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George Stepanopoulos of ABC News ran a piece Sunday after George Will appeared on This Week saying: George Will: Republican Leaders Are Afraid of Rush Limbaugh

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has been inundated with criticism after calling Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University student who testified before a House committee about contraception, a “slut” and a “prostitute.” But while Democrats have fiercely condemned the comments, Republicans’ ire has been significantly more muted. ABC’s George Will told me Sunday on “This Week” that GOP leaders have steered clear of harshly denouncing Limbaugh’s comments because “Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. ”“[House Speaker John] Boehner comes out and says Rush’s language was inappropriate. Using the salad fork for your entrée, that’s inappropriate. Not this stuff,” Will said. “And it was depressing because what it indicates is that the Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb Iran, but they’re afraid of Rush Limbaugh.”

ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd said the Republicans’ apprehension to say anything negative about the conservative big hitter is based on the “myth” that Limbaugh influences a large number of Republican voters.“I think the problem is the Republican leaders, Mitt Romney and the other candidates, don’t have the courage to say what they say in quiet, which, they think Rush Limbaugh is a buffoon,” Dowd said. ”They think he is like a clown coming out of a small car at a circus. It’s great he is entertaining and all that. But nobody takes him seriously.”

It is an embarrassing fact for the GOP, but it's no surprise. I know this might seem like news to the MSM, but come, on. I actually don't believe they believe it's news, but since George Will said it, ABC ran with it. Let's just go back to March of 2009 when a couple of Republicans challenged Rush after he attacked their leadership.

Rush Limbaugh attacks Michael Steele and then Steele apologizes to RushBo.

Rush Limbaugh came out firing against the RNC's new leader Michael Steele after Steele criticised him on CNN. And as usual, the Republican bows down to the altar of Limbaugh and begs forgiveness. Limbaugh spanks Steele and tells him exactly what Steele's job is and what he should do and how he should do it.

STEELE: So let’s put it into context here. Let’s put it into context here. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary. Yes, it’s ugly.

Rush replies:

Continue reading »

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel Republican Daniel Webster admitted to sending out the "watch list" flier that was recently handed out at a town hall held by Tim Griffin (R-AR).

Webster claimed he just wanted to "share some friendly advice" with other Republicans, notably Phil Gingrey of Georgia and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, two fellow representatives he sent the document to. Webster's nonsensical explanation was that he wanted to help other members "manage" town hall meetings and protesters that attend them. What got sent out, though, had no information about how to manage anything, and instead targeted six central Florida activists with inaccurate and irrelevant information.

The Orlando Sentinel, notable for it's right wing leanings, uncritically accepted Webster's take on the protesters, saying that they "disrupted" town hall meetings, ignoring the fact that all of the protesters were Webster's constituents who had legitimate questions the member of Congress refused to address.

Webster did not create the documents himself and claims they came from a constituent who he refuses to name, hypocritical in light of the tone of the flier, which tells journalists to ask who is providing information because they might be associated with groups that have an agenda that drives their actions. One of the targeted activists echoed this sentiment:

"I think it's pretty weird. Someone asks a legitimate question, and all of the sudden somebody's got a dossier on you," said Orlando resident Ron Parsell. "It's the type of thing they'd do in old Russia."

Webster was unapologetic about sending out the flier, offering the weak response that blamed the activists for taking offense.

"If they [the six on the watch list] in any way feel injured in it, I would [apologize] for sure," said Webster, adding that he didn't see it as a big issue.

"Me — I would not need an apology," he said.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel (see video above), Webster echoed the handout by suggesting that his protesters are former members of ACORN and MoveOn. Webster implied that the protesters might be violent, saying that he got a letter from a constituent who left a town hall meeting because she was afraid.

Tamecka Pierce, another one of those targeted, rejects Webster's downplaying of the handout.

"It's scary to be put on a watch list. I think it will discourage people from speaking out. I don't know what repercussions this will have in my personal life...They're trying to demonize us because we're pushing back on cuts that affect me and others."

Tim Griffin's explanation was even stranger than Webster's. He explicitly said the point of distrubting the watch lists was to "chill" what he called "political theater." He also inexplicably said: "I didn't know they were real people."

Y'all better watch out. Now that the 72-hour clock is ticking and Democratic representatives are falling in line behind health care reform, Tom Coburn has a message to deliver: If you're a House Democrat who voted against health reform the first time and change your vote to yes, he'll block any appointment you may receive after you lose your seat for changing your vote. (I think I have that right, but you'd better watch the video to be sure. It was, um...bizarre.)

Ummm, ok. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) could barely contain his excitement as he points to Coburn and dubs him "Holder-in-Chief" with a smirk and a sense of real excitement about watching that little side show.

Seems like the threat isn't working all that well, since Bart Gordon (D-TN) announced that he would switch from no to aye this afternoon, along with Colorado freshman Betsy Markey.

Since when is Coburn putting holds on nominees a threat, anyway? Isn't that what he's been doing for the past 15 months?

(via ThinkProgress)

And the racism keeps on coming.

The election of our first black president has brought with it a strange proliferation of online racism among conservatives.

And we've got the latest example.

On Sunday night, Dr. David McKalip forwarded to fellow members of a Google listserv affiliated with the Tea Party movement the image below. Above it, he wrote: "Funny stuff."

Now, Tea Party activists trafficking in racist imagery are pretty much dog bites man. But McKalip isn't just some random winger. He's a Florida neurosurgeon, who serves as a member of the American Medical Association's House of Delegates.

He's also an energetic conservative opponent of health-care reform. McKalip founded the anti-reform group Doctors For Patient Freedom, as well as what seems to be a now defunct group called Cut Taxes Now. Last month he joined GOP congressmen Tom Price and Phil Gingrey, among others, for a virtual town hall to warn about the coming "government takeover of medicine." And in a recent anti-reform op-ed published in the St. Petersburg Times, McKalip wrote that "Congress wants to create larger, government-funded programs for health care and more bureaucracy that ration care and impose cookbook medicine."

I wonder how his African American patients have recovered after he treats them?