Medal of Freedom backlash

[struggle4progress]

Ella Torres
February 5, 2020, 3:29 PM

... in 2012 .. Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke, then a Georgetown University law student, a "slut" after she argued to Congress that birth control should be covered by her employer's health care plan ...

Limbaugh .... described the NFL as "a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons," .. comparing black professional football players to gang members ...

... Limbaugh blamed gay marriage for a decline in Christianity in 2015 ...

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rush-limbaughs-medal-freedom-trump-draws-backlash-past/story?id=68774530

[struggle4progress]

1. Medal of Freedom for career of hate

WRITTEN BY ERIC KLEEFELD
PUBLISHED 02/04/20 11:34 PM EST

... During a series of public appearances he called the “Rush to Excellence Tour,” from 1989 to 1991, Limbaugh joked about AIDS and suicide, among other subjects, and declared that “feminism was established so that unattractive ugly broads could have easy access to the mainstream.” Starting in the 1990s, he began referring to feminists as “feminazis,” and he’s also regularly referred to prominent women as “babes.” He also attempted to popularize a term, the “new castrati,” for “men with no guts who have just been bullied by women and the power structure and liberalism in general.”

On his short-lived TV show in the 1990s, Limbaugh compared 12-year-old presidential daughter Chelsea Clinton to a dog and sarcastically apologized for having previously called Amy Carter, daughter of President Jimmy Carter, “the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country.”

Limbaugh’s history of racist invective includes him saying, “The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons” and dismissing the suffering of Native Americans by claiming, “‘Holocaust?’ Ninety million Indians? Only four million left? They all have casinos — what's to complain about?”

He has also frequently mocked human suffering, ranging from victims of natural disasters to those living in extreme poverty ...

https://www.mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/trump-gives-rush-limbaugh-medal-freedom-career-hate

[greyl]

6. Found a couple old, conservative articles hating on the MoF.

How the Medal of Freedom Became a Fraud
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-the-medal-of-freedom-became-a-fraud/

Petition Demanding Return Of Bill Cosby’s Medal Of Freedom To Trigger White House Action At 100K Signatures
https://deadline.com/2015/07/petition-bill-cosbys-return-medal-of-freedom-white-house-obama-response-video-1201473720/

Iow, Trump has no respect for it, and was only looking to use his power to further ingratiate a rushing media sbigot.

[struggle4progress]

2. Medal of Freedom for Limbaugh a joke

BY MARCOS BRETÓN
FEBRUARY 05, 2020 12:30 PM

... Beginning in Sacramento in 1984, Limbaugh has used to his poison microphone to infect our public discourse with hatred and vitriol. In his time, Limbaugh has made racist comments about prominent African Americans, such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson. He’s denigrated gay people and women. He had to quit a side gig on ESPN because he couldn’t resist dipping his toe in the sewage of well-worn racist tropes about African American quarterbacks.

He’s called NBA players “thugs.” He made fun of Michael J. Fox for having Parkinson’s disease. And that’s not to mention his constant, racist drumbeat when Barack Obama – America’s first black president – was in office.

... Limbaugh found huge success by peddling hatred. He’s a charlatan, just like Trump. When Limbaugh got his award Tuesday night, it was just the latest reminder that elections have consequences.

If you don’t value your vote or our democracy, then you should feel responsible when democratic norms are cheapened and attacked ...

https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article239996683.html

[struggle4progress]

3. The backlash

By Sean Neumann
February 06, 2020 03:22 PM

... Daily Show host Trevor Noah .. called out Limbaugh’s history of being “racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and sexist” in a segment on his Comedy Central show while playing a medley of some of Limbaugh’s most egregious comments.

“It’s red meat to his base. Trump knows what he’s doing,” Ocasio-Cortez said on social media. “He wants to assert that Rush Limbaugh is somehow on the same level as Rosa Parks and it’s truly nauseating and this is one of the many reasons why I did not go.”

In response, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t being respectful of Limbaugh’s contributions to conservative media ...

https://people.com/politics/rush-limbaugh-presidential-medal-of-freedom-backlash/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Steve Sack FTW, again:

[TreadSoftly]

8. Yes. This drawing captures the situation. Thanks.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. Says it all!

The backlash should come as no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention over the last few decades...

[malaise]

15. THIS

[democratisphere]

5. Republicans have redefined everything and absolutely none of it is good or great,

specially the Medal Of Freedom.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Linbaugh is going to die alone. This is the kind of person he is, all him. How sad. Nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Trump defiles everything good and decent.

Awarding the Medal of Freedom to Limbaugh is a slap in the face to the distinguished, in some cases heroic, people who have received it in the past. It's like if they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Kim Jong-un.

[wnylib]

14. Don't give him ideas.

All those things are true. And that is the point. He intends it not just as a slap in the face, but as a raised middle finger. Now that he is unaccountable to Congress, he will do worse yet.

[dalton99a]

10. Kick

[Warpy]

11. It certainly cheapened that medal

and was only awarded as a poke in the eye to all those meanies who supported his impeachment. It was so unfair! Rich men should never have to answer for this stuff!

[BlueMTexpat]

13. Given by IMPOTUS

to a proven hatemonger, the Medal of Freedom has become a Medal of Infamy.

[DFW]

16. It has now become the medal of freakdom. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

17. DUzy!