Tom Teepen: Can anyone stand up to Limbaugh?

[struggle4progress]

By TOM TEEPEN, Cox Newspapers
Last update: February 4, 2009 - 6:45 AM

... If Limbaugh yelps at one little pinprick, and he does, could he survive a thousand? Would even his listener acolytes tire of a radio program given over to Rush forever licking his wounded ego, pouting at the bruises of common give and take?

You have to wonder how well Limbaugh would hold up if someone -- someone who could command attention -- kept after him. Certainly not the president of the United States. But who else could -- ? ...

Sen. Franken, your agenda awaits you.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/38938409.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

[MNDemNY]

1. Well, Rush is a big fat idiot.

[Why Syzygy]

2. That's probably what his audience

craves. A wounded savior they can identify with in their misery at living in a law abiding country.

[zbdent]

6. Limbaugh gets hit by marshmallows and screams in agony ...

and his acolytes demand that the crucifixion cease ...

they all but decapitated Clinton, and the ReRushicons said "what, nobody laid a finger on him ..."

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. The OxyPig needs a few well-placed harpoons.

Have you seen a picture of him lately?

He is a walking heart attack-in-the-making.

[lib2DaBone]

4. I think Big Ed Schultz could take him on... Also Tom Hartman...

Rush would shout down Tom Hartman but he wouldn't be able to do that to Ed Schultz. Ed would fight back.

[rainy]

16. How about a huge left right debate. On the left: Noam Chomsky

Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Rachael Madow, Keith O., Robert Kennedy Jr., Mike P.
On the right: Saffire, Charles K., Rush, Colter, Hannity and Joe S. Plus one intellectual thinker comparable to Chomsky, but I can't name one.

[CAcyclist]

17. George Will

He's not comparable to Chomsky - no one on the right is - but he's got reasoned arguments

[rrneck]

5. Limbaugh thrives because

he leads a political cult. Cure the cogitive dissonance of his listenesr, and he will go away.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. Agreed. But how do we cure them?

[rrneck]

9. Plain old education and patience, although

to my mind, reality is the most frequent teacher. It certainly offers a teachable moment. When people's pockets and bellies get empty, then we will see change. I wish just once they could learn before the real misery starts.

[Doctor_J]

10. Patience? He's been lying, slandering, and propagandizing for 18 years

Time for a new strategy, no?

[rrneck]

12. Patience for those in

his thrall. For Limbaugh? Well, I don't want to get the post deleted.

[Doctor_J]

14. Patience? They've been believing his lies, slander, and propaganda for 18 years

Time to come up with and implement Plan B

[rrneck]

15. Plan A just took

the oath of office. Almost the entire country is moving in the right direction. The NYT had an interesting "red/blue" map (it's flash - click on voting shifts) during the election that shows every county in the entire country moving left with the exception of a streak of red starting in Appalachia, through Tennessee, and some into the deep south through Arkansas and into Texas. We're becoming a blue country.

There will always be authoritarians and authoritarian leaders to take advantage of them. Here's an interesting online book , (its free) that I found fascinating. It really spells out the mindset that is at the core of conservatism, and for that matter religious fundamentalism.

Limbaugh has been dangerous and successful not because of his ideology - he has no ideals - but because of his marketing skill. He is the world's greatest media whore. He has ridden the crest of the oil funded capitalism wave, which is beginning to subside with each gallon of gas burned. There is a crash coming, and when it does it seems to me the last thing to do is to kick people when they are down. We all need to pull together if we are going to survive the next few decades, and grinning "I told you so" while forcing any agenda down the throats of people already under severe stress will only make for much worse civil strife.

Stupidity is self inflicted ignorance. Limbaugh is stupid. The vast majority of people who have listened to him are just ignorant. His has been the only voice they have been able to hear for a long time. They are about to find out how wrong they have been, and that will put them on the defensive. We can use it as a teachable moment and make better citizens, or we can back them further into a corner and turn them into enemies. That's how civil wars get started.

Having said all that I have to admit it is an uncharacteristically optimistic post. That's not how I usually think. I'm always open to new ideas and snapping people back can be fun, so what did you have in mind?

damn typos

[sakabatou]

8. Take away Limbaugh's audience

And he's a sad tub of lard.

[Doctor_J]

11. Whenever one speaks of him - be it DUers, Hartmann, Keith, Stephanie, Malloy -

he should always be referred to as "cowardly". He refuses debates, even open questioning, because he is a sniveling, cringing coward. Make sure that every time he's referred to, it contains the adjective "cowardly"

[salguine]

13. "Can" isn't the issue. "Will" is the question.