Showing posts with label Politics Civility. Show all posts

Monday, April 24, 2017

I am so tired of hearing about politics. Make it stop. Make it stop.

http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/2017/04/i-am-so-tired-of-hearing-about-politics.html

*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

I'll just leave this right here.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Newseum: Discussion, dissent, disagreement, and debate. Jan. 20, 2017

*****

Friday, October 31, 2014

The Heritage Foundation: The Pity Party A Mean-Spirited Diatribe Against Liberal Compassion

The Heritage Foundation invites you to a Book Event t

The Pity Party

A Mean-Spirited Diatribe Against Liberal Compassion

featuring author William Voegeli

Senior Editor, Claremont Review of Books

The finest trick of the devil, Baudelaire once wrote, is to persuade you that he does not exist. Modern liberalism, being far less devilish, has pulled a lesser, but still effective, trick: It has convinced Americans that conservatives don’t care. In fact, the left has made “caring” their exclusive prerogative and successfully framed most political debates as pitting compassionate liberals against heartless conservatives. Along the way, liberals have built a remarkable edifice of government programs that are justified by appeals to citizens’ compassion.

In The Pity Party: A Mean-Spirited Diatribe Against Liberal Compassion, Bill Voegeli offers a scathing critique of the politics of liberal compassion. Voegeli chronicles how liberal compassion ultimately fails to deliver on its promise to help others, although it never fails to make liberals feel better about themselves.

William Voegeli is a Senior Editor of the Claremont Review of Books, a Visiting Scholar at Claremont McKenna College’s Henry Salvatori Center, and the author of Never Enough: America’s Limitless Welfare State (Encounter Books, 2010).

___________________________________________________

Thursday, November 6, at noon

Host:

David Azerrad

Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics, The Heritage Foundation

RSVP online | or call (202) 675-1752

Terms and conditions of attendance are posted at heritage.org/Events/terms.cfm

All events may be viewed live at heritage.org

News media inquiries, call (202) 675-1761

The Heritage Foundation’s Lehrman Auditorium

~ Books will be available for purchase and to be signed by the author ~

214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE | Washington, DC 20002 | (202) 546-4400

*****

Monday, June 30, 2014

9 things we learned about Pippa Middleton in her first TV interview - TODAY.com

9 things we learned about Pippa Middleton in her first TV interview - TODAY.com: Eun Kyung Kim TODAY June 30, 2014 http://www.today.com/news/pippa-middleton-speaks-heres-9-things-we-learned-1D79862019

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2014/06/9-things-we-learned-about-pippa.html

"She’s the sister of one of the world’s best known royals and became an instant celebrity after her bridesmaid gown got her more attention than she expected — and nearly upstaged her sister’s wedding.

Since then, Pippa Middleton has captured the world’s curiosity, landing gigs as a party planner and, more recently, as a writer. She’s a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and a food columnist for the British Waitrose Kitchen magazine.

The normally tight-lipped 30-year-old younger sister of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, sat down recently with TODAY’s Matt Lauer for her first television interview. Here are 9 things we learned about Pippa." http://www.today.com/news/pippa-middleton-speaks-heres-9-things-we-learned-1D79862019

Hat Tip to my brother-in-law for calling to my attention the article... Caroline and I had a very brief interview with Ms. Middleton when she came through town on the Race Across America and came away with a very-very positive first impression - "Pippa's team latest attraction for Carroll County cycling fans." http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archives-0702-20140624,0,5021714.story

Philippa Charlotte "Pippa" Middleton, the sister of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge and the sister-in-law of an heir to the British throne, Prince William; joined a long and storied tradition of bicycling history in Carroll County when she dashed through Westminster Friday night a week ago.

Unlike the newspaper reports of throngs of spectators for a Carroll County bicycling event over a hundred years ago on June 30, 1898, the “great Bicycle Race Meet under the supervision of the Cycling Ramblers of Westminster,” my wife and I were the only persons on Main Street at the railroad tracks to greet Middleton and her team at 10:48 p.m.

Middleton was riding in the team car behind a teammate who was taking their turn on the bike. We called to her attention the British phone booth behind us at Johansson’s as we exchanged pleasantries as she and her teammates stopped at the traffic light.

Before it landed on the cutting room floor, I also wrote, "

Middleton, who is better known as a writer, first caught the public’s eye at her sister’s royal wedding on April 29, 2011; when she wore an ivory-colored figure-hugging dress in her role as the maid of honour.

Since then she has maintained the public’s attention with sense of style, ‘fascinator’ hats and writing columns for several publications including The Spectator, Vanity Fair, and The Sunday Telegraph. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archives-0702-20140624,0,5021714.story

I am seriously not a fan of "Today." That said, I really appreciated the interview - and thanks for calling to our attention the article, "9 things...” I was struck with two things: First because I am a writer, I noticed her say, “I want to carry on writing. I've always loved writing. So that's the plan. And a few other things in the pipeline,” she said, declining to elaborate. “There’s so much I'd love to achieve. And I still want to keep up the sport and health side of things because that's really important to me. So trying to blend that in with my love of writing and food and entertaining.

The second item that really caught my eye, is the same thing that has really bothered Caroline and me about being a public person in the age of social media. It may seem naive of me, but I am constantly aghast at how mean people can be. People who do not even know us - especially when people are being mean about things that are simply not true.

I mean, I realize that I am writing this on social media and I should probably just shut up. But I remain bewildered about the level of meanness that came from working with the public and especially the press...

I appreciated it when Ms. Middleton said, “I have felt publicly bullied a little bit just by, you know, when I read things that clearly aren't true or that, whichever way someone looks at it, it's a negative side,” she said. “It is quite difficult. Because eventually I'm just paving my way and trying to live a life like any 30-year-old.”

Just saying...

'via Blog this'

+++++++++++++++

Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Patuxent Publishing Co., The Carroll Eagle: www.explorecarroll.com: http://www.explorecarroll.com/search/?s=Dayhoff&action=GO
The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41

Westminster Patch: http://westminster.patch.com/search?keywords=Dayhoff

Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
+++++++++++++++

Monday, April 08, 2013

WATCH: MSNBC Host Tears Into Margaret Thatcher

WATCH: MSNBC Host Tears Into Margaret Thatcher

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/martin-bashir-on-margaret_n_3037853.html

Martin Bashir On Margaret Thatcher: 'Incredibly Divisive' (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post | By Jack Mirkinson

Posted: 04/08/2013

MSNBC's Chuck Todd and Martin Bashir seemed to be on two different planets when it came to discussing the legacy of the late Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher died on Monday morning, prompting a huge wave of media coverage in both America and Britain. She was perhaps the most polarizing political figure of her generation, but Todd's summation had only kind words... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/martin-bashir-on-margaret_n_3037853.html

*****

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Kevin Dayhoff - TheTentacle.com: The kerfuffle was no fluke

TheTentacle.com: http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=4959

March 7, 2012

The kerfuffle was no fluke

Kevin E. Dayhoff

Rush Limbaugh and conservatives could not have looked more like total and complete idiots in the recent national discussions over the private lives of individual Americans than if the liberal media and Democrats had written the script for this Kabuki circular firing squad.

Mr. Limbaugh’s utterly stupid attack on Sandra Fluke, whom Caroline May described in the Daily Caller last Saturday as “the beleaguered third-year Georgetown University Law Center student,” crossed the line for any fair-minded American whether one supports or vehemently disagrees with her views or her lifestyle.

Don Surber explained it well on Saturday when he called on Mr. Limbaugh to apologize. “What happened was simple: He tried to use a lefty way to counter what a lefty did. He tried to demonize her like the left did with Sarah Palin but he could not get away with that …”

So far in the presidential election of 2012 the only debate among historians is just which national election in history has the opposition party collectively conducted a more inept campaign to unseat a sitting president? ... http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=4959

Kevin Dayhoff - TheTentacle.com: The kerfuffle was no fluke

'via Blog this'

Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/) http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff

Scribd Kevin Dayhoff: http://www.scribd.com/kdayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoffKevin Dayhoff's YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/kevindayhoffFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/kevindayhoffKevin Dayhoff Banana Stems: http://kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/Gizmo's: http://www.gizmosart.com/dayhoff.html

Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/ “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Don Surber commentary: Rush apologizes

Rush apologizes

March 3, 2012 by Don Surber

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/52411

Do I get result or not? Forget boycotts and the like, when I speak Rush Limbaugh listens. I called on him at 7 AM to apologize.

Now he has:

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress…

[…]

What happened was simple: He tried to use a lefty way to counter what a lefty did. He tried to demonize her like the left did with Sarah Palin but he could not get away with that because…

[…]

The Left will not forgive or forget this incident which means, of course, absolutely nothing. It does not matter if they accept the apology. Let them chatter among themselves. Let them distort what he says because heaven forbid if the Left accurately quoted him. Really, who cares what people on the Left think?

But fairness required an apology. It matters what we conservatives think about him and about ourselves.

[…]

Read Mr. Surber’s entire commentary here: http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/52411

*****

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Rush Limbaugh apologizes to Georgetown law student for insulting her

Saturday, March 3, 2012 6:14:02 PM

POLITICS NEWS ALERT

Rush Limbaugh apologizes to Georgetown law student for insulting her

Conservative talk show host posted the apology on his Web site: "... I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke," wrote Rush Limbaugh, who on Friday vilified student Sandra Fluke for her public support of health plans that cover the cost of contraceptives.

Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rush-limbaugh-apologizes-to-georgetown-law-student-for-insulting-her/2012/03/03/gIQAtaJKpR_story.html

Or visit PostPolitics.com.

*****

Friday, March 02, 2012

Olympia Snowe: Why I’m leaving the Senate - The Washington Post

Olympia Snowe: Why I’m leaving the Senate - The Washington Post: "By Olympia J. Snowe, Published: March 1

Olympia J. Snowe is a Republican senator from Maine.

Two truths are all too often overshadowed in today’s political discourse: Public service is a most honorable pursuit, and so is bipartisanship.

I have been immeasurably honored to serve the people of Maine for nearly 40 years in public office and for the past 17 years in the United States Senate. It was incredibly difficult to decide that I would not seek a fourth term in the Senate." ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/olympia-snowe-why-im-leaving-the-senate/2012/03/01/gIQApGYZlR_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop

'via Blog this'

Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

Monday, January 23, 2012

Occupiers Glitter-Bomb Santorum Concession Speech - Summerville, SC Patch

Occupiers Glitter-Bomb Santorum Concession Speech - Summerville, SC Patch:

Gay rights activists and Occupy Charleston chant 'Rick, Rick, Rick, bigot, bigot, bigot.'

By Lindsay Street

THE CITADEL — About 20 demonstrators crashed the Rick Santorum results party at the military college in Charleston.

As Santorum closed his speech focusing on building strong family values, a gay rights activist said: "Except when you're gay" and threw a handful of glitter in the air.

Members of the Occupy Charleston group joined in with chants of "Rick, Rick, Rick, bigot, bigot, bigot" and singing "Santorum, Santorum, you're a bigot." As police escorted the group out ... http://summerville.patch.com/articles/occupiers-crash-santorum-concession-speech

'via Blog this'

*****

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Jon Huntsman quits Republican presidential race, endorses Mitt Romney - Laments toxic tone of the Republican primary race…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jon-huntsman-quits-presidential-race-endorses-romney/2012/01/15/gIQAt6c51P_story.html

By Dan Balz and Chris Cillizza, January 16, 2012

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman abandoned his quest for the presidency Monday morning with an endorsement of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and an unexpectedly sharp condemnation of the “toxic” tone that the Republican primary battle has taken.

“This race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people and not worthy of this critical time in American history,” Huntsman said in a news conference in which he was flanked by his wife, children, father and South Carolina supporters.

Huntsman did not name names in aiming criticism at his rivals, but he did take a shot at President Obama for engaging in what Huntsman called “class warfare” and said it contributed to divisiveness in American politics. But Huntsman, who often talked on the campaign trail about rebuilding trust in the political process, made clear that he thinks the GOP race has taken an ugly turn…http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jon-huntsman-quits-presidential-race-endorses-romney/2012/01/15/gIQAt6c51P_story.html

*****

Friday, October 15, 2010

MSNBC’s Ed Schultz Calls NJ Governor Chris Christie A ‘Cold-Hearted Fat Slob’

» 196 comments

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbcs-ed-schultz-calls-nj-governor-chris-christie-a-cold-hearted-fat-slob/

by Frances Martel | 3:56 pm, September 25th, 2010

VIDEO

MSNBC host Ed Schultz launched into a fuming vituperation of New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s assertive style that had him calling the governor a “smug bully” and a “fat slob,” among many other things. This after Christie had defended California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman at a meeting, telling a heckler to calm down, while Glenn Beck is proposing a daily “Christie porn” moment on his radio show.

Schultz’s point was that the right seemed to be constantly telling liberals to “calm down” while embracing loud voices like Beck, citing an inherent hypocrisy in the fact that those two get along at all. “Christie has no business telling people to be respectful,” he argues, both because of his policies and his attitude. What’s more, Christie, says Schultz, is an “out of touch, smug bully” and, ultimately, nothing more than a “cold-hearted fat slob” who, “when he doesn’t like what he hears, he accuses the other side of shouting.” Schultz concludes that someone who opposed divisiveness should not be friendly with Beck. The alternative goes without saying. He culminated by asserting that he would not stop shouting in favor of his issues– namely, racial equality and social justice... http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbcs-ed-schultz-calls-nj-governor-chris-christie-a-cold-hearted-fat-slob/

People Christie Chris NJ Gov, Journalists Schultz Ed, Media MSNBC, Politics Civility,
*****

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Dayhoff: The Tentacle - The 100 percenters and the seethers

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The 100 percenters and the seethers

Kevin E. Dayhoff

http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3960

Now that Maryland’s primary election is over and the general election is only six-plus weeks away, I only have one question left for some candidates and single issues interest groups: Is there anyone left you can annoy – friends, family, poisonous reptiles?

I have come to an age in which I do not want to wish my life away. I am not quite to the age where I avoid buying green bananas, but I am at a point where I have redoubled my efforts to enjoy and appreciate each and every day I have left on this planet.

I suspended those thoughts for the last few of weeks and have prayed that September 14 would come and go quickly.

By the time you read this, Maryland’s primary election will be history. For many, yesterday could not have come soon enough.

For others who study the day-to-day comings and goings of political candidates and what passes as a general discourse on current issues, the weeks and months leading up to yesterday’s primary were one giant headache.

Every election cycle ebbs and flows to the degree with which various people with the IQ of a desk chair and the warmth of a water moccasin engage in certain passions.

Some elections are more civil than others, but so far this election season is best described as an evolutionary breakthrough in ugliness. The threshold of my amazement has been moved once again.

It may be time that we collectively consider bringing back the monarchy... http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3960

*****

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Steve Berryman: Just getting started

Frederick News-Post Steve Berryman: Just getting started

Best wishes go out to my fellow Tentacle colleague, Steve Berryman, who is “Just Getting Started” with a weekly column every Friday in the Frederick News-Post.

The column may be found here:. http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_columnist.htm?StoryID=102092

If one cruises through the comments that accompany his column on the News-Post web site, you will realize that this is going to be fun. It appears that there are many folks out there who are quite threatened by the mere idea that Mr. Berryman will be sharing his point of view in the Frederick news and commentary scene.

All the while, please understand that his initial toe-in-the-piranha filled waters that pass for meaningful commentary in central-Maryland these days, hardly states a position. Yet the personal attacks quickly began.

Not much in the way of counter-point or meaningful and welcome fact-filled disagreement. Just hate-filled venomous commentary.

Whatever.

Mr. Berryman begins his column with:

“As we are all in this together, it is my pleasure to write you my introductory column. Mea culpas in advance as this is meant to be explanatory, and not "ruthless self-promotion"! Aspects of my activist roles have made that necessary in the past.

"Each Friday my regular musings on this opinion page will usher in a weekend for you and, I hope, find you then better informed, possibly more enlightened, and certainly more awake for the reading.

"As a citizen-journalist, being selected to have a recurring voice was an honor, and a bit of a surprise, as in the past I have to admit to being something of an "equal opportunity provocateur" in my relations with The Frederick News-Post. Seems they were listening!

"My comments have appeared in many a columnist's and story writer's in-basket through online capabilities in the electronic versions of this newspaper. Please note that almost all of these comments clearly included my name, as I believe that anonymity confers a certain disrespect for civility..."

[…]

Read his entire column here: Frederick News-Post Steve Berryman: Just getting started - http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_columnist.htm?StoryID=102092 Originally published March 05, 2010

civility anonymous comments, Journalists Berryman Steven, Journalists Tentaclers, Newspapers Frederick News-Post, Politics Civility

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/03/steve-berryman-just-getting-started.html

http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/305804.html

*****

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hating over Haiti

January 20, 2010

Hating over Haiti http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3564

Kevin E. Dayhoff

In a moment that could warm all but the coldest of hearts last Saturday, in the midst of all the despair that is now Haiti, Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton set aside their political differences for a joint appeal to raise money for that earthquake-ravaged country.

This is what our country is all about and it should make all of us proud.

The stories and pictures that have illuminated the disaster are heartbreaking. Hold your breath when you view the photo gallery posted yesterday by The Boston Globe’s “The Big Picture – news stories in photographs,” which may found here: http://tinyurl.com/yclmayb.

The earthquake which struck 16 miles west of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, measured 7.0 on the “moment magnitude scale,” and was followed by at least 33 aftershocks.

A CBS/AP news article reported that the “International Federation of the Red Cross estimates that up to three million people” were affected by the powerful earthquake.”

“While earthquakes are not uncommon in the Caribbean island country, the recent Haiti earthquake's intensity surprised experts,” observed the National Geographic Daily News web publication.

“‘It's quite strange’ from a historical perspective, said Julie Detton, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey… The last major earthquake to strike Haiti's side of the island was in 1860.”

Red Cross spokesman “Paul Conneally says the fact that the quake occurred very close to Port-au-Prince was ‘not a good indicator.’ He says Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the northern hemisphere and is ill-prepared to handle a major disaster.”

What should not be strange about the response to the disaster, which has befallen our Caribbean neighbors to the south, is the outpouring of solidarity in relief efforts from all over the world.

One reaffirming news report on television showed Mexican and Israeli search and rescue teams working side-by-side, hand-in-glove, while Jordanians provided security.

“In addition,” observed National Geographic, “the Haiti earthquake was very shallow, being centered just 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) below Earth's surface…”

What was also a surprise and just as heartbreaking, strange and shallow, was the intensity of hate just beneath the surface of the American response from people who have chosen to utilize the horrific disaster to promote an enigmatic ideological agenda.

Read the rest of the column here: Hating over Haiti http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3564

20100120 TT Hating Over Haiti ttked

*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

Thursday, October 15, 2009

MRC Alert Special: "A Rush to Ruin: The Left's Character Assassination Campaign Against Rush Limbaugh"

           ***Media Research Center Special***
         4:05pm EDT, Thursday October 15, 2009

Special Report. "A Rush to Ruin: The Left's Character Assassination
Campaign Against Rush Limbaugh"

   In the wake of leftist activists, including those disguised as
journalists and sports columnists, using fabricated quotes to smear
Rush Limbaugh as a racist in order to successfully torpedo his effort
to be part of a group making a bid to buy the NFL's St. Louis Rams,
the MRC updated a previously un-released special report documenting
the long-record of scurrilous media attacks against Limbaugh.

   Below is the executive summary of the report compiled by the
MRC's Tim Graham. We are working to get the HTML version, with
videos, online; but we do have up a PDF of the 20-page collection of
evidence. The MRC's Melanie Selmer created the cover.

   For the PDF:
http://www.mrc.org/static/uploads/RushtoRuin.pdf

   Now, the Executive Summary:

Legendary talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh recently joined a group
seeking to purchase the National Football League's St. Louis Rams,
which spurred the latest attempt by the American left-wing media to
destroy Limbaugh, or at the very least marginalize him as an
extremist -- and, they hope, marginalize the millions of American
conservatives who agree with him and enjoy his radio show. Some have
even wished on national television that he would die or be killed --
including Chris Matthews on MSNBC on October 13. Last year, HBO's
Bill Maher publicly wished he had "croaked" from a drug overdose.

Almost from the beginning of his nationally syndicated radio show in
1988, Limbaugh has exposed the worst in journalists who are supposed
to honor fairness and accuracy. Even today, with Obama and the
Democrats numerically dominating Washington, the leftist media
portray Limbaugh not as a commentator, but as a clear and present
danger who must be curtailed.

Increasingly, the Left is acting on the principle that the ends
justify the means. Anything goes in an attempt to demonize Limbaugh --
even the basics of Journalism 101. Obvious distortion and even
outright fabrications are being used in this campaign to ruin
Limbaugh. The Media Research Center has repeatedly exposed how the
media's loathing of Limbaugh has led to vicious incivility and utter
recklessness with basic facts. The leftwing
media's character assassination campaign against Limbaugh falls into
three categories:

# Vicious Personal Attacks: While journalists fiercely chronicle and
protest the most obscure mockeries of Barack Obama, these supposed
guardians of civility have insulted Rush Limbaugh as a "troll under
the bridge," a "human vat of vitriol," and a "car-wreck-quality
spectacle." Limbaugh's admission of an addiction of Oxycontin in 2003
wasn't an occasion for media compassion, as most addicts receive, but
a chance for anchormen to declare they were wearing a "permanent
smirk." Journalists even assigned Limbaugh's "anti-government"
rhetoric as a cause behind the bombing of an Oklahoma City federal
building in 1995.

# Distortions of Limbaugh's Quotes: "News" reporters have often
deliberately twisted Limbaugh's words in TV interviews and radio
routines beyond recognition. Limbaugh's declaration that he wanted
President Obama's liberal policies to fail was presented as Limbaugh
wanting the nation to fail. They mangled Limbaugh's politically
incorrect parodies, like the song "Barack the Magic Negro," in which
an Al Sharpton impersonator sings about how Barack Obama isn't an
authentic black. It didn't matter than the parody was based on a
black film critic's Los Angeles Times article titled "Obama the Magic
Negro." Some journalists even compared Limbaugh to Sister Souljah, a
rapper who suggested after the Los Angeles riots in 1992 that the
country needed "a week to kill white people."

# Outright Falsehoods and Fabrications: When leftist authors and
bloggers circulated fabricated Limbaugh quotes, "news" networks and
columnists picked them up without giving the slightest appearance of
checking for an air date or an audio clip. Opponents of Limbaugh's
Rams bid are currently claiming Limbaugh said the slavery of blacks
"had its merits," and even claiming that Limbaugh praised James Earl
Ray, the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King. Supposedly
professional cable networks used empty, undated citations like "Rush
Limbaugh On The Radio" (CNN) and even sourced a linebacker: "Cited by
James Farrior, Pittsburgh Steelers" (MSNBC). In 2007, the liberal
media and Democrats in Congress rose up as one and claimed Limbaugh
said that soldiers speaking in the media against America's wars were
"phony soldiers," when Limbaugh was referring to men who made false
claims of serving abroad.

Liberal media figures suggest it is a national injustice that
Limbaugh has the popularity and influence that he has when his words
are so vicious. But while they suggest he needs to be marginalized by
the media and the Republican establishment, their coverage and
analysis and mockery of Limbaugh has crossed every line of civility
and now shows contempt for the elementary rules of evidence.

   END of Executive Summary

   Again, for a PDF of the full report:
http://www.mrc.org/static/uploads/RushtoRuin.pdf



- Brent Baker