A letter to Rush Limbaugh - Roger Ebert

[Cry Havoc]

A Letter to Rush Limbaugh

/ / / January 14, 2010

To: Rush Limbaugh
From: Roger Ebert

You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of our nation.

Having followed President Obama's suggestion and donated money to the Red Cross for relief in Haiti, I was offended to hear you suggest the President might be a thief capable of stealing money intended for the earthquake victims.

Here is a transcript from your program on Thursday:

Justin of Raleigh, North Carolina: "Why does Obama say if you want to donate some money, you could go to whitehouse.gov to direct you how to do so? If I wanted to donate to the Red Cross, why do I have to go to the White House page to donate?"

Limbaugh: "Exactly. Would you trust the money's gonna go to Haiti?"

Justin: "No."

Rush: "But would you trust that your name's gonna end up on a mailing list for the Obama people to start asking you for campaign donations for him and other causes?"

Justin: "Absolutely!"

Limbaugh: "Absolutely!"


That's what was said.

Unlike you and Justin of Raleigh, I went to Obama's web site, and discovered the link there leads directly to the Red Cross. I can think of a reason why anyone might want to go via the White House. That way they can be absolutely sure they're clicking on the Red Cross and not a fake site set up to exploit the tragedy.

But let me be sure I have this right. You and Justin agree that Obama might steal money intended for the Red Cross to help the wretched of Haiti.

This conversation came 48 hours after many of us had seen pitiful sights from Port au Prince. Tens of thousands are believed still alive beneath the rubble. You twisted their suffering into an opportunity to demean the character of the President of the United States.

This cannot have been an accident. A day earlier, in a sound bite from your show, you said "this will play right into Obama's hands. He's humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their, shall we say, 'credibility' with the black community -- in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It's made-to-order for them."

Setting aside your riff on Harry Reid, consider what you imply. Obama will aid Haiti to please African-Americans. Haiti has lost untold thousands of lives. One third of the population has lost its homes. Countless people are still buried in the rubble. Every American president would act quickly to help our neighbor. You are so cynical and heartless as to explain Obama's action in a way that unpleasantly suggests how your mind works.

You have a sizable listening audience. You apparently know how to please them. Anybody given a $400 million contract must know what he is doing.

That's what offends me. You know exactly what you're doing.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100114/OPINION/100119985

[iggypop123]

i guess he gave limbaugh's comments a thumbs down

[Winehole23]

http://www.earthsangha.org/images/displays/hmap.jpg

[Winehole23]

The forest survives in the Dominican Republic. In Haiti all the hardwoods were extracted, then all the brush was burnt off for charcoal, which is basically what they're still doing now. People eat mud pies (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080130-AP-haiti-eatin.html) to stave off hunger.

[Winehole23]

Marie Noel, 40, sells the cookies in a market to provide for her seven children. Her family also eats them. Not only that, they are sold for ready money.

[SouthernFried]

Rush Did Not Say "Don't Make Donations to Haiti"
Media Tweaked: "Light-Skinned" Remark Pinned on Rush, Not Reid


RUSH: To Paducah, Kentucky. This is April. That is one of my all-time, top ten favorite female names. April, thank you for calling. Nice to have you with us. Hello.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush. I'm glad that you chose to have me on today.

RUSH: Yes?

CALLER: This is kind of belated, but I just have a question for you.

RUSH: Yes, ma'am? Yes, ma'am?

CALLER: Where in your right mind do you get the cojones to just completely -- I don't know, I guess -- dismiss a tragedy of possibly a hundred thousand people dead in Haiti? You're -- you're going around discouraging people to send donations because we already donated to Haiti and it's called the US income tax; and Obama, the president of our United States -- your president as well, whether you like it or not.

RUSH: Where did you...?

CALLER: -- you're saying --

RUSH: Where did you hear that I discouraged donations to Haiti?

CALLER: Uh, I read it in, uh, a news thing called the Huffington Post, but that's not the point. I was going to finish my sentence if that's okay with you.

RUSH: Well, but what you just said is a lie. They reported a lie. I did not discourage donations to Haiti.

CALLER: Okay. Well, um, actually the point I was getting to, whether or not you said that -- which actually I believe you did. But...

RUSH: No, it's not "whether or not." That matters. I mean you call here and ask, "Where do I get off suggesting that we don't donate to Haiti because we do in the income tax?" and I tell you I said that, but I also said private donations are going to be much better than a government donation. They're all going, go to the Red Cross, do other things, don't go through the government. It's just going to go through hands and bureaucracies and a dollar is going to end up being 30 cents by the time they get through with it. I did not say, "Don't make donations." That's not a "whether or not" thing. That's why you called.

CALLER: Calm down.

RUSH: Finish your sentence.

CALLER: Calm down. I planned on it, but actually I... Keep denying that, but what is this you were saying about our president of the United States trying to just basically establish credibility in the black community among white (sic) and dark-skinned African-Americans? And why do you, like... After saying that, why would you call yourself a patriot?

RUSH: All right. Now, this is funny. This was our Media Tweak of the Day yesterday, April. You know, what we do here on this program is, purposely, play the media like violin, like a Stradivarius. And I love tweaking them. I love irritating them, and I love upsetting them and all you do is take words uttered by liberals and apply them to current events. It was Harry Reid who looked at Obama and said he's a "light-skinned" guy that "doesn't speak in a Negro dialect."

CALLER: I'm not talking about Harry Reid.

RUSH: Well, I was.

CALLER: I'm talking about you.

RUSH: I was. You see, this is the point. You didn't listen to the program. You're reading people who take what I say out of context precisely to create this sense of outrage that you have.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: In fact, I want you to listen to something with me. Before I said all of this I made a prediction, because this was my Media Tweak of the Day -- and it's getting too easy. I mean, you're illustrating how easy it is to outrage these people. I enjoy it. This is a great success. When people start squealing like pigs is when I know I've hit a home run. This is what I said yesterday.

RUSH ARCHIVE: Before this week is out, I will be the one who uttered the words "light-skinned" and "doesn't speak the Negro dialect when he doesn't want to." I'll be the one that said it. Before the week is out I'll be the one that said it, not Harry Reid, and they'll be asking, "Why have you not condemned Rush Limbaugh for what he said (in repeating what Harry Reid said)?" and Harry Reid will condemn me from the Senate floor!

RUSH: And then I proceeded to suggest that Obama is going to be giving aid to both light-skinned and dark-skinned Negroes in Haiti, just designed to get the reaction I got -- and it worked. The people that listen to this program laugh and chuckle every day at this stuff, because we're just needling the media. They talk about me all the time and I can create it any time I want. It's made you mad, and you believe things they take out of context that don't completely say what I fully said, and you get mad.
CALLER: Okay, so you're basically evading the second part of my question. You're not going to tell me why you decided to go around saying something, like, a tragedy that's happened to hundreds of thousands of people, who are suffering.

RUSH: No, I'm not evading it at all. If I said it I meant to say it, and I do believe that everything is political to this president. Everything this president sees is a political opportunity, including Haiti, and he will use it to burnish his credentials with minorities in this country and around the world, and to accuse Republicans of having no compassion. I went further than that even. I'll have to tell you what else I said after the break if you want to hold on.


BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We go back now to April in Paducah. I had to interrupt you because we had a hard break and I couldn't miss it. What is it you were going to say?

CALLER: Well, if I remember correctly I was about to go say, like, I've been trying to get you to explain to me, at least -- if not the entire country listening to your show right now -- what...? Like what... Why...? It doesn't sound like the president is making this Haiti donation business a political thing. It sounds like you are. You're just... Uh, you brought up a completely inane, baseless point about establishing credibility in the light- and dark-skinned black communities, and, like, there's no reason for that. There's, like --

RUSH: Now, April, I must ask a serious question: Do you ever listen to my program or do you hear about it in places like the Huffington Post?

CALLER: Um... I... When I'm upstairs in the bedroom I'll have the radio on and I like to listen to some local stations. So, yes, I have heard your show.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: And I've heard dozens and clips and quotes that you've said and most of the time I'm absolutely disgusted with you. I'll be perfectly honest with you.

RUSH: I see. Okay, now that we've established that you listen sometimes and you're absolutely disgusted. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever heard of the Democrat Party and President Obama politicizing a natural disaster?

CALLER: Have I ever heard of them politicizing...?

RUSH: Yeah, has that ever happened? Has Barack Obama and the Democrat Party ever politicized a natural disaster?

CALLER: Umm, well, this is the -- at least if you're speaking specifically about President Obama, this is the first natural disaster that we've had on, uh -- on his term. So...

RUSH: We had a natural disaster when he was Senator. It doesn't matter whether he was president or not. I said the Democrat Party and President Obama, as a Senator, certainly politicized Hurricane Katrina. You see, the difference, April, is that I know these people. I know who they are and I love to tweak them. I love to tweak the media. I predicted yesterday... How come there's no outrage, by the way, at Bill Clinton suggesting that Obama's nothing more than a slave when he was trying to get Ted Kennedy to endorse Hillary and he says (doing impression), "Come on! Come on, Ted. You know, a few years ago this guy would be fetching us our coffee." You're not outraged about that because the Huffington Post isn't outraged about it. They probably don't write about it but I talk about all of it.

CALLER: Actually... Uh, are you implying that the Huffington Post as the one and only resource that I watch (sic--read)? I even watch Fox News once in a while.

RUSH: No, no, no, no, no. I'm not implying that.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: What I'm illustrating here is that you're a blockhead. What I'm illustrating here is that you're a closed-minded bigot who is ill-informed. I am being patient and tolerant and I'm trying to explain this to you, and you're totally closed to it. I'm hitting you with piercing, penetrating logic, and it escapes you -- and it is irritating people like you that I revel in. I absolutely revel in it. I've got 19 sound bites here today, April, of media people going bat manure yesterday over what they think I said. They didn't hear me say it, either. They got it from the Huffington Post or they got it from Media Matters or they got it from someplace else. I did not say don't donate. I did say Obama will use this to help burnish his credentials, 'cause there's no question he will. I'll tell you something else I said, April: It took him three days to go out and talk about the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber. It took him less than 18 hours to get out there and start rallying people about this earthquake.

I'll tell you something else, April. I'm going to make prediction to you, and I'm gonna be right about this. Before the week is out we're going to have to be stories in the Huffington Post and other places that you read pointing out how fast Obama moved into action versus Bush during Hurricane Katrina. To accuse me of politicizing everything is to be ignorant about what I do on this program. I simply react to the left. They're the ones that politicize virtually everything that's happening from health care to terrorism, and I love illustrating absurdity by being absurd. And if you had listened to this program for a modicum of time you would know it. But instead you're a blockhead. You're mind is totally closed. You have tampons in your ears. Nothing is getting through other than the biased crap that you read. So I've had enjoyment here talking to you and illustrating that it's impossible to deal in the truth with you. I appreciate your calling and I appreciate your holding on. I grew up not far from Paducah. If I'd known you were there, I might have stayed.


BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let me tell you by way of Tony Blankley, a sound bite we played yesterday. What all of this is, is reacting to what I did not say yesterday on this program.

BLANKLEY: The lesson that we learned from this is not that the Senator said anything particularly remarkable, but that when conservatives say something equally unremarkable, that the feigned outrage drives them out of office; whether it's Rush Limbaugh saying that a black quarterback got better press than had he been white or whether it was Senator Allen who used the word "Macaca" -- whatever that means -- that got six stories on the front page of the Washington Post. The point is, they're not sincere when they're outraged. They're just trying to drive out a political opponent.

RUSH: Exactly. And so all of this outrage that you saw on television last night is feigned. It is fake. I'm not the one that ever used light skinned, dark-skinned. That was Harry Reid! We're laughing at him. We're making fun of him. And they fake all this outrage that I would say this, not even understanding -- and they do understand I was making a joke. They are just feigning outrage to try to take me out, and that's why I do the Media Tweak every day because they're going to bomb out every time they try. I mean, it's just fun.


END TRANSCRIPT

Read the Background Material...

• Wall Street Journal: Harry Reid's Swansong
• National Review: Harry Reid and the Offense Game - Rich Lowry
• Investor's Business Daily: 'Macaca' A La Reid
• NewsBusters: Prior to Harry Reid, Networks Associated Use of 'Negro' Term With Haters
• American Thinker: Harry Reid Trashed White America
• HotAir: Stephen A. Smith: If Lott Had to Go, Reid has to Go
• Newsbusters: Black Professor: If White Republican Said What Reid Did It Would Be Huge News

[George Gervin's Afro]

RUSH: No, I'm not evading it at all. If I said it I meant to say it, and I do believe that everything is political to this president. Everything this president sees is a political opportunity, including Haiti, and he will use it to burnish his credentials with minorities in this country and around the world, and to accuse Republicans of having no compassion. I went further than that even. I'll have to tell you what else I said after the break if you want to hold on.


He just stated that the President will politicize Haiti.... of course if that did occur hush beat him to it. I hope this guy dies a slow painful death..

[ChumpDumper]

SouthernFriedDittobot's response does not address Ebert's issue.

[SouthernFried]

RUSH: We had a natural disaster when he was Senator. It doesn't matter whether he was president or not. I said the Democrat Party and President Obama, as a Senator, certainly politicized Hurricane Katrina.

CALLER: Okay. Well, um, actually the point I was getting to, whether or not you said that

RUSH: No, it's not "whether or not." I mean you call here and ask, "Where do I get off suggesting that we don't donate to Haiti because we do in the income tax?" But I also said private donations are going to be much better than a government donation. They're all going, go to the Red Cross, do other things, don't go through the government. It's just going to go through hands and bureaucracies and a dollar is going to end up being 30 cents by the time they get through with it. I did not say, "Don't make donations." That's not a "whether or not" thing. That's why you called.

[ChumpDumper]

SouthernFriedDittobot's response does not address Ebert's issue.

[BacktoBasics]

Nothing more despicable than Rush. Disgusting waste of a human being.

[Marcus Bryant]

A letter from one blowhard to another. Yay.

Meanwhile, both bank.

[spursncowboys]

April is the poster child for the left. Unable to get an original idea. It's only an outrage if it's on huffpost. The ones who wish ill on rush when you don't know him shows what kind of people you are.:lol
And you do it with such self righteousness. Just like the Bolsheviks.

[EVAY]

April is the poster child for the left. Unable to get an original idea. It's only an outrage if it's on huffpost. The ones who wish ill on rush when you don't know him shows what kind of people you are.:lol
And you do it with such self righteousness. Just like the Bolsheviks.

I don't wish ill on Rush Limbaugh. I can't stand him; I can't stand his hate-mongering diatribes.

April didn't wish ill on Rush. She wanted to challenge him. She is not as glib as Rush, so he bulls right over her to redefine what she is saying into something he can claim he was right about. Then he insults her over and over and over. The man is a verbal bully, and he encourages hatred of anyone with whom he disagrees. He manifestly and undeniably insinuated that the sitting President of the United States would divert funds intended for Haiti if the donor wanted to use the White House web-site to offer funds. He undeniably implied that the U.S. had given enough money to Haiti with his comment that "We already gave to Haiti. It is called the Income tax."

For once, SnC, just admit that the man is not INFALLIBLE!!! You can't admit that any more than he can back down from any one of his hateful, hateful commments. You lower yourself to his level by never ever acknowledging that he might have gone too far on any issue.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

mmm mmmm mmmmm
barack hussein obama.


queue the idiot

[FromWayDowntown]

If you disagree with Rush Limbaugh -- or if you disagree with what you hear that Rush Limbaugh has said -- the solution is to not listen to him.

That's what I did.

[spursncowboys]

I don't wish ill on Rush Limbaugh. I can't stand him; I can't stand his hate-mongering diatribes.

April didn't wish ill on Rush. She wanted to challenge him. She is not as glib as Rush, so he bulls right over her to redefine what she is saying into something he can claim he was right about. Then he insults her over and over and over. The man is a verbal bully, and he encourages hatred of anyone with whom he disagrees. He manifestly and undeniably insinuated that the sitting President of the United States would divert funds intended for Haiti if the donor wanted to use the White House web-site to offer funds. He undeniably implied that the U.S. had given enough money to Haiti with his comment that "We already gave to Haiti. It is called the Income tax."

For once, SnC, just admit that the man is not INFALLIBLE!!! You can't admit that any more than he can back down from any one of his hateful, hateful commments. You lower yourself to his level by never ever acknowledging that he might have gone too far on any issue.

I've never made an absolute statement like that about rush. doing live shows three hours, five days a week for over 20 years, you are going to slip up. There are tons of things I have disagreed with him about. It is just dishonest to take him out of context or to use wikipedia quotes about him. Also, SOuthernFried gave what he said in context and everyone who responded are fake outrage. Libs are outraged at it because their media outlets tell them to be.
April started out saying Rush dismissed the tragedy. That was untrue. That Rush discourage people to send money, and that is untrue. April then said that those being lies do not matter. SHe went on his show and said lies without knowing the facts. Then when they turn out to be false, she says that doesn't matter. That is what I mean by a liberal poster child. Then when he explains that what he did about skin color with blacks was a reference towards Harry Reid. She completely bypasses the logic of that and just keeps going ( like Chump does) and demands that he explain why he said it. I don't think he bullied her. He gave her ample time. It seemed the call was going nowhere so he ended it. THere are tons of radio shows (Medved, Hannity) where they will debate with someone until they are done, but Rush normally doesn't do that. It is usually 5 minute calls at the most. All Rush said was that BHO uses these kinds of situations politically. How can you say automatically he doesn't after seeing what he did with the financial crisis? Why is a private citizen not allowed to say he wants Barry to fail or that he is a savvy politician? I'm still not sure if we can use his middle name yet.

[Marcus Bryant]

If you disagree with Rush Limbaugh -- or if you disagree with what you hear that Rush Limbaugh has said -- the solution is to not listen to him.

That's what I did.

Indeed. It's amazing how much of what passes for political discourse in this nation is blather about what some celebrity said. Take away Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Goldberg, Olbermann, Colmes, Stewart, TFriedman, etc...and a majority of the individuals in this country couldn't formulate their own political views, pro and con.

If you think what Limbaugh spouts off is "conservatism" and you are either a fan or a critic, you need to expend a little more effort.

[FromWayDowntown]

Indeed. It's amazing how much of what passes for political discourse in this nation is blather about what some celebrity said. Take away Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Goldberg, Olbermann, Colmes, Stewart, TFriedman, etc...and a majority of the individuals in this country couldn't formulate their own political views, pro and con.

I'm not, perhaps, quite that cynical about it -- though I think your cynicism is quite understandable -- but I don't think it's some mere coincidence that the increasing polarization of the United States has coincided with the ascendancy of day-to-day, hour-by-hour punditry on every single issue, both large and small, that confronts our society.

I have some faith that people could formulate individual beliefs, but I think those beliefs would tend to moderate or have some inconsistency; the moderation would, I think, tend to stave off polarization.

But when you have someone available to instill a readily-digestable "Yay for my side, boo to your side" view of every issue, why bother?

[Marcus Bryant]

But when you have someone available to instill a readily-digestable "Yay for my side, boo to your side" view of every issue, why bother?

And that's where we are at in this country, politics as yet another spectator sport. The American mind is built on the 'us v them' model. Right v wrong. Coke v Pepsi. And so on. Political commentators are nothing more than "homer" color men or columnists. Our politics, economics, culture, etc...does not tolerate shades of opinion outside of the binary choice.

The moment you deviate from that path, say for a "conservative" to become skeptical of the national security state or for a "liberal" to become skeptical of the welfare state, then you are a traitor and a pariah as you no longer demonstrate sufficient 'homerism' for your side.

[Wild Cobra]

SouthernFriedDittobot's response does not address Ebert's issue.

Ebert's issue is fabricated isue.

You can go to the Red Cross without going through the White house.

I guess only libtards like you need reminding of that.

[FromWayDowntown]

n/m

[Marcus Bryant]

Limbaugh yanks chains of those who yank others' chains who yank....and we end up with one big Daisy Chain, just not as entertaining.

[EmptyMan]

People are afraid to say they don't gaf about haiti.

Obama is giving out other peoples money. People as in Citizens of the country that he is President of. He is giving out money the country does not even have. That is not impressive.

[jack sommerset]

I don't trust Obama's clan will do the right thing with the cash. The dude is a liar. Go to Red Cross.

[ChumpDumper]

Ebert's issue is fabricated isue.

You can go to the Red Cross without going through the White house.

I guess only libtards like you need reminding of that.That isn't Ebert's issue.

You're are either disingenuous or incredibly stupid.

Or both.

Probably both.

[ChumpDumper]

I don't trust Obama's clan will do the right thing with the cash. The dude is a liar. Go to Red Cross.That's exactly where the White House link goes, which is exactly Ebert's point.

You guys really need to read the OP to be in this discussion. Is that too much to ask?

[spursncowboys]

That's exactly where the White House link goes, which is exactly Ebert's point.

You guys really need to read the OP to be in this discussion. Is that too much to ask?

:lol

[jack sommerset]

That's exactly where the White House link goes, which is exactly Ebert's point.

You guys really need to read the OP to be in this discussion. Is that too much to ask?

Sorry Chumpy. I don't trust the guy. Not even a link to another site.

[ChumpDumper]

:lolI know it's your conviction not to read or understand anything.


Sorry Chumpy. I don't trust the guy. Not even a link to another site.Do you know how internet links work?

[George Gervin's Afro]

Sorry Chumpy. I don't trust the guy. Not even a link to another site.

I'll side with the Red Cross on this one Jackie..they trust the President and his linky.

[spursncowboys]

I know it's your conviction not to read or understand anything.
:lol I really hope the irony is not completely lost with you.

[ChumpDumper]

:lol I really hope the irony is not completely lost with you.:lol It's already lost on you.

[spursncowboys]

:lol It's already lost on you.

How would it be ironic towards me? :lol
There you go again.

[ChumpDumper]

How would it be ironic towards me? :lol
There you go again.You still don't get it. :lol
There you go again.