Talk Radio Call of the Week

Caller Sam, talking to Rush Limbaugh fill-in Mark Davis, asks how Republicans are going to like having - for the first time - a homewrecker as First Lady (assuming Gingrich wins the White House).

Grand Old Paranoids

Like the proverbial frog in a pot of heating water, the Republican Party has gradually unmoored itself from reality. Of course, the truth is that frogs are smart enough to jump out of water when it gets uncomfortable. Whether or not we'll ever again have a reasonably reality-based GOP is still an open question.

I was listening to Limbaugh again today. I'm surprised I hadn't come to this before now, but today it dawned on me... Do you realize how much of a paranoid conspiracist one needs to be to count yourself as a Republican?

I'm not even talking about the obvious stuff. There's a significant minority of Republicans (they call themselves the "responsible" ones) that don't subscribe to birther conspiracies or the "OMG! OMG! OMG! The United Nations is going to force us all to take vaccinations that will make it easier for them to herd us all into internment camps" garbage.

Nor am I talking about the Trilateral Commission, Bilderbergers, 9/11 Truther, Skull and Bones, or Bohemian Grove stuff either. That stuff crosses party lines.

No... I'm talking about virtually every "main-stream" Republican issue position...

To be a Republican in good standing, you are required to believe:

• The world's economy was destroyed by irresponsible minorities that cheated bankers by taking on unaffordable mortgages. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd made them do it. And Democrats, by passing undue regulation in the form of the Community Reinvestment Act in the late 1970's, forced bankers to give minority borrowers whatever they wanted. (Of course, not a single banker has come forward to make that case... nobody has produced a single example of a CRA-mandated bad loan...)


• Thousands of scientists have conspired with the media and power-hungry bureaucrats in government to manufacture climate science


• The NTSB made up data about the dangers of cell phone use while driving in an effort to increase the reach of government


• Scientists, the media and Democratic politicians conspired to manufacture "science," and distribute the produced fiction all so that Barbara Boxer could go to the Senate floor and attack polluting fossil-fuel burning power plants


• Notwithstanding research that demonstrates otherwise, sexual orientation is a choice. Anyone that says different is trying to turn your kids gay. Of course, public schools (and teachers) are a big part of this initiative - that's what all this tolerance and anti-bullying stuff is all about.


• Democratic politicians want the economy to fail so that more people are dependent on government. It makes perfect sense, you see... If you can't find a job, you have to collect unemployment, and/or welfare, and/or food stamps. And if you are on the dole, you'll vote for your sugar-daddies.


• If ACORN hadn't stolen teh election, there's no way Obama would have taken the White House. Restrictive voter-ID laws are required.


• The stimulus - which was 1/3 tax cuts (as a sop to Republicans) and 1/3 aid to the states (another Republican idea) - was actually a well-designed money-laundering operation. The portion of the stimulus that went to the states preserved... wait for it... municipal union jobs. And of course, these unions, coffers flush with dues, returned that tax-payer money to the Democratic Party.


• Notwithstanding all evidence to the contrary - including the last decade of Bush tax cuts - the path to a balanced budget and a sound economy involves reducing the tax burden on millionaires and billionaires.

These are just a few of the things that constitute "common knowledge" among Republicans. This isn't fringe: attend any Republican townhall and listen to the Q&A. You're sure to hear constituents expressing these exact concerns and their elected Republican leaders legitimizing (exploiting) their anxieties.

Look: 9/11 Truthers, Kennedy buffs, UFO researchers, and all the assorted "conspiracists" are mostly greeted with eye-rolls, sniggers and contempt.

But these fantastic Republican conspiracies are at least as contorted and ridiculous as anything you hear on late-night radio. What's more, they are transparently self-serving.

So why does anyone take them seriously?

Prager, 12/12/2011

When I first tuned in, Prager was taking issue with an article he found, authored by an African-American woman. I didn't catch the beginning of the discussion, but I gathered that he was disturbed by the writer's take on race.

A few minutes later, he took a call from a woman because he said it proved his point. The caller was a white woman that had been married to a black man for 10 years, had a couple of children with him, but was forced into divorce because of his drug addiction. Evidently, at some point during the divorce proceedings, the husband accused her of racism.

Reviewing: a man on drugs said something stupid in the midst of a difficult and emotional divorce.

Worthy of broadcast to millions, right? Ironclad proof of everything conservatives have ever said about the African-American mindset, right?

After that, Prager briefly lamented a common "regret" among conservatives and Republicans. You hear it all the time on talk radio: black Americans only vote Democrat because they've been duped about one of two things. Either they've been lied to about true nature of conservativism (MLK would have been a Republican today, donchyaknow?), or they've been mislead into believing that Democrats care about their issues (the reality is, of course, that Democrats are the true racists).

They've been duped. According to right-wing talk radio (and plenty of Republican politicians), well over 90% of African-Americans are easily fooled suckers. You might even say they are stupid.

Oh, wait? Did I say might?

From earlier today, here's Dennis Prager telling me black Americans are angry, emotional and stupid (before you dismiss this, realize that Prager is a top-10 right-wing talk show host, with a listening audience that measures well into the 7 digits):

Limbaugh , 12-9-2011

Emanuel Cleaver is an African American pastor and the Democratic Congressman that represents a large chunk of Kansas City. He's never been particularly fond of Barack Obama (I don't think he ever bought the hype: he endorsed Hilary Clinton in the 2007 Democratic presidential primaries), and in my dealings with him, he's never been timid about expressing his disappointment in the President.

The idea that he's ever been particularly beholden to Barack Obama is pretty far-fetched to anyone that's ever covered him.

Yesterday (12/9/11), Cleaver was on Joe Scarborough's morning show and mentioned that the President may compromise with Republicans and commit to fast-tracking a decision with regards to whether or not an environmentally devastating pipeline could be built. Hours later, Cleaver's spokesperson issued a statement that said the Congressman had misspoken.

That gave Limbaugh all the excuse he needed to delve into his bag of racially inflammatory rhetoric. Obama, according to Limbaugh, had revoked Cleaver's "day pass" that authorized him to "leave the plantation".