Gregory's inability to name Limbaugh head of the GOP is tragic.

[certainot]

David Gregory's use of the term 'grand wizard' was over the top for a mainstream media talking head but his inability to recognize why Herman Cain is still in the race is part of a tragedy that has been plaguing US politics for 20 years. That the mainstream still doesn't know the main reason Sarah Palin was chosen was to get Rush Limbaugh support for John McCain at the last minute before the GOP convention is part of that tragedy.

"When asked by Ann Curry if he thought the Republican party would want Cain to "just go away," Gregory said: "There is no, you know, grand wizard in the party right now who can really force the issue."

Gregory could have used poobah, king, or enforcer and named Limbaugh and he would have been correct. Cain is still in the race because Limbaugh is still defending him. That means most of the other right wing talkers will also defend him. Maybe it's because the Koch brothers are paying for it, maybe it's because the racist Limbaugh likes the Cain as the billionaire's slave, or maybe he's solid with a brother misogynist and abuser.

The only reason Cain is even in the race is that the Party of Lincoln has increasingly become the Party of Limbaugh. There is no one more powerful in the GOP. There is no one who better represents the morals and standards of the modern Republican Party, or who has done more to get them where they are now, than Limbaugh. The Koch's have been outed and the Tea Party gained power because Koch operatives gave bus passes and schedules to the talk radio Limbaugh/Hannity/Beck dittoheads that Karl Rove used to control. Rove lost the White House and central control of who's talking points get laundered through the right wing radio monopoly, which starts with Limbaugh.

The incredibly incompetent, ignorant, and unacceptable field of candidates the GOP has presented is a direct result of the inability of the 'Left' and the media to recognize this fact, mainly because it is off their radar. Increasingly, the ability of GOP candidates to make it through the local and national primaries is directly proportional to their ability to repeat the prechewed talk radio material, later reinforced visually on Fox.

Whatever the reason, as soon as Limbaugh starts backing off his defense of Cain (and threatening the accusers), Cain will drop back to Bachman numbers. For those who think Fox is the main culprit, I would challenge them to find on Fox anywhere near the same level of sexism and misogyny as Limbaugh has been blasting to 15-20 million of Americans every day in defense of Cain, and in his efforts to intimidate the accusers. It is the same swiftboating that was used against Anita Hill. It was Limbaugh who was most responsible for Clarence Thomas on the supreme court.

And it is outrageous that many of our largest universities endorse Limbaugh (and Hannity, and Beck, and Savage) by broadcasting sports on so many of his stations (15 of 16 NCAA basketball finalists, for example). It is so important to those stations that they pay the universities to do it. It brings in advertisers and acceptance. And our universities are paid while those right wing radio stations are used to sell war, wall street deregulation, torture, global warming denial, and to obstruct one political party while turning the other into a tragic joke.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. Limbaugh elects Republican candidates

and Grover Norquist controls them once they are in office. Some democracy, hunh?

[pbrower2a]

7. Government by lobbyists?

The lobbyists have become the enforcers of right-wing political orthodoxy. Republicans who win with the aid of front organizations are obliged to vote for the interests of those who funded their elections instead of their districts. When politicians must sell out their conscience and service to their constituents in favor of the uniform ideology of the Party, then we no longer have democracy.

[certainot]

9. a main function of RW radio is to create made-to-order constituencies for the lobbyists

there's still enough competition in politics and media that even republican pols have to pretend to have a constituency, and that's what the think tank-coordinated unchallenged repetition from talk radio is uniquely good at, while swiftboating competing constituencies.

the only reason the GOP can deny global warming so uniformly for the oil and coal industry is because they can point to enough well-dissinformed talk radio morons as their constituents- regarddless of the real numbers- and then get pummeled by the same idiots when team limbaugh repeats their name a few times for not following the line.

[Hamlette]

2. It's not Limbaugh, it's the Koch brothers

and other big money republicans. Last cycle it was Scarife (sp?) who put up all the money to investigate and impeach Clinton.

Cain is backed by the Koch brothers. Limbaugh will never go against the Koch brothers because they have all the money. The Koch brothers (and Limbaugh) want a puppet in office to lower their taxes because they resent paying for someone else.

When I talk to republicans that is the recurring theme: why should I work hard to pay for someone who does not.

It's all about money.

(They also love Cain because it allows them to believe, in their pointed little heads, that they are not racist. It is still racist. They are not going to let the guy win but next time they do a poster of Obama as a witch doctor they can say: "racist? Us? Remember, we supported Cain and he would have won too had you no put those women up to the lies they told about him! You're the real racists!"

They would love the black vote but they know they will never get it. And they are master name callers but they hate it when someone calls them names. They don't even like to be called rich anymore!

[certainot]

4. democracy was designed to counter money in politics, the dif last 20 years is talk radio and

the fact he left has no clue that it's been kicking their ass

koch/tebagger success in wisconsin, for instance, was sold largely from talk radio stations in that state, piggy backing on 20 years of limbaugh and other national blowhards- that is the koch megaphone.

[Hamlette]

5. it's not that the left has no clue, it's that talk radio does not work for ppl on the left

I listened to some Air America, I didn't like it. Can't watch much cable news (Rachel Keith et al) because it gets boring.

Right wing talk radio is geared towards and attracts ppl who like black and white solutions and who have no problem with name calling and lies.

It's why the left owns the internet, PBS and NPR. We want to learn new stuff and hear honest analysis, not over the top tribalism.

Rush and Fox spend their time calling liberals names and making shit up to fit their preconceived narrative. I'm not interesting in that.

It's why Air America didn't work.

[certainot]

8. the left has no clue - RW radio kicks internet ass, it's undemocratic, and

it's irrelevant whether it works for the left - its monopoly has nothing to do with market forces or free speech - they use the loudest stations in the country to reach 50 mil a week with coordinated lies and propaganda on stations licensed to operate in the public interest and the left shouldn't give a fuck what the right says the people want.

in that regard, do you really think in a country that voted so overwhelmingly for obama 95% want limbaugh? air america was set up to fail with interference, precisely because the brains on the right know how important that monopoly is and as long as the clueless left lets them beat the crap out of their politicians and ideals all day and sell bush and war and reagan and deregulation the left is going to keep getting beaten.

progressive talkers like hartmann and randi rhodes beat the limbaughs on an even playing field but the monopoly is hard to compete against. they'r enot selling flooring and hair tonic and cars, they successfully sold bush, iraq, deregulation and global warming denial and a lot more as long as there is NO organized opposition to it and the left just walks by with their fingers in their ears.

[Hamlette]

11. Hartman and Rhodes are as boring as Rush and Hannity

while your conspiracy theory about air america is interesting, that is not why it failed. It failed because ppl like me thought it was boring and wouldn't listen. And I was not alone.

[certainot]

13. your mother is a whore and your father is a traitor

- that's what they've been yelling about liberals from 1000 radio stations for 20 years and the left has ignored it.

you can ignore radio all you want and be as active as you want in other ways, but as long as the left as a whole ignores this problem the 1% is going to be able to use it to minimize all your activism and donations with a few blowhards with big microphones.

if a guy stands on the corner and screams that all day about you and you just walk by with your ipod in your ear pretty soon your neighbors believe it and you're going to have to move.

it doesn't matter what you consider boring, the point is the left has allowed the right to kick their ass and take free pot shots at them all day long from the biggest stations in the country and we're here in large part because of it. PS a lot of talk radio is background noise while working and driving, and in most parts of the US there are no alts in those situations for politics- that is the problem.

BTW an anschutz (sp?) son was one of the main air am funders, one of the main front men is hiding from US justice in the phillipines, and there's a movie about other aspects of it somewhere. got a slow connection or i'd send some links.

[Odin2005]

3. The nuts spout the same talking points over and over again, it's tedious.

[RC]

6. Reinforcement puts the "Truth" to the lie.

Because they then hear it from a number of 'different' sources.

[certainot]

10. limbaugh gets first dibs on the think tank talking points, then hannity and the rest rechew and

add their own flavor

and then fox puts visual icing on the lie turd pie to seal the deal

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. Occupy Rush Limbaugh

[certainot]

14. WABC is a parent limbaugh station, near Penn station, NY . they are GOP HQs, wall st megaphones

creating made-to-order constituencies for whatever wall street wants to push or stop. they are the 'popular' voice of the 1%.

[theotherlimp]

15. listen

accident double post

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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