Rush Limbaugh chickens out
Published by Mike Stark February 17th, 2006 in Podcast, Rush Limbaughsee, this is the thing: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and the rest of these clowns get paid to host a talk show (or shows), a major component of which is, broadly defined, debate…
So why do they act like big pussies whenever they are challenged? To a person, each of these right wing blowhards runs to cut the mic whenever they feel the slightest bit challenged…
Telling, no?
Anyway, the two hours I listened to today were riddled with lies, distortions and other common wingnut rhetoric devices… Instead of deconstructing each fallacy and contadiction here, in the comments, I’ll post some more audio clips. But that’s gonna take a while, so bear with me… best bet? Check back tomorrow. It is, after all, Friday night.
In the meantime, something I took great pride in was the exchange I had with the call screener. As I posted at Kos (with minor revisions here):
But the good part was his screener came on the line to ask me, “Mike, what was that? What were you doing?”
I said that Rush said it was “open line Friday,” (clip in comments), that I held over an hour, that Rush brought the story up - and I did want to talk about the fighting dems… and would if given the opportunity to go back on with Rush.
The screener wailed… “Oh, but you didn’t talk about what you told me you wanted to talk about!”
Me: “Well that’s not what I wanted to talk about when I called, but Rush brought it up… and he said we can talk about whatever we want.”
Screener: “How long have you listened to the show Mike?”
Me: “Pretty much every day - I love the show.”
Screener: “Then you know how this works… you tell me what you want to talk about and then you get on the air - but Rush knows beforehand what it is you are going to bring up - we all know - but you went a lied…”
Me: “I didn’t lie about a thing… I called to talk about the Fighting Dems and I’ll still talk about them if you’ll put me back on the air… But Rush brought it up, I had something to say about it and thought, after waiting an hour, he might let me talk about that also…”
Screener: “Well now you aren’t going to get your chance to talk to him… Because you had to lie about what you wanted to talk about.”
Me: “I didn’t lie… You know, I’m your worst nightmare - a liberal with some knowledge that isn’t afraid to stand up to you guys and tell the truth.”
Screener: “Blow me”… click
12 Responses to “Rush Limbaugh chickens out”
- 1 Pingback on Mar 3rd, 2006 at 8:46 pm
- 2 Pingback on Oct 5th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
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From what you said over at ‘Kos, I gather that you are recording from the radio. I’d like to suggest that you record from your phone instead. I can’t say if it holds true for interstate calls, but in New York it is legal to record a phone conversation if at least one of the participants knows about it. You can record everything, including the screener and anything they bleep or edit out of the broadcast.
I used this device from RadioShack to record from my cell phone: Cat. No. 17-855 http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103157&cp=&kw=17-855&parentPage=search
You may need a 3/4-ring adapter (I did). You can find similar devices for land line phones.
Mike,
I appreciate what you’re doing but I think, from a listener’s POV that Limbaugh won that match.
I think that you violated one of your rules— know the subject matter. Limbaugh cited the survey as being from whatever think tank. He pretty effectively blunted your attempt to bring the Moonies into the issue.
My guess is that he cut your audio feed off immediately after you made your initial statement so that you couldn’t attempt to reply.
Is that what happened?
You’re playing on a very tilted field. I think that the best thing a caller can do is catch Limbaugh in a lie— a misrepresentation of the facts— and have your facts disproving Limbaugh’s statement well in hand.
I used to listen to Limbaugh and marvel at his ability to play the rubes as fools. He’s an extremely skilled propagandist. He knows his audience and plays them like a virtuoso.
mws,
The Radio Shack website has this disclaimer for the equipment that you recommend:
Disclaimer: It is illegal in some states to record a conversation without the consent of all parties to the conversation, including the telephone company. Check the laws in your area before using the two-way record feature.
Anyone thinking of webcasting a recorded conversation should be very aware of the applicable laws.
With that said, I hope that the laws of whatever state that Mike (is that his name?) is in DO allow him to record the conversation.
BillS: I’m not too worried about violating my own rules on this call… evrything I said should be used as a guideline to start calling talk radio - as you get more comfortabble, it’d be good if people were to start developing their own styles…
as far as Rush winning - well, everyone will have their own opinion. I know that Rush is fiercely protective of the fundies - he won’t tolerate any kind of talk that questions the fundies allegiance to Bush - if you tie Bush into betraying the Christain Right, Rush won’t let you on the air… so I got a rare shot in and I’m happy about that. I don’t know how many evangelicals are listening on any given day, but I can’t imagine that nay of them were happy to hear that a republican mouthpeice is funded by a cult led by Moon - a man who has claimed to be the second coming of Christ - the messiah incarnate.
As far as the recording - I bought the device and it doesn’t work well for me with my Vonage phone so I’ll be returning it. But in NY, the law is only one party need consent to the recording.
Thanks!
I just listened to your mp3 regarding your call to Rush Limbaugh’s show. It appears that your prejudice towards the bankrollers of the Washington Times was resoundly trumped by Rush pointing to the the source of the information in question. That was pretty lame. A sucker punch that missed. You should argue on the facts or lack there-of not some homophobic reactions to the money behind the times. I doubt if it comes from the moon church anyway. They are broke, very few members, etc. Businesses run by moonies might be more accurate.
Mike -
Rush didn’t chicken out - you got schooled.
You tried to discredit a report by trashing the paper it ran in. Limbaugh was absolutely right in his point about separating the report from the paper. And he was right that the Washington Times has no more or less dirt under its fingernails than the NY Times or Washington Post.
You have no recording to back up your interaction with the screener, which seems to be your main point. What is clear is that you lost badly to Rush.
“…the Washington Times has no more or less dirt under its fingernails than the NY Times or Washington Post.”
Seriously?
Since Judy Miller’s pre-war articles on WMD, you could make an argument about the NYTs trustworthiness. On what basis do you claim the Washington Times has “no more or less dirt” than the Washington Post?
Have you considered auditioning for stupid human tricks? I don’t think Letterman’s ever had a guest talk out their a–
Mike,
Rush ate your lunch in that interchange. You did violate their rules and as some one else mentioned, it’s a tough playing field. Personally I prefer when lefties call my favorite hosts. I like the arguing back and forth. If your side can keep from falling back on Bush Lied…. and presents intelligent points, it’s a good thing.
Try Medved, his show always seeks out differing views. Much more, IMO, than any other right of center radio show.
Now, I’ve tried to get on Air America at least a dozen times and the screeners simply will not allow a conservative who can argue the facts on the air.
Anyway, I like your approach. I like to see our side challenged. Conservatism wins because it has been time tested. Liberalism loses for the same reason.
Wow!! Look at all the wingnuts defending Rush, and his honor, and his great erudition! If Rush is so smart, why is he uneducated?? He likes to blowhard about how intelligent he is - the sign of an uneducated, unintelligent person. Smart people don’t have to continually brag about how smart they are.
Even when I was a Republican, I could not stand Rush. He lies, he puts out false statistics, he dreads a listener utilizing any critical thinking because their head would explode. He is stupid, and his listeners are all cult members who do not have the ability to think on their own.
And I noticed that although he seemed against the port deal the first day it came up, by the second and third days, he had gotten his memo from his corporate overlords, and was doing their whoring. Good job, Rush!! Now your listeners will really freak - for 4 years, you have called all A-RABS evil, and now you want them in charge of security at our ports. I am truly, tremendously, completely enjoying the downfall of the republican party!!!
I’d consider the exchange a good way to get in the Washington Times facts and their being held afloat by the Rev. Sun Yung Moon, however, perhaps the timing could have been scripted a little further into the phone conversation and Rush would not have been so quick to punch that giant red “Panic!” button when it goes off script. Take your time before launching into to something that raises Rush’s alarm, I’m almost tempted to say lead with something that buffoon would agree with.