Rush in meltdown over Armstrong Williams

[wicket]

LOL!!!!!

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011005/content/rush_is_right.guest.html

I want to address this Armstrong Williams situation. As you know, Armstrong Williams accepted $240,000 from the Department of Education to promote on his radio and TV programs the No Child Left Behind Act. He also agreed to schedule as a guest the education secretary, Rod Paige. Now, what I can't figure out here is the media angle. The media is all upset about this; media is exorcised about this, but I can't figure out if they're upset about the ethics of it or if they're upset about the money. As I listen to the journalists, I honestly don't know what they care about more here, what they're all exorcised about the ethics or the money. Did Armstrong Williams hold his nose and support No Child Left Behind, or did he believe it? He said he believed it and that's why he took the money. He was going to talk about it. But he said he believed it -- passionately, in fact.

Now, here's a little bit of irony here. How can journalists question his ethics for taking marching orders from the Department of Education when those very same journalistas take their marching orders from the Democrat fax machines? Now, I'm not excusing Armstrong Williams, just hang with me here, but I tell you something, the New York Times on Saturday splashed this all over the front page, and they had his picture and they called him a protégé of Strom Thurmond and Clarence Thomas. He was not a protégé of either. Protégé means somebody who's been taken under their wing and has been guided and molded and melded into something. He worked for him. Strom Thurmond is not even alive. Strom Thurmond's been dead two years. New York Times story makes it look like this guy is still civil rights segregationist alive and cooking in the US Senate. Of course Clarence Thomas is already hated figure so associating Armstrong Williams with him is supposed to be bad news for both of them.

The idea here that Armstrong Williams is the only person that has taken money to work on something he agrees with. What do you think sustains the environmentalist wacko movement but government grants? How many professors get government grants to do research projects on things they passionately believe in and they go out there and they write position papers and they're inculcating young skulls full of mush with the pap that they end up believing. There really isn't any difference. He broadcasts on radio and television. All these other people write papers that the mainstream media then public sizes to who knows where, it gets broadcast all over college campi and classrooms. There really isn't much difference here whatsoever. Besides what's so bad about the Department of Education? I thought the liberals loved the Department of Education. I thought they'd love anybody who's in bed with the Department of Education. I know. I know. Folks, stick with me here. Principal journalists don't get $250,000 from government agencies to go out and promote what they're talking about, but then again Armstrong Williams doesn't get countless invitations to all the A-list cocktail parties where he can eat for nothing and drink for nothing and hobnob and hang around with all these people. What's the dollar value of becoming close friends with all your sources? What's the dollar value if you're a liberal journalist to being invited to all the right places and get to meet all the rightly people learn all the right spin, given all the right stuff to go out and spread the news in your own way? What's the difference? The difference is, that ostensibly isn't coming from government, the 240 grand for Armstrong Williams came from government. WTF????

Now, he's apologized, and that was a proper thing to do. But as I say, go back to the top of the question: What are they really upset about? Are they upset about the ethics of Armstrong Williams or are they upset about the money? Because I will bet you a dollar to a doughnut that Armstrong Williams would not shill for Hillary Clinton for all the money in the world. But how many of his critics would. How many of his critics do? How many of his critics out there shilling for the Clintons, shilling for Hillary no matter what they know; no matter who they know it from, no matter what they know to be the truth. How many of these people out there shilling for Bill Burkett? How many people shilling for all these Bush enemies from his Texas days, trying to get him on this National Guard story? How many people in the media shilling for things? One thing I know about Armstrong Williams: He's not going to shill for something he doesn't believe in. But I can't say that about the other guys.

------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, paranoid AND delusional, now I see what Daryn Kagan sees in him :crazy:

[Dickie Flatt]

1. Well, I guess now we know who else was paid off.

[alcuno]

19. His pay comes via the advertisers.

It's obvious why Boeing and ADA advertise on his "show."

[Old and In the Way]

23. Boeing?

What, Dittoheads buying 737's these days?

As for Williams, no record can be found of any column where he is a proponent of NCLB BEFORE he took the payola.

And Rush is making $24MM/year. Think he makes that much to tell the truth?

[bloom]

2. I always figured he got paid by Republicans

or somebody - at least when he was getting started....

So of course he would have to defend Williams.

[SmokingJacket]

3. Hmmmm... sounds like someone touched a nerve.

Is Limbaugh getting paid too?

Sure sounds like it.

He BELIEVES IN IT! That's the important part!

Right!!

[Career Prole]

7. "For tax purposes, Mr. Limbaugh accepts talking-point remuneration

in hillbilly heroin in lieu of cash. Thank you for your cooperation."

[DulceDecorum]

8. Poor Baby

that is what he is going to be,
now that someone went and told the GOP
that they do not need to leave any money on the dresser.

[izzybeans]

10. He thinks he's on the same level as a professor or

scientist it seems. Notice the way he justifies himself in that way. Delusions galore here.

[DavidMS]

79. I have to listen to that pompus windbag everyday at work.

Too many people in my company love his pompus lying. At least his type has been known and cataloged for over 300 years.

Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue. -- Duc de la Rochefoucauld, 1678

When will Pillhead Rush be in court again?

[roguevalley]

4. the rate he's going, he's going to explode into tiny little rushes

we can smack down with hammers. Honestly. Me thinks he doth protesteth too much.

[Harry S Truman]

65. LOL!

Smacking little rushes down with hammers....I just laughed so hard my sweater flew off. Thanks.

[Taxloss]

5. Cheque bounced, did it, Rush? n/t

[tanyev]

6. He's upset because they

didn't pay him nearly as much. :(

[Career Prole]

11. LOL! "Get my agent on the phone...NOW!!" n/t

[diamond14]

9. LOL...obviously, rush is GUILTY of the very same crimes...GUILTY

innocent people do not LIE like that, and bury their lies in a convoluted mirage of nonsense....



rush is GUILTY, his own words betray him !!!!!



:nuke:

[Stephanie]

39. GUILTY

I DEMAND an Investigation!

What's the problem Rush - unless you have something to HIDE?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. So, then, it was OK for Armstrong to take the money

as long as he believed in the "product" he was pimping? But if he believed in NCLB, why did he need or accept the money? What a boneheaded argument -- proves Limpballs and the other freeper morons will tie themselves in logical knots to defend any level of deceit and corruption if it's done in furtherance of the aims of the Bush Reich. Is Rush on the take, too? Seems to me these guys would be well advised to distance themselves from Williams rather than come up with these bizarre, tortured arguments in his defense -- lest we jump to the entirely reasonable conclusion that they, too, are getting the same sort of payola.

[Zookeeper]

13. By his own logic...

anyone who "shills" for Hillary Clinton, Bill Burkett or Texans against Bush should also be OK as long as THEY believe in their message. 'Can't have it both ways, Rush.

[steve2470]

14. he had to reach DEEP into his ass to pull that out nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. All the way to the elbow.

How can anyone take a fuckwit like Junkie Rush seriously when he insists on spewing such incoherent, completely disingenuous crap?

[OutsourceBush]

28. rev Moon sends him the daily Bush briefs

[yella_dawg]

16. Logic

If you think of logic as methodically plodding along carefully measuring every step, Limbaugh-Logic (tm) is more like hopping from rock to stone over a mountain stream without getting your socks wet. Except that rather than stay dry, Rush drowns true logic in the torrent of misleading rhetoric that comes boiling out of his diseased psyche.

Rush, that's gotta be your ass talkin', cuz your mouth got better sense.

You know, Rush Limbaugh reminds me of one of those guys that gets off by lying down and letting other guys pee on him. Can't you just see his pudgy little body laid out on the floor while Reagan, Bush, and Quayle stand around pissing on him?

-- Bill Hicks, may he Rest in Peace

[wicket]

22. Bill Hicks is very missed

:(

[SheepyMcSheepster]

61. very very missed

he would be tearing these clowns up these days.

[wicket]

69. Bill Hicks

It's almost scary how his rants on Bush 1 & the first Iraq war apply to the current Bush and the current Iraq war. The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess.

Bill was a true visionary, they just don't make 'em like him anymore!

[Cha]

17. limpbaughs LIES just to hear himself

OINK!

[Dave Reynolds]

18. Holy smokes...

I never listen to this guy, and now I see why that remains a good choice.

He is way whacked.

[Liberal In Texas]

20. Yep, according to FatBoy everybody is taking money, so what's

wrong with that?

I got news for you, Mr. DrugsAreOK-UntilYouGetCaught, it's not OK to be unethical and most people in this country believe that too.

And what's with the use of the word exorcised? You obviously think it sounds important, you used it twice in the first paragraph up there. It makes absolutely no sense in the context of what you are talking about.

Blow-Hard.

[rodeodance]

62. this is his spin story and people believe him (as he, himsef, laughs all

the way to the bank)!!

[indigobusiness]

21. Somebody should buy Rush a dictionary

the New York Times on Saturday splashed this all over the front page, and they had his picture and they called him a protégé of Strom Thurmond and Clarence Thomas. He was not a protégé of either. Protégé means somebody who's been taken under their wing and has been guided and molded and melded into something. He worked for him. Strom Thurmond is not even alive.


pro·té·gé ( P ) Pronunciation Key (prt-zh, prt-zh)
n.
One whose welfare, training, or career is promoted by an influential person.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
---

LOL

[Eric J in MN]

41. thanks, I took his word on that part until you pointed that out (nt)

nt

[indigobusiness]

68. Never trust Limbaugh. He distorts EVERYTHING.

That's the problem: his disciples take him at his word and his nonsense gets propagated.

[johnaries]

24. To Rush; HELLO! There used to be a thing called Journalistic Integrity!

Oh, never mind Rush. I forgot who I was talking to. I can't expect you to understand the concept.

[driver8]

51. Rush wouldn't know journalism if it bit him on the ass!! n/t

[riverwalker]

25. I want my money back n/t

[Mz Pip]

26. Poor Rush

He's been shilling for free all these years. Guess he didn't know he could get paid. He could have bought a whole lot of oxycotin for $250,000.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[OutsourceBush]

27. a total lack of morality, Rush must be on the take too

me thinks he protests too much

[Bouncy Ball]

29. Not ONE. Fucking. Word about how

BUSH gave this TAXPAYER MONEY to this guy to USE HIS POSITION AS A COMMENTATOR TO FORWARD A BUSH PLAN.

I guess rushiepoo isn't concerned with that, oh NO!

Dear God :puke:

He has the ethics of a sewer rat.

IF CLINTON HAD DONE THIS HE'D BE SCREAMING ABOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!!!

[OutsourceBush]

31. IF CLINTON HAD DONE THIS

yup! two face hypocrite just like Bush (his sugar daddy)

[Edgewater_Joe]

30. O.D. Or Get Arrested, Pigboy

Your greatest contribution to American Democracy will be the moment you get the f**k off the air once and for all.

[Catherine Vincent]

32. Notice how that rat bastard has to mention the Clinton's?

Fucking dope head.

[driver8]

50. He's like a broken record -- pumpkin head sumbitch. n/t

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NightTrain]

34. As one of the great philosophers of our age has been known to say...

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. Talk about spinning a story

to fit an agenda!!!

What an ass. Not once, not ONCE, did rush ever make the obvious connection that $240,000 that went in Armstrong Williams pocket is $240,000 that didn't reach kids or schools. In fact, rush doesn't even mention kids or children or students.

Now call me silly here, rush, but as a taxpayer, I would much rather the US Dept of Education spend its resources on education than on bribing reporters!! But then, I am a Democrat.

[oecher3]

40. $240,000 = 6 teacher for $40,000 annually!

think about that!

[proud2BlibKansan]

78. Trust me, I have

But my first thought was 'how many books would a quarter of a million dollars buy?'

[immoderate]

80. Ah but Bush has eliminated the middle man. BRILLIANT!!

What's the purpose of NCLB, anyway? Does George W. Bush care about educating children? Certainly no more than educating himself!

NCLB is to get good press, influence public opinion. He could achieve his goals with a successful program. (Not as easy as it looks, kinda like conquering Iraq.) Or he could go directly and just bribe the media. Have you seen those Staples commercials with the "easy" button?

--IMM

[Zookeeper]

72. Well, since the RW agenda is to destroy public schools...

I suppose it was a good investment.

[diamond14]

36. bush* pays MILLIONS for rush...now exposed, they might cut him loose....

now that bush* got re-selected....he doesn't need rush anymore....it'll be real easy to dump rush off the payroll, considering that rush's drug charges are STILL pending (and bush* minions have been making BIG efforts to protect their paid pundit - PAID WITH OUR MONEY !!!)....

GET THIS DRUG-SELLING/MONEY-LAUNDERING ADDICT OFF OUR AIRWAYS !!!!


rush* is panicked...yes, he could be next...rush costs WAY TOO MUCH of our money in a non-election year, and rush is becoming too big a burden on bush*, with his racisism/bigotry, drug-dealing, money-laundering, gay scandals, and MORE ....AND, such idiots can be EASILY replaced...nobody even missed rush during his months in drug rehabilitation....bye bye, mr. GREED/GLUTTON....

[Stephanie]

37. Someone get a screenshot because that is priceless.

I had to check to make sure it wasn't from the Onion.

Click the link - there's more!

[oecher3]

38. academic research vs. journalism

Now here is a stereotypical hit by the RWs: those liberal academics and the liberal-biased media are all the same. A government bribed journalist is nothing different than a grant- paid research professor. This polemic is just poor and as most remarks here show, it is hard to respond to the emotional remark that lacks any scientific or rational substance.
There's got to be a better way to counter the Republican way of nonconstructive criticism. Herein is the pivoting of beating the next one in 2008. Gore was beating because he was labeled stiff, Kerry tried fighting the label flip-flopper...there is a pattern here!
But back to Rush...
There is a mile-long difference between a professor receiving a research grant and a journalist undisclosed selling the Department of Education's message as his own, even if he believes it is true!

[Stevepol]

59. Neither Gore nor Kerry lost. The DREs put Bush in this time n/t

[SillyGoose]

42. I want to know how this man stays on the public airwaves

he is so obviously mentally ill that it boggles my mind that he has not been hauled away in restraints. He is an evil, vile man

[Eric J in MN]

43. There is a drop of truth somewhere in there,

that Armstrong Williams isn't alone in conflicts-of-interest.

Being a tv commentator for Fox News or General Electric (NBC) at least carries the risk of a conflict-of-interest (though I like Keith Olbermann and Ron Reagan.)

[WMliberal]

44. rush must still be getting payed drugs in lieu of pay.

[Elwood P Dowd]

45. Look at this!

"Because I will bet you a dollar to a doughnut that Armstrong Williams would not shill for Hillary Clinton for all the money in the world. But how many of his critics would. How many of his critics do?"

Limbaugh said he wouldn't support Bill, but as soon as NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and the Telecommunications Bills came up, he was praising Clinton.
Does Rush know how to spell HYPOCRITE?? If Hillary came out with a bill that would kill poor people and make millions for Rush, he would suddenly be in love with her.

[TrustingDog]

46. what an Oxy Moran.

[eleny]

47. He needs to save his energy for the "El Salvador" approach

He'll be needing a shitload of lipstick for that pig.

[Swamp Rat]

48. HAHAHAHA! He's so high... eat your doughnuts Limpballs!

[wicket]

57. Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!

:thumbsup:

[complain jane]

60. LOL

Thanks for this, I needed it this morning.

[Zookeeper]

73. BTW, Swamp Rat....

You made a comment on the Artist's thread about "just" using your mom's old Photoshop program. I always enjoy your creations; in fact I printed the Dick Cheney one and posted it in my kitchen for a while. Keep up the good work!

[Swamp Rat]

81. Thank you

Well, I was given Photosop Elements, which has most of the features in Photoshop 3.0. It handles text much better, but I sure wish I had the newest Adobe suite. I recently got Gimp on a MacAddict CD, so I may give it a try unless I can get more filters/plug-ins for Elements.

I need to do a new Cheney pic. Here's a new one I did using Elements:

[daleo]

49. I bet he's getting payola too.

And I bet Bill Bennet wouldn't take that bet - too risky. It is the fuel that the echo chamber runs on.

[radfringe]

52. how much did he get paid by WH to say that? n/t

[Dees]

53. As usual, the pug faced, hog jowled, lying bat shit

crazy, Oxy addicted, drooling right wing tool has it completely wrong.
Number one...he wanted the money.
Number two...you knew the Dems and Libs would come up. Right wingers will never admit wrong.

Now go interview Randy Moss or something.

[coda]

54. The "angle" is that it is a pattern with the * Admin

Like saying that rebuilding Iraq would cost the American people 1.7 billion, to sell the war.

Or like lying about the Medicare bill costing less than 400 billion when they knew it would cost at least 550 billion and that their Medicare propaganda videos violated the law.


But Rushbots need things rationalized because they can't do it for themselves.


"Now, I'm not excusing Armstrong Williams, just hang with me here, but...." :eyes:

Ratitonalization is a snap for someone who characterized Abu Ghraib as "blowing off steam".



==

Medicare 'propaganda' videos violated law, agency says

William M. Welch
USA Today
May. 20, 2004 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration violated federal prohibitions on propaganda when it issued video press releases promoting the new Medicare law, a congressional agency concluded Wednesday.

The General Accounting Office said three videos, packaged to look like independent news reports and distributed to TV stations across the country, were a misuse of federal money appropriated by Congress. The videos were produced by a subcontractor for the Department of Health and Human Services and its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is charged with implementing the Medicare revisions enacted last year.

The Bush administration and department officials contended the videos, two in English and one in Spanish, were no different in substance from printed press releases or video promotions commonly distributed by private businesses. Critics condemned the practice, however, and said the government did not identify the source of the information in the video and was promoting a politically charged law sought by President Bush.

<snip>

HHS officials did not immediately comment on the report. The two English-language videos were narrated by a woman who signs off the piece, "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."


<snip>


The administration contended that the Medicare law authorized it to inform the public about changes under the new law. The GAO report, however, said that authority "is subject to the publicity or propaganda prohibition."


http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0520medicare20.html


=====


Ruling Says White House's Medicare Videos Were Illegal

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: May 20, 2004

WASHINGTON, May 19 - The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Wednesday that the Bush administration had violated federal law by producing and disseminating television news segments that portray the new Medicare law as a boon to the elderly.

The agency said the videos were a form of "covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as the source of the materials, broadcast by at least 40 television stations in 33 markets. The agency also expressed some concern about the content of the videos, but based its ruling on the lack of disclosure.

The consequences of the ruling were not immediately clear. The accounting office does not have law enforcement powers, but its decisions on federal spending are usually considered authoritative and are taken seriously by officials in the executive branch of the government.


<snip>


The General Accounting Office said that a specific part of the videos, a made-for-television "story package," violated the prohibition on using taxpayer money for propaganda.

People seeing the videos in a newscast would "believe that the information came from a nongovernment source or neutral party," it said.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/20/politics/20medicare.html?hp

[tsuki]

55. Rush has become the poster child

of this is your brain...this is your brain on drugs.

[KG]

56. poster child for 'moral relativism'

rush = pond scum.

[Q]

58. Yuck...had to walk through slime to get this exchange with a caller:

CALLER: -- when you talk about something they do wrong, but you're shifting something a conservative does, Armstrong Williams, over to something liberals that you think may have done or are doing, whatever. They didn't make him do what he did.

RUSH: Didn't say that they did.

CALLER: No, I'm just saying, but this has nothing to do with liberals.

RUSH: No. All I said, Ty, was I've watched the media get all exercised about it, and the only thing I don't know what they are upset about is whether they're upset at his ethics or the money involved. Because, you know, I can make the case as I did that what Armstrong Williams did has done -- throughout the political spectrum; I don't care if it's conservatives or liberals -- it's just he happens to be a media guy to understand the differences. Of course, we don't like at college professors or scientists or research directors or whatever as broadcasters, but they end up having their work broadcast just the same with, by the way, I might add, the credibility of science stamped to whatever they say because they come from academia. So I didn't excuse what he did. I feel very bad for him unfortunately. I don't understand it, to tell you the truth. I can't possibly understand why he did it.

CALLER: Well, I was never crazy about Armstrong Williams. I always thought he was bought and paid for. I thought he was a hypocrite. I mean, he's always -- he's a God-fearing person, he fears God this, fears God that, but he didn't fear God too much when he took that money. So, you know, it's just certain things I think you need to be a little bit more fair because you didn't spend that much time talking about Armstrong Williams at all. You just shifted it. I mean, I don't even know why liberalism even came up in the subject --

RUSH: Now, Ty, Ty. You're very --

CALLER: -- of Armstrong Williams. He did something wrong and you need to --

RUSH: No, you're engaging --

CALLER: -- put more time into it. That's what I'm saying.

RUSH: Well, you engaged in selective listening, here.

CALLER: No, I'm not.

RUSH: You're hearing what you want to hear.

CALLER: I'm a fan of yours, Rush. I know what you are.

[rodeodance]

63. liked the 'seclive lister' stuff-Rush knows naught that it applies to him

[underpants]

70. CALLER: I'm a fan of yours, Rush. I know what you are.

Absolutely classic

[Zookeeper]

75. Gosh...are his listeners beginning to catch on? n/t

[VaYallaDawg]

64. He's got some real bad delusions of grandeur. n/t

[Liberal In Texas]

66. Here's another one, the Limo Liberal myth:

Principal journalists (get)...invitations to all the A-list cocktail parties where he can eat for nothing and drink for nothing and hobnob and hang around with all these people.
He loves to keep that one going, and so many cons believe it.

In the thirty-some years I worked with and was considered a journalist that he would deem left-wing media, I can't remember a time I got to go to an "A-List" cocktail party. Perhaps the Rather's and Brokaw's do, but they're the tippy tip of a large iceberg.

AND, I'll bet the old oxycontin-head goes to a lot of swank parties with his neo-con elitist buddies.

Hypocrit.

[gollygee]

67. Well that appears to confirm that he's on the take too

sounds like he's worried he'll get caught.

[Joanne98]

71. Rush is the King of rationalization.

If he believed it, why did he have to get paid to support it? DUH!
It's the usual mind bender. Can you believe anybody listens to this quack?

[librechik]

74. I wonder what kind of fees he gets for being on Armed Services Radio

I'm pissed Rush gets that money to shill for his pipsqueak prince

[Missy Vixen]

76. Wow, the little blues must be working for him today

Uh, Rush?

What exactly does the following sentence have to do with what Armstrong Williams did, and what the Clintons DID NOT do?

>Because I will bet you a dollar to a doughnut that Armstrong Williams would not shill for Hillary Clinton for all the money in the world. But how many of his critics would. How many of his critics do? How many of his critics out there shilling for the Clintons, shilling for Hillary no matter what they know; no matter who they know it from, no matter what they know to be the truth.<

You just can't ***self-deleted sexual reference*** without talking about the Clintons, can you? You have no other subject. Nothing else does it for you at all, right?

God. I need a shower. After that, I'll need a stiff drink. Then again, just bring the bottle.

Julie

[eek MD]

77. I'm surprised rushy didn't call him an....

Overrated black journalist.....

[spanone]

82. What a fat-assed piece of pig shit.

...by the way, I'm not a fan.

[Must_B_Free]

83. "Strom Thurmond has been dead for two years"

That was my favorite diversion, as if that fact is somehow relevant to the conversation.

What about the fact that he was alive for 98 years?

Is Armstrong Williams younger than 2?

[tibbiit]

84. Limbaughs payoff is

Repuke judical system/Jeb has kept him out of prison. (so far)
Many of the rest of them (repuke whore punditry) get access and other goods besides cash.
They make me sick with their hypocrisy.
tib

[bvar22]

85. Pigboy also made out well in the tax cut dept.

What is the bush* tax break for someone in the $32Million bracket?

[wicket]

86. It makes me sick he gets paid that much to spread his bile

:puke: