{"id":1273,"date":"2009-05-20T10:26:57","date_gmt":"2009-05-20T17:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1273"},"modified":"2009-05-20T13:32:41","modified_gmt":"2009-05-20T20:32:41","slug":"rush-limbaugh-to-msnbc-leave-me-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1273","title":{"rendered":"Rush Limbaugh To MSNBC: Leave Me Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The towering ego that is Rush Limbaugh is tottering on its foundation. On his radio rant yesterday, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/home\/daily\/site_051909\/content\/01125112.guest.html\" target=\"_blank\">Limbaugh lashed out<\/a> at what he perceives to be a vicious cabal, led by MSNBC, dedicated to being mean to him. In the typical manner of bullies everywhere, Rush wiped his nose, stammered a bit, then fired back a volley of indignant spittle:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color:#0d00d0;\">&#8220;It is clear to me that MSNBC is hoping to build its ratings on my back. [&#8230;]  they cannot go any appreciable length of time without showing video of me [&#8230;] or excerpts from this radio show or having a bunch of hack guests on to discuss me.  So my challenge is this, to MSNBC [&#8230;] Let&#8217;s see if you can do Rush withdrawal. Let&#8217;s see if you can run your little TV network for 30 days without doing a single story on me&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Poor Rush. Those meanies at MSNBC won&#8217;t stop saying stuff about him. He would like it much better, I&#8217;m sure, if he were allowed to spout off about whatever he wants, no matter how ignorant or infested with lies, without some TV news commentators pointing out what a fraud he is. He would be so very happy if, for just thirty days, he could be free from having his ill-informed tripe rebutted by facts and logic.<\/p>\n<p>This is the same Limbaugh who can&#8217;t go a day without flailing at what he calls the <em>&#8220;drive-by&#8221;<\/em> media. He is one of the most vituperative critics of any and all press with whom he disagrees. He bashes MSNBC regularly, but now he is begging for a thoroughly one-sided truce.<\/p>\n<p>What could have provoked this pique? Ordinarily Limbaugh would be thrilled that people were talking about him at all. He frequently asserts that his adversaries just make him stronger. Now, all of a sudden, he wants them to shut up? Perhaps he revealed the answer in this remark:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color:#0d00d0;\">&#8220;As you know, Michael Steele made a speech today outlining the future of the Republican Party.  And apparently he mentioned every conservative&#8217;s name in the book except mine and Cheney&#8217;s.  This has caused many excited media people to point this out.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There it is. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/printpage\/?url=http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2009\/05\/19\/end_to_era_of_gop_apologizing_96565.html\" target=\"_blank\">Steele&#8217;s speech<\/a> actually cited only three conservatives (all deceased), in a rambling dissertation on how his leadership will bring change <em>&#8220;delivered in a tea bag.&#8221;<\/em> But by leaving out Limbaugh (not deceased, but still extinct), Steele set off a media frenzy that didn&#8217;t include the de facto head of the Republican Party. That is an unforgivable oversight that must be immediately corrected by imploring the press to pay more attention to Boss Limbaugh.<\/p>\n<p>So Rush issues a challenge that he knows won&#8217;t be considered in an attempt to turn the spotlight back on himself. In the process he advocates for constraining the free speech rights of his critics. And underlying all of that, he exposes himself as the thin-skinned, sorehead that we all knew him to be. If Limbaugh really wants MSNBC and others to leave him alone, there is one very simple way to accomplish that: Leave!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Late Breaking:<\/strong> On his radio program today Rush issued this announcement regarding his position as Republican Party chief:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color:#0d00d0;\">&#8220;I have been anointed to this position by members of the drive-by media, and of course, the Obama White House. I am resigning as the titular head of the Republican Party.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Uh oh. Does that mean that the party is stuck with Michael Steele? Rush nominated Colin Powell for the job, but let&#8217;s be realistic&#8230;it&#8217;s more likely to be Dick Cheney. Given the choice of Limbaugh, Steele, Powell, or Cheney, Democrats would probably choose all of the above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The towering ego that is Rush Limbaugh is tottering on its foundation. On his radio rant yesterday, Limbaugh lashed out at what he perceives to be a vicious cabal, led by MSNBC, dedicated to being mean to him. In the typical manner of bullies everywhere, Rush wiped his nose, stammered a bit, then fired back [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,16],"tags":[514,22,71],"class_list":["post-1273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-wankery","tag-michael-steele","tag-msnbc","tag-rush-limbaugh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-kx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10382,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10382","url_meta":{"origin":1273,"position":0},"title":"RNC Votes To Ban CNN\/MSNBC Debates &#8211; Which They Have No Power To Do","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/16\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For the past couple of weeks there has been a flurry of fretful reporting about a threat by Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus to ban CNN and MSNBC from the GOP primary debate schedule. Priebus is disturbed by currently non-existent projects about Hillary Clinton that he is certain will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10094,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10094","url_meta":{"origin":1273,"position":1},"title":"Fox News Promotes Rush Limbaugh&#8217;s Attack On Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/9\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For the second time today, Fox News has attacked itself. Earlier this morning Fox Nation posted an article meant to disparage MSNBC, but also included a quote saying that Fox News is \"ridiculously fact-free.\" But apparently they weren't through self-flagellating because this afternoon they decided to heap more punishment on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1259,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1259","url_meta":{"origin":1273,"position":2},"title":"Top 10 Crazy Political Commentators","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/4\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"According to AskMen.com, the Top 10 Crazy Political Commentators are: Bill O'Reilly Keith Olbermann Ann Coulter Michael Savage Rush Limbaugh Sean Hannity Chris Matthews Geraldo Rivera Dennis Miller Glenn Beck Somehow I missed this list when it was published back in February. On the surface it doesn't seem particularly groundbreaking.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10424,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10424","url_meta":{"origin":1273,"position":3},"title":"Stupid Tea Party Tricks: FreedomWorks Launches Pointless Boycott Against Comcast","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/23\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tea Party has been involved in too many idiotic escapades to count. One of their more memorable proposals was to fly a plane over the Superbowl with a banner reading \"Impeach Obama.\" Apparently they were not aware that the game would be played in a domed stadium and that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6557,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6557","url_meta":{"origin":1273,"position":4},"title":"Rush Limbaugh&#8217;s &#8216;Apology&#8217; Just Makes Things Worse","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/3\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Today Rush Limbaugh issued what he must regard as an apology for having insulted a young woman - actually all women - who are seeking to obtain health care coverage from private insurance companies. For three days Limbaugh has been defending having called Sandra Fluke a \"slut\" and a \"prostitute\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6640,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6640","url_meta":{"origin":1273,"position":5},"title":"The Free Market Speaks: 98 Advertisers Ditch Rush Limbaugh &#8211; And More","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/10\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The fallout from Rush Limbaugh's attacks on Sandra Fluke is growing exponentially. Reports to date have shown that advertisers are responding to the public revulsion of a political heavyweight battering a private citizen who was exercising her right to free speech. The latest accounting of bailing advertisers was reported by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}