Foaming at the mouth about Rush Limbaugh

[anigbrowl]

There's a lot of threads on DU of the kind 'OMG Rush Limbaugh is so bad argh!'. This thread is to tell you that it's a gigantic waste of time. spewing bile about Rush Limbaugh because Rush Limbaugh spews bile about liberals just leaves everyone more pissed off.

I posted elsewhere about this, and a few people said that being nice to him would make no difference, and that we had a duty to oppose him. I don't advocate being nice to him. I advocate ignoring the guy. He thrives on attention, and every time there's a Rush Limbaugh outrage thread he gets more of it. Without it, he has to say something outrageous in order to keep his name int he news, and the more outrageous his output the more his audience will shrink.

On a more personal level, why spend your energy on this? I can think of many better and less stressful ways to advance liberal causes than getting red-faced over Limbaugh (or anyone else). I never listen to him, if someone talks to me about him I just say I don't find him entertaining. If they tell me he's a great political thinker, I point out that he's an entertainer, by his own description, and that I don't form my political views from entertainment, though I don't dispute anyone's right to enjoy it if that's what they like.

You don't have to like Limbaugh, Fox 'news', or any of the various other conservative mouthpieces that promote a virulent ideology. Nor do we need to pretend they don't exist, they do. But there's no value in getting terribly bent out of shape over them. Every time you do, you're spending energy on them that you could be using for something more productive, positive, and fulfilling. If you're unable to stop thinking about how bad they are, then YOU are allowing them to take over your life, which is part of their objective.

[PDJane]

1. It helps if you don't have a television..........

I watch Maddow and Olbermann and a couple of other things on line. The right wing noise machine needs to come with an ignore button.

[Wapsie B]

2. One way to look at it is to just let him rant. He's the leader of the gop.

Let him drag them all down.

[Initech]

3. Yeah exactly. If the GOP keeps painting him as their leader...

It means they've completely run out of ideas. What better than to have a stupid gas bag who gets paid hundreds of millions to spew bile and garbage for a living be the face of a party of stupid gas bags?

[niceypoo]

4. Except when he says something indefensible...

...then suddenly he is merely an, 'entertainer.'

[Initech]

6. Yeah, he kind of walks that fine line.

Of course I dont see it as entertainment. I personally think he's the most dangerous man in America. When is it considered free speech when he's inciting hate and violence?

[anigbrowl]

5. that's kind of my position

People like that will always be around. They appeal to a particular kind of human nature, and being aware of that fact is important. On the other hand, they only thrive to the extent that people in general take them seriously. It's not just the right-wing political views of particular hosts, but people like conspiracy theorists or psychic friends or fringe religions or UFO crusaders or whoever...to the extent that a public personality relies on preaching to the converted and validating their existing audience by invoking the idea of a hostile other, it's a personality cult.

[MadMaddie]

7. I am not sure I agree with you

How do you think Rush and others became so powerful? There was no one ever to push back to call them on their lies and puffed out chests....

This actually is a good thing because we are seeing the demise of the Repug party before our eyes.....

What usually happens when you push a bully back? The bully is predictable....the bully attempts to come back but goes over that line....Remember it's not just us pushing back it's 70% of America that has grown weary of their tactics....

Like her or not Wanda hit some buttons last night....tomorrow will be an interesting day.....:popcorn:

The Repugs love free speech when it's coming from them.....somehow they don't like it so much when it's coming from us.

[anigbrowl]

8. I have a different perspective

I don't think he is that powerful. He can't turn on my radio or TV and force me to listen. If I meet someone who's obviously recycling whatever he heard on a right wing radio show or the like, then I just don't engage with that person politically.

Sure, there are times when someone actually attacks you in such a way that one must push back. And in cases like that, i'm all for pushing back forcefully and finally. But I have a pretty high threshold of necessity before I see fit to expend my valuable energy and time on such a person. More often than not, it's easier to just call someone's bluff. Two examples:

- You liberals need a good butt-whipping!! - OK. What are you waiting for?
- Taxes! Tea party! Revolution! - OK. So how exactly would that work?

Something I learned from martial arts is that generally, someone can't upset you unless you allow them to do so. If you refuse to engage in a pattern of escalation and confrontation, then they are unable to project responsibility for their actions on to you, which is the usual tactic of someone who is seeking a confrontation. If you play their game, then you lose the initiative. If you hold back, they generally lose a fight before it's even begun. Unless there's an element of surprise, the first mover generally loses. This is true in both physical and more abstract kinds of conflict.

[creeksneakers2]

17. It doesn't matter if you ignore him

Rush Limbaugh is the driveshaft of the vast right wing conspiracy. Millions of people believe every word. They've had incredible influence. For example, Rush was correctly given credit for engineering the GOP Congressional takeover of '94. Rush did big things like that dozens of times.

He worked it by starting the ball rolling with his listeners. They'd spread it from there. There would be millions of calls to the media wondering wy lie XYZ from Limbaugh didn't air. So the mainstream media ran it. No one fought back against Limbaugh. He trashed whoever did. Everybody was afraid of him. He and his vast right wing conspiracy controlled America with lies that way for decades. Millions believed those lies because there was no other side being told. That made Limbaugh look like a legitimate information source to those who didn't know any better. Did you see what Limbaugh and his VRWC did to Bill Clinton?

I've been listening to the show since 1990 and the change since Obama stood up to Rush and Media Matters started following Rush daily is incredible. He can't tell anywhere near as many or as dangerous of lies now, because people will stand up to him. Because some attacked at once, he couldn't destroy everybody who did. After it became apparent that one might get away with attacking him, more did so. Now people all over are trashing him and there's nothing he can do about it.

Before the party maintained it was wrong to attack Limbaugh because it made him bigger. That was a crazy idea, because Limbaugh was already big. It turns out now, that attacking him actually makes him smaller. A recent poll:

http://www.democracycorps.com/strategy/2009/03/rush-limbaugh-weighs-down-heavily-on-republicans/?section=Analysis

showed that Limbaugh drives moderate Republicans and independents away from the GOP. The more we call attention to Limbaugh, the more people who leave the GOP.

Its been a brilliant strategy. Republicans would love to get out from Limbaugh but they can't. They are too afraid of him. So they have to just take it when we tie them to Limbaugh. We've even partly established Limbaugh as the head of the GOP.Democrats were recently able to win a Congressional seat in a plurality GOP district just by attacking Limbaugh.

The strongest recurring theme I saw on the net before Obama was that Democrats didn't fight back enough and that's why they kept losing. Since Obama and a few others finally listened to us, now attacks are responded to immediately and forcefully. That's why Obama is at 66%. That's why the GOP is in the tank. Ignoring guys like Limbaugh proved over and over again to be the wrong way to go. Now we know what works and we should stick with it.

[walldude]

9. Actually he just needs to be laughed at. Like all the others

Instead of getting pissed we should all be just laughing our asses off. The Jon Stewart approach. They like it when they piss people off. They don't like it when they are treated like the joke they are.

If it were up to me there would be giant PouponGate threads every day laughing at the absurdity of Hannity's views. I used to get angry at the pundits till we won the election and they turned from enablers to laughing stocks. I say laugh daily and keep reminding them of just how foolish they look.

Hell just today Newtie decided that "Pelosi has some explaining to do". That's right the people who tortured and ordered torture are ok but Pelosi might have known about it and lied about knowing so she's the one who has some explaining to do. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[lunatica]

10. His career took off because we ignored him. He is a narcissist and whether

we ignore him or not he will say outrageous things. He isn't benign either. He has followers who do anything he says including flooding Democrat's mailboxes and delivering life threatening missives. Why do you think he has so much power over the Republicans. Why do you think they go grovelling to him after they try to disown him? It's because they fear him. And they're right to fear him because he has attack dogs.

[OneGrassRoot]

12. What you said. n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

11. I hear what you are saying, yet to me it's a desire to...

expose the "man behind the curtain."

Limbaugh and Company have influenced a significant portion of this population for far too long (and made millions doing so). We forget that there are many citizens who DO get their news from Limbaugh, Faux, etc. They believe the lies that are spewed...wholeheartedly and without question. It's amazing to us that anyone believes any one source nowadays, but they do.

If the lies and complete hypocrisy were exposed, maybe...just maybe....a portion of that population would wake up and pay closer attention.

I think they're starting to, which is why not letting these media bullies have free reign feels so important right now.

But I also know there will always be those who seek people like Limbaugh, Beck, etc. They hear and see what they want to hear and see.

Still....maybe there are some who may still see the sham for what it is.

[TankLV]

13. umm - BECAUSE WE CAN MULTI-TASK!!!

unlike repukes, we can do many things AT THE SAME TIME, and STILL BE EFFECTIVE AT ALL!!!

besides, bitching and moaning about rush is a HOBBY for many, and an enjoyable one at that - aside from the fact that TAKING HIM DOWN would be a GREAT SUPPORT for the BETTERMENT of the COUNTRY.

[Vickers]

14. Actually, I think the more we make him the "face" of the GOP the better.

Put the ugliness of conservatism right out there, and the moderates will turn to us.

All Hail Rush Limpballs, the Leader of the Republican Party!

:patriot:

[metapunditedgy]

15. There's no wasted effort, it's easy enough to poke fun at his hypocrisy.

Plus, I think it's occasionally informative to know what he's up to. He's a strategist like Rove and buddies with Cheney, and he drags around at least a few million voters on a leash.

I actually think he's approaching the point where he's more useful to the left as a punching bag than to the right as a leader.

[Paladin]

16. Hey, Maybe You're Right.

I mean, just because Limbaugh's done more than any single individual in the history of this country to disrupt civil discourse, that's no reason to get our panties in a twist, right?

If you're so anxious to ignore a right-winger, concentrate on somebody like Ann Coulter. She's a self-caricature who isn't dangerous anymore. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is now the de facto head of the Republican Party, and attention must be paid........