved their Representative Party has become ... they will demand change.
Having Rush Limbaugh be known as their Leader should definitely open the eyes of many of these solid Americans and cause them to DEMAND their party back from the blow-hard hypocrites who are now in control.
.-
-
15%
Endoscopy9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The proven hypocrites are the liberals. Before the election the rant was the Bush deficit. Now they rant about Bush and ignore the Obama huge deficit. He promises to get it down to TWICE THE BUSH DEFICIT by 2012.
Reply
LIBERALS ARE HYPOCRITES
-
-
100%
skyking2p9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is a op ed piece in the NYT about this http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/fears-of-...
Reply
Playing the republicans for the fools they are-
FrauBlucherComment removed: Retracted by user12 Replies
-
-
20%
slate9 months, 3 weeks ago
-
92%
Goppy9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
He won't take the challenge because it's a blow-hards ego-driven belief in his own self importance.
Reply
Leaders of Political Parties simply do not debate presidents.
Why?
Leaders of Parties are involved with spin and image. A nation's President is involved in REAL issues.
Besides, it would just be a repeat of Bill O'Reilly's shameless performance.
Look, The Modern Republican is so driven by animosity ... they only respect commentators who hurl disrespect at the opposition. I don't necessarily believe you fall under that category ... but surely ... you can see that this debate would simply fuel additional rage among the Right Wing ... especially the Right that typically appear on Propeller.
I can just see it now ... "That Obama is lying through his teeth ... Go Rush ... Rip Him A New One!"
Personally - I think it would be a disaster for The Modern Republican Party ... Everyday Americans would REALLY have a first hand view of how depraved and morally vacant is The Modern Republican.
. -
FrauBlucherComment removed: Retracted by user17 Replies
-
-
-
86%
mesodude9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"I'd like to see Obama debate Rush, it would be entertaining. Obama should do it if he thinks he can win, that would kill the last hope of the right if he could. He won't take the challenge though."
Reply
--LOL...Slate, why do education-phobic right wingers always think they're so slick? No one with a brain actually believes you people want to see any meaningful debate. Your most recent Presidential nominee graduated near the damned bottom of his class, can't remember how many homes he owns and has publicly admitted both that he's computer illiterate and that he totally sucks at economics! If that wasn't bad enough, who does he pick as his VP candidate? Sarah Palin--a tarted up, mentally deficient beauty pageant runner up from freaking ALASKA who doesn't read and and can't be bothered to review what the Constitution states the role of the VP is. And it turns out McCain doesn't even know this deceitful, sleepwalking, twit! OMG
Rush is a greasy, obnoxious farm animal and he's trying to take Obama's eye off the ball so liberals who want him to blow Bush and Cheney's lying criminal @sses out of the water will screech and you hyenas on the right can all howl in unison that Obama's wasting America's time...blah blah blah." We know what you're up to, slate. So don't even think for a moment this will work. ROTFLMAO ;-p
-
-
15%
Endoscopy9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Are you saying that the president has absolutely no control over his own party in congress. That is a foolish statement. Bush kept the house Republicans in line a couple of times when they wanted to vote against some of the spending that Bush had negotiated with the Democrats. They backed off and the deficit rose.
Reply
So you are telling us that Obama has less control of Democrats than Bush had with Republicans. Try again foolish one. Obama lied about the stimulus package. It was created in the dark, he said it was an EMERGENCE bill to STIMULATE the country. The bill was NOT an emergency because only 15% will be spent this year. The bill was NOT a stimulus package because it did not touch the areas of the economy that are in trouble.
OBAMA LIED. And you Democrats kept talking about Bush lying. Already Obama has told whoppers. -
25%
slate9 months, 3 weeks ago
-
100%
Beau78909 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
It's funny that so many so-called "conservatives" keep making remarks like yours (that there's no actual change) while at the same time complaining about the radical change that is turning the U.S. into a "communist" country. Which is it--or is it neither?
Reply
Here are a few of the things that are changing under Obama:
--White House directives, orders, and policies are being made more transparent
--Reprioritizing income inequity and addressing the fact that the wealthy have seen their incomes grow upwards of 20% while the middle-class and poor's income has declined
--Improving oversight of government procurement and accountability of contractors
--Refocusing priorities in spending to address badly needed deficits in state governments (often caused by federal defunding); welfare and job retraining programs; skyrocketing, inefficient and sometimes unavailable healthcare; all while opening previously closed revenue streams for the government (yes, that means ending tax cuts for the rich).
Here's what's not changing:
--The way Congress works. (Obama is not currently a member of Congress.)
While Obama doesn't have final say over Congress or its Democratic leadership, he does need their support in order to change the priorities of domestic and foreign policy and can't simply start a protracted fight againt Congress. One can only hope Pelosi, Reid, and others catch on and start supporting what's good for the country rather than adding earmarks for pet projects in their own districts, realizing they aren't doing anything differently than the Republican congresspeople they complain about. -
33%
Hhussk9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
They are true. Factcheck.org, in the same article, showed you the money existed for earmarks. They were not disputing the earmarks at all. What they (tried) to dispute was that there were no earmarks for golf-carts...only electric-fuel-driven vehicles.
Reply
To say the earmarks don't exist means your blind. Or you want to be blind. 40% Republican earmarks and 60% Democrat earmarks. And the President, who said he wouldn't allow earmarks basically lied. -
89%
bubba29 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Typical spouting of myths heard from Rush or FOX News, people who won't tell you the truth - and you are too lazy to check any of their information.
Reply
The supposed "load" of eamarks in the stimulus bill and the omnibus bill are NOT true.
http://www.factcheck.org/politics/gop_stimulus_myt... -
80%
mesodude9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"Like believing in change and still thinking that 9000 earmarks in the budget represents actual change?"
Reply
--You're just p'od because it's change cons would rather spend on bombs, guns, and "abstinence only" education. That's the kind of "change" cons believe in. ;-P
-
-
8%
Endoscopy9 months, 3 weeks ago
-
100%
bubba29 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Shows how much you are NOT paying attention - or you are just rehashing what you hear from your right-wing "pundits" who continue to spout mis-information.
Reply
Transparency already there - memos and documentation being revealed about the lies and the deceit of the Bush administration.
Truth and honesty - unlike Bush - who hid the cost of the "war" and never put it IN the federal budget - ALL of the budget data includes EVERYTHING the government is spending money on.
Definitely a "new" kind of politician - see above ...
Where is the deceit? Please provide specifics and documentation, or (as someone noted to another commenter) STFU.
-
-
100%
CRYMTYPHON9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
This could be amusing.
Reply
Limbaugh is used to fake fights against screened liberals with squeaky voices, who can be cut off at a push of a button if they start winning.
I say go for it, Mr. President!
A challenge to fight from a chicken-hawk, is, after all, a rare treat for us all.-
FrauBlucherComment removed: Retracted by user
-
10%
Hhussk9 months, 3 weeks ago
-
-
100%
Justice4All9 months, 3 weeks ago
-
-
18%
Hhussk9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I'm sure Obama doesn't have time for him, and neither do I really, but if the time and place were convienent for me it would be interesting.
Reply
I recall a debate I had with a liberal political science profession a few years back, and when I asked him for proof on an issue, he stated to the class, "Well, I don't have the time to provide all the examples to prove I am correct."
The class literally laughed at him. It was sad day for liberals everywhere.
-
-
8%
4thchance9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is absolutely NO WAY Obama would go up against Rush. NOT IN A MILLION YEARS.
Reply
The reason why is very simply. Rush would ask Obama tough questions. Questions Obama would refuse to answer. Obama is a weasel, who has pulled the wool over the eyes of a good portion of the population. Obama would NEVER let Rush expose Obama for what he is. A BIG FAKER, LIAR!-
100%
CRYMTYPHON9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
It would be hillarious if anyone unscreened was allowed to ask Mr. Limbaugh real questions;
Reply
point out his lies, his errors and just in general pin-prick the balloon.
I picture Rush zooming like a deflated air-bag about the sound studio, -psssszzzzz.
Those who think Rush is a genuine debater
- would probably be fooled by professional wrestling.
-
-
100%
antibrainwasher9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
NYT today:
Reply
Fears of a Clown
Once upon a time, you could drive to the most remote reaches of the United States and escape Rush Limbaugh. But from the Mogollon Mountains of New Mexico to the Badlands of South Dakota, where only the delicious twang of a country tune or the high-pitched pleadings of a lone lunatic came over the AM dial, there is now the Mighty El Rushbo.
As someone who spends a lot of time on the road, I used to find Limbaugh to be an obnoxious but entertaining companion, his eruptions more reliable than Old Faithful. But now that Limbaugh has become something else — the face of the Republican Party, by a White House that has played him brilliantly — he has been transformed into car-wreck-quality spectacle, at once scary and sad.-
100%
cushi9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The Ballad of Rush
Reply
Like Java the Hut!, he's a toad slinging smut
while gyrating on the boil in his butt!!
Clinging to him are his crap eating fans,
grabbing eat sh itload that falls with their hands.
Into their mouths they cheerfully scoop
each massive m******* of Rush Blimpbaugh poop!
-
-
100%
antibrainwasher9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
As someone who spends a lot of time on the road, I used to find Limbaugh to be an obnoxious but entertaining companion, his eruptions more reliable than Old Faithful. But now that Limbaugh has become something else — the face of the Republican Party, by a White House that has played him brilliantly — he has been transformed into car-wreck-quality spectacle, at once scary and sad.
Reply
Behold:
The sweaty, swollen man in the black, half-buttoned shirt who ranted for nearly 90 minutes Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He reiterated his desire to see the president of his country fail. He misstated the Constitution’s intent while accusing President Obama of “bastardizing” the document. He made fun of one man’s service in Vietnam, to laughter -
100%
antibrainwasher9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
David Letterman compared him to an Eastern European gangster. But he looked more like a bouncer at a strip club who spent all his tips on one bad outfit. And for the Republican Party, Limbaugh has become very much a vice.
Reply
Smarter Republicans know he is not good for them. As the conservative writer David Frum said recently, “If you’re a talk radio host and you have five million who listen and there are 50 million who hate you, you make a nice living. If you’re a Republican party, you’re marginalized -
100%
antibrainwasher9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Polling has found Limbaugh, a self-described prescription-drug addict who sees America from a private jet, to be nearly as unpopular as Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who damned America in the way that Limbaugh has now damned the nation’s newly elected leader. But Republicans just can’t quit him. So even poor Michael Steele, the nominal head of the Republican Party who dared to criticize him, had to grovel and crawl back to the feet of Limbaugh.
Reply
Some expected more mettle from Steele. After all, this rare African-American Republican won his post after defeating a candidate who submitted the parody song from Limbaugh’s show: “Barack the Magic Negro.”
Race is an obsession with Limbaugh, one of the threads I noticed on those long drives on country roads.
When Colin Powell endorsed Obama during the campaign, Limbaugh said it was entirely because of race. After the election, Powell said the way for the party, which has been his home, to regain its footing was to say the Republican Party must stop “shouting at the world.” -
bubba2Comment removed: Spam
-
100%
antibrainwasher9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
In 2003, Limbaugh said quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted a black to succeed. Over the next six years, McNabb threw for nearly 150 touchdowns and went to a Super Bowl.
Reply
And Limbaugh launched the current battle when he said of Obama: “We are being told that … we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward, whichever, because his father was black, because this is the first black president.”
Translation: submit sexually to a black man because “someone” is telling us all to. Who? Which leaders of the Democratic Party have made such a claim? Which opinion-makers? But therein lies the main tactic of Limbaugh, an old demagogue technique: create a straw man, then tear it down. The latest example was Saturday, when Limbaugh presented himself as the defender of capitalism, liberty and unfettered free markets. Obama, he has said since, is waging a “war on capitalism -
bubba2Comment removed: Spam
-
100%
antibrainwasher9 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is a war, all right. We are witnessing the worst debacle of unfettered capitalism in our lifetime brought on by — you got it, capitalism at its worst. It cannibalized itself. Government, sad to say, had nothing to do with it — except for criminal neglect of oversight.
Reply
Now that government has been forced to the rescue, just who is insisting on taxpayer bailouts? Who is in line for handouts? Who is saying that only government can save capitalism? The very leaders of unregulated markets who injected this poison into the economy, the very plutocrats that Limbaugh celebrates.
And, of course, let us never forget that the bailouts of banks and insurance companies were initiated by the Republican president Limbaugh defended for eight year -
-
bubba2Comment removed: Spam
-
bubba2Comment removed: Spam
-
-
FrauBlucherComment removed: Retracted by user3 Replies
-
FrauBlucherComment removed: Retracted by user7 Replies
-
100%
scott42619 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Rush Limbaugh is so full of himself. He may have 20 million (largely AM radio angry white male) listeners...20 million out of a U.S. population of 303 million. The VAST majority of average Americans (Limbaugh has an 11% positive rating for those under 40) DO NOT like him.
Reply
Intelligent people know other reasonable and sane voices are out there. Subscribers to satellite radio or surfers of the internet (....or residents of a few major media markets where one can listen on terrestrial AM and FM broadcast outlets) have Thom Hartmann and Ed Schultz as more reasonable alternatives to Rush (...both are on the center-left and where we are as a country right now...)
Unfortunately, right wing "news/talk" radio is now evident to be a Rush echo chamber ...starting with Sean Hannity, who obediently reiterates all of the talking points. And not to be outdone, self-proclaimed "independent" (yeah, right!) Bill O'Reilly puts his own psychotic "no-spin" spin on it (all the while, like Rush, trying to get the focus back on himself). And Michael (Weiner) Savage....well he's just clinically insane.....
The longer that Rush is the "defacto leader of Republican Party," the more likely the GOP will lose more seats in the mid-term elections.
You dittoheads don't believe me? We'll talk after the 2010 elections. Obama is proving to be doing what he actually campaigned on and his popularity is at 68% ...meanwhile, your party has become a circular firing squad with everyone trying to kiss up to that drug addled lard-ass!
I say, let the GOP implode! I'm enjoying the show!
----
Oh, and BTW...
"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness..." is in the Declaration of Independence, Rush! NOT the Constitution (you know, the document you've been wiping your fat a** with?). Perhaps you DO need a teleprompter!
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.