AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN 2008 AND BEYOND

LAT fact-checks Limbaugh, hits him for peddling ’shameless’ lies.

The Los Angeles Times’ media journalist James Rainey take a look at how right-wing pundits Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are dealing with Barack Obama’s victory. “[W]hen he is demonizing Barack Obama, fabricating Obama policies, blaming Obama for single-handedly causing the recession and the stock market crash,” Rainey writes of Limbaugh, “he doesn’t pretend to be fair.” The LAT then offers this fact-check:

limbaugh-barack.jpgIn a time when the nation calls out for cool leadership and rational discussion, Limbaugh stirs the caldron, a tendency he proved in a particularly grotesque way last week when he accused Obama’s party of plotting a government takeover of 401(k) retirement plans.

“They’re going to take your 401(k), put it in the Social Security trust fund, whatever the hell that is,” Limbaugh woofed. “Trust fund, my rear end.”

A slight problem with Limbaugh’s report: Obama and the Democrats have proposed no such thing.

The proposal, in fact, emanated from a single economist, one of many experts testifying to a congressional committee.

Rainey concludes, “To broadcast such a report " so drained of context as to constitute a lie " would be a shameless act at any time. But Limbaugh needlessly stirred the fears of the millions he holds in his thrall " making the 401(k) thievery sound like nearly a done deal. Shameless.”




94 Responses to “LAT fact-checks Limbaugh, hits him for peddling ’shameless’ lies.”


ralph the wonder llama says:

I’m ambivalent about this sort of activity.

On the one hand, it’s good that responsible members of the media are willing to flat-out call Limbaugh the liar that he is.

On the other hand, it might be better for him to be treated as the nonentity that he deserves to be.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:03 am

A few other talk people I respect and like to varying degrees are Hannity, Lars Larsen, Michael Medved, Michael Reagan (haven't heard him in a long time so is he still around), Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller, Dennis Prager, Mike McConnell, Bill O'Reilly, and I can't recall any more names right now but I think there are more.

okie wrote:

A few other talk people I respect and like to varying degrees are Hannity, Lars Larsen, Michael Medved, Michael Reagan (haven't heard him in a long time so is he still around), Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller, Dennis Prager, Mike McConnell, Bill O'Reilly, and I can't recall any more names right now but I think there are more.

Have you listened to BOORTZ?

On the other hand, you believe Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue" is factual, when in fact there are many half-truths and outright lies in it.

See if you can absorb some of these fact checks on her book:

CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer Calvin Woodward, Associated Press Writer Sat Nov 14, 11:18 am ET wrote:

FACT CHECK: Palin's book goes rogue on some facts

WASHINGTON " Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time.

Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.

Palin goes adrift, at times, on more contemporary issues, too. She criticizes President Barack Obama for pushing through a bailout package that actually was achieved by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush " a package she seemed to support at the time.

A look at some of her statements in "Going Rogue," obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Tuesday:

...

AP writers Matt Apuzzo, Sh

Can you deny any of these facts?

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/december_2009/tea_party_tops_gop_on_three_way_generic_ballot
In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.

Among voters not affiliated with either major party, the Tea Party comes out on top. Thirty-three percent (33%) prefer the Tea Party candidate, and 30% are undecided. Twenty-five percent (25%) would vote for a Democrat, and just 12% prefer the GOP.

Among Republican voters, 39% say they’d vote for the GOP candidate, but 33% favor the Tea Party option.

For this survey, the respondents were asked to assume that the Tea Party movement organized as a new political party. In practical terms, it is unlikely that a true third-party option would perform as well as the polling data indicates. The rules of the election process"written by Republicans and Democrats--provide substantial advantages for the two established major parties. The more conventional route in the United States is for a potential third-party force to overtake one of the existing parties.

POLL: How should the movement vote in 2010?
Posted: 07 Dec 2009 08:05 AM PST

Today’s poll from Rasmussen is very telling in many ways. The poll, released this morning, suggest that the GOP base IS the liberty movement. And right now, that base has left the party.

In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.

Among voters not affiliated with either major party, the Tea Party comes out on top. Thirty-three percent (33%) prefer the Tea Party candidate, and 30% are undecided. Twenty-five percent (25%) would vote for a Democrat, and just 12% prefer the GOP.

Among Republican voters, 39% say they’d vote for the GOP candidate, but 33% favor the Tea Party option.

This is good for our movement because it proves what we’ve been saying all along… the two major parties have been courting the wrong crowd. Especially the Republican Party.

I mean, recent polls make it clear that the dominating ideology in America is conservatism. This poll makes it clear that the dominating part of the Republican base is the liberty movement, not the moderates.

Many within the movement are not Republican and never have been, but I think it’s safe to say that the majority of the movement strongly opposes efforts by Democrats to destroy our country.

This was the major problem with John McCain, in my opinion. McCain is a moderate. And while many claimed it was for different reasons, I believe he lost because he had nothing significant to offer the liberty movement. Obama on the other hand promised his base a free ride in life.

It’s wild that Republicans can’t seem to grasp the simplicity of the situation. We’re not asking for freebies, we’re not asking for handouts… we’re instead just asking for our right to be free. We’re asking for representation that will protect our liberty, not trample it.

So, I think this poll makes a few things clear for us. First, Republicans can’t win without the movement. Second, the movement can’t win without the party. At least not in the short term.

If this polling data is correct, then we fail the second we split the vote that opposes Democrats.

...

NOTE: In 2010 we need to remain focused. And our focus needs to be on removing big government thugs from office. Starting with those who support healthcare, cap and trade, bailouts and other dangerous legislation.
Share and Save

If this polling data is correct, then we fail the second we split the vote that opposes Democrats.

In the long run, probably the making fun of liberals has been the one thing long term that has gendered all of the hatred for him from the left.

So although I agree with Rush much of the time, ...

A few other talk people I respect and like to varying degrees are Hannity, Lars Larsen, Michael Medved, Michael Reagan (haven't heard him in a long time so is he still around), Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller, Dennis Prager, Mike McConnell, Bill O'Reilly,

Rush Limbaugh Lies About President Obama (Again)

mediamatters.org " "Obama said that we all must learn to live within our means and not expect the values of our homes to go up 10, 20 percent over our lifetimes ever again." Not what Obama said AT ALL. -- Later, Rush continues his lies with: "Can I translate it for you? The days of prosperity are over, quote, the president of the United States, unquote." [audio too]

Rush has his negatives, but I do not believe lying is one of them.

The Way Things Aren't
Rush Limbaugh Debates Reality

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1895

Unchallenged Demagoguery

This kind of sloppiness, ignorance and/or fabrication is run of the mill in Limbaugh's commentary, [read before this for the incident, but it's just one of thousands] both broadcast and print. From dioxin to Whitewater, from Rodney King to Reaganomics, Rush Limbaugh has a finely honed ability to twist and distort reality.

Limbaugh's facts are almost never challenged on his programs. A hostile caller hardly ever gets through the screeners on his radio show, and his TV show is just him doing a monologue in front of his cheering audience. No one in the history of national television has had such a political platform. He has almost never corrected anything he's said--although he did apologize once to the aerosol industry for implying that spray cans still had CFCs in them. (CFCs were removed in 1978.)