Progressive Music Classics: "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time" by Gang of Four

By Marc McDonald

Welcome to Progressive Music Classics, a series I run at my blog that I'm bringing to The Reaction.

 

The mighty post-punk band Gang of Four emerged from Leeds in the late 1970s. Their debut album, Entertainment! was a ferocious blast of raw anger and musical energy.

The band's bass player Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham formed a phenomenal rhythm section, laying down a Parliament-fueled funk groove, over which Andy Gill sliced and diced his guitar to create lethal shards of sound. On top of this combustible mix, the band sang about topics that ranged from Marxist theory to capitalist marketing to consumerism. In short, the band created a perfect soundtrack for a cold, heartless era in which multinational corporations took over the world.

Today, of course, things are much worse than they were 30 years ago. Three decades of eroding workers' rights and union-busting have impoverished many millions of workers around the world. And today's Top One Percent owns a much bigger share of national wealth than they did 30 years ago.

We could really use bands like Gang of Four today. But instead, we get dogshit like Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.

Although Entertainment! was Gang of Four's high-water mark, the band continued to make powerful music for years to come. Indeed, the band remains a going concern to this day (the excellent album, Content was released last year).

Solid Gold, Gang of Four's highly anticipated followup to Entertainment! was released in 1981 and including the classic track, "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time" (featured in the above video). A scorching track with a driving groove, this is a song that comes to mind every time I think of a misogynist bigot like Rush Limbaugh.

A lyric that particularly comes to mind is, "He wants his wife to run -- and fetch."

It perfectly sums up the attitude of sexist bigots like Limbaugh, who want to put women "back in their place." Limbaugh has been railing against "uppity" African-Americans for years and now, with his "slut" comments, he taking aim at women, as well.

Clearly, people like Limbaugh feel threatened by a world in which the traditional power structure of Rich White Males is threatened by "others," including minorities and women. It's a scary new world for dinosaurs like Limbaugh and his followers. It's clearly a world in which, in their view: Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time.

Of course, the irony is that, for all of Limbaugh's fears and paranoia, the old Rich White Male power structure is still very much in place. And it's not going away any time soon.

Of course, Limbaugh's deluded listeners don't know that. And so, in drinking the Limbaugh Kool-Aid, they continue to direct their anger and fury at the wrong targets. Instead of blaming soulless, greedy multinational corporations like Halliburton (and their stooges in Congress) for their misery, the Limbaugh crowd take out their anger on African-Americans, women, immigrants, gays, and other scapegoats.

It's a win-win situation for Limbaugh and the rest of the fascists on talk radio. Not only does Limbaugh achieve his mission of distracting his deluded base from ever correctly identifying the cause of their woes, he also gets paid handsomely for his efforts.

Meanwhile, multinational corporations get to rape and pillage the world at their pleasure and they, along with the crooks on Wall Street, get to loot the U.S. Treasury and pocket hundreds of billions in corporate welfare.

It's settled, then: Women, we're at war

By Ramona

Don't expect me to be going over every single attack on women's rights just because I'm writing about modern-day, 21st-century, 2012, just-in-the-last-month attacks, which, as you might have noticed, are escalating at such a dizzying pace we can no longer ignore the rumblings of war.

It's ugly and it's all out there. Even Rush Limbaugh's scrubbed transcripts of his diatribes against Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University student who had the temerity to attempt to testify before certain members of congress about the need for free contraception. Even Patricia Heaton's deleted tweets about that same student (aka G-Town Gal). They're out there. They're not going away.

No, we're here today to look at the big picture: How did this latest war of the sexes start? What was the catalyst? And what can we do to grind it to a halt now that it's started? 

The obvious answer to question number one is that it's all Obama's fault. As a part of his health plan (the catalyst), he told insurance companies they would have to offer contraceptive care at no cost to women. (That would mean, for most, no co-pay.) Birth control aids would be free and available everywhere, and since it was mandatory, not to mention laudatory, not to mention commonsensical and a long time coming, that was supposed to be it. End of conversation.

Ha! We wish!

President Obama's first mistake was that he thought he was taking steps toward helping women more effectively and responsibly manage their reproductive years, when what he was actually doing was antagonizing pissants who have been posing as Manly Men for so long they're not about to be ousted from their comfy zones.

A whole host of Catholic Bishops, pseudo-religious politicians, and paid-to-be-mean pundits jumped on the bandwagon called Control the women by denying birth control, and weren't they surprised when the women they were so itching to suppress wouldn't give in? A real donnybrook ensued, with everybody weighing in, pro and con, and here we are, in the middle of it all, coming out swinging, and if they want a war, okay, they've got one.

Some highlights:

• The Susan G. Komen Foundation is taken over by a right-wing zealot who makes it known from Day One that Planned Parenthood can kiss SGK goodbye. Susan Komen's sister/founder helps figure out a way to do it. A huge, unprecedented fuss ensues. Right-wing zealot goes on to greener pastures. The sister stays and apologizes -- a Pyrrhic victory that nobody feels good about.

• Long probes up the vagina with cameras on the end used not as medical tools but as instruments of shame -- Zap! Gone! Battle won!

• Gooey cold stuff massaged onto a bare belly so a government-issue wand can be waved, not to detect a zygote already determined by other methods to be there, but to establish once and for all that a woman doesn't actually have control over her own body -- still working on it but we've got them in our sights.

• Dozens of state legislatures scrambling to make laws against contraception and abortion so harsh Draco the Greek, if he were still alive, would be crying foul -- this one may take a while.

The legal issues, having some semblance of form and substance, are easier to deal with. There are wise and learned people on our side ready to take them on. But there's another, uglier issue and it's one we've faced many times before. It's our old but formidable nemesis: blind, consuming hatred toward people of our gender.

With the rise of the Tea Party and pressure from the Religious Right-to Life-Until-It-Actually-Becomes-A-Child, fortified by resident misogynist Rush Limbaugh and hardline Catholic men in red robes and black robes and pullover sweater vests, the battle to enforce the reproductive rights we've already fought long and hard for is a battle we can't afford to lose.

The spotlight is on Rush Limbaugh at the moment, but it's Rick Santorum we need to keep an eye on. He showed his hand when he talked about his reaction to John F. Kennedy's 1960 speech to the Baptists, where JFK said he would fight hard for the separation of church and state.

Santorum wanted to throw up when he read that. Why? Because it's disgusting and unforgivable that  Kennedy had the chance to pave the way for an American Pope and he didn't take it. Rick will remedy that when he's president. And guess who will suffer the most under his reign?

The obvious goal is to make sure Rick Santorum never becomes president, but once that threat is gone we'll still be fighting those others working to take us down. We thought that war was over, but all we really won, we know now, was détente.

Men (and, incredibly, other women) are fighting against those of us who go on believing our reproductive rights are sacrosanct. Suddenly they're coming out of the woodwork, no longer pretending that Roe v. Wade is all that's keeping us apart. Now it's about contraception -- a real puzzler, since birth control is the obvious remedy for unwanted pregnancies.

Only women can incubate babies. It's a fact. If they get knocked up and it's not a good time, the sex police want us to believe they have no one to blame but themselves. Really? What other species on the planet punishes the female for being impregnated by a male? Birth control is a two-way street. It's irresponsible and gutless to pretend that women did this to themselves, and yet we're hearing it louder and clearer every day.

And why is that? Because to the people who are coming at us with the same hoary arguments, it's not about the control of birth, it's about the control of sex. That nutty comment by Santorum backer Foster Friess about birth control being as simple as holding an aspirin between our knees? The admonishment from Rick Santorum that all birth control should be banished because it can only lead to badness? Rush Limbaugh's crazed, three-day masturbatory fantasy about the reasons women want free birth control? Sex, sex, and, yet again, sex.

It's the same tiresome struggle, but this time we're going to win. Why? Because we have a secret weapon.

It's men. There are more than just a few good ones out there and they're on our side. They're men who work with us, talk with us, and see us as equals. They're men who live with us and see our roles as complementary and not competitive or without merit. They're men who can love unconditionally and have grown so far beyond the ancient need to keep women bound and tethered, they're willing to fight beside us until this war is ended. Some of them are already at the front lines.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it, you dirty old men of yesterday. A new day dawns and you've been left behind. It has to be this way. It's the way human progress works.

(Cross-posted at Ramona's Voices.)

I am Ann Romney

(Ed. note: We received such positive responses to our posts by the fourth Mrs. Limbaugh, Kathryn Rogers, which you can find here and here, that we thought we'd invite another woman married to a leading Republican to write for us. So here you go. Ann Romney -- in her own words. Take it away, Ann!)

Hi! It's me, Ann Romney! How are you all doing out there in bloggerland? I don't go on the computer much, I have to admit. Tagg showed me how to "log on," as he called it. I am so square. My family makes fun of me. 

So I decided to try this blogging thing after I heard about Kathy Limbaugh doing it. Can you believe all the problems her and her husband Rush have been having? Poor Rush. The message was clear enough, but my husband Mitt and I agree that Rush should have used a different choice of words. I asked Mitt if he would talk to Rush about it and he said he would. I think he called him a few times, but Rush hasn't returned his calls yet. Turns out, Rush is not an easy person to reach.

Anyway, it's great to be here talking directly to the American people. I am very thankful for the opportunity.

It is so exciting to be here and to be riding this wave of excitement and support that you all have shown for my husband Mitt. I have to tell you, these past eight years haven't been easy for us. I feel like we have been running for President forever. I remember when we started. At the time our third home had not even been renovated yet. It's funny. Somehow I can remember dates and events by which house we were renovating at the time. But you should see the house now. It is really something.

And I am proud to tell you we do not employee a single illegal alien! Our entire staff, in every one of our homes, including the maids, gardeners, drivers, even the people who tend to our horses, come signed sealed and delivered, 100% Grade A legal! In fact, just the other day I was speaking to one of our staff. I can't recall her name, but she told me how proud she was to be in America legally. I kindly told her "you're welcome." Isn't that great? The American Dream is alive and well in our homes and we are so proud to be a part of it!

My family is so proud to be able to employ so many hard working people. It is a testament to who we are as a family and who my husband is as a man and as a candidate. I tell you, sometimes with all the people around us doing all their daily activities, I don't even feel rich. Sometimes I feel like I am down there in the trenches with all of them. Sometimes I even help out. For example, the other night I was helping our chef open a wine bottle and we got to chatting about his family. His wife works two jobs! Isn't that such a uniquely American story? I told him I also have two jobs. I look after my husband, which let me tell you, is a full time job in and of itself, and I am also a mom to my five wonderful children. It is the hardest job you'll ever love, I always say. It really humbles me. And it is that experience that I will bring to the White House as your First Lady.

To give you another example about how normal we really are, I remember when Mitt worked in the private sector. He would come home concerned and depressed about all the layoffs that occurred as a result of some merger or takeover his company had to do that week. But my husband was and is resilient. By the next day he was singing to himself again, once more the usual chipper fellow I fell in love with. This is who he will be as your President. He is not distracted by pessimism. But he does have feelings and that is what I am trying to convey.

Too often Mitt gets a bad rap for being uncaring or cold. It is so false. But he takes it all in stride. At the end of the day Mitt understands that to make things better you have to have "creative destruction," as he calls it, and then turn that into something better. That is his plan for America.

As my daddy used to say, you can't enjoy mashed potatoes unless you first boil raw potatoes until they are soft, mushy and easily squashed. I never understood what he meant until my husband decided to run for Governor all those years ago. Now I understand it completely. America is that raw potato.

President Obama seems satisfied with America being a raw potato. But as Mitt always says, America needs to be transformed, turned into yummy mashed potatoes, as we often joke around the dinner table. As President, Mitt will ensure that America is turned into those mashed potatoes. To get there will take an entire nation working together to make it happen. I liken it to Mitt being the restaurant owner with all of you being the line cooks working hard in the kitchen.

Together we can turn America into a heaping bowl of mashed potatoes! Together we can make America yummy again!

Thank you all for reading. See you on the trail and God Bless America!

**********

Guest post by tmcbpatriot (not Ann Romney, but close) 

tmcbpatriot's informative and always entertaining blog, Take My Country Back, emanates from somewhere out in the Midwest. He writes passionately and as often as possible about a confused, mindless right wing hopelessly lost in the abyss of endless lies and misdirection. 

Ed. note: This is the patriot's fifth guest post for us. His first was on how it's about the vagina, stupid, his second was on gay marriage and the end of the GOP, and his third and fourth were the posts by "Kathryn Rogers." -- MJWS

Major advertisers finally pulling out of right-wing talk-radio hate

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Here's The Daily Beast's John Avlon: 

Rush Limbaugh made the right-wing talk-radio industry, and he just might break it.

Because now the fallout from the "slut" slurs against Sandra Fluke is extending to the entire political shock-jock genre.

Premiere Networks, which distributes Limbaugh as well as a host of other right-wing talkers, sent an email out to its affiliates early Friday listing 98 large corporations that have requested their ads appear only on "programs free of content that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial (for example, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Leykis, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity)."

This is big. According to the radio-industry website Radio-Info.com, which first posted excerpts of the Premiere memo, among the 98 companies that have decided to no longer sponsor these programs are "carmakers (Ford, GM, Toyota), insurance companies (Allstate, Geico, Prudential, State Farm), and restaurants (McDonald's, Subway)." Together, these talk-radio advertising staples represent millions of dollars in revenue.

It's about time.

But, the question must be asked, why now? Was Dear Leader Rush's assault on Sandra Fluke just the final straw? Here's Digby:

I don't think they care about hyperpartisanship. They just don't need the backlash that comes from creepy middle aged men behaving like barbarians and insulting half their customers. It's not exactly an advertiser's favorite image.

Of course the perennial question is what's changed, since they've all been spewing hatred for ages. In my view, it's mainly a combination of a weakly recovering economy and feminists, both men and women, who were able to mobilize via social media to stage an effective boycott. But there's probably more to it than that. These things don't just spring up out of nowhere. In this case, we had a series of events over the course of a few months that were staggeringly insulting to women so maybe it just reached critical mass. Or maybe it's something else, some kind of a historical turning point that we can't see since we're in the middle of it. Or maybe not -- it's entirely possible that it's another in the series of fits and starts that mark women's progress in this world.

It remains to be seen if this will have any long term effect. But if it manages to break the two decade stranglehold of the right wing propagandists on radio, it will be a huge moment. These horrible people are a blight on the American political system and the path to a more civilized, decent society will be much clearer if their particular brand of rhetorically violent political "entertainment" is relegated to the past. The sentiments won't go away, of course, but there's no reason it has to dominate the airwaves of one whole media format.

Very well put.

I'm not sure what it is, whether it's just the culmination of a series of recent incendiary events or whether it really is something more historic, but I do think there is simply less toleration in the culture at large for the right's hateful bigotry, for the hate-fueled propaganda that characterizes so much of conservative talk radio, and so much of conservatism period these days.

Just as you can't get away with being a racist anymore, at least in decent, non-conservative society, you can't spew anti-gay bigotry and certainly not this sort of misogynistic bullying without being called on it, and without suffering the consequences.

This isn't a matter of free speech, though, which is what the right makes it out to be. No one is saying that you shouldn't have the right to say whatever you want, within broad parameters, including the sort of offensiveness Rush and his ilk traffic in all the time.

Rather, this is about the expansion of toleration and inclusiveness, about respect and dignity, about American society maturing.

And if you defend Rush and these purveyors of bigotry now, then you probably would have defended the bigots of the past as well, the racists and sexists and homophobes and others who are more and more being marginalized by a society that has had enough of the hatred that was so prominent for so long, that has been nothing but an ugly blight on a country that fashions itself a beacon of hope.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I think these companies are motivated by common decency or an objection to such bigotry. Perhaps they are to some extent, but it's really the bottom line that matters. And with society changing for the good, it looks like they're finally getting the message and taking action.

Are you fed up with Rush Limbaugh? How to take action

Guest post by Marc McDonald 

Marc McDonald is a Texas journalist who runs the progressive political blog Beggars Can Be Choosers.

Rush Limbaugh got a lot of attention lately with his mean-spirited, vicious attack on Sandra Fluke, in which he called her a "slut" and a "prostitute" and suggested she post video tapes of herself online having sex. But really, Limbaugh has been doing this sort of thing for many years. Remember in 2006, when Limbaugh mocked Michael J. Fox's symptoms of Parkinson's disease?

If you're fed up with Limbaugh and the daily toxic nonsense he spews on the nation's public airwaves, I urge you to take action.

Go here to sign a petition to Clear Channel to discontinue Rush Limbaugh's show.

Go here to add your voice to a group of female veterans who are calling for the Armed Forces Network to drop Rush Limbaugh from its programming. (Armed Forces Network by the way, is funded with your tax dollars.

Go to BoycottRush.org and join the more than 100,00 people who've signed the petition there using Limbaugh's advertisers to drop him. Note: this site also includes an up-to-date list of Limbaugh's advertisers, along with contact information.

At this site, you can access the #StopRush Limbaugh Campaign, which rounds up news, info, and resources on the various efforts across the Internet to pressure Clear Channel and advertisers to stop supporting Limbaugh.

Go here to file a complaint with the FCC about Limbaugh's show. (Remember, his program is aired on the public airwaves that are owned by We The People. Note: Left Leaning Liberal Lady offers a good suggestion: "contact the FCC to file a complaint against Rush Limbaugh for soliciting pornography via public airwaves.")

At this site, you can find detailed information about the companies that are still advertising on Rush's show, as well as updates on those companies who've dropped their ads. Be sure to add your voice to those who are contacting these companies, asking them to stop sponsoring Limbaugh. (And until these companies do so, we should boycott their products and services).

Add your name to this Facebook page which is coordinating a boycott-Limbaugh effort (and which already has over 30,000 "Likes"). (Note: Twitter users can add their voices here at #boycottrush).

I am Rush Limbaugh's wife... part deux

Hi everyone. It's me again! Kathy Rogers Limbaugh. The luckiest girl in the world! Holla!! I wanted to write another post after my last one got such a great response. Plus, I wanted to give you an update as to how my husband is doing since he called that uppity college slut a whorebag.

I have to say, my husband has been having quite a week. All of those "liberal media elites," as my husband loves to call them, have been going crazy over this whole thing. It is just to bizarre to me. Even a bunch of his advertisers have left the show, which is really weird because they are the ones who usually like what he has to say. I mean when Rush made fun of that guy from Back to the Future for having Parkinson's disease nobody seemed to mind at all. When he said that the NAACP should have riot rehearsal and get a liquor store and practice robberies, nobody said anything then either! I mean, it's not like a lot of black people listen to his show. And if one happens to slip through the cracks, when they are not smoking it that is, then he just tells it like it is. I remember he told me about this one time a long time ago, some slutty black girl called his show to harass him. Rush told her to take the bone out of her nose. LOL! I mean, you can see why I married him.

So why is everyone so upset when he calls some college student who likes to have sex all day long a slut? And to make matters even worse, I am now being harassed! For example, I was shopping the other day for a new Prada handbag and this woman who I didn't even know came up to me and asked if I was Rush Limbaugh's wife. I asked her, "Which wife are you thinking of because he has had four of them." She looked at me like I just walked out of Banana Republic or something and stormed off. What a bitch, right?

My point is, I can't even go into my favorite stores anymore without some slutty, contraception binging slut, wearing shoes from the Gap by the way, coming up to me and asking me things. It's like I am being assaulted or even raped! I mean, my husband said he was sorry for calling that slut a slut. I told him he did not have to apologize to anyone for anything. I told him he should go onto the radio the next day and say that not only is that girl a slut, but that she also has no taste in clothes.

As usual, he didn't listen to me. Later I tried to give him the cold shoulder when he came into the bedroom wearing nothing but his ratty EIB polo shirt. But he was feeling depressed as a result of all of this so I backed down. Plus he threatened to close my credit card account if I didn't "give it up," as he calls it. I mean, can you blame me? The cards are all in his name. I am not allowed to open one by myself. Sometimes that makes me so mad. But then, I am a girl. That's just how it goes, right?

Oh well. Tootles!

********** 

Guest post by tmcbpatriot (not Kathryn Rogers, but close) 

tmcbpatriot's informative and always entertaining blog, Take My Country Back, emanates from somewhere out in the Midwest. He writes passionately and as often as possible about a confused, mindless right wing hopelessly lost in the abyss of endless lies and misdirection. 

Ed. note: This is the patriot's fourth guest post for us. His first was on how it's about the vagina, stupid, his second was on gay marriage and the end of the GOP, and his third was the first post by Kathryn Rogers. I'm a big fan of his blog and we're happy to have him on board.

For more from The Reaction team on Dear Leader Rush and his vicious attack on Sandra Fluke, see:

-- Ramona: "What's so funny about Rush Limbaugh";

-- MJWS: "Rush the Punk: Thoughts on a 'fat, gutless, pill-popping loser'"; and

-- MJWS: "There's a reason I call him "Dear Leader Rush." 

See also Mustang Bobby's "Annals of Victimhood" over at his place, Bark Bark Woof Woof.

What's so funny about Rush Limbaugh?

By Ramona

As I write this, my sense of humor is intact and waiting, as always, for something funny to happen. I can get tickled at the least little thing -- adorable babies and clumsy dogs and tripping on sidewalk cracks -- and I can howl at even the worst, god-awful jokes. I can't explain them and I've never been able to repeat them with any kind of comedic skill, but I know funny when I hear it.

I can say without even having to think about it that I've never laughed at a thing Rush Limbaugh has said or done. I don't get him. His performances are like those of a mean, out-of-control drunk who thinks everything coming out of his mouth is either hilarious or golden. He begins every riff quietly, taking his time, pausing, letting his words sink in, and builds to an awesome, wiggly, crazed crescendo. Oh, my God. Electrifying to dittoheads and the uninitiated. Wow! But to those of us who have been exposed to his antics for decades, they're nothing more than the usual carefully calculated theatrics. Ho hum.

That's what makes his latest rantings against a Georgetown University law student fighting her college's policies on insuring birth control aids so mystifying. His initial comments about this young female student were so breathtaking in their vile putridity, the reactions against them were, at last,  refreshingly awesome and swift. Hundreds of thousands of people protested his words. Even his usual defenders could be seen slinking away from the ten-foot pole they wouldn't use to touch them. Yes! Limbaugh is a pariah!

So did he finally stop and think about what he had said and realize he'd overstepped? The woman he so viciously word-raped was a young college student and not a politician or a public figure. She was not fair game and she was not a joke. But no, he didn't. He was so sure of his base, so sure of the politicians in his thrall, so sure that his advertisers would be too busy counting their money to notice, he came back the next day and attacked this same young woman again. This time he demanded videos of her sex acts.

His politicians, true to form, gave out some half-hearted hand smacks, reminding us that he's an entertainer, not a Republican spokesman -- as if he's only pretending to be one because he'd slept at a Holiday Inn once.

At last count, seven of Rush's sponsors have dropped him, at least for the moment, until all the fuss dies down. Dozens of petitions are still making the rounds, working to gain enough signatures to pressure all of his backers to leave him helpless and wiggling on his own. It took all of that for Rush to give an inch and release an odd written statement that, considering who it is from and how rare those things are coming from him, some might take to be an apology.

A Statement from Rush

March 03, 2012

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week.  In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?  In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone's bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.

"I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke." Really? How would you go about attacking someone if you DID mean it?

In Rush Limbaugh's 24 years on the air, he has apologized six times for the things he's said that backfired. BuzzFeed has put them all together here. For example:

-- In 1988, he called Amy Carter "[t]he most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country," and "apologized."

-- In 1992, he called Chelsea Clinton "the White House dog" and "apologized," blaming his crew for confusing him by mixing up pictures of Chelsea and the Clintons' dog.

-- In 1996, he made fun of Michael J. Fox, saying he either didn't take his medication on purpose or he was faking it when he appeared in a commercial for Claire McCaskill. In his "apology," he said, "[a]ll I'm saying is I've never seen him as he appears in that commercial."

-- In 2008, he compared then-Senator Obama to Curious George and in his "apology" threatened to fire the caller who brought it up, ha ha, saying he never knew Curious George was -- gosh! -- a monkey.

This is not to say that Rush has otherwise never said stupid, hateful, racist, misogynistic things. Oh, he has, and plenty. That's apparently part of his appeal, God help us.

So think of it. One of the wealthiest, most famous entertainers in America right now is a stupid, hateful, racist, misogynistic radio personality who broadcasts a show three hours a day, five days a week highlighting his own peculiar, insulting, disrespectful brand of humor. Millions of seemingly sane listeners adore him and are honored to align themselves with him.

In many dark parts of our nation, he is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to deliver a one-hour speech to friendly packed houses, mirroring the stupid, hateful, racist, misogynistic rantings direct from his incredibly popular radio show.

He is so successful, grown politicians fear him more than they loathe him and cannot bring themselves to denounce a man who, underneath all that bluster, is a weak-kneed coward.

He will not debate or answer to anyone. His radio callers are screened so no one can ever dispute anything he says. He won't make public appearances in places where people who disagree with him might be in attendance. He has never appeared on a program where he might be asked hard questions. He attacks women and children and the handicapped with impunity and laughs along with his audience at the outraged responses.

He is a monster in the eyes of most normal human beings, and so I ask this question in all seriousness:

What is so goddamned funny about Rush Limbaugh?

Rush the Punk: Thoughts on a "fat, gutless, pill-popping loser"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Don Imus, as you may have heard, yesterday called Limbaugh "a fat, gutless, pill-popping loser" for his "lame apology" to Sandra Fluke, the woman whom he misogynistically called a "slut" and a "prostitute," claiming that she wanted to have subsidized sex when really it was merely to have insurance coverage for contraception for health purposes.

I don't much care for Imus, but I can't argue with that... or this:

It's the worst kind of cowardice. Maybe he's still jacked up on the Oxycontin, or whatever it is, but you can't say stuff about somebody and not, 1) own up to it, and, 2) have guts enough to go sit down with her and say, "Look, I'm sorry and I won't do this again." But no, he's a punk.

And he can get away with his sexism and racism because he operates within an echo chamber of like-minded morons ("dittoheads"), because conservatives worship him, and because Republicans, whatever they think of him, are required to kowtow to him to get anywhere in the party.

That is, because he's Dear Leader Rush.

And he's not sorry at all. He only insincerely apologized because he's losing sponsors. And he only apologized for "[acting] too much like the leftists who despise [him], which of course is ridiculously stupid -- as if those of us on the left go around calling women sluts and prostitutes and otherwise spewing hateful bigotry.

Does he actually believe this bullshit? Or is he just being as cynically manipulative as usual, lying to his stupidly loyal followers? Or both?

Whatever the case, I hope Ms. Fluke sues his fat, gutless, pill-popping loser ass off.

(image)

There's a reason I call him "Dear Leader Rush"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(Oh, by the way, did you see our recent post by Kathryn Rogers, Rush's fourth wife? If not, check it out. It's a must-read.)

George Will expressed it well on This Week yesterday to George Stephanopoulos:

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has been inundated with criticism after calling Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University student who testified before a House committee about contraception, a "slut" and a "prostitute." But while Democrats have fiercely condemned the comments, Republicans' ire has been significantly more muted.

ABC's George Will told me Sunday on "This Week" that GOP leaders have steered clear of harshly denouncing Limbaugh's comments because "Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh."

"[House Speaker John] Boehner comes out and says Rush's language was inappropriate. Using the salad fork for your entrée, that's inappropriate. Not this stuff," Will said. "And it was depressing because what it indicates is that the Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb Iran, but they're afraid of Rush Limbaugh."

ABC's Matthew Dowd suggested that Rush's influence is largely a "myth," but there's really no denying his lofty place on the right. And while some Republicans may indeed think of him as a "buffoon" and a "clown" whom "nobody takes... seriously," and while members of the Republican media elite like Will may scoff at him, he wields enormous influence not just because of his huge audiences of "dittoheads" but because, much like with anti-tax maniac Grover Norquist, Republicans are pretty much required to kowtow to him in order to prove their right-wing bona fides and receive his blessing. Sure, it's been possible to get ahead in the GOP without his blessing, but as the party has moved further to the right and more and more heretics have been purged, his position has only solidified.

And, too, it's pretty rich of commentators like Will to scoff and leaders like Boehner to use euphemisms like "inappropriate" in response to Rush's latest awfulness. Not to take anything away from his horrible remarks about Ms. Fluke, but he has a long, long history of sexist (like this) and racist (like this) and generally bigoted comments, and he's been able to get away with it without suffering much in the way of consequences from within the Republican Party or movement conservatism. Sure, he's had his detractors, and no doubt many have rolled their eyes at his various "inappropriate" comments over the years, but the fact that he's still so influential, still such a force on the right, says a lot about what is appropriate and what isn't for Republicans.

I am Rush Limbaugh's wife

Hello. My name is Kathryn Rogers. You might not know me, but I am Rush Limbaugh's wife.

I felt it was time to come out of the shadows and respond to the hate mail we have been getting after what my husband said this week about women and contraception. By now you have heard the comments and are probably wondering, what kind of woman marries a man who says such things? How could a woman be willing to let a man who says such things kiss her? Touch her? Get into the same bed with her? Well, I wanted to let you all know the answers to these questions. I hope it sheds some light on the situation and opens up the conversation.

I am Rush's fourth wife. Yes, lucky number four, as I like to refer to myself. Rush and I met in 2006. I was working as a party planner and Rush was working the party. It was love at first sight. What I mean to say is that Rush thought I was totally hot. It took me a little longer, I have to admit.

Once I got to know him better, I really started to fall in love with him. How could you not? He is so handsome and cuddly, and so sexy. Sure he was married before, but that is only a testament to his wild nature, something I really love about him. Like for example, his first wife was named Roxy. What a slutty name, right? She was a sales secretary at the radio station where he worked at the time. I kid him by calling her his Loni Anderson.

Following Roxy, Rush married a college student who was an "usherette" at a baseball stadium. Her name was Michelle Sixta. I joke that it kind of sounds like "Sexta." He always cracks up when I tell him that. And boy was she a slut. She would use contraception without even telling Rush about it. Not that he ever wanted children. Why would he? Who would want those rug rats anyway? Life is too short and there is too much shopping to do.

Conquest number three for my Rushypoo was a horrid woman named Marta Fitzgerald. She was an aerobics instructor. Can you believe that? They met online. I mean, how slutty is that? This woman paid money to meet men on the Internet. You know who pays money to meet men on the internet? Loser whores! That's who!

People could argue that men pay a membership fee for online dating too. Just the other day Rush and I were talking about this and he had a great idea. If men are going to pay a membership fee to meet women, if men are expected to pay for this, then men want something in return -- videos of all the sex posted online so they can see what they're getting for their money. I thought that was great. I think he used that one on his show the very next day.

So all you sensitive people out there who are offended by how my Rush talks about women on his radio program, I say to you get a life! Rush requires a certain kind of woman to handle him, and it's not you! Jealous? He requires someone who is not a contraceptive-using slut. Someone who is willing to light his cigars, buy him oxycodone and hydrocodone, and protect him from all the hateful sluts out there who just don't understand him.

So stop hating on my man! On second thought, don't. All the hate on my husband actually improves his ratings. To me that means one thing -- I get a raise in my al-low-ance! Holla!! And there is this cute dress that I have had my eye on. It is this short, hot little thing that is so slu... I mean conservatively classy. You would love me in it.

Tootles!

**********

Guest post by tmcbpatriot (not Kathryn Rogers, but close)

tmcbpatriot's informative and always entertaining blog, Take My Country Back, emanates from somewhere out in the Midwest. He writes passionately and as often as possible about a confused, mindless right wing hopelessly lost in the abyss of endless lies and misdirection.

Ed. note: This is the patriot's third guest post for us. His first was on how it's about the vagina, stupid and his second was on gay marriage and the end of the GOP. I'm a big fan of his blog and we're happy to have him on board.

I would just note, for what it's worth, that the fourth Mrs. Limbaugh is considerably younger than Dear Leader Rush -- like, more than 25 years younger. That should tell you something about Rush's view of women.

For more on Rush's sexist and indeed downright mysogynistic assault on Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown student he has repeatedly (and very publicly) called a slut and a prostitute for using birth control, see ABC News, Think Progress, and Media Matters. Here's what he said on Wednesday:

So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. We want you post the videos online so we can all watch.

It's amazing that any woman wants anything at all to do with this asshole. Obviously, he wants women to know their place. Right under his boot. Where he and his ilk can use and abuse them as they see fit.

(And if he thinks women who use birth control are sluts and prostitutes, then it must be that he thinks the overwhelming majority of American women are sluts and prostitutes. That should tell you a lot about what conservative men, and even some conservative women, really think of women.)

As for Ms. Fluke, I hope she fights back with every legal weapon at her disposal.

-- MJWS

Rush Limbaugh speaks... the truth?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Look, it wouldn't be the first time, however infrequent it may be.

Just last October, for example, he said that "Romney is not a conservative. He's not, folks. You can argue with me all day long on that, but he isn't."

Well, no, that's not true. Romney is a conservative... sort of... in a way. You could say he's a conservative vulture capitalist. And you can certainly say he's a conservative on tax policy (and on trying to make the rich as rich as possible). And he has certainly adopted solidly conservative positions on issues like abortion and immigration.

Okay, so he's not a conservative, just someone with some conservative positions. So maybe Dear Leader Rush was right? Sure, maybe.

Anyway, Rush was at it again yesterday, slamming the GOP "establishment" for its cluelessness:

Rush Limbaugh mocked the Republican establishment on his radio show Wednesday for being "shocked" by Rick Santorum's three-state win, saying, "I can't believe how insulated they are."

"They're literally shocked. The Republican establishment had no idea this was percolating out there. I can't believe how insulated they are," Limbaugh said. "To look at the reaction they're having today, to see how shocked they are that Rick Santorum has come out of what they thought was an impossible position equivalent to nowhere, is an incredible thing."

Well, yes. I'm not sure the establishment was quite as "shocked" as Rush suggested, but there's no doubt that the pro-Romney push by the establishment, with millions and millions spent to crush his far more conservative opponents, is basically a huge middle finger to the vast majority of the Republican Party, and particularly to its grassroots base.

Santorum may not be the guy -- because of who he is, because he lacks sufficient money and organization -- but he's far more in tune with the current Republican zeitgeist than the pathetically pandering Romney. As he added, sarcastically:

First it was Newt, now it's Santorum. It can't be the candidates. It can't be that Santorum's connecting with voters. It can't be that, no, no, it can't be that Santorum's resonating with Republican voters, the conservative base. It can't be that the conservative base just isn't happy with Romney. It can't be any of that. No, no, no.

Yes, yes, yes. But is the "establishment" getting the message?

The Republican Party vs. Newt Gingrich

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I wrote last night that Newt is probably done. He's still ahead nationally, but Romney has pulled well ahead in Florida and simply has too much of an advantage for Gingrich to overcome.

I would add that this is especially true with both establishment and movement conservatives, seeing him as a legit threat and entering full panic mode, going ballistic on his ass, from Dole to Drudge to Coulter, predicting disaster (for the GOP) if he's the nominee. Newt may still have some big names on his side, including Dear Leader Rush (who hasn't endorsed him but who despises Romney), but the full force of the Republican Party is coming down on him, and there's no way the party allows him to win. It'll do whatever it takes, and spend as much money as it takes, to make sure of it.

So much for that moon base. Alas.

Dear Leader Rush defends Dear Speaker Newt

Michael Stickings (@mjwstickings) has shared a Tweet with you:

"pwire: Rush Limbaugh defends Newt Gingrich against GOP Establishment attacks..." (link)

And this is why the so-called "establishment" doesn't mean what it used to. Karl Rove still has a great deal of influence in the Republican Party, as do some of Romney's more high-profile surrogates (e.g., Chris Christie, various figures on Capitol Hill), but Dear Leader Rush? Now there's some serious influence.

To whom do you think the base will listen? To whom do you think the base will turn for its marching orders?

If you think it's the "establishment," you don't understand how the GOP works these days.