Archive for the ‘Rush Limbaugh’ Category

Because you knew that, at bottom, America is just one big happy — and occasionally dysfunctional — family. From the Associated Press:

President Barack Obama has family ties to none other than Sarah Palin, according to the genealogists at Ancestry.com, a discovery the family history site made when looking for connections between political foes.

President Barack Obama/AP

And that’s not all — Obama also is apparently related to conservative radio host and relentless critic Rush Limbaugh.

A genealogist at the Utah-based Ancestry.com, Anastasia Tyler, said Obama and Palin are 10th cousins through a common ancestor named John Smith, a pastor and early settler in 17th-century Massachusetts. Obama is related to Smith through his mother, as is Palin, Tyler said.

“Smith was against the persecution of the Quakers,” Tyler said in an interview. “He was a very socially conscious man.”

As for Limbaugh, he’s also a 10th cousin of the president — one time removed — through a common ancestor …

Continue reading Barack Obama kin to Sarah Palin — and Rush Limbaugh »

Note to Mark Richt: Bulldog frustration now extends to a certain address on West Paces Ferry Road.

From the Savannah Morning News:

[T]he alumnus in chief – Gov. Sonny Perdue – has joined those who are barking at the Dawgs.

Gov. Sonny Perdue. Ben Gray bgray@ajc.com

Perdue, who played for Georgia in the 1960s, said Monday the team needs more “intensity” and must get “serious about winning.”

“I hope it’s temporary,” he said at a news conference that was about politics until someone noted Georgia is 0-3 so far in the Southeastern Conference.

“I love Coach (Mark) Richt,” said the former high school and college quarterback, who now calls plays for state government.

But Perdue, who recently gave an inspirational talk to the fledgling Georgia State University team, had only tough love for his alma mater.

“There is a level of intensity that we’ve got to demonstrate for the rest of the season,” said Perdue, who had a cameo role in the film, “We are Marshall.”

The governor said the Dawgs …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Sonny Perdue comes down with a case of Bulldog frustration »

More on this later, but the guessing in Georgia’s education community is that Gov. Sonny Perdue will appoint a caretaker to fill out the last six months of School Superintendent Kathy Cox’s term rather than either of two Republicans in the contest the advantage of the incumbency.

As if having an “(i)” next to your name is an actual advantage in this climate.

Here’s the situation: Cox gave notice of her June 30 resignation after the qualifying period that ended in April. So Perdue’s choices for a long-term superintendent are limited to three Democrats and two Republicans.

Perdue intends to pick a successor before Cox leaves, so that Georgia can continue to pursue a competition for federal dollars known as “Race to the Top.” This is important.

Assume that to choose a Democrat would prompt a GOP revolution. That leaves the two Republicans: John Barge, a Bartow County school administrator; and Richard Woods, an Irwin County administrator.

As of Wednesday, neither candidate had …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Why Sonny Perdue is likely to name a caretaker to replace Kathy Cox »

The Top of the Ticket at the L.A. Times has a delightful piece on the latest topic pushed by Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh:

President Barack Obama doesn’t just want your gun. He wants your rod-and-reel, too:

Actually the White House has created a task force to study how to better manage the nation’s use of its oceans, perhaps with an eye to limiting — but not eliminating — areas where sport fishing is allowed. There is, after all, an issue of depleting resources. In fact, the International Game Fish Assn. supports sustainable conservation efforts.

But to hear conservative talk show hosts tell it, Obama has already issued an executive order to ban fishing altogether.

On Fox News’ “Glenn Beck” show, the fire-breathing conservative — who apologized to his viewers the other night for giving disgraced Democrat Eric Massa an hour of airtime — blasted the White House for a stealth move to deny Americans their God-given right to fish, “done in darkness by executive order.”

He added: …

Continue reading ‘They can have my Zebco when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers’ »

Thusday’s column, posted here, is about the search by state lawmakers for that budgetary sweet spot – the balance between the government we need, and the government we’re willing to pay for.

House Speaker David Ralston expounded on that same topic in an interview with Denis O’Hayer with WABE (90.1 FM), posted here. Said Ralston:

“We resolved with the Senate last week that everything is on the table. It is on the table. Certainly some have mentioned the issue of additional fees to compensate at this time.

“I’ve said before, I’ll continue to say again, I don’t think raising taxes is the way out of an economic downturn. But again, what I think is important during this week and next week…is that we ask ourselves, we ask those we represent, ‘How deep do you want the cuts to be? What are you willing to sacrifice?’”

The House speaker said he was encouraging lawmakers to have conversations with voters, and to monitor their e-mail. He continued:

“I think everything has to be on the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: House speaker says ‘everything’ is on the budget table »

ESPN is running with this:

Rush Limbaugh is expected to be dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to three NFL sources.

Dave Checketts, chairman of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and the point man in the Limbaugh group attempting to buy the Rams, realizes he must remove the controversial conservative radio host from his potential role as a minority member in the group in order to get approval from other NFL owners, the sources said.

Three-quarters of the 32 owners in the league would have to approve any sale to the group in which Limbaugh is a minority member.

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

Continue reading Rush Limbaugh to be dropped from NFL bid »

This posted by the Washington Post, from the Boston meeting of owners:

Commissioner Roger Goodell said here Tuesday that it would be inappropriate for the owner of an NFL franchise to make the sort of controversial statements attributed in the past to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

“I’ve said many times before we’re all held to a high standard here, and I think divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about,” Goodell said at an NFL owners’ meeting.

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

Continue reading NFL commissioner hints that Rush Limbaugh may not be suitable for franchise ownership »

Politico.com just posted the following:

The Rev. Al Sharpton pleaded with the National Football League on Monday to deny conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh the opportunity to buy the St. Louis Rams franchise.

In a letter sent to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Sharpton wrote that he was “disturbed” to hear about Limbaugh’s interest in the Rams and asked for a meeting with Goodell “to discuss the myriad of reasons as to why [Limbaugh] should not be given an opportunity to do so.”

Sharpton argued that Limbaugh has been “anti-NFL” in his comments about several of the league’s players, specifically naming Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick.

In addition, Sharpton wrote that Limbaugh’s “recent statement that the NFL was beginning to look like a fight between the Crips and the Bloods without the weapons, was disturbing.”

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

Continue reading Al Sharpton: Say no to Rush Limbaugh’s NFL bid »

Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich just twittered the following to his closest 344,357 friends about five minutes ago, never mentioning U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor by name:

White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw.

Sonia Sotomayor, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals/Bloomberg

That message was preceded by this one:

Imagine a judicial nominee said “my experience as a white man makes me better than a latina woman” new racism is no better than old racism

We called a spokesman for Gingrich, who said the former Georgia congressman is currently in Europe.

The aide said the “tweets” are genuine, which makes Gingrich the most prominent Republican yet to take a hard line against Obama’s nominee for the high court. And that could presage more resolute GOP opposition in Congress.

Conservative talk show giant Rush Limbaugh said something similar on Tuesday, after the Sotomayor nomination:

“Here you have a racist. …

Continue reading Newt Gingrich on Twitter: ‘Latina woman racist should…withdraw’ »

Keeping track of language is essential to political observation. So many times, people actually mean what they say.

Over the last few days, the extreme use of words among Republicans had made it abundantly clear that the party, without a large dose of Xanax, is headed toward a frightful 2010 that will pit its right primary flank against its centrist, general-election appeal.

The most obvious national example: Dick Cheney on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” who said he preferred Rush Limbaugh as the symbol of the Republican party over Colin Powell.

But local cases indicate the virus has reached near-pandemic proportions.

As Cheney questioned Powell’s Republican credentials, John Oxendine was sending out a blistering, intemperate response to an AJC story questioning the source of $120,000 in donations to his campaign for governor.

Much of the long, long message was directed at this newspaper. Not a problem.

But the paragraphs below singled out Secretary of State Karen Handel, only …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: The Republican words that matter »