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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHold Limbaugh accountable and make him the example
He has earned it:
Updated with video: Rush's 53 Smears Against Sandra Fluke (Wow!)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002382940
Instead of trying to claim that a single incident or two from the past is the same as Limbaugh's vile and ongoing assault on a private citizen, make an example of him. He has a long unmatched history of such attacks, and he's arrogant, grotesque and unapologetic.
Despite Apology, Limbaugh Continues Attacks On Fluke For Fourth Day
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/05/438008/limbaugh-fluke-day4/
The RW is hyping the false equivalency to cover Limbaugh's ass: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002379474
The goal is to attack anyone demanding that Limbaugh be held accountable, putting people in the position of refuting claims that the left gives a pass to this kind of behavior. Such behavior should be condemned, but do it without straw men, attacking those who demand accountability.
The fact is the other people being dragged out to provide cover for Limbaugh didn't spend the last week engaged in vile non-stop attacks on women.
Maher is an asshole who defended Limbaugh. Maher is also an asshole who was removed from the public airwaves.
Matt Taibbi is a writer for a magazine.
For every past incident cited, Limbaugh has hundreds. He spend his days on air doing nothing but attacking people.
If you're outraged by Maher and Taibbi, you should be equally or more outraged by Limbaugh and want to see him held accountable.
This is about accountability for current and ongoing vile attacks on a private citizen launched by someone on the public airwaves. The fact that Republicans, including the GOP Presidential candidates, are protecting him, value his comments and quote his talking points is even more disturbing.
Instead of crying hypocrisy, make an example of Limbaugh. He has earned it: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002382940
The least those insisting on drawing false equivalencies could do is demand that Limbaugh get the same treatment as Maher or Schultz.
Have you signed the petition to remove him from AFN: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002406945
Female Veterans Demand Rush Limbaughs Show Be Pulled From American Forces Network
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002386068
2ndAmForComputers
(3,527 posts)[font size=+10]The RW is hyping the false equivalency to cover Limbaugh's ass.[/font]
DearAbby
(12,461 posts)smoke and mirrors.
The Magistrate
(95,252 posts)Viewed objectively, they are just the 'left auxiliary' of the hate-radio Republican Wurlitzer....
ProSense
(116,464 posts)I am a Ma'am.
The Magistrate
(95,252 posts)It is just about Beelzebub's bed-time here.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)whathehell
(29,082 posts)pimp the Right-Wing Line to note that Maher IS a misogynistic prick.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Has Maher done things and said things that are misogynistic? Certainly. Does that make him a "misogynistic prick"? Certainly not. Maher may be a womanizer. He may use misogynistic slurs when referring to people he doesn't like, but he doesn't stand up every day and speak against women's rights, and in fact the opposite is closer to reality. The portly drug addict didn't just use a few misogynistic slurs. He has a long history of expressing hate against women and working against their interests. That's the reason for the outrage against him. This isn't just a one time event. It's just one more example of his extreme and deplorable behavior. Putting Maher in the same boat as Limbaugh is just ridiculous. There is no comparison between the two.
whathehell
(29,082 posts)I didn't "put him in the same boat as Limbaugh", but I still think he's a misogynist prick.
Catagorizing women you don't agree with politically "cunt" or a "twat" puts you in that category, IMO.
For the same reasons I don't hear liberals calling people like Herman Cain a "dumb nigger",
I don't like or personally tolerate people who call Michelle Bachman or Sarah Palin "dumb cunts".
It's not that I LIKE them, it's that GENDER, like race, has ZERO to do with their polilics.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Remember sexism always works both ways.
I wouldn't call you sexist or a misandrist just because you use the term "prick", but you should understand it's on the exact same level as the other two words you mentioned. For the same reason I'm not going to condemn Maher. It's pretty obvious Limbaugh doesn't see women as equals. I don't get that impression from Maher.
whathehell
(29,082 posts)When one group is dominant, as in white vs. black, the epithets thrown
at the weak by the powerful are far more potent and destructive.
Sexism, like racism only "works both ways" when both groups are equal.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)My definitions for sexism isn't biased towards one gender the same way my definitions towards racism isn't biased towards one race. If both sexes aren't treated equally, then there will never be equality.
If you try to use your definitions in the workplace, you're going to to be wrong. The federal standards towards gender based discrimination don't favor one gender over the other either or one race over another.
whathehell
(29,082 posts)It IS, however, the way that I think.
The federal standards in the workplace,
are not pertinent to this discussion, IMO.
The Magistrate
(95,252 posts)It would not have been a month ago; it might not be so still a month from now. Right now it is, however. 'Maher does this too!' is the chosen defense of the rightist scum, and to join in their chorus is simply to swell it and lend a patina of reasonableness to it. Nothing which can interfere with the focus of the blow on Limbaugh should be done at present, by anyone on the left. It is not just in comedy that timing is everything....
whathehell
(29,082 posts)I am on Democratic Underground, not a "rightist scum" board...I don't even "visit" such boards,
When I have seen attacks on Maher on "open boards", I distinguish Rush as different
and more "liable" than Rush, due to Rush's position as "head" of the Repuke party
and to the fact of Rush attacking a "private" citizen, as opposed to Maher's attacking "public" citizens.
Due to these facts, I am in no way joining "their chorus".
csziggy
(34,137 posts)Maher and Taibbi are not on the public airwaves with shows that are shown to the American armed forces. Their voices reach a much smaller portion of the public than Limbaugh's.
Personally, I've never liked Maher or watched him regularly. I read Taibbi rarely when someone here posts a link to an article and seen him a few times on political talk shows. I don't go out of my way to learn what either are saying.
On the other hand, even though I have never listened willingly to Limbaugh's show, his words are constantly replayed on all kinds of media outlets or quoted in print. For an "entertainer" he gets a huge amount of attention in the political sphere.
certainot
(9,090 posts)details as he did, he is knowingly harassing them - he's done it for years- he knows he is sending the teabagging dittoheads to investigate and hound them.
randr
(12,414 posts)"Limbaughism" should become a term for out right hatred of ones country.
For instance, the Palin friends that want to secede from our Nation would be "Limbaughites"
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)i am all for calling out limbaugh and taking his ass down. i have never said what he did to the woman in those three days is the same as anyone else. this is what makes him unique and what allows the ability for his down fall.
years of misogynist comments from the man resulted in nothing. no repercussion. just like years of misogynist comments from maher results in no repercussion. that is what is being said. when maher spends three days making outrageous comments about one particular woman that has nothing to do with anything, is when we can say they are comparable.
can YOU stop shifting the argument.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)i am all for calling out limbaugh and taking his ass down. i have never said what he did to the woman in those three days is the same as anyone else. this is what makes him unique and what allows the ability for his down fall.
years of misogynist comments from the man resulted in nothing. no repercussion. just like years of misogynist comments from maher results in no repercussion. that is what is being said. when maher spends three days making outrageous comments about one particular woman that has nothing to do with anything, is when we can say they are comparable.
can YOU stop shifting the argument.
...are you talking about? You many not consider these the same, but there are those trying to portray these incidents as equivalent.
As the OP points out, Maher was removed from the public airwaves so he's not in the same situation as Limbaugh. Comparing a comedian on cable to a political commentator on the public airwaves is bogus.
Schultz was suspended for a week without pay, and he apologized.
The fact is that Limbaugh is the one who continues to escape accountability.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)By Judd Legum
Bill Maher continued to diminish Rush Limbaughs sexist attacks on Sandra Fluke and attack liberals for overreacting. On his HBO show last night, Maher said that liberals should put this in perspective a guy made a bad joke. He added in that in America sometimes youre made to feel uncomfortable.
Actually, Limbaugh launched hateful attacks against Fluke seventy times over three days. You can watch all of Limbaughs attacks on Fluke here. He doesnt appear to be joking.
Maher insisted that he was not, in fact, defending Limbaugh but defending living in a country where people dont have to be afraid that they might go out of the bounds for one minute. Do we all want to be talking like White House spokesmen? Watch it:
<...>
Maher also framed the criticisms of Limbaugh as an attack on free speech. But the issue is not whether Limbaugh was free to say what he did about Sandra Fluke. Hundreds of thousands of people are asking advertisers and others if they want to continue to pay for Limbaughs speech. At least 98 major advertisers have said no and canceled their ads.
Maher also dismissed Limbaughs comments by noting that no one died. The same talking point was echoed by Tucker Carlson who argued, oddly, that we should cut Limbaugh some slack because Don King was convicted of manslaughter in 1966 and still has a career. Carlson, like Maher, has his own history of mysoginistic comments. Last year he tweeted, Palins popularity falling in Iowa, but maintains lead to become supreme commander of Milfistan. He later apologized.
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/10/442089/bill-maher-defends-rush-limbaugh-again-a-guy-made-a-bad-joke/
Typical asshole defense, blame it on "liberals".
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told TPM on Tuesday that she was "stunned" by Rush Limbaugh's smear of Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke.
"There was the incendiary comments made by Rush Limbaugh that I think are just adding to this sense that women's health rights are being attacked," Murkowski said.
"The comments made by Limbaugh, I was just stunned," she added. "In the end, I'm a little bit disappointed that there hasn't been greater condemnation of his words by people in leadership positions."
Including Republicans? "Everybody," she responded. "What he said was just wrong. Just wrong."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/murkowski-stunned-by-rushs-incendiary-comments
Uncle Joe
(58,405 posts)Thanks for the thread, ProSense.