Political Ruminations

Racists Come Out in the Open

Zandar on Angry Black Lady Chronicles:

And the odds that we’ll get to somebody dropping the ni-CLANG word on President Obama took a really big step forward today, along with bonus misogyny to boot.  They say a picture’s worth a thousands words, and judging from the latest Mike Lester political cartoon from the Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune, none of those words are fit to print in a gorram family blog like this one.

Yeah, let that sink in. You’ve got the African-American President is a 70′s pimp angle, the Sandra Fluke is a whore angle, the “evil light-skinned brother” angle, the white girl subservient to the black man angle, a complete misrepresentation of Ms. Fluke’s statements to boot and it’s all rolled up into one big insulting awful package of pure hatred for black people, women, and human beings with working souls. It’s actually impressive, in the same way ebola-tipped bullets fired into crowds of baby sloths is impressive: just overwhelmingly, unremittingly awful on multiple levels. Kudos to you, Mr. Lester. You’re a deeply nuanced and multi-layered asshole who has clearly mastered the art of the economy of visual vitriol. On a personal note, your awesome little piece of garbage here just won me the “Can we call them racist, misogynist bigots now?” argument in one very convincing little package.

Oh yeah. The right wing racists are popping the damn buttons on their white hoods in their eagerness to get it all out in the open, and as disgusting as it is, I will be thankful when their complete and unvarnished awfulness is finally revealed... it makes it easier to fight it.

So come on, ignoramuses, you know you wanna say it, so bring it. Soon. We’re ready.

Follow the Money

No need to wonder any longer why Romney has been so reluctant to criticize Limbaugh over his “slut” comment. The Daily Beast:

Fourteen directors of Clear Channel, the company that hosts the Rush Limbaugh show, have contributed $726,400 to Mitt Romney since 1994, most of it in the current presidential campaign. Romney has come under attack for refusing to criticize Limbaugh’s comments about Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, other than to say that calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute” was “not the language I would have used.”

Romney’s former company, Bain Capital, acquired Clear Channel in 2008 with another Boston-based investment firm, Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL), so five of the entertainment company’s directors that have given to Romney come from Bain, while three are affiliated with the Lee firm. Three other directors are members of the Mays family that founded the company and continued to run it until 2011, when CEO Mark Mays stepped down. The remaining three donor directors come from other investment firms.

The $26 billion merger, which was launched simultaneously with Romney’s first presidential candidacy in late 2006 and placed Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and much of the talk-show right under Bain/Lee control, also involved Romney’s longtime law firm, Ropes & Gray, whose managing partner is the trustee of the family’s blind trust. David C. Chapin, a lead Ropes lawyer on the merger, has also given $12,700 to Romney, and five other partners who worked on it added another $10,400.

While Bain partners, employees and family members, including the Clear Channel directors, have given a combined $4.7 million to Romney’s two presidential campaigns, THL also has a long history of Romney support, with some donations dating back to Romney’s first, unsuccessful run against Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994. THL tallies $180,300 including its Putnam affiliate and led by its co-chairs, Scott Schoen, Anthony Dinovi, and Scott Sperling. With Sperling’s wife and son contributing as well, Sperling has donated $25,100 to Romney, starting in 1994. In The Real Romney, the recent biography written by Boston Globe reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, Sperling is credited with spearheading “the biggest investment of Romney’s career,” the highly lucrative purchase and quick sale of a credit company named Experian. Sperling is a Clear Channel director, and THL and Bain are deeply invested in the company, one of the largest deals ever done by either equity firm.

Quote of the Day

“By the way, you know what a slut is? A guy who takes erection pills to the Dominican Republic without any female companions. We can only assume the purpose was to engage in anonymous sex with one or more partners — he didn’t bring one or two, but an entire bottle indicating he planned to have sex multiple times. That’s a slut.”

- Progressive pundit, Bob Cesca in a piece for The Daily Banter, obviously referring to Conservative radio show host, “she’s a slut” Rush Limbaugh.

Jon Stewart Takedown of Rush Limbaugh, Radio Sleaze

For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, a Georgetown law student, Sandra Fluke, recently testified before the House on coverage of contraception by insurance companies. Ergo, Limbaugh took this and did a smear job on Fluke, calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute”.

Although Limbaugh made a non-apology apology, national advertisers, under some pressure on social media sites such as Twitter, are canceling their ad contracts in near droves. Two radio stations have also cancelled Limbaugh’s show, and it’s beginning to look like Rush’s radio show may go the way of Glenn Beck’s television show. And that is a very good thing.

So anyway, Stewart threw on a hazmat thingy to protect himself from Limbaugh’s bile, and dove into the slime.

Watch:

Best line from the takedown:

“To the people who are upset about their hard-earned tax money going to things they don't like: Welcome to the f*cking club. Reimburse me for the Iraq war and oil subsidies, and diaphragms are on me!”

Morning Quote: George Will

“Mr. Boehner comes out and says, Rush's language was inappropriate. Using a salad fork for your entree, that's inappropriate. Not this stuff... 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.”

- Conservative Washington Post columnist, George Will, on ‘This Week’, deriding Republican leaders for their miserably inadequate response to Rush Limbaugh, who called Sandra Fluke, a law student at Georgetown who testified before a House committee regarding contraception, a “slut” and a “prostitute”.

While President Obama has denounced Limbaugh’s comments as “reprehensible,”  Republican leaders and GOP presidential candidates have used far milder language.