Why Do Limbaugh and Malkin Hate America?
Limbaugh and Malkin are at it again, belittling folks who have faith in and have been inspired by Barack Obama. But they go too far, wishing ill of the President, forgetting perhaps that as goes Obama, so goes our country. Evidently they only have patriotism in a country run by Republicans. They are small people, obviously.
Over the last several years under the disasters of the Bush Administration, it has become commonplace for many of us in the reality-based community to complain about Bush’s leadership and actions. I know of nobody who hoped Bush would pull the doofus move of invading Iraq or appointing a horse show judge to run FEMA. We didn’t hope for failure, but surely recognized the incompetence, failure and corrution that permeated the Bush Administration and its Republican supporters. When we did so recognize, we were often accused, by the likes of Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh, of being unAmerican. Everyone knows such accusations were the tripe offered by people who don’t really believe in free speech — I understand that. What’s interesting is that both Malkin and Limbaugh are showing signs of wishing failure on the Obama Administration, acts that exceed their own standards of being “unAmerican.” Here we go, from Politico:
With Barack Obama’s approval ratings in the 70s and his visage plastered on every shop window and Metro card in Washington, it’s hard to remember that 58 million Americans voted for the other guy.
Even President Bush — who presumably counts himself among that group — said last week that Obama’s inauguration is “a moment of hope and pride.”
That’s not exactly how Michelle Malkin describes it.
“Jan. 20 has turned into a schlock inauguration, (where) every last moocher has come to cash in on Obama,” says the conservative blogger and pundit. “There are some of us who want to bang our heads against the wall.”
While most Republicans now in office are saying all the right things about Tuesday’s proceedings — roll tape on “peaceful transfer of power” and “historic moment for the country” sound bites — some conservatives can’t quite get themselves in the “We Are One” mood.
Not even for a day.
On his radio show last week, Rush Limbaugh railed against “people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, ‘Well, I hope he succeeds. We have to give him a chance.’”
“Why?” Limbaugh demanded. “They didn’t give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated, the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I’m not talking about search-and-destroy, but I’ve been listening to Barack Obama for a year and a half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don’t want them to succeed.”
Whether Michelle Malkin or Rush Limbaugh will acknowledge it or not, whether Barack Obama and his team succeeds will play the biggest role in whether America succeeds over the next four or eight years. It was important to me that America succeed in 2000 and in 2004, which is why I wrote about Bush’s abject failures in this blog over the last four years. Prehaps these two don’t understand that recognizing failure is not the same as hoping for it. Thei hoping for Barack Obama to fail is simply a lack of faith in America and our democratic system, it is rooting for something other than that system. It is worse, I suppose, on an intellectual level.
Those like Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh, and the citizens who think the same, such as these folks in Indiana, treat this whole America and election business as a game. Limbaugh’s reaction is far more 4th grade schoolyard than sober commentary. He basically claims liberals didn’t give Bush respect, so why should he respect Obama, or even hope for his success. I’d say a response like Limbaugh’s, akin to the 4th grader whining “he hit me first,” is juvenile, and shows just how unAmerican Rush Limbaugh is. We’ve all complained for a long time about how our political discourse has been poisoned. We don’t have to look far to see the source of that poisoning.
Malkin, on the other hand, is whining about the Politico article publicly, and her whines are, as usual, insulting to the people who support Barack Obama and to those who wish him well. Malkin seems chiefly to be upset with those who admire Obama, probably jealous because no Republican in history will ever get approval ratings like his with a Malkin and Limbaugh helping to set the tone. It cannot be denied that Obama does in fact provide citizens of this nation with inspiration, and no amount of Michelle Malkin whines will negate that fact that we as Americans are inspired today.
We should remain inspired. One of our readers Ray mentioned in a comment that he has a grandson who is mixed race, as he calls it the boy is a “mini-Obama.” I am one of that number now as well, having just adopted an African American boy. Part of the inspiration of Obama is about race, that America has risen and grown enough that we can put our faith in an African American. This fulfills the dream of Martin Luther King, as so many people will write today. In that context Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh look small.
Like many who don’t listen to the Limbaugh program, you miss understanding the program. He doesn’t want the Obama administration to fail, he just expects it to fail. He is only the radio voice of millions of Americans who have the same fears of the Obama administration, that the democrats had of the two previous Bush administrations. We look at the voting record and inexperience of the incoming president and aren’t drawn into his smooth talk and political promises. You only parrot the media’s vision of Bush being a doofus and were quick to point out his failures, but will no doubt spare Obama from the same judgement. The thing with faith, is that it requires a blind belief, a hope regardless of fact.
I wish the best for Obama in office but refuse to support him until he supports my values and beliefs in the role of government in America. The spotlight is on the Democratic Party and their leader, Barack. And as he takes office tomorrow expect the listeners of conservative talk radio to rise and further criticism of the policies of the party on the left.
What part of “I don’t want him to succeed” is in consistent with Limbaugh not wishing failure on Obama? Matt, you’re a little whack if you can listen to Limbaugh and honestly think he hopes for the best in this country under Barack Obama. It has become clear he does not, all too clear.
Limbaugh has never hoped for “the best for the country.” Limbaugh has always been about what is best for the Republican Party. If the country suffers to make the GOP better off, well, that’s just dandy in Limbaugh’s book.
No one who listened to Limbaugh during the Clinton years could honestly believe the man didn’t put party over country every. single. time. The man would rather see the country go up in a giant fireball of terrorist attacks and atomic warheads than see a successful Democratic government. Party over country every single time. It might as well be Limbaugh’s motto.
Nobody needed to parrot any Bush failure talking points.
His failures were on such a grand scale Helen Keller herself could have spotted them.
Limbaugh said “I don’t want them [Obama's policies] to succeed.” This implies that Rush thinks Obama’s policies are bad for America. I might have–probably did–say the same thing about Bush’s policies. The difference is, I wanted Bush to help the economy, keep America safe and protect the environment. Any idiot could tell that his policies would have the opposite effect. I don’t think Bush set out to do all the damage he inflicted on the country. His problem was, he put too much faith in faith, too little in reason and history. It’s clear that Limbaugh and his ilk do hate America–not the sea-to-shining-sea, purple-mountains-majesty part, but the values that define America. They hate separation of church and state, rule of law and co-equal branches of government. If Limbaugh is right about the effects Obama’s policies will have on America, I don’t want them to succeed, either. But, of course, Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot.
Rush is more concerned about his ideology than he is about the welfare of the country. He would rather go back to what has been demonstrated as an absolute failure than to give something new a try. He is not concerned about finding the best possible solution because he already knows what that is. His solution, even if his solution is an utter failure.
It would be great to watch Ms. Malkin bang her head against the wall - something productive for a change.
The right wing nutjobs have been riding the crest of the Reagan counter-revolution for almost 30 years while pandering to the lowest common denominator of racist hate speech to rake in the bucks. Someone should begin publishing these folks’ annual income and percentile ranking. They are constantly harping on issues of division and derision.
The faux patriotism of Limbaugh is a match for the boil on his behind that made him 4-F. He and “Dick Cheney before he dicks you” and all the other chicken hawks who reap vast rewards at the misery of others are the epitome of hypocrisy.
With as disappointed as I was with the 2000 election results and the belief that the USSC “selected” Bush for the Presidency, as opposed to the man the people voted in via the popular vote, I was prepared to give Bush a fair chance to prove me wrong. Sadly, he did not do so. It didn’t take long either. It happened in the aftermath of 9-11, and the sequence of events that followed. The years in between only cemented my distrust and dislike of the Bushies. I kept holding out hope that I would be proven wrong, but, in fact, each subsequent speech and action taken by the administration deepened my sense of foreboding and failure. I am with those who believe that Limbaugh and Malkin hate America and what it stands for. Their knee jerk reactions to things that happen are in contravention of critical analysis and thinking and doing what’s best for not only our country, but our people, and the good of humankind.
Steve, congrats on your adoption of a new son. May he grow up healthy, strong, and happy.
“There are some of us who want to bang our heads against the wall.”
Really, really, hard we hope.
The Indiana link went to a dead page but recently a Mr. Craig Lackwit, er, Ladwig, of the “Indiana Policy Review” wrote a sulking, ill-tempered, column where he stated that he wasn’t going to be celebrating the Inaugeration and wished “poverty and strife” upon our Nation, “God Willing.”
http://suncommercial.com/main.asp?SectionID=35&SubSectionID=143&ArticleID=4026&TM=71129.25
Quoting Limbaugh:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/20/limbaugh-obama-fail/
So I’m thinking of replying to the guy, “Okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.” (interruption) What are you laughing at? See, here’s the point. Everybody thinks it’s outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, “Oh, you can’t do that.” Why not? Why is it any different, what’s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don’t care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.” Somebody’s gotta say it.
Matthew,
As a self described liberal and fierce critic of the Bush admin, I can tell you that I never once thought or said that GW was a “doofus”, much less did I ever wish him to fail. I don’t know a single liberal friend of mine who would ever betray the well being of our nation like that. That said, what W. is, is an incredibly average, Yale-legacy-or-no-way-he-gets-in C student, a subpar businessman, and a dry drunk who has yet to seek professional help that every alcoholic needs. Doofus? No. Incredibly average? Absolutely.
As to “not supporting Obama until he supports my values and beliefs”, I’m fairly sure we can count on your continued non support, I get the feeling by values and beliefs you mean a conservative christian ideology that probably includes dominionism, an anti-gay stance, and a foreign policy that puts the bayonet out and the finger on the trigger. We can safely say that Obama will not fall in line with far right wing ideology. While you and I probably agree on nothing, I can allow for those like you to not support certain policies that go against your beliefs. However, Rush’s comments “I know what his plans are, I don’t want them to succeed” is just effed up. It doesn’t take a great leap of logic to conclude that if Rush doesn’t want them (him) to succeed, then he wants him to FAIL, since the opposite of SUCCEED is FAIL. That is just sad, and it’s willful ambivalance directed at the well being of our country.
@ Matthew Schwartz:
Exactly how much “experience” did Bush have when he was (s)elected? He was gov of Texas. Which means his only executive experience was making appointments and kililng people (with Gonzo providing the “details”). That’s it. Bush had no “voting record” because he never was in a position to vote. Despite Obama’s “inexperience,” he’s smart, curious and all those other un-Bush words. So to compare Bush’s inexperience to Obama’s is like comparing a stuffed teddy bear to a grizzly bear.
Wow.I’m guessing you never once said anything to disapprove of George Bush. I’m not saying he was great, but you bleeding hearts are are quite possibly the biggest group of hypocrites on this planet. As soon as someone says something about the person you support, you can’t take it and continue to whine. Democrats whine more than a 4 year old toddler. Grow some thick skin, hope your guy does good…because if he does fail, you can bet your rera end we won’t see a minority President for a very long time.