Lefty Effort To Disparage Conservative Talkers Falls Flat
BLAME IT ON CAIRO
'Progressive' Anti-Talker Smears Lost In News Cycle
Poor "progressives": they threw a Smear Conservatives party and no one showed up! Yes, "racism" charges levelled at key conservative talk hosts did generate quite a bit of coverage last week, but world events inconveniently got in the way.
Even as global dominoes continued to fall, our lefty friends didn't give up, however. Media Matters, libtalkers and smear sites all teamed up to accuse Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and others of racism, possible misuse of charity funds and whatever else came to mind.
From the Thursday and Friday editions (respectively) of the Ed Schultz Show, these segments in particular caught our attention:
ERIC BOEHLERT - MEDIA MATTERS (05:24): Yeah, this is the Jewish Fund ["Funds," actually] for Justice organization that has been critical of Murdoch, er, Fox News and Beck in the past, but today they made a pretty big splash, full-page newspaper with 400 signatures, 400 signers, basically deploring, imploring Rupert Murdoch to get Roger Ailes to apologize for referring to anyone who has criticized Fox News and their Nazi obsession as being left-wing rabbis.
[...]
BOEHLERT (12:49, after saying 400 rabbis who signed newspaper ad represent "mainstream selection" of political views): But the fact is, as Media Matters has pointed out, you know, Glenn Beck has Jewish problems. He has a problem not only with these rabbis, but if you look at the people he attacks over and over again, these sort of villainous, all-powerful liberals who are trying to take down America, for some reason an awful lot of them are Jewish. And more and more people are sort of wishing up to that.
[...]
BOEHLERT (14:21): Well, it turns out, there was an article in the Wilmington newspaper last week, the town hasn't seen any money yet. None of the charities have seen any money. Beck raised $300,000 selling tickets in Wilmington, Ohio but no one has seen any money and when the newspaper called Beck producers, they couldn't get an answer.
SCHULTZ (15:25): Wow. Wow. That is unbelievable.
ED SCHULTZ (06:02, after also referring to nasty fax received by CA State Senator Leland Yee, D-San Francisco): Now this is proof positive that what we say on the air and how we say it affects the actions of other people. You can't dodge around this, this is a barrier that you're not going to be able to get around, righties.
[...]
SCHULTZ (06:14): I wonder if that fat slob right-wing talker at night is going to sue anybody over this [referring to Mark Levin]. I wonder if he's going to sue the state senator from California. Big shot, big attorney, fat slob in the evening that thinks he knows everything about cable! 'Course he doesn't have a show. I'm not even going to say his name because he doesn't even deserve it.
[...]
SCHULTZ (06:49): Fact of the matter is is that Limbaugh has stirred this up even further without recognizing his shortcomings of being an insensitive pig, what does he do? He goes on the offensive. What does his audience do? Well, one nut out there responded to it! So you can't get around it any more that, well, what they say on the air really doesn't inspire anybody whatsoever! It does, it has, this is proof positive. And I don't want to hear anybody say, we don't know whether this guy even listened to Limbaugh. Do you think he has now? Of course he has.
Yes, Beck has criticized some people who HAPPEN TO BE JEWISH! Now THAT'S bigotry at its most obvious.
The other talkers are clearly slobs and racists, especially when a random nut leaves a nasty voice mail or sends a fax and mentions a host's name.
New Anti-Rush Smear Campaign Spreads Like Wildfire
TURBO-SMEAR
SF Left In Lightning-Fast Anti Limbaugh Campaign
Underscoring their Art Of The Smear mastery, Californian "progressives" have launched a lightning-fast anti-Rush Limbaugh campaign designed to stir up lefty rage.
Call it the Turbo-Smear.
Amazingly, Wednesday evening's sneak attack wasn't based on anything Limbaugh actually said, but a mysterious "fax" (remember those?) apparently sent to a liberal state senator's office. Using overtly racist language, the note threatens Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) with harm and mentions Rush by name.
Almost immediately, news media outlets in all parts of California and elsewhere across the nation seized upon the opportunity to smear Limbaugh without any verification of the note's authenticity. Many have reported the "Rush fan" allegation as fact without the slightest indication of who may have really sent it.
A curious mishmash of racist images and language, the letter seems strangely designed to place Limbaugh front and center in the resulting controversy. But why would someone with such extreme views use Rush's name in this way? As their own adherents provide a far more effective source of potential terror, real white supremacists don't need to hide behind talk show hosts.
It also conveniently misspells Yee's name throughout and uses an apparently anti-Asian derogatory term, "fish heads", that is probably unfamiliar to 99% of Americans.
Clearly, Yee has much to gain by capitalizing on anti-conservative sentiments in San Francisco's insular, parochial political environment. It's the news media's ready-and-willing role in this turbo-smear campaign that is especially disturbing.
At best, they offer shallow (skin deep?) political analysis.
Once again, low ratings should not provide cover for extreme rhetoric and this should be no exception. Can you imagine the heat a conservative would receive for comparing Obama's skin tone to that of his opponents?
CHRIS LAVOIE (PRODUCER) (1:11): I have that part where he (Obama) made the "boner" [John Boehner] cry.
STEPHANIE MILLER: I said it as a joke Hal [Sparks] I’m like I hope he says something about him working at a Tavern and becoming Speaker of the House so he cries.
LAVOIE: I think he [Obama] made a bet with Joe Biden
MILLER: I’m telling you what you got you saw that big piano key grin. Joe Biden I’m like I’m doing it dude.
SPARKS: I’m going to go for it
MILLER: Dude I’m totally doing it. I’ll just throw in the thing about a kid from Scranton to make it seem like not so obvious.
SPARKS: That was so good.
MILLER: And then the other big thing I noticed, I’m sorry cause you know you can’t help the visual. Okay boner [Boehner] is a darker color than the President.
SPARKS: Yeah!
MILLER: I’m just saying did anyone else notice. I’m like, that color is what?
LAVOIE: I tweeted last night that if he [Boehner] wore and avocado green tie, he would totally be a 1970’s kitchen.
MILLER: Ha ha ha ha ha. He [Boehner] looks linoleum. LAVOIE: he does.
MILLER: Wow!
Even without the obvious racial element here, it's another example of childish "progressive" antics substituting for real political insight.
Libtalkers Claim Fox, Murdoch Responsible For Olbermann's Termination
RUPERT RUNS MSNBC!
Libtalk Spreads Absolutely Kooky Conspiracy Theory
Thanks to a hilarious conspiracy theory making the rounds on liberal talk radio programs this week, we now know that Rupert Murdoch has secret control over MSNBC via the Comcast takeover. Murdoch has used his new "power" to terminate Keith Olbermann, part of a sinister plan to destroy NBC's liberal talk network for good.
Especially funny here: libtalker Stephanie Miller challenged by one of her own producers for spreading this silliness. From Tuesday's show:
STEPHANIE MILLER (30:05): Charles in Los Angeles, you’re on the Stephanie Miller Show, hey Charles.
CHARLES: Hey, well here’s the deal with Keith Olbermann. Go back to Rupert Murdoch, he wanted editorial control over MSNBC and so he was going to buy it himself, but then he knew there would be a lot of backlash him being Australian, already owning (Miller interrupts)
MILLER: Oh, Comcast right?
CHARLES: That’s it, though he had one of his former executives broker the deal with Comcast.
MILLER: You know what Charles, I heard this yesterday. No, I heard this yesterday Jim (Ward) this is part of the, like you said it’s not a conspiracy if it’s right out there that I think I heard this on Randi Rhodes, actually she was talking about how you know Comcast obviously there in business with Fox so he’s right, it’s not that obviously Rupert Murdoch now directly owns MSNBC, but he supplies a lot of the Fox supplies a lot of the programming, right, Chris (Lavoie) through Comcast?
MILLER: And makes a lot of money and so it is there is a thought are they trying to pull the tent pole out of msnbc because obviously they don’t want something that competes with Fox.
CHRIS LAVOIE (PRODUCER): What do you mean, supplies a lot of the programming on different channels like FX?
MILLER: On Comcast systems, there’s obviously a lot of Fox programming, right?
LAVOIE: Well yeah, but there’s also a lot of you know NBC Universal programming. I mean that’s Bravo and stations like that.
MILLER: I don’t know, I’m just saying I’m watching you, Rupert Murdoch.
LAVOIE: They (Fox) provide no more content than NBC Universal does.
MILLER: Hmm?
As "jumping the shark" has become overused, can anyone help us come up with a better way to describe this kind of complete credibility meltdown?
Some Liberals Not Jumping Aboard Obama's Happy Train
REJECTING SPUT-SCHTICK
Arianna Huffington Critical Of Obama's 'Success'
Obama's Happy Train has left the station, but not every lefty is enjoying the Sput-schtick.
Leading up to tonight's antique spacecraft-themed State Of The Union address, lefty Internet empress Arianna Huffington was unusually critical of the Bamster's record of "success" as portrayed by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. Huffington used the most recent edition of Both Sides Now, co-hosted by Mary Matalin, to slam Obama's misplaced priorities regarding jobs and the economy.
Considering Huffington's reported recent participation in a secret White House meeting (which is said to have also featured Maddow), she's either playing hard-to-get or is genuinely upset. Even as Obama is supposedly moving away from hard-left positions, Arianna herself sounds oddly centrist here.
From the show, listen as Huffington and Matalin critique Maddow's emotional and especially partisan cheerleading:
After comparing sound clips from then and now, the Rosie Radio team wondered why most foreign tongues can be mocked without repercussions, but somehow Chinese is off-limits:
To Rosie & Friends, the issue comes down to intent: was either incident malicious? O'Donnell says she certainly meant no harm, Rush no doubt feels the same way.
When prominent figures from both left and right can so easily become entangled in these flaps, has political correctness reached a point of absolute absurdity in our society?
Interestingly, Barbra Streisand also made a crack this week about being invited to the Hu state dinner because "I once worked in a Chinese restaurant" that would further seem to have potential fallout.
Left Coast Libtalker Claims US Prisoners Are Mostly Political
HU KNEW? Libtalker: America Worse On Human Rights Than China
Hu knew we all have it backwards: that America's the world's most notorious human rights abuser, not China?
Yes, harvesting organs from dissenters for fun and profit is nothing compared to incarcerating poor, defenseless gangbangers and drug dealers. Did you know they are actually political prisoners?
For your daily dose of Portland-style kookdom, we present deranged libtalker Thom Hartmann in a particularly dubious moment.
Listen as guest Victoria Jones of the Talk Radio News Service is not quite sure how to respond:
THOM HARTMANN (47:39): How do we, as the nation with more people in prison than any other nation in the world, including China, which has three times the population, lecture them on human rights?
I realize they've got a bunch of political prisoners in jail, but I would argue that, and I think some would argue that, many of the people in prison in the United States are arguably political prisoners, people who are there for minor drug violations that are the consequence of living in poverty where the only way you can make a living is by being an entrepreneur in the drug world.
Hu can rest easy knowing America's the REAL evil empire! Thanks for straightening that out, Thom.
Liberal Hate-Talker Dreams Of Choking Rush To Death
Just as a new report details how state-run media networks have used the Arizona shootings to attack conservative voices (by an eight-to-one ratio), one liberal hate-talker has decided to double-down on his notoriously-extreme rhetoric.
Syndicated/ XM-Sirius Satellite-based Mike Malloy, no stranger to Radio Equalizer readers, spent part of last night's show defending his violence fantasies and even revealed a new one: a desire to choke Rush Limbaugh to death.
In the past, Malloy's "fantasies" have targeted Dana Perino, Matt Drudge, Dick Cheney and many others. As conservative hosts have come under fire by left-wing media outlets over the past week, Bill O'Reilly and others have called attention to Malloy's greatest hits, leading to Mike's on-air "explanation".
And in a new twist, even Keith Olbermann is willing to throw Malloy overboard for the sake of the "progressive" movement, leading to Malloy's vocal protestations:
MIKE MALLOY (31:15): The rhetoric that comes from me is the rhetoric of rage...and, um, have their been violent images? Of course. Rush Limbaugh choking on his throat fat - that you know, to me, is not a threat - I can't - I wish I could, but I can't reach into his throat and jiggle up his throat fat so he suffocates - I can't do it.
Um, as far as Dick Cheney, Dick Cheney is a mass killer - I mean, by definition - it - it doesn't make a difference what he thinks he is or think he isn't - his policies going back to the '60s are those of a mass killer.
Regardless of the size of Malloy's audience, his extreme language deserves to be part of any 'civility' debate (or "conversation" as annoying liberals like to call it).
MSNBC Libtalker, Levin Exchange Fire Over Suit Threat
Of all the "progressive" dishonesty over the past week, the idea that conservative figures such as Sarah Palin have self-servingly inserted themselves into the debate is the sleaziest. Lefties blamed Palin for the Tucson shootings almost immediately, instantly placing her a defensive position.
Talk show hosts were also wrongly singled out, including Mark Levin, who has decided to fight back against MSNBC and its smear machine. After a solid week of anti-talker/Palin attacks, lefties then rewrote history to claim they had willingly jumped into the fray for publicity.
Levin's primary MSNBC target is loose cannon Chris Matthews, but fellow host Ed Schultz could be named in a suit as well, which clearly has the bloated blowhard sweating it out. During Friday's syndicated radio show, Big Eddie attacked Levin, accusing him of jealousy and other assorted crimes against broadcasting.
Schultz's rant is included below, followed by Levin's (exclusive to the Radio Equalizer) response:
ED SCHULTZ (04:19): But there's a radio talker at night who's threatening a lawsuit over comments by a host on MSNBC. [laughs] It's reduced to just an elementary school challenge and it's got a dollar amount to it. Which I find hilarious. The guy clearly is envious of anybody who's got a television show and he thinks he's a TV critic. At least that's what our emailers tell me. I don't listen to the guy but his rabid listeners and followers, I guess, they email me some hateful accusations, [mocking voice] 'you really said this?!' You know, how dare you?!
And it's, look, it's sheer entertainment. You know, every right-wing th-, [thug?] talker in America gets on Fox, it seems like, except this guy. But anyway, he's got a wimpy voice, he really has no range or skill, he's come in on somebody else's coattails, no innovation. He's just, all of his material is supplied by right-wing bullet points, the way most of 'em operate over there. So he's gonna sue. He's threatening to sue Chris Matthews! [guffaws]
He's threatening, you know, I tell you what, this freedom of speech thing, for this righty talker it's just gone over the line. But it's another classic example of somebody trying to make it about them. Just like Sarah Palin does. Oh, he's got the legal system behind him. Fact of the matter is, this guy couldn't carry Chris Matthews' briefcase and it's absolutely funny, he's gonna sue. [laughs]
In response, Levin said this in an email to the Radio Equalizer: "I notice this tough guy is actually a coward. We will be monitoring him. He's dumber than dumb, so he might actually step in it. As an aside, he has no ratings, so if two of my people monitor his show, that will double his ratings."
Perhaps the most absurd assertion here is the idea that Chris Matthews enjoys some kind of stature or viewer following. The sad truth: he's almost always the lowest-rated cable talker between MSNBC, Fox and CNN. Fox often has a 400% larger audience during that hour. It's absolutely amazing Matthews wasn't canned years ago for failing to capture an audience.
As for Levin, it's so rare anyone on the right fights back with an offensive strategy that "progressives" may well be unsure how to respond.
No Sign Of 'Civility' From 'Progressive' Talk Radio Post-Shootings
IS THIS 'CIVILITY'?
Media Scolds Ignore Liberal Talk Radio Hate-fest
After a week of holier-than-thou preaching from state-run media scolds and Obamists aimed at conservative talk radio, one would imagine their "progressive" counterparts would happily demonstrate civility for all to see, right?
Guess again: libtalk is meaner than ever and we're willing to bet our establishment media friends will look the other way.
We don't need examples from years ago, here are two from Thursday and Friday: Mike Malloy telling Rush Limbaugh to "choke on his neck fat" and Randi Rhodes calling Glenn Beck's show "Sesame Street for potential assassins".
Rhodes and Malloy are both nationally-syndicated libtalkers heard on satellite radio services.
Here's your front-row seat to the hate-fest:
MIKE MALLOY (Thursday 13 Jan 2011 - Hour One - 02:55): Every time one of these right-wing weasels uh uses me - and my twenty-five cent radio program - it's just amazing! You guys really have to reach! - see, I provide cover for everybody else on the liberal left. Um, but every time it happens, it's usually the same clowns, most of whom - most of whom had their email addys blocked - but it's so much fun to read the vile hatred of these Christian white males. Every single one is a Christian white male.
[...]
MALLOY (07:44): Rush Limbaugh, straight shooter. Way to go, pig man! Way to go! Choke on your neck fat, you rancid, filthy right-wing freak! Straight shooter, mmm-hmmm!
RANDI RHODES (33:04): She's become Ann Coulter without the androgyny! OH - Sarah Palin is the female Ann Coulter! Yes! Yes! Yes! Can't she just go kill a caribou or something? I mean, you know, take Ted Nugent and kill things! Animals!
[...]
RHODES (34:47): So Glenn Beck has now become Sesame Street for potential assassins!
Are there examples from the last seven days of conservative talkers calling for their enemies to choke to death? If so, please let us know.
Libtalker: Glenn Beck Wants To Poison Pelosi, Others
Here's today's Anatomy of a Smear example: a joke told during a Glenn Beck Show skit in 2009 has morphed into a supposed call for violence and poisonings by the Fox News Channel host.
In the original clip, seen below, Beck drinks wine with "Nancy Pelosi" and kids about spiking the vino:
Fast forward to 2011, with the left's attempt to pin the Arizona shootings on every one of their enemies and Beck is now supposedly advocating poisoning of opponents. From Thursday's Randi Rhodes Show:
RANDI RHODES (10:13): Glenn Beck sounds as deranged and creepy when he sits there and compares Al Gore to Hitler, or asks for the murder of Michael Moore. All this eliminationist rhetoric, including equating universal health care to rape. Or saying that a Holocaust survivor like George Soros is a Nazi collaborator. Or poisoning - you know - saying uh we should poison Nancy Pelosi, or saying that immigration reform is uh equal to burning U.S. citizens alive. Or publicly endorsing violent revolution.
And then winking and telling your audience don't be violent while you're appearing in a photo next to I pray for peace with a gun in your hand! I mean - this - this is just a speck on the tip of a very large iceberg! And frankly nobody is being held accountable to this! Uh - you know, we can all look at the stuff that was written by or said by this Loughner dude - and conclude that this guy needed help, OK? We don't know what kind of help. We don't know what his you maladies were. We don't know what he was reacting to. But you can listen to the rhetoric that's being delivered by the Beck and conclude the same thing - that this guy is a manifestly insane man who's been given a platform - several platforms - books, radio, television - and that he is just as deranged in his view of government as this Loughner dude was!
So misinformed on the Constitution as - well - as Loughner was! That's - that's a game, I'm sorry, but there's one person who scares the bejeezus out of me. Now, the others, Rush - who is too smart to not know he is lying - when he says Sheriff Dupnik knew about the note, die bitch, before the incident? He knows he's lying because been in every newspaper - that that's what was found when the - when the sheriffs were - exercising with a search warrant after the incident. They went into the house, they found a safe, opened the safe and that's when they found the note from Gabrielle Giffords upon which was written uh 'I planned ahead...die bitch...etc.' after the fact.
RHODES (23:31): He's running Nazi movies, he's doing puppet theater, he's setting fire or threatening to poison or asking people to poison Nancy Pelosi -
CALLER: No, he doesn't want anybody to poison anybody..
RHODES: He is publicly endorsing violent revolution, then win kingly tells you not to get violent. [caller tries to interject] He - he accuses George Soros of being a Nazi collaborator every chance he gets. He started shining the light on a not-for-profit organization called the Tides Foundation, and a guy went out there you know and shot up a bunch of cops. I'm sorry, the - the - the consequences of what he does are evident, they are now in evidence - you can see what people do -
CALLER: That is your opinion -
RHODES: It’s not an opinion, that is evidence!
Granted, Beck's original skit was a bit bizarre, but typical of his peculiar style. Perhaps not a great joke, but isn't it an obvious parody? And isn't this the excuse Randi's always used when her own material attracted unwanted attention?
We're not going to pretend Beck isn't eccentric, we've been tough on him in the past. But he clearly didn't call for anyone to be poisoned and Randi most likely knows it.
The "progressive" movement is on a mission to destroy every conservative critic as quickly as possible. Whether it succeeds or backfires depends on how the targets choose to deal with the incoming grenades.
Caller Confronts Sharpton Show Over Palin Smear Campaign
PALIN HATE: FAILIN'
Oops: Sharpton Confronted On Sarah-Bashing
We thought Al Sharpton had learned his lesson about taking calls on political topics, but apparently not. During today's syndicated / satellite-based radio show, one particularly determined listener called out the Reverend on the anti-Sarah Palin smear effort underway.
AL SHARPTON (43:13): Let’s go to the phones Jeff, let’s go to December in Cincinnati, December.
DECEMBER IN CINCINNATI: How are you doing? All right. Man this is the craziest thing I ever heard of in my life. We blaming Sarah Palin for this lunatic that went out here and shot up the town, but we going to blame Sarah Palin. This is my two cents man, I’ve been hearing your show and listening to people call in, it’s that same old stuff to me. We got to find someone to blame. But this is the left playing games and I think it’s going to backfire on them man. I seriously do. Sarah Palin shouldn’t, your guest Jeff, whatever his name was, he was way off man. Sarah Palin ain’t got to apologize and take no responsibility for none of this craziness. This dude (Loughner) was going to do something sooner or later and it had nothing to do with Sarah Palin.
JEFF JOHNSON (Sharpton Guest): Brother brother let me ask you this let me ask you this, I don’t think either of us blamed her for the shooting. Here’s the issue, whether it’s Sarah Palin on the right or whether its other folks on the left and I don’t think the left is off the hook on this either, but we were talking about her comment in particular. You don’t believe that both she and people on the left and the media for that matter are responsible for promoting the kind of environment that encourages this kind of stuff to happen. Not that they were responsible for one crazy person in Arizona taking a gun and shooting a Congresswoman, but for creating an environment that increases hostility instead of reduces it.
DECEMBER IN CINCINNATI:No, and I’ll tell you why, cause this environment is way before Sarah Palin. You know people buy into this Republican and Democrat thing too much now and it’s the radio talk show hosts and media stream that’s bringing this out. It ain’t Sarah Palin. It’s the people that host these shows and all this stuff that throw this out here. More people are into politics now than ever. You’ve got people families breaking up fighting each other over Republican and Democrat. You know you was right about one thing. Everybody do have to take some blame if somebody is going to take some blame, but Sarah Palin, no way! I think the reason why Sarah Palin taking all the blame is because they scared of her. There’s a possibility she could be president. Why, she’s public enemy number one to the left. Now for her to get all this attention, she must be top dog. That’s my two cents.
Sharpton followed up by referring to Palin's "crosshairs" political ad from last year, but hasn't that already been greatly overused as "evidence"?
And why aren't Sharpton & Pals concerned about the already-brewing backlash against the Hate Sarah Brigade? Don't they realize they're fueling it?
Jesse Jackson Blames Opposition To Obama For Violent Shootings
KITCHEN-SINK BLAME-FEST
Jackson's Rambling, Semi-Coherent Attack On Obama Foes
In an oddly rambling, semi-coherent manner, the Reverend Jesse Jackson took to the airwaves yesterday to blame everything including the kitchen sink for Arizona's violent shooting spree. He appeared in-studio as a guest on the syndicated Al Sharpton Show.
Once he finally got down to the bottom line, Jackson made clear that Sarah Palin and other opponents of Obama were to blame for the violence. Because those who are incited by his critics have trouble targeting Obama directly (due to tight security), Jackson reasoned, they're forced to vent their anger elsewhere.
We're probably giving him too much credit here, see if you can make heads or tales of this bizarre rant:
JESSE JACKSON (4:55): I know that part of the attack on her (Rep Giffords) was (A) because she stood with the president on the health care bill for going upstream against the state. She stood with a civilized position on immigration policy.
She was a Jewish woman and the guy who did the shooting had Nazi material on him. I mean there was stuff about this killing that says all of us who speak out publicly must face a certain reality check here and even she (Rep Giffords) said that that target that hair that crosshairs, even she said in her own words she said on TV set by the Palin forces was an unhealthy thing and she has reaped the real mean winds of this thing.
Question: does the Sharpton show's studio provide refreshments for the guests? Is it well-stocked? That would explain a lot here.
Weekend Fight Against Talk Radio Meets Monday's Test
TURNING THE TABLES
Under Attack, Talk Radio Has Little Time To Fight Back
Within 24 hours of the sickening shooting rampage that killed a federal judge and has a congresswoman clinging to life, our "progressive" media friends have demonstrated the vast power they still retain.
Though conservatives have made recent inroads, especially on the Internet, it seems no match for the complete saturation of slanted coverage that has worked all weekend to convince Americans and the world that conservatives, especially Sarah Palin and conservative radio talk hosts are somehow responsible for the actions of a deranged killer.
In the Boston Herald, for example, columnist / WTKK-FM libtalker Margery Eagan (shown right image) impulsively pinned the blame squarely on a particular graphic Palin used to "target" certain Democratic Party representatives during the last election cycle.
But there's no sign Jared Lee Loughner had any affinity for Palin or her views and classmates describe his beliefs as liberal. Honest reporting, mostly found overseas, more accurately paints him as a mentally-unstable druggie, the kind that might stalk any type of celebrity or public figure.
We reached out to Schlessinger for her thoughts on the blame-game and her answer was both succinct and philosophical- a quote from Homer's Odyssey:
Look how now mortals are blaming the gods, for they say evils come from us, but in fact their themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies.
One-time moderate (but increasingly liberal and Obama-supporting) Philly talk host Michael Smerconish tried to inoculate himself from any flak by pointing to a column he'd written warning of this kind of incident two years earlier. The far-left Huffington Post happily published the piece.
Except for those who have newspaper columns or happen to answer Sunday emails from your Radio Equalizer, however, talk show hosts must deal with the fallout nearly 48 hours after the rampage occurred. That's because the medium completely shuts down on weekends and increasingly during holiday periods as well.
Yet the smear campaign needed just a fraction of that time to shamelessly (and quite successfully) tout the idea that its conservative enemies were behind the shootings. There are thousands of examples splattered all over the Internet as we speak, with more added by the minute.
Can talk radio successfully turn the tables during Monday's programming?
Rhetorical attacks on officials have been getting tougher, and words that once would have seemed out of bounds now are almost routine. South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" at Obama when the president spoke to a joint session on health care in 2009. Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has compared the president to Adolf Hitler.
The far-left Guardian newspaper in Britain went further, outright blaming conservatives for the attacks without leaving itself any future wiggle room.
The US was tonight seized by a fierce debate over whether inflammatory rightwing rhetoric was to blame for a shooting spree in Tucson, Arizona, that targeted congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and left six dead, including a nine-year-old child.
Giffords, 40, who remains in critical condition in hospital after being shot through the head but is expected to recover, criticised Sarah Palin last year for putting her and 19 other Democrats on a hitlist, each shown as being in the crosshairs.
Lost in all of this is Giffords herself, who despite her suffering has sadly become little more than a prop by which Democrats can score cheap political points, truth be damned.
Rosie O'Donnell, Rosanne Barr Collide, Become Palin-Bashing Machine
'I'D SLAP HER'
Two Rosies = Double The Hate
Wondering why dead birds are falling from the sky? Here's a theory worth tossing into the pile: a lethal merging of two Rosies into one monstrous hate machine.
Suspiciously occurring around the time of several avian incidents, yesterday's Rosie Radio featured Rosie O'Donnell and Roseanne Barr joined together as anti-Sarah Palin attack dogs.
And not failing to disappoint was Barr, with a new book to peddle and enough vitriol to melt the snow in New York City.
When asked how she felt about Palin, the onetime sitcom star told O'Donnell, "I hate her" and said that she'd like to slap the former Alaskan governor:
ROSIE O'DONNELL (1:37:18): You have any thoughts on the lovely Sarah Palin?
ROSEANNE BARR: Well, I hate her guts, Rosie. She's stealin' my act and she does it wrong, and it pisses me off. You're supposed to be for the working people, not the rich people. I'd slap her.
Libtalker Ed Schultz Too Important To Follow Traffic Laws
I'M PRIVILEG-ED
Do Road Closures Apply To MSNBC Talkers?
While MSNBC libtalker Ed Schultz regularly projects the image of a working class good ol' boy who can relate to Larry Lunchbucket, in a weak moment, his inner elitist quickly emerges.
Traffic laws? Those don't apply to celebrities, do they?
Here's a catch from Monday's syndicated radio program: listen as Schultz reveals he knowingly drove for some distance over closed highways, all to "prove a point".
What point? That Ed Schultz is more important than the rest of us?
ED SCHULTZ (04:30): So then I went and checked out what happens when they shut down a highway and you drive on it. Well, it's a $1000 fine and possible 90 days in jail. I said, well this isn't going to work out real good with the boss, 'cause he sent me a nice email over the holidays and wanted me to come back which made me feel pretty good.
So anyway, a cop car did pass me and the guy jerked his head around and then I pulled off on the side of the road, so it was no big deal. But I thought, if this guy stops me, I got some serious explaining to do here.
[...]
SCHULTZ (13:51): And I could have got a big fine but I didn't care, I was out to prove a point.
Is Big Eddie out to sabotage his own career? He consistently seems to be his own worst enemy. What's next?
Rosie O'Donnell Shocked By Canadian Listener's Long Surgery Wait
ROSIE MEETS REALITY
Canadian Caller's Sobering Tale Of Surgery Delays
Just as a conservative is often said to be a liberal who is mugged, has one of our favorite "progressives" just had a similar epiphany?
During yesterday's satellite radio program, libtalker Rosie O'Donnell wondered out loud just how beneficial universal health care could be when it results in a seven-to-nine year wait for beneficial surgery.
Listen as a Canadian caller who weighs 300 pounds and is under five feet tall reveals a (sadly routine) bureaucratic nightmare in attempting to obtain gastric bypass surgery:
ROSIE O'DONNELL (42:46):How can universal health care be so good if you're waiting seven years?
CALLER: It's not considered an emergency surgery--
O'DONNELL: Oh, OK.
CALLER: It's considered elective, so if it was an emergency surgery, it would be a lot quicker. To see any kind of specialist is at least a few months, you're not going to get into see somebody next week.
O'DONNELL: If you called and sort of were persistent in saying to them, 'I really need this'... it doesn't change the [waiting-] list order.
CALLER: ...They're telling me, by the way, it's gonna be another two or three years...
[...]
There's still about 2,000 people ahead of me.
Hey Rosie, think ObamaCare will be any different? Of course not.