Yesterday, I called Rush Limbaugh. In his first hour monologue, he told his audience that he is tired of hearing establishment Republicans whine about how formidable Barack Obama is as a candidate. This is standard fare for Rush; he's repeated this trope dozens of times. He always concludes by saying that the worst Republican in the field - including the nuts (Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman according to Rush) - are orders of magnitude more appealing than the "man-boy" that snuck into the White House, unvetted, in 2008. He reiterates that the Republicans don't need a strong candidate - a container of Turtle Wax could beat him in this economy.
I decided to challenge him on that today, but from the right.
Honestly, left or right, isn't in the country's interest to at least have a competent President?
I called the program, and after hitting redial a few minutes, Bo Snerdely picked up. I made my case and he asked me to hold. An hour later I was on the air with Rush.
A coordinated campaign of liberal callers infiltrating Limbaugh's show, circumventing the screener, and peppering the host with a wide range of questions that Rush cannot possibly answer adequately (honestly, anyway), seems to be getting under his skin.
Today, Limbaugh was tearing into Dick Durbin because the Senator gave a floor speech that suggested Bank of America account holders should close their accounts and bank with some other institution that would not be so quick to nickle and dime them. (BofA just announced that they'd begin charging debit card users a $5 monthly fee).
The nut of Limbaugh's argument was that a United States Senator has no business interfering in the private sector like that. It's just not the role of elected officials, Rush says.
So I called and pretended to be Kevin from Clifton Park, NY. I told Snerdley that Rush can't have it both ways. If he's going to condemn Durbin for interfering in private sector markets, then he should equally condemn Republicans for interfering with the market services Planned Parenthood provides. Snerdley liked it and put me on hold.
While on hold, I started thinking of other times that Republicans attacked market actors. Like the Dixie Chicks. The New York Times... And then I remembered reading an old story about how Limbaugh came to be carried by the Armed Forces Radio network: Republican Congressman pressured the Pentagon's brass until they caved.
So I waited about an hour, and finally Rush got to my call. This is what I said, but you should really watch the video to get the full context of why this call is so revealing:
Me: "Hey Rush, you've talked about how Durbin... It's just not his place as a Senator to get involved. But I've heard Republicans get involved in telling women where they can get health care with Planned Parenthood, they said don't buy Dixie Chicks records, they've railed against the New York Times and I know of at least one impotent, pill-popping propagandist on the radio that got his start on the Armed Forces talk radio at the behest of Republican interference. So please don't tell us that it's not the place of a politician to talk out...talk out... speak out about issues that are important to millions and millions of people."
Rush: "I don't know what politician told people not to buy the Dixie Chicks records. What are you talking about? Planned Parenthood? You know... you... again... identify yourself and the way you think as another obstacle all the rest of us face for our freedom... you're just a glittering jewel of colossal ignorance... you're an arrogant snob... and arrogant, full-fledged snob and you don't know 10% of what you think you know... because you've been ill-informed, misinformed by a faulty education system or whatever it is. But, people like you... you're part of the pack we're gonna hafta run over... you're just part of the pack we're gonna look at and smile in the rear-view mirror in 2012. Take care Kevin, have a great day."
The end of this video is the important bit. Rush NEVER loses his cool the way he did with the caller that immediately followed me. Part of his appeal is that he's not like the "rest of them". He'll insult liberals, but you won't see throbbing veins and spittle flying. He's never out of control.
At least not until today. And today, he took it out on a ditto-head.
If you watch the video closely, you can see that he and his producer are messaging back and forth toward the end of my call. When Rush is informed that it's me - again - the slow boil begins. And oon enough it boils over when the next caller repeatedly mentions Bo Snerdley - Limbaugh's incompetent screener - that I had just duped... again.
I'm still recruiting for more people to join our talk radio disruption crew. Right now we're taking on Jabba the Rushbo, but once we're through with him, we'll turn to the others. These folks got the Fairness Doctrine repealed, but that doesn't mean we can't level the playing field. If you want to join us, email me at stark.m AT gmail DOT com.
I recently attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in D.C., with video camera in hand, to report on the attendees. I was particularly interested in interviewing James O'Keefe, the miscreant (and accused felon) responsible for the ACORN video media hoax that The BRAD BLOG has been meticulously detailing for several weeks, including the important focus on how the mainstream corporate media (the old-media) has been had by the scam.
O'Keefe's phony "pimp" story has been debunked, but, as Brad Friedman has shown, the old-media remains remarkably reticent to admit their errors, and the publisher of the videos, O'Keefe's employer and promoter, Andrew Breitbart has been unwilling to help them off the hook. Witness the outrageous email responses from the NYTimes' Senior Editor for Standards Greg Brock and then from their Public Editor Clark Hoyt, when it was shown to them that "the paper of record" had been had -- that O'Keefe had never "visited Acorn offices...dressed so outlandishly" in the now-infamous "pimp" costume as the paper had reported, as O'Keefe had represented, and as Breitbart himself had claimed in his own column, to the public.
While I didn't get the chance to speak with O'Keefe, I did catch up with his partner in fraud, Hannah Giles. Alas, she was surrounded by a protective coterie and fled without answering any questions when one of her entourage recognized me.
But then my luck turned. I trekked to the basement to cover the "XPAC" party and found myself standing shoulder to shoulder with Breitbart, O'Keefe's promoter, publisher and employer, and owner of the website which launched the infamously damaging, misleading, deceptive and highly doctored video tapes. I had previously questioned Breitbart at a press conference at the National Press Club press last October. He's had a pretty easy ride of it since then, facing questioning only from a largely adulatory press.
Though old-media, as Brad has shown, have been remarkably reluctant to demand answers to hard questions from Breitbart -- or any of the players involved in the ACORN secret video scheme -- I felt it important to do so for a number of reasons. The results were revealing, both in Breitbart's insanely manic demeanor, and in the substantive content of his answers to my questions.
Ultimately, as I believe you'll find in the video, he reveals a lot about his own editorial judgment, professionalism and reliability -- none of it is good…
Have you ever wondered what life would be like in an alternative universe where people lived their lives in the shadow of paranoid fantasies and incompatible superstitions, and acted accordingly?
Well… wonder no more! I went to CPAC and shot a bunch of video.
Unfortunately, I was only able to attend for a day, so I missed an awful lot of funhouse insanity. But… Friday was a day that will remain with me forever. There aren’t enough therapists in the world to scrub that experience out of my psyche.
I should have known better, but I was kind of hoping that CPAC would attract conservatives on the leading edge of their movement who would be intellectually prepared and eager to wield their razor-sharp rapiers in defense of all that is good… you know… God and Ronald Reagan and… uhm… whatever else there is.
Sadly, that wasn’t quite the case.
The first person I ran into was Daryll Issa. I tried to ask him about the stimulus and recovery; he wasn’t much interested in silly and irrelevant things like facts:
Later in the conference, I caught up with Mike Pence and Steve King. They had lotsa time to stand in the spotlight and bask in adulation, but when it came time to answer a question or two about policy and stimulus/recovery/pork… well… they suddenly had more pressing things to do as staff hustled them away, telling me they were in a very big hurry. Like Issa before them, they were simply hustled a few yards away to a place they could bask in more spotlight and adulation.
So… unfortunately, I do not have a lot to report on when it comes to elected officials.
I also ran into John Bolton, Kenneth Blackwell and John Ashcroft. I told each of them that in person, they look a lot less evil than they do in the blogosphere. They were each gracious and good humored, but I was unable to secure an interview with any of them.
I did run into Jonah Goldberg. We had met previously on the set of Reliable Sources and although I do not think he recognized me, he did give me a lengthy interview. First we talked stimulus and economic policy, then we turned to his book and his ideas regarding fascism.
Last week over at StarkReports.com, I began asking Republican opponents of health care reform if they could tell me how many of their constituents are uninsured. I asked Joe Wilson, Steve King, Jim DeMint, Darryl Issa and Virginia Foxx. None of them could answer the question.
Today, after months of debate, the House vote is upon us. Steve King decided to rally the tea-baggers on the Capitol lawn one more time. About 15-25 other Republicans joined him on the stage at various times. I caught several of them as they made their way between their offices, the chamber and the rally. Once again, not a single republican I spoke with knew how many of their constituents are uninsured. The lonely guy in the middle of the video that did know? That's Dan Boren, a Blue Dog Democrat from Oklahoma...
Next up… Rep. Louie Gohmert (also in the first video) tells me my private insurance will be taken from me by this bill:
Finally, and I wish I could say the last video is shocking, but, alas, this is where we find ourselves today ... Representative Steven King, the leader of today’s anti-reform rally, tells a crowd that the Democratic bill requires the government to encourage suicide and/or assisted suicide. Not making it up; he’s explicit ... he uses those very words:
