Rush Limbaugh, Colin Powell and the GOP
He also took aim at Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, arguing that neither serves the party well. “I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without,” he said.
He criticized Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for being “a very polarizing figure,” something he attributes to her advisers. She is, otherwise, “a very accomplished person,” he said.
Powell insisted that he’s not trying to turn Republicans into Democrats, but to move the party to the middle and to make it stronger. The GOP’s getting “smaller and smaller” and “that’s not good for the nation,” he said.
Two observations here:
One is that Republicans do have a major problem in finding a way to sell the conservative message of personal responsibility, limited and less intrusive government, lower and more affordable taxes, and strong national security to a nation with large segments of the population demanding, as Powell said, more from government. The party’s need, however, is to stick to core principles and to do a better job of articulating why those are ultimately better for the country and for the individual and for families. Getting to socialism half as fast is not an attractive alternative.
The second observation is made largely in good humor. It is to chart how quickly Colin Powell rises in the esteem of liberal commentators who are determined to help the Republican Party become the one they want if they can’t have the brand of liberalism represented by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Sit back and watch. Let the count-down begin. Who will be the first commentator on the left to hoist Powell as the GOP’s savior? The first of many.
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263 comments Add your comment
sd
May 6th, 2009
8:43 am
Colin Powell has always been a sensible man. Had he never been involved with the disaster that was the Bush Iraq Strategy, he could’ve been President.
Peter
May 6th, 2009
9:02 am
Rush HA HA HA….. a drug user who got off !
clyde
May 6th, 2009
9:03 am
Ah,yes.Rush Limbaugh.The reason to not vote Republican.The former????drug user that berated the very type of person that he was.The King of Hypoctites.Listen to what he has to say and heed it.Be a dittohead.
Tyler Durden
May 6th, 2009
9:05 am
As a Democrat, I simply LOVE Limbaugh and Coulter! They’ll guarantee that the GOP stays a minority party long enough for the adults to undo the damage of the last 8-9 years, and maybe even get America back to it’s rightful perch as a legitimate WORLD leader. And am I confident that the Palin movement will only further this cause? Oh yeah! You Betcha!
Dear GOP: Please keep on chasing off moderates and betting everything on extreme right candidates. America’s future depends on it.
Mac
May 6th, 2009
9:09 am
I want fewer taxes and fewer services. With all due respect to Gen. Powell, I don’t know that Americans want more government in their lives. As far as Limbaugh goes, anyone who twists armed hijackers — aka pirates — into impoverished teenagers, executed on the orders of President Obama, is irresponsible and sick. And, he has other self-proclaimed conservatives parroting the lie. How can you be a fan of that?
Tyler Durden
May 6th, 2009
9:12 am
And Wooten: we’ll miss your delusional, myopic support of GOP ideals while ignoring anything contrary to your views, which were NEVER burdened by something as simple as overwhelming emperical evidence to the contrary. Historically, many leaders have appreciated that quality. Hitler and Stalin both loved having lackeys who drank the Kool-Aid in huge gulps, and your upper lip will forever be stained pink. Please be sure to send in occasional rants from wherever they send used-up idealogues!
DWinDec
May 6th, 2009
9:13 am
The Republican ideal is a good one–the problem is that just like Christianity, it is very difficult to find anyone that practices it. You can’t demand personal responsibility at the same time you are fighting the investigation of torture allegations. You can’t argue for less intrusive government and defend unchecked wiretapping. You cannot argue for strong national security without addressing the very real likelihood that Iraq was unnecessary and has made us less safe.
Taxes are a complicated issue, but the Grover Norquist Republican ideal oversimplifies it. Most people just got a cut under a Democrat. Corporations and the wealthy took a hit, but calling a return to the 1999 tax rate “socialism” is just silly, and costs the party credibility. Sometimes you have to raise taxes. Reagan did it, George Sr. did it. W didn’t, but he also turned a surplus into a massive deficit. And business was good under Clinton with all of his socialism level taxation. People understand that it’s not just one or the other.
Obama’s election showed that America understands and embraces nuance, but the Republican leadership, and Rush in particular, cannot do nuance. It is either black or white, with us or against us, capitalism or socialism. “Democrat-lite” is just another term for someone who doesn’t see the world that way. Good luck rebuilding a party that demands that level of orthodoxy, especially when the leadership continues to support policies that flew in the face of those ideals.
Mac
May 6th, 2009
9:14 am
The vast majority of what other people do is their business. It’s not mine, not government’s or that of “moral crusaders.” That sounds like real conservatism to me, but it’s not on the menu of the Limbaugh/Wooten/Pelosi franchise.
How to you like that? That grouping is pretty darned accurate — a trio of big-government advocates.
zeke
May 6th, 2009
9:21 am
Rush is dead on right in his appraisel of what is wrong with the Republican party. Did Reagan move to the center? Did he care what Russia’s opinion of his policys or pronouncements were? Did he care if socialist Europe approved of our policies and methods? NO-NO-NO! If Republicans want to regain their rightfull position as the dominant party, they must adhere to and promote CONSERVATIVE values. Those are. reducing all government, reducing taxes, removing government from our daily lives, personal responsibility for your own life, strict adhearance to the Constitution, no pay for not working, no government subsidies or welfare for those capable of working but refusing to do so, profound support of the Second Ammendment, revisit the misuse of the First Ammendment by the Court, drastic funding increases for the Defense Department including weapons and personnel, and, the celebration of our Country as a JUDEO CHRISTIAN nation including observing the true meaning of the establishment of religeon clause, that of not establishing a national religeon such as the Church of England, but, allowing God, the Ten Commandments, religeous objects and prayers in all aspects of public life including schools, governments and the like!
Mac
May 6th, 2009
9:22 am
Ditto DWinDec. That’s common sense conservatism as the pre-us vs. them GOP sometimes practiced it.
GayGrayGeek
May 6th, 2009
9:24 am
Yes, yes, yes! PLEASE keep Limbaugh and Coulter and Bachmann and your other rabid, vapid mouthpieces “speaking” for the Republican’t Party.
Keep up the G. NO!. P. antics, and we’ll see many, many years where the elctorate return the “NO!” favor to y’all…
Tom
May 6th, 2009
9:26 am
Keep it up, Wootie. If you agree with with the Vicodin-fueled analysis of Rush Limbaugh (i.e., that the key to electoral success for the GOP is to become much, much more conservative), then please keep writing these same columns. After all, surely some key thinker in the American Whig Party once argued forcefully that the only thing keeping the Whigs from continued success was that the party had abandoned its Whiggish principles and that, once returned to the path of True Whiggery, the future would be nothing but golden.
williebkind
May 6th, 2009
9:29 am
Rush has over 20 million listeners and I bet 99% of those who have negative comments have never heard him. Shucks! I believe those who support King Obama have never heard him speak either. Their information is gleaned over the blogs provided by the Sorros crew and the DNC. How shallow can one become? Just try to debate a liberals and listen to the name calling.
jt
May 6th, 2009
9:31 am
Limbaugh proves his false credentials by his reluctness to advocate for a tax code change.(FairTax). He is merely a tool of the political class for the simple-minded and easiley led.
Suuuuure there is TWO parties. He me dissent?
jt
May 6th, 2009
9:33 am
I meant HEAR me dissent?
K
May 6th, 2009
9:34 am
zeke, you’re a dinosaur. wake up!
Churchill's MOM
May 6th, 2009
9:36 am
Where was Rush when Bush & the Republican party was spending like drunking sailors? Here is a bit about our next President and FOX
Taking a break from her present Alaska First posture, Sarah Palin will appear at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night, according to — where else — US Magazine.
As US reports it:
Usmagazine.com has exclusively learned that Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford has been invited to be the guest of the Fox News Channel at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Crawford — who is currently filming the drama Twelve in New York City — will join former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and husband Todd, and actor Matthew Modine, as guests of the channel and their various anchors, including Greta Van Susteren, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Bret Baier and Chris Wallace.
***********Handel 2010**********PALIN MCCAIN 2012*********
ByteMe
May 6th, 2009
9:38 am
Kudos to DWinDec @ 9:13am. A well-written critique of exactly why the “Republican brand” has a problem that can’t be solved by following the lead of bombastic entertainers and lobbyists (which is what Norquist is and the people who organized the teabaggers).
retiredds
May 6th, 2009
9:38 am
Jim, the Repubs do need a person, or group of persons, that can lead the party away from the Rush-Hannity-Coulter-Palin crowd. For most people they represent nothing more than entertainers and doing what they do for money vs. the love of their party. At some point even you have to admit that your more conservative right-wingers have gone too far in a country that mostly likes the middle, left or right, but not the extremes. If you know your history, and I am not sure you do, the pendulum had swung too far left in the 60’s. It took until the early years of the 21st century for the pendulum to move too far to the right. Jim, history is your best guide here, if you’re willing to be objective, the pendulum began to more more toward the middle-left about six years ago. So I suggest you and your more right leaning buddies wake up to the fact that you have many more years of pain and agony to live through before your message will begin to take hold. But remember, when the pendulum moves back, if it goes to far it swings against you again. And, by the way, that is the beauty of the USA, no one group can be in control for too long. No one dogma fits all. A word to the wise is sufficient. As a footnote I am in my late 60’s. Here’s some of how I voted over time: Kennedy (my first presidential vote), Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, voted against Reagan both times, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton twice, voted for Gore and Kerry, Obama.
Reality Check
May 6th, 2009
9:38 am
Zeke @ 9:10
I understand that you want to twist all things American to fit in your warped little box, But please go back and read your post…. You can’t have it both ways! You can’t demand that Gov. get out of our personal lives, and then insist that the government intervens in gay issues and pro choice issues. You can’t insist on a strong defense and less taxes but call for the government to continue to spend 1.5 Billion dollars each on planes that despite two wars, have never flown a single mission. I have no intrest in how you live your life, but you seem to have all kinds of problems with how others choose to live thiers. GROW UP!!! This is not first grade. America is great because it allows for all people and their individual beliefs…. You should try it sometimes!!!
Bill
May 6th, 2009
9:41 am
Suppose you woke up one bright morning and you were no longer an American. You were a documented Georgian or Southerner, but no longer a citizen of the United States.
Suppose the legislature had cut a deal with the federal government to allow, say, Georgia, Alabama and Texas to declare their sovereignty and carve themselves outside the nation’s borders. The new maps would show the new United States, with a few rogue jurisdictions hanging to its soft underbelly.
If that sounds farfetched, it is. Nobody but a wacko would waste time on such an idea. However, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has mentioned it in public speeches in the Lone Star State. Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has a team of researchers working on schemes to declare our independence and bid adios to old D.C.
Did I hear you say Oxendine and Perry must be nuts? Maybe they are, but they’ve got plenty of company.
A Democratic blog, DailyKos, polled Georgians and discovered nearly a third of our residents are ready to forsake their precious U.S. citizenship. In the Republic of Texas, 38 percent were prepared to say bye to America, according to the polls.
Except for a couple of really authoritative blogs, I usually shrug off the missives from cyberspace. DailyKos is not on my daily reading list. Bogus poll organizations have popped up all over the country. One hardly can tell a genuine survey from moon dust these days. Still, we’ve got these anti-Union numbers, and we should deal with them.
The secession idea is crazy. Gov. Perry is trying to run a hard right-wing re-election primary to garner the huge Texas nut vote. He looks as if he’s got them. What could be more popular than an en masse divorce from the Democratic Obama administration?
Georgia’s man, Oxendine, is sharing a pallet with Perry. Oxendine’s brain trust thinks John could win the GOP gubernatorial primary easily, if he can get far enough to the political right. All his gab about Georgia’s sovereignty is a giant step in that direction.
The governor and the wannabe had better be careful. If some steely-eyed marshal decided Perry and Oxendine are serious and not just a couple of nitwit troublemakers, they might find themselves buried in a federal pen for a long, long time on a treason conviction. Or maybe traded to the Arabs for a couple of our guys who have remained loyal to Old Glory.
If I recall, the American South tried to leave the Union around 1861, causing a disaster the likes of which we have not seen since. We lost more than 600,000 soldiers. Private property was destroyed. The whole thing came to naught, except that the slaves were freed (no small deal) and most of Dixie was ruined economically for about a century (no small problem).
We know Republicans need some issues that appeal to people who proclaim themselves as the real conservatives. How about trotting out the same-sex marriage issue again? Conservatives rant and rave about that topic, as do the would-be gay brides and grooms. Plenty of heat to go around on that score. However, this issue is not as serious as abandoning the Union.
Or Johnny O. and Rick could take aim at illegal Mexicans again. Only problem there is that the issue is resolving itself. The United States has lost so many jobs that many Mexicans are headed back south to look for work.
In any event, leave the secession talk aside. Some folks will think you’re serious. Besides, I love being an American. Many of my buds and I gave up years of our lives a while back to keep America’s place in the world. Some of us never came back. The United States has problems now, but we’ll roll again. You can count on it. Don’t talk down your country, even if you didn’t serve it.
As soon as I finish this column, I think I’ll look up a federal judge to advise me on how to round up these America-haters. We ought to send most of them back where they or their forebears came from, but Ireland and Scotland probably don’t want them, either.
Ditto-not
May 6th, 2009
9:43 am
I too am a Rush Limbaugh fan… he is the living, wheezing epitome of what makes America great! When a poorly educated (one semester of college?), horribly unattractive, repulsively self-centered, former addict, and sexist, racist blowhard can make so much money that he says he wouldn’t run for President because he couldn’t take the pay cut … that’s free enterprise, baby! I listen (it makes me throw up in my mouth a little) to make sure I note which products he is shilling, in order to avoid them. If you despise this pompous windbag, don’t buy anything he endorses. It’s all about the money. (Oh yeah, it’s also fun to listen to his women callers … they sound like, if they were in the studio with him, they’d try to help him with his impotency problem!)
Colin Powell can suck my *** - INGunOwners
May 6th, 2009
9:46 am
[...] Powell can suck my *** Rush Limbaugh, Colin Powell and the GOP | Thinking Right with Jim Wooten [...]
Churchill's MOM
May 6th, 2009
9:48 am
Before Bristol goes on her speaking tur she needs to come see me. She needs to tell all girls to do like I did non’t give up the goodie without a wedding ring.
Out of Alaska, Bristol Palin to head teen pregnancy effort
The main danger to Sarah Palin — as she seems, at times, to realize — is that her national image becomes that of a celebrity without substance. That is, I assume, why her spokeswoman’s statement yesterday focused so heavily on her Alaska focus.
So it may not be entirely on message that her daughter, Bristol, was named today an ambassador for The Candie’s Foundation, which describes itself as running “a celebrity-driven public service announcement campaign that dramatically exposes the devastating consequences of teenage pregnancy, while educating and challenging America’s youth to make healthy decisions about sex.”
***********Handel 2010**********PALIN MCCAIN 2012*********
ByteMe
May 6th, 2009
9:49 am
Wow, that linked article right above says a lot about wingnuts, doesn’t it?
Ronnie
May 6th, 2009
9:52 am
With no republicans left there will be no one to support the negroes and Mexicans.
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
9:52 am
Mr. Wooten,
Just as I like my music adagio, so do I appreciate this rare effort of yours to delve into thinking of those who worry about the future of the minority party. Your depictions reveal yourself also, of course.
Your Rx for the Party is spot-on, IMHO. As to your lighter note, the one made “largely in good humor”, I would say that the somewhat surprisingly eloquent Colin Powell will go down as one of history’s most disgustingly political generals–the sort that an Abraham Lincoln, for example would have fired following the first engagement with the enemy.
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
9:53 am
I make no bones about the fact that I’m a died-in-the-wool California tree-hugging gun-control left-winger. I occasionally listen to Rush, Neal Boortz and others claiming to represent the Republican / Conservative / Right ideology, as I like to hear other opinions on the issues of the day.
However, I will listen (or read, as I do with Thinking Right) only so long as the “discussion” doesn’t get nasty. When thess folk start with the insults and name calling and such, I leave.
The point I’m trying to make here is if you want change my opinion, at least be polite about it. Hannity, etc. will never change my opinion on anything. There’s only one conservative commentator who has ever really reached me is Michael Medved.
Roger Hillmeyer
May 6th, 2009
9:55 am
Funny how Liberals can spout off and anybody else who doesn’t agree with them is an idiot or a terrorist..
I hope you like working for the Government.
Churchill's MOM
May 6th, 2009
9:55 am
Poultry = Dusty
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
9:56 am
sorry about the poor grammer, I typed that in way too fast.
Churchill's MOM
May 6th, 2009
9:59 am
that’s tour not tur, off to bridge you’ll have a great day
***********Handel 2010**********PALIN MCCAIN 2012*********
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
9:59 am
Oh come on, Roger! Where did I say that they’re idiots or terrorists? All I said was if you want to change my view, just talk to me with civility, don’t yell at me or insult me.
Is that so difficult to understand, or are you simply trying to prove me right?
Brad Steel
May 6th, 2009
10:00 am
“The party’s need, however, is to stick to core principles and to do a better job of articulating why those are ultimately better for the country and for the individual and for families. Getting to socialism half as fast is not an attractive alternative.”
THANKS WOOTIE!!! THIS IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF REPUBLICAN PARROTING AND THE COMPLETE LACK OF NEW IDEAS FROM THE gop.
Another insurance policy for democrats. How about some new ideas? A worthy GOP and opponent for the democrats would be good for the country. Now, the GOP offers crap.
Thinker
May 6th, 2009
10:02 am
It is the conservative mantra that “all we need to do is sell our core principles” that will keep the Republicans squarely in the minority for the foreseeable future.
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:02 am
The government has told Bank of America it needs $33.9 billion in
capital to withstand any worsening of the economic downturn, The New
York Times reported.
If the bank is unable to raise the capital cushion by selling assets or
stock, it could satisfy regulators’ demands simply by converting part
of the $45 billion in nonvoting preferred shares it sold the government
into common stock. But that would make the government one of Bank of
America’s largest shareholders.
With a lock-up agreement expiring this week, Reuters points out that
Bank of America could soon sell shares in China Construction Bank to
raise additional capital. But such a move might not sit well in
Beijing, and it’s still not clear how much, if any, of the stake BofA
would sell.
J. Steele Alphin, Bank of America’s chief administrative officer, said
his company would have plenty of options to raise the capital on its
own before it would have to convert any of the taxpayer money into
common stock.
“We’re not happy about it because it’s still a big number,” Mr. Alphin
told The Times. “We think it should be a bit less at the end of the
day.”
Ward
May 6th, 2009
10:03 am
The country doesn’t need two parties fighting to make government bigger. The Republicans need to be the party (and they aren’t right now) that represents smaller, more efficient government, a party that knows when it’s time for government to butt out and leave room for entrepreneurs and innovators to move the country forward. Government doesn’t do that.
And if that means the GOP is on the outside looking in for a few years, that’s okay; the Democrats will overreach, scandals will come… and “change” cuts both ways, y’know.
JR
May 6th, 2009
10:03 am
Enter your comments here
Jill Again
May 6th, 2009
10:04 am
The bad, the good, and the ugly!
Bennie
May 6th, 2009
10:04 am
Great article, Jim. I agree 100%. I love how you, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter make the libs squirm.
Keep up the good work!
JR
May 6th, 2009
10:05 am
I think Powell is right, we have become a nation of people that don’t have enough sense to move to high ground when their feet are getting wet. They will just stay and drown unless the government gets them!
retiredds
May 6th, 2009
10:06 am
Someone may need to correct or enlighten me but it is my understanding that when Texas joined the Union it could withdraw by dividing itself into five states. If that is the case I would recommend that the anti-USers such as the 33% of Georgians and 38% of Texans form one of those states (I will call it a territory from here on). Their price of admission is too long to note here, but let me cite just a few: no interstate commerce will be allowed into the seceded area, if goods are needed from a foreign country (the USA being one) the citizens of such seceded territory will pay the taxes and full cost of transportation to be able to receive such goods; the territory will not have at its service the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard, etc of the USA, it will have to form and pay for its own – it will provide for its own protection; anyone entering or leaving the said territories, even if family members, will pay an entrance tax if going from said territory to the USA or an exit tax if leaving such territory to visit the USA, no citizens of said territory will be entitled to Social Security (they give that up as a right to secede), medicare, federal disaster relief, etc. etc. As I said there are probably a thousand other goodies that these folks will be glad to surrender for their decision to secede from the USA. I wish them good luck.
Thinker
May 6th, 2009
10:07 am
The Republicans need to sell practical ideas that work … not ideological arguments.
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:08 am
Casino mogul Stephen Wynn’s Wynn Resorts reported a wider first-quarter
loss than Wall Street expected on Tuesday after opening a new casino
resort on the struggling Las Vegas Strip and seeing revenue slip at its
property in Macau.
Brad Steel
May 6th, 2009
10:08 am
“I love how you, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter make the libs squirm.”
Well, that’s a proud accomplishment if ever there was one. Too bad the entire GOP is otherwise completely impotent.
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:10 am
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday announced its first
insider trading case to focus on the vast, murky market for
credit-default swaps, considered by some to be among the most dangerous
instruments of the financial crisis.
fearless fosdick
May 6th, 2009
10:11 am
“The Republican Party is in very deep trouble right now. They lack leadership. Democrats have a charismatic leader and they have party discipline. The GOP has none of that.”(authored by BOB BARR) But Bob, they have the guy who swings the big stick! You know the family values guy…El Pigbo (Rush) thrice married, drug addict billionaire who has to go to The Dominican Republic with a boat load of Viagra to get a date. Whether they’re boys or girls is open to interpretation. The republican party is steady as she goes…Just needs a few tweeks here and there! But, Rush will lead us into the promised land, just you wait and see!
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
10:12 am
@Churchill’s MOM,
Sorry, but I’m not Dusty. I like Dusty’s comments, though. She’s for real.
@kcohen,
You too? I’m like you in that I’ve grown tired of the stupid nastiness. Thing about this blog is that it represents an old phenomenon long identified with the Southern regions of both Italy and the United States: vendetta.
Hang in, please. All in all, this is as promising a place as any other for conservatives to make their case.
As you presumably have noticed, the elephant in the GOP’s room is the very question of whether the Party should continue to identify itself with Conservatism. The GOP has been through this before, as with the first Roosevelt and his progeny, the Republican Rockefellers. (One might say that the apogee of this line was reached in the presidency of one Richard Nixon.)
But the Party will repair itself nevertheless, and its reparation will make for interesting reading, I feel sure.
Good to have you aboard. Please stay.
recoveringrepublican
May 6th, 2009
10:13 am
Rush is like a sad old rooster, who can still crow, but can’t hear himself.
Ga Values
May 6th, 2009
10:14 am
Jim, I have read you for about 5 years and the only time I remember you saying anything about Bush & the Republican congress’s spending was a well written piece on Bush’s veto of Saxby’s pork filled farm bill. You turned around and worked for Saxby even though there was a conservative alternative. Have I missed something?
DC20008
May 6th, 2009
10:15 am
A morning talk host asked GOP Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia what is the GOP plan for getting the 46 million people w/o medical insurance covered? Cantor dodged. He had no answer That is the problem with the GOP. They HAVE NO ANSWER.
DC20008
May 6th, 2009
10:16 am
Remember, “Deficits don’t matter” — Dick Cheney
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:17 am
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday accused the
father-and-son team that operated the Reserve Primary Fund of
securities fraud, contending they lied to investors when the fund
“broke the buck” last fall and created a near panic in the money market
fund industry.
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:19 am
The judge overseeing Chrysler’s bankruptcy case ruled that a group of
dissident secured debtholders must make their identities public.
Judging from court documents, the group appears to be shrinking by the
day.
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:21 am
The Boston Globe and its largest union reached tentative agreement on
wage and benefit cuts early Wednesday morning, apparently ending for
now The New York Times Company’s threat to shut down New England’s
largest newspaper.
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
10:25 am
@Poultry – I’ll be around. In my humble opinion, a lot of our mutual issues could be resolved if both sides would stop with the rancor, listen to somebody else’s opinion, and learn to COMPROMISE.
Does anybody remenber Tip O’Neal? Love him or hate him, he was great at working both sides of the aisle.
J Moore
May 6th, 2009
10:32 am
I submit that almost all the comments made here criticizing Rush and others are made by those who suck off the government for their living. They have either no job or a McJob. They opted for drugs, sex, and no secondary education in their youth; however, they want the result to be the same as if they had made good choices. They expect handout after handout. It is those people, about 50 percent of the population, who are bad for America in the long run. Affirmative action, set asides, and quotas will ultimately cause this nation to break-up and sooner than ever thought. The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train!
Mac
May 6th, 2009
10:37 am
kcohen has the secret to getting things done. It may have something to do with that California attitude. I was born, raised and have lived most of my life in Georgia and bought into the Southern “hospitality and civility” myth. Where politeness and civility was really evident to me was California when I spent six months working an assignment there.
Rabbit
May 6th, 2009
10:38 am
The Big Bucks Express arrives every day at the same time.
laura
May 6th, 2009
10:38 am
Redneck Convert is something of a jackass. Do people like him actually read what they write? I suppose a person like him could actually be more rude and ignorant than he is but it would take a little practice. How can you insult so many people that you do not actually know? Do you not realize that you are stereotyping millions of people that you don’t know anything about? People like Redneck Convert are most of what is wrong with this country; a complete lack of respect for anyone that does not think exactly as you. If I don’t share your opinion then you start the name-calling. Are you in the sixth grade? Were you not taught better. Exactly what makes a person so angry, so bitter and so obnoxious?
extremerightwing
May 6th, 2009
10:39 am
What does Obama have that Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry don’t? All three had far more experience that Obama. Kerry was a veteran. Clinton a former two-term governor, Gore was vice president for eight years. Clinton is a much better speaker and can explain policy better than any of the four and doesn’t require a teleprompter. All four of these candidates espouse the same liberal beliefs, yet Powell never endorsed any of the later three. Why?
I find it disingenuous that Powell, who rose to prominance under Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43, now comes out and says the GOP is too conservative. Only Reagan was the real conservative of these three.
Where has the GOP changed to be more conservative today than under Reagan?
A change on government?
A change on social issues?
A change on taxes?
No to all of these. If anything the GOP has become democrat lite.
McCain was the perfect moderate candidate that everyone says the GOP needs, yet he got beat by a slick campaign and an untimely collapse of the economy. The conservative base did not support McCain as the liberal base did Obama.
Put up a conservative candidate in 08 and Obama is in the dustbin of history.
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
10:39 am
@DC2008,
While I’d to think that I gather the import of your quoting Dick Cheney (presumably when he served as Vice President) as saying that “Deficits don’t matter”, usually I associate that sentiment with one David Stockman, Reagan’s budgeteer in the first Term.
What I think you will get, and that most won’t, is that there’s a design in that. A loyal and patriotic, if misguided, design: Break the frickin bank of the liberal spendthrifts enough that they can’t come back and tap us for at least a generation or two!
recoveringrepublican
May 6th, 2009
10:41 am
Wrong. I’m in the tax bracket that is being raised under Obama. I am no Democrat, and never have been. I left the Republicans years ago when I realized they were deliberately trying to tie religion to politics. For now, I’d rather pay three percent more taxes to live in a free country. The problem with the republican party is simple: they say one thing, and do another. At least the Democrats are predictably incompetent, and therefore not as dangerous. What the country needs is a viable third party, which would control the entire agenda, without having to appease the wacky left or the dangerous right. Pragmatism is the current necessity.
Kelvin
May 6th, 2009
10:45 am
Ronnie @ 9:52. Ladies and gentleman, there is your Republican party. Racist and backwards, mean to the core. Sorry, sir. Your taxes working as a shadetree mechanic or installing trailer furniture don’t support me. I do quite well on my own. Georgia is one huge welfare state anyway and that includes many of your relatives. There is some rich black guy or Hispanic right now in D.C., NYC or LA who is subsidizing your racist (behind) right now. Welcome to the 21st century, Bubba.
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
10:51 am
@kcohen,
I wonder whether Tip O’Neill guessed that ultimately he would be remembered as one of History’s great hatchet-burryers. (BTW, there’s a book in that, surely.) I remember Speaker O’Neill. Pelosi is no O’Neill.
But remember that in those days we had giants on both sides. For example, the domestic conservatism that Jim Wooten now propounds–the stuff about the personal and social advantage of responsible dual parenting–that whole line first was propounded back in the mid-60s by two dudes Wooten probably couldn’t abide: Adam Clayton Powell and Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
But hang in there. These things have a way of coming around, don’t they?
fearless fosdick
May 6th, 2009
10:54 am
YEA J. MOORE…You tell ‘em “those people criticizing Rush”. Why how dare they when they are sucking off the government..lousy lowlifes! drug using, uneducated losers…
Is that kinda like John McCain who’s salary you pay every month, who also collects social security and a military pension..I didn’t think so!
Or me for example also retired(Social security) 35 years military (6 years regular, 29 years guard and reserve) collecting a military pension.
Now, J.Moore. do you have any basis for your allegations or is it just a figment of your imagination that to critisize Rush automatically puts one in your little cesspool?
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
10:55 am
@Mac,
That’s really kind. Are you perhaps Hawaiian?
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
10:56 am
J Moore – you know absolutely nothing about me, yet you have the temerity to insist you have my life story right under your nose. What unmitigated gall!
For all you know, I could be your next door neighbor, or even a relative. Ever think of that?
Don’t you understand a thing? @Poultry gets it – I’m a liberal, yes, but I want to break the current paradigm that the only way to helping our country is by bringing the “other side” to its knees. How does throwing trash at me help the country? Doesn’t it make more sense to actually talk to me?
Here’s a few facts for you to chew on: I am not, as you suggest unen-employed, I do not do drugs, I do have a college degree, I am married (my first and only), I have two kids and I own my own home. I have indeed made a few poor choices in my life, but I accept responsibility for them. How does that fit into your oh so enlightened world view?
So here’s your choice. You may continue spewing your hatred of anything that smacks of the left, or actually take the opportunity to have a real discussion of viewpoints. If we were face to face, would you only hurl invective, or would you take a minute to listen to what I have to say?
I’ll tell you this, and I’ve said it before, that in all these years I’ve had plenty of back-and forths with Mr. Wooten. Some of them got a little heated, to be sure, but he never took the low road. And just to sweeten the pot a little, he did change my mind a couple of times.
Don’t you think that’s a better way?
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
10:59 am
“estremerightwing” hits very hard @ 10:39a. I commend his or her post to y’all.
Tom
May 6th, 2009
11:00 am
extremerightwing @ 10:39: beautiful use of the “no true Scotsman” fallacy. Hilarious! Please keep it up!
Ronnie
May 6th, 2009
11:09 am
You libs will love me…becuase I refuse to vote for anyone like you again. I voted for McCain becuase I felt like he was the lesser of 2 evils. I actually voted for Palin and against Obamba, I thought Palin might have enough pull just to keep McCain in line. So in the end I’m glad we lost. I am still a registered a republican but if they put up McCain or Powell or Christ or whoever is a “moderate” why bother voting..If I wanted a democrat I would vote democrat…
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
11:10 am
@Poultry – you are correct about Pelosi, and I don’t care for her very much. I think she, too, is part of the problem right now. There’s too much of the “W did xxx, so we can do yyy” going on.
I would love for Washington to accept the W years for what it was, stop the blamestorming and get on with it. We have far too much going on right now for us to waste time looking backwards.
Shar
May 6th, 2009
11:14 am
Before any credibility or direction can be restored to the Republican Party, its leadership – both political and entertainment – must come to grips with the results of their last eight years in power. Claiming core values that are in direct opposition to what was actually implemented (small government, personal freedom, strong effective defense) is a source of bitter amusement to the American public busy coping with economic catastrophe, a battered Constitution and an overstretched, misdirected adn poorly supported military. Bush’s legacy was made possible by precisely those people who are running away from it while at the same time bemoaning the sure disaster inherent in any policy intended to repair the damage they themselves have caused. Such folks are severely compromised in finding a credible new path for the GOP, and they are unwilling to take the first necessary step – accepting responsibility, acknowledging error and presenting lessons learned.
Mr. Wooten, you are among those who appear to be unable to do this. Ms. Coulter and Mr. Limbaugh are shriller, more abusive versions of that same intransigence. The majority of the American electorate regards Bush’s damage as self-evident and personally harmful; the partisan extremists’ refusal to either admit or offer a realistic plan to repair the damage only prolongs the Republicans’ lack of credibility and invites contempt.
It is very dangerous for the country to have only one party. Checks and balances are at the heart of our system, along with loyal opposition. The Republicans can only extend the danger of single party governance with their failures to find a direction that will appeal to those outside the extremist “base”. I can only hope that they lay aside their arrogance, step away from the unpleasant, divisive rhetoric employed by those whose paychecks depend not on responsible long term solutions but short term irresponsible rabble rousing and again offer voters and legislators new ideas and appealling policies.
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
11:17 am
@kcohen,
Yes. That’s my thinking also, for what it’s worth.
Davo
May 6th, 2009
11:18 am
Excellent plan JW, ditch the war hero for the drug addict and the skank. I wouldn’t be too concerned with the GOP helping to foster socialism; with thinking like yours the GOP won’t be around to see it. Thanks republicans for practicing what you preach…not. Now we’re stuck with the welfare president for 8 years.
Rogan
May 6th, 2009
11:23 am
More than ever, the Republican Party needs to be explicitly ideological and offer an alternative to the collectivism of the Democratic Party. The Republican Party needs to stand unapologetically and consistently for Capitalism, limited government, minimal taxation and maximum individual freedom combined with a foreign policy of strength and proactive national defense. This will win.
Although it is hard to fight all the anti-capitalist and anti-individualist propaganda that is inculcated into the public through the educational system and the mass media, the idea of individual freedom will win if it is clear.
Colin Powell is not a Republican if that label is to have any meaning. and does not care about ideas. He represents the pragmatic, anti-ideological wing of the party that must be rejected if the party is to regain its strength. Pragmatism always fails and always plays into the hands of the Left. Reject their collectivist premises, their statist policies and stand for the only true alternative – individualism and Capitalism and we will win and in the process save the country.
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
11:24 am
@Shar – I wish that I had your eloquence, that was well written.
I think we’re at a sort of cross-roads in history, considering how close we are to a fillibuster-proof Senate. Much as I disagree with the Republicans, I don’t believe a one-party Congress is a good thing.
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
11:26 am
@kcohen,
I was raised by a wicked stepfather. I remember distinctly my 13 year-old resolve never to do the things that he did; so, for example, I’d never–indeed I never have–open other people’s mail, or eavesdrop in any way.
My point is that I became for a time a perfect reactionary, one who lives life merely in reaction to a perceivedly countervailing force. This, to me, is what the Democrats now are doing, to their detriment, over against the bygone Bush Administration.
Sharecropper
May 6th, 2009
11:38 am
Nope, a one-party Congress ain’t good. Bush 200-2006 proved that. And Wooten, if you’re the last Republican to leave the room, go green and turn off the lights.
deegee
May 6th, 2009
11:38 am
DC2008, Eric Cantor is a bobble-headed, tool box full of republican talking points. That’s all he can offer the Republican party. Yesterday I heard Republican Tom Price talk about the Republican plan for health care reform. It was an interesting discussion with Ed Shultz of MSNBC. Tom Price wants to make health insurance affordable for everyone in the country by extending the risk pool. The insurance companies need to mitigate their risk by including young, healthy, normally uninsured customers into their risk pool. Interestingly enough, Price said that the government will have to mandate that everyone carry some form of health insurance. He said that instead of creating a government health care bureaucracy, the government will grant tax credits to individuals that will offset the cost of the health insurance that they will have to purchase. He said that Mr. and Mrs. America will sit down at their kitchen table and realize what a good deal they are getting in health insurance after taking their tax credits into consideration. What a plan…
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
11:39 am
@Poultry -
You may well be right. Just as the past election’s results were in large part a reaction to the Bush years, I fear that the pendulum will swing the other way at the next election…
My concern is that we, the country that is, have become a block that votes against something or someone instead of voting for their choices. “I can’t stand the so-and-sos, so I’m voting for xxx” regardless of xxx’s stand on anything. And I have to admit, I’m guilty, but not the last election. I know I’m going to cause a ruckus here, but I voted for Obama because I really think he was the better choice. History will determine if I was right or wrong.
ed
May 6th, 2009
11:39 am
If they believe so much in America and its conservative values, why didn’t Limbaugh, Couter, O’Reilly, and Hannity sign up for military service?
booger
May 6th, 2009
11:41 am
The weakness in the repub. party is not because they have not moved to the middle but because they moved away from the basics of reduced spending and smaller govt.
Even without the wars, Bush massively increased spending and the size of govt. This was the cause of dissention within the party, not that they were too right wing.
When an organization moves away from their core beliefs they become lost. This is whats happening now. We choose McCain to run because he is a moderate, and we lose. Had we stuck with a traditional conservative like Rommney, I think repubs would have won.
As for Powell, I do not think he speaks for anyone other than himself.
Don L
May 6th, 2009
11:42 am
Colin. To move the party to the middle you have to veer left from where we are now, which is left of center.
Sarah Palin is polarizing only because the left (you included) fears her and has spent all their effort on personal attacks trying to destroy her. Polarizing? Try that advocate of infanticide that wants to “remake” the best country in history into a leftist socialist nation.
I loathe the enemies of America(freedom) almost as much as I loathe her betrayers. Which side are you on Mr. opportunist, Colin?
EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP
May 6th, 2009
11:46 am
RUSH LIMBAUGH THE DOPEMAN THE GOP AT ITS BEST,LYING TO GET HIGH GOING TO 4 DIFFERENT DOCTORS GETTING ILLEGAL DRUGS,AND THE MEMBERS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY STOOD UP AND DEFENDED THIS DOPEDEALER,SO GOP WHEN YOU TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHY YOUR PARTY IS DEAD IT IS BECAUSE OF YOUR EVIL VALUES LIKE SPYING ON AMERICANS,BREAKING AMERICA,IRAQ,LOST OF JOBS,EDUCATION FUNDS BEING CUT,ASK SONNY PERDONT ABOUT THAT.
Rogan
May 6th, 2009
11:47 am
One more thing, those here who attack Rush Limbaugh have, of course, not once dealt with his ideas. They spew vicious personal vindictive while calling Rush intolerant and they ascribe views to him that he has never espoused while accusing him of dishonesty. The mental contortions that must be necessary to justify this pure, naked hatred can never be comprehended by rational people, I suspect.
It’s clear that the Rush haters here have never listened to him. He defends individual freedom and individual thinking on a daily basis. His commentary is intelligent, thoughtful and profound. He is the antithisis of racism and conformity and he is willing to debate dissenting views. He welcomes debate, in fact – something that Leftist pundits fear and avoid.
The real reason he is hated, of course, is that he is successful, he is unwilling to conform to Leftist “group-think” and he is unapologetic in his defense of individualism. Those who have given up their own minds hate him with an unreasoning passion that is the same motivation that goads a lynch mob. They hate him for daring to be different, and justify it to themselves by accusing him, the victim, of intolerance. They hate him out of jealousy and envy for his success. They hate him for all the ugliness within themselves that they project onto him.
I respect and admire Rush and wish him a long and successful career. He is an intellectual giant under relentless attack by mental pygmies. He must have tremendous intellectual fortitude he displays by refusing to give in when everyone on the Left, from the President to the Speaker of the House to the college student in the street is out for his destruction. He is a profile in courage every single day.
Jackie
May 6th, 2009
11:53 am
PLEASE nominate Sarah Palin as the next Republican presidental candidate.
I would venture the Repubs will lose by a far greater margin than they did the past election.
We need credible parties to balance our political system. Entertainers and others that purport to offer other alternatives to present problems does nothing but bring derision and disdain from the voters.
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
11:53 am
@kcohen,
Yes, I think I know what you mean. The pendulum, it do tend to swing. In your own state that is so evident. The People take the short-cut of installing a divided government. It’s the same as the pendulum, a dodge from the hard work of actual governing. As someone [Peter Schrag?] once called it, “push-botton governance”.
This lazy pseudo-democracy is a real drag, yunno? It’s like, imagine Caesar up on the platform at the Colloseum when the gladiators ask for either a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down and Caesar just goes, “Oh well, whatever.” I mean, how gross. Something’s not right here.
I myself am a conservative person, but I want this president to succeed despite his frightening tendencies and obvious deficiencies.
Al
May 6th, 2009
11:58 am
Colin Powell has fallen quite low and is now a bitter, sad man. Too bad. But it is interesting especially from all the liberal trolls on here to read how threatened they are feeling these days. As Rush and Mark Levin frequently state: hey, they won so why are they still so angry and afraid of the likes of Rush, Sarah Palin, etc. Could it be that people are slowly waking up to the disaster train wreck of the Obama administration? Could it be that democrats have monopolized our government for over 70 years and the conservatives have never been given a chance to govern. So the screw ups today are democrat initiated, they keep getting voted back in to fix them, and like this latest farce, we keep voting them back in for “change”. Let’s give the republicans a solid governing majority for a change and see what they can do instead of recycling these democrat retreads year after year. Now that’s change I can believe in – yes we can!
fearless fosdick
May 6th, 2009
11:58 am
Here once again the party of irrelavence redefining themselves.
http://vodpod.com/watch/1592352-jon-stewart-republicans-the-lost-party
Reggie
May 6th, 2009
11:58 am
Gotta Love Rush!
Rush is pimping his ditto heads! With Rush running things the GOP is on their way to being the party of the Southern Goobers. Drill Drill Drill Baby!!
Fax News
May 6th, 2009
12:00 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Unwed mother Bristol Palin said Wednesday that abstinence is a realistic way for teens to avoid unwanted pregnancy – a view not shared by the father of her infant son.
Palin, the 19-year old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she wishes she’d waited to have sex.
Bristol Palin was in New York Wednesday to help promote National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day.
In the interview, Palin said abstinence is the safest and best choice for teens.
“Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only way you can effectively, 100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy,” she said.
But Levi Johnston, Palin’s former fiance and the father of her 4-month old baby, Tripp, said abstinence is “not realistic” for young people. He said sexually active teens need to learn about contraception as well.
“Abstinence is a great idea,” Johnston told “CBS This Morning” in an interview. “But I also think you need to enforce, you know, condoms and birth control and other things like that to have safe sex. I don’t just think telling young kids, ‘You can’t have sex,’ it’s not going to work.”
Johnston said he and Palin had used condoms but occasionally had slipped up. That’s how Tripp was conceived, Johnston said.
Palin said Tripp is getting chubby and is starting to giggle. She called him “the love of my life,” but said she wished she could have had him later in life.
Sarah Palin announced her daughter’s pregnancy on Sept. 1, days after Sen. John McCain picked her to be his Republican vice presidential running mate.
DebbieDoRight
May 6th, 2009
12:02 pm
One is that Republicans do have a major problem in finding a way to sell the conservative message of personal responsibility, limited and less intrusive government, lower and more affordable taxes,
Yep, they sure do! Seeing as how they had EIGHT PLUS YEARS to spout their message of “Our Way is the Best Way” and then the moment they got into office they did ALL THE THINGS THAT THEY PREACHED AGAINST!! No Big Government? Then you must’ve conveniently forgotten about the Terri Schiavo fiasco where you repugs were about to usurp the rights of her husband THROUGH GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION; because you just didn’t like her husband!! Oh, let’s not forget about WARRANTLESS WIRETAPS – no big government there huh? And FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY!!!!
Please!! How can you guys even twist your mouth after 8 years of unrepentant spending, to criticize ANYONE on spending?
The party’s need, however, is to stick to core principles and to do a better job of articulating why those are ultimately better for the country and for the individual and for families.
One phrase comes to mind: Actions speaks louder than words. You can talk all you want; we JUST HAD EIGHT PLUS YEARS of your “core principles” to last thinking Americans a long time!! Please forgive me if I don’t believe one dang word that you say.
EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP
May 6th, 2009
12:03 pm
THE REASON WHY RUSH LIMBAUGH AND SEAN HANNITY ARE NOT LIKED ANYMORE IS BECAUSE THEY ARE LIKE THE SHET STARTERS OF THE CREW THAT GOES TO THE BAR AND STARTS THE FIGHT BUT RUNS ONCE THE ACTION GETS STARTED,THIS WHY PEOPLE HATE THEM CAUSE THEY SCREAM WAR WAR WAR BUT THEY FIGHT FROM THE LUXURY OF THEIR RADIO BOOTHS,LIKE THE COWARDS THEY ARE.
maxwell
May 6th, 2009
12:03 pm
Jeez Al…You say “Let’s give the republicans a solid governing majority for a change and see what they can do instead of recycling these democrat retreads year after year.”
Uh, Al for your information the republicans controlled the executive branch, the senate, and the congress for 6 of the last 8 years. Is there anything else you’d like to know?
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
12:06 pm
maxwell, you’re still doing the retread when actually what we all need is new tires.
Brad
May 6th, 2009
12:07 pm
Have you ever noticed how the nolibs are incapable of debating ideas? Make an argument against something that Limbaugh has said. Don’t just sit and call him and all conservatives names. Doing that simply makes me question how “adult” the self proclaimed “adults” are.
catlady
May 6th, 2009
12:10 pm
laura, I count 4 errors in your post of 10:38. Perhaps you could go back to school with Redneck. You obviously are intelligent but could use some polishing in terms of grammar and punctuation.
mitch52
May 6th, 2009
12:11 pm
Ah Colin Powell, the guy who voted democratic last election after pushing “McCain the moderate” as the solution to republican woes. How did that work out for the republicans? Why should the republican party listen to this double crossing “moderate” loser?
Maxwell Smart
May 6th, 2009
12:12 pm
Jim you have figured out how to get lots of comments, just write nice things about Rush. He is probably crying all the way to the bank.