We must ignore sexist remarks from "leftist" pundits or the Republicans will win.

[Zalatix]

<start satire>
“When I read stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of balls in her mouth.” - Matt Taibbi

We must not criticize things like this or else we are Rushbots under the thrall of Rush Limbaugh! We mustn't act until it rises to the level of Rush Limbaugh's ugliness, and then only if it is done by a Right Winger.

Because sexist remarks don't matter. It's which team does it that matters!!!

<end satire>

[ProSense]

1. I don't

We must ignore sexist remarks from "leftist" pundits or the Republicans will win.

<start satire>
“When I read stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of balls in her mouth.” - Matt Taibbi

We must not criticize things like this or else we are Rushbots under the thrall of Rush Limbaugh! We mustn't act until it rises to the level of Rush Limbaugh's ugliness, and then only if it is done by a Right Winger.

Because sexist remarks don't matter. It's which team does it that matters!!!

<end satire>

...get it. In fact, it's downright silly.

I mean, Matt Taibbi? He's a magazine writer with a following. Is he the "'leftist' pundit" you're referring to?

What on earth does Matt Taibbi have to do with the election? Are you equating Taibbi to Limbaugh?

And this: "We mustn't act until it rises to the level of Rush Limbaugh's ugliness, and then only if it is done by a Right Winger."

...is completely absurd and insulting.

It's like you're defending the "ugliness" of a "right winger" from (who I can only guess) liberals?

Have you noticed the number of conservatives/Republicans also condemning Limbaugh, including two Republican Senators?

[2ndAmForComputers]

2. Explain to me, why is Rush getting a much bigger blowback?

[Uncle Joe]

4. 1. He's been doing this longer and more consistently.

2. He supports policies and politicians that actually reinforce his misogynistic propaganda.

[ProSense]

5. First

"Explain to me, why is Rush getting a much bigger blowback?"

...the quote is from a 2009 blog post by Taibbi, and a blog is not the public airwaves.

Anyone interested in scouring blogs and magazine sites to begin a crusade to denounce objectionable content in free to do so. That person could spend the next several years calling on people to denounce writers for Newsmax, Slate, National Review or other publications.

Second, Limbaugh's incident is current and is not the same: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002407543

[aquart]

6. Because, with Rush, it is the expression of a vile heart.

Whereas Taibbi does actual good on this earth. Not being a robot, however, he isn't perfect.

It is a rightwing trap where they try to knock off our best people by finding a human flaw and insisting we must condemn the entire human for the flaw.

In Rush, sexism isn't a flaw, it's part of his financial planning.

[Major Nikon]

8. Because the portly drug addict is an actual misogynist

People who want to compare Limbaugh to Maher convieniently forget that Limbaugh has made his career in no small part due to the hatred of women and the effort to deny them basic civil rights. So I'm supposed to believe someone like Maher is on the same level because he directed a couple of gender based slurs towards Palin?

Doesn't pass the bullshit test.

[2ndAmForComputers]

9. Thank you all for the good responses. I really want to read the OP's opinion, though.

[LoZoccolo]

10. I think part of it is that he seemed so creepy about it.

Some unattractive man in a preppy shirt making angry comments about some young woman's sex life in an escalating rage is creepy. I know why I object to it the most, and that's because what he did was take the issue completely off-topic and misrepresent Sandra Fluke's intentions in testifying, but I don't think that that's what most Americans really think about the whole thing. I think many of them see an older man who looks like someone who hangs out at a country club and can't attract women for reasons other than his money making a desperate attempt to despise what he can't have or something. I actually don't think that's even an accurate picture of what's going on, but I think it comes off that way.

[Zalatix]

13. Not necessary. He's going down. It's time to clean house.

[2ndAmForComputers]

20. We'd rather keep on piling on Rush.

That seems to displease you. By the way, you didn't answer my question. Why is Rush getting it worse?

[2ndAmForComputers]

22. The hell with it. I don't need an answer. I know it already.

[aquart]

3. Feel better now?

It would be so nice if we could get it through our very thick skulls that one of our guys can be a sexist pig and still be a good deal.

My uncle, God rest his soul, was such a pig and you don't want to know what I know about his private life BUT my friends got free legal aid from him (including one who had to sue her ex-boyfriend for money he owed her) and he worked tirelessly handling the legal work for women at a shelter for battered women. And he was endlessly proud of his overachieving granddaughters.

People can be more than one thing, including opposite things at the same time. Maybe they'll wake up and see their own contradictions and maybe they won't....but we are IDIOTS if we toss all the good because we find something bad in there somewhere.

[saras]

7. No "we", no "must", no "ignore" - you've lost me already.

Without context for the remark, I can't tell whether it's appropriate or not, and give that it's apparently referring to one specific person, I can't rule out the possibility that it's a useful, accurate image. A little research reveals that it's describing Michelle Malkin, and working exclusively from the content of her blog, michellemalkin.com, I could make a pretty good argument for the accuracy of the image (i.e. it's clear from reading her that she obsesses on these sorts of images for fantastically large portions of her writing time)

But there's no "we" that includes me and "must ignore".

Aside from that, Tabibi is an entertainer for a national mass media rag. He's about as leftist as Obama.

Words MEAN things. There are two different objections to the right wing: one, that they often say stuff (supply-side economics, anti-abortion morality) that simply don't MEAN anything at all in the real world; and the other that they say creepy things about whole classes of people and behaviors that indicate their attitudes and more importantly their own behaviors towards these people when in power (racism, anti-abortion law). If all they did was insult individuals, no matter how crassly, they simply wouldn't be a big deal.

Were Tabibi trying to smear, say, church-going women as a class, I'd think that about as vile as Rush Limbaugh. But the fact that he's talking about a specific person who wallows in exactly this sort of degrading sexual imagery for the purpose of attacking others is enough for me, at least, to give Tabibi a pass in the same way that I give punk bands a pass for saying stupid shit I'd never stand for in real life.

[Old and In the Way]

11. I can tell the difference between a Taibbi and a Limbaugh.

The intersection in the use of a few words in the English language does not equal the same message or agenda that each is pursuing. Yes, there are hi-profile people on our side that use DU "banned" words. But it's the application/context of the words and who they are directed to that bother me more. Rush singled out a person of no public consequence for his smearing and misogynst insults. They were employed with the intent of intimidating...to get women to stop from speaking out on the republican agenda. I'm unaware of Maher, Taibbi, or any other liberal/progressive who have used language directed at conservative women of no public consequence. They are directed at RW women with high media profiles and platforms from which to defend themselves.

[Yavin4]

12. When Democratic Presidential Candidates Seek Out Matt Taibi's or Bill Maher's

or any rapper that calls women B**** or African Americans, N*****, endorsement, grovel before them, and are afraid to rebuke them, please let me know.

This "both sides do it" bullshit is getting really fucking stupid.

[Zalatix]

14. This "both sides do it" thing is quite true.

Perhaps morally consistent Democrats should force an all-out party war over this issue.

Let's see who backs down first.

[RZM]

21. They don't do that, but Democrats haven't been above trying to use rappers

Here's an amusing snippet from Lil' Wayne's wikipedia page:

Lil Wayne has been referenced in public speeches by President Barack Obama on at least two occasions, in mixed contexts. Speaking to a largely African-American audience during a general election campaign town hall speech in Georgia, then-U.S. Senator Obama exhorted children to stay in school and achieve their dreams through education and perseverance instead of hoping for shortcuts to fame and riches, stating: "You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school."[110]

After assuming the Presidency, Obama later echoed this theme of personal and familial responsibility and the difficulty of achieving Lil Wayne's lyrical skills or success—during an address to a meeting commemorating the 100th anniversary of the NAACP, telling the audience:

"They might think they've got a pretty jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can’t all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be President of the United States of America.[111]"

Obama has also noted that the music on his iPod includes Lil Wayne:

"My rap palate has greatly improved. Jay-Z used to be sort of what predominated, but now I've got a little Nas and a little Lil Wayne and some other stuff.[112]"

You might also remember that on the eve of the 2004 election, Eminem released an animated video (done by Tom Tomorrow, I believe) that was anti-Bush. Kerry then commented that he was 'interested' in Eminem. The remark was a little too obvious in its pandering. These guys aren't hip and they shouldn't pretend to be.

[Shankapotomus]

15. Does this mean we should boycott

Lisa Lampanelli too?

[Zalatix]

16. Who is that?

[Shankapotomus]

17. A comedian

&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Shankapotomus]

19. It's a simple question

Do we start boycotting Lisa Lampanelli?

[OriginalGeek]

27. I already do

Never heard her say one funny thing. She is a terrible comedian. I seriously don't understand why she keeps getting work.

[hughee99]

23. Not ignore, excuse.

As in "I don't agree with what they said either, BUT it's not the same because"... <insert "leftist" name here> wrote it instead of said it, doesn't have as many listeners, only said it a few times, made a more believable apology, isn't the unofficial spokesman for a party, is taller, thinner, better educated or funnier than Limpballs. Basically, anything other than "it's different because they were attacking someone I don't like" is an acceptable excuse.

[jillan]

24. Maybe I'm a fool, but I am seriously hoping that what happened to Rush will make 'leftist' pundits

think about the crap they spew as well.

[2ndAmForComputers]

25. Since leftists, unlike rightists, are actually able to think and change, I think this is likely.

[Bluenorthwest]

26. Since you are taking issue with the man from Rolling Stone, I'll let Dr Thompson say it.

"Some people will say that words like scum and rotten are wrong for Objective Journalism — which is true, but they miss the point. It was the built-in blind spots of the Objective rules and dogma that allowed Nixon to slither into the White House in the first place. He looked so good on paper that you could almost vote for him sight unseen. He seemed so all-American, so much like Horatio Alger, that he was able to slip through the cracks of Objective Journalism. You had to get Subjective to see Nixon clearly, and the shock of recognition was often painful."

And you know, Rush made sexist remarks for years for great profit. He went too far when he lied and slandered a specific person, a non politician, and he did not make 'sexist remarks' he called her a prostitute who expects to get paid for sex and used her name. He claimed she said things she did not say. He lied and slandered. Anyone who sees that as the same as a joke with some gender specifics should have a long long history of speaking against Rush, who makes mere sexist comments daily, for years. As well as racist, homophobic comments. For years on end. With more than one scandal along the way. Fired from gigs in the real media for stuff he said as I recall, long ago. He is what he is. Or was what he was.

[McCamy Taylor]

28. "They all do it" is the GOP's second fav political tactic.

How refreshing to see it at DU.

The GOP's number one favorite political tactic is, of course, "Divide and Conquer."