Archive for the ‘Rush Limbaugh’ Category

Gov. Sonny Perdue has often said that he’s the point at which Republican theory meets up with reality.

As my AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin notes today, fewer than three days remain for the rubber-meets-road governor to sign a quartet of major bills.

The most controversial, from a philosophic point of view, is H.B 481, which creates new tax breaks for business and cuts capital gains taxes — 25 percent in 2010 and 50 percent in years beyond.

The tax cuts would cost $340 million a year in lost revenue, but Republican supporters — who include state Rep. Tom Graves of Ranger and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of Woodstock — argue that the tax breaks would act as an economic stimulus.

It says so in the measure’s title: Jobs, Opportunity, and Business Success Act of 2009.

But Denis O’Hayer at WABE (90.1 FM) caught the governor expressing serious economic skepticism during a press conference last week.

In essence, Perdue said the economic theories espoused by Ronald …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Sonny Perdue says Georgia can’t afford supply-side economics »

Found while combing through this morning’s ajc.com:

Georgia health plan reserves could be gone by 2010.

State employees can expect more furloughs, maybe layoffs.

Challenges to property values in metro Atlanta soar.

10,000 foreclosed properties up for sale in April.

Johns Creek bridges can’t handle firetrucks.

Some opinion:

Sam Massell: No reason now to deny MARTA its sales tax revenue.

Jim Wooten: Shifting to a broader car sales tax is the right thing to do.

Elsewhere in Georgia:

MT: Lucid Idiocy on rejected state DOT projects.

And the nation:

WSJ: Minnesota senate standoff plays Into GOP’s hands.

WP: Richard Cohen on why we shouldn’t blame Jim Cramer.

WP: Obama team derides Cheney’s criticisms. “I guess Rush Limbaugh was busy,” says Robert Gibbs.

LAT: Obama approval rating drops below 60 percent for first time.

LAT: Conservative talk radio on the wane in California.

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

Continue reading Your morning jolt »

This morning on ajc.com:

Bill targets council that oversees legislator’s private probation firm.

After 24 hours of exposure, the grocery tax hike dead.

Legislature passes mid-year budget with homeowners’ tax grants.

FBI says two DeKalb court officials took bribes, fixed cases.

Obama backs teacher merit pay, charter schools.

Georgia unemployment claims down last month, but double that of February ’08.

Lawyers for Saxby Chambliss fight subpoena in refinery case.

State starts new food-safety guidelines.

Elsewhere in Georgia:

ABC: Atlanta’s bond rating downgraded by Standard and Poors.

And the nation:

WSJ: As economy slips, new mothers cut short their maternity leave.

NYT: Some banks, citing federal strings, want to return stimulus aid.

DMN: Texas Senate sharply debates voter ID bill.

ABC News: White House discloses two more lobbyist waivers granted.

And from the tube, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert last night tackled the problems of Michael Steele, new chairman of …

Continue reading Your morning jolt »

U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta waded gingerly back into the Rush-Limbaugh-is-not-my-leader debate this morning.

“We have leaders,” the Republican congressman said on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” naming Georgia colleague Tom Price of Roswell and others. “These talk show hosts are not Republican leaders … but they are strong voices of conservatism.”

My AJC colleague Bob Keefe monitored the interview, and passed along the material above.

Gingrey, you may remember, got into hot water with the radio-host-
who’s-not-the-Republican-leader back in January, after he said it was easy for voices such as Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich to “stand back and throw bricks” without worrying about having to do what’s best for the party or the country.

After an avalanche of calls from Limbaugh’s “dittoheads,” Gingrey went on his show to publicly and profusely apologize to him, saying he regretted anything he said that offended his fellow conservatives.

It was a …

Continue reading Phil Gingrey on the topic of Rush Limbaugh, again »

This morning on ajc.com:

• Sunday alcohol sales bill dies in Senate.
• ‘Earmarks’ or ‘pork,’ Georgia getting federal bucks.
• Hospitals, Perdue face off over health funding.
• Senator introduces ethics bill on tax evasion.
• Lawmakers to debate ‘Octuplet mom’ bill.
• GSU sees jump in freshman applications.

And elsewhere:

• Politico: Congressional GOPers trapped between Rush and a hard place.
• FoxNews: Rove warns of ’show trial.’
• WP: On Obama going gray. A talk with his barber.
• NYT: Unlucky or unwise, some homeowners left out of rescue plan.
• WSJ: White House rethinks tax hikes.
• WSJ: GM auditors raise doubts about auto maker’s survival.
• ABCNews: Scandal at Treasury: Official quites amid fraud investigation.

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

Continue reading Your morning jolt »

Banks are on the brink, the stock market is in a torpor, and one of today’s hottest topics at the daily White House briefing was Rush Limbaugh, whom Democrats are trying to hang around the neck of the Republican party.

Robert Gibbs, press secretary for President Barack Obama, was asked if the White House had been complicit in the maneuver — and was not that hypocritical when considering Obama’s emphasis on getting past partisan sniping?

Here’s Gibb’s answer on C-Span:

Said Gibbs:
“It may be counterproductive, I’ll give you that. Look, are there days in which I just turn my television off? Yes. I wish I had a radio. Maybe I should just hook my iPod up. Look, there are days in which — yeah — you’re head throbs from listening to arguments that aren’t necessarily centered on delving into some important issue ….

“Look, it’s out there, we deal with it. I certainly criticize it. I even occasionally watch it. Whether that makes me hypocritical or not, I certainly …

Continue reading White House: Rush Limbaugh fight ‘counterproductive’ »

Politico.com today explores the orchestration behind Democratic efforts to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the Republican party:

The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with praise.

Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s.

To illustrate the dilemma that Limbaugh poses for the GOP, the Washington Post has helpfully posted the criticisms and retreats that Republican leaders have made on the talk radio giant.

They include those made by our own Phil Gingrey.

For …

Continue reading Operation Rush job: How Democrats painted Limbaugh as face of the GOP »

This morning on ajc.com:

• House Republicans say vouchers unlikely to pass.
• A hike in university tuition could be in the offing.
• Legislators may forego a June ending to session.
• 200 Clayton teachers get the ax.
• Morris Brown building goes on the auction block.
• New GOP chief apologizes for remarks about Rush Limbaugh.

Elsewhere in the state:

• Macon Telegraph: In Georgia, one in 13 adults is on probation or parole.

And beyond

• NYT: In secret letter, Obama offered to back off missile defense in exchange for Russia’s help with Iran.
• NYT: David Brooks’ moderate manifesto.
• LAT: A wind-power boot camp to train workers.
• WSJ: Futures point to higher open.
• WP: Casting Rush Limbaugh as the GOP’s leader.

Continue reading Your morning jolt »

Conservative David Frum this morning on the downside of a decision to choose Rush Limbaugh as the Republican party’s answer to President Barack Obama:

On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims. …

And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as “losers.”

With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence – exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we’re cooperating! Those images of crowds of CPACers cheering Rush’s every rancorous word – we’ll be seeing them rebroadcast for a long time.

Continue reading David Frum on Rush Limbaugh’s rise as voice of the GOP »