WWL radio invites Rush Limbaugh to New Orleans so he'll know what he's...

[sabra]

http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-5/1133765744242940.xml

'There was a disconnect'
WWL radio invites Rush Limbaugh to New Orleans so he'll know what he's talking about


Demand from local listeners returned syndicated talk host Rush Limbaugh to his midday time slot on WWL AM-870 last Wednesday, so imagine the reaction of all but his most fervid acolytes to his opening-day gut-punch to New Orleans.

Limbaugh, the most listened-to radio talker in the land, introduced caller "Ray from New Orleans," where, said the host, "They're getting back to normal in the city."
"Things are not returning to normal," said Ray. "I wish you would come down here to see for yourself."

....

"And I'm not hearing this from them," he said. "I know it's bad but . . . I'm under the impression that the main problem that the local officials have is that they don't have enough Democrats coming back who fled or who were evacuated and they're worried about the next elections."

...

But Ray clearly prompted Limbaugh to question some of his sourcing on the state of New Orleans, which the host did out loud right after a commercial break.

[salin]

1. the ugly rw radio heads - pushing an intentional

anti-katrina backlash from behind their microphones. It is all about "winning points" for their boy bush, and since bush isn't the hero in this story - suddenly there has to be some twist to it... hence the two-prong ugly attack rhetoric:

1) the problems are all local and all democratic; and

2) framing the victims as whiners who should be disdained.

Disgusting. National tragedy and these folks are using it to push more hatred and division pitting american against american.

[notadmblnd]

2. you are so right!

you should have seen the discusting e-mail that a freeper friend of my mother sent to me a while back. I became so enraged in my reply to it that the woman actually came up to me a few weeks later and apologized for sending it to me.

To tell you honestly though, I think she was more embarassed that she was publicly confronted (I replied to "all" in my response) and that several of the people responded with the same outrage that I had. I don't think for a minute that she had/has reconsidered any of the racist tripe that was originally sent to me though. So sad.

[salin]

3. While I can't speak for her

I do know that one of the reasons the rw hatemongers get a way with their crap, is that they cloak it in gut appeals that have some form of logic... meant for a gut reaction without thinking.

For example, my b-i-l last year made a war on christmas type comment. I asked him why he was repeating that ORielly tripe (who he hates), and did he really think (no he wasn't) that folks who say happy holidays were anti christmas? Was it really a bad thing that folks were civil? He had heard it - and it appealled on a gut level - but when confronted to think about the implication (that all saying happy holidays were intentionally insulting Christmas and by extension Christians) - he had to think about it - and back down.

It could really be that she reacted viscerally (as these talking points are meant to hook on that level) without thinking about it, and about what it said about her to repeat and push it. Perhaps the confrontation was embarrassing to her - perhaps it did make her actually think for a second?

[FlaGranny]

14. Isn't it so very strange

that Christians would take "Happy Holidays" as an insult, but would never consider that saying "Merry Christmas" to a Muslim would not be insulting to them. Actually, neither should be insulted, and both should take the greeting as it was intended - in good will.

[LiberalFighter]

19. Maybe if she has other negative feedbacks and revisits the cause...

she will begin to think more for herself before going off half-cocked.

They do need to have it pointed out to them what is the problem or flaws of the argument. And many times there are no easy solutions.

[raccoon]

24. You could make this into an essay, Salin. Most RW propaganda

is intended to appeal on a gut level.

I once heard in a documentary about AH that he had an ability to "make people stop thinking and start emoting." Sound familiar?

[ninkasi]

17. Don't know if it's the same disgusting e-mail

but I got one that sounds like the one you got. It was from a friend I've had for over 30 years, and it has ended our friendship. I decided that anybody who would not only believe the garbage in the e-mail, but spread it, was somebody I don't care to have as a friend.

Calling off the friendship was mutual, because of my reply to her. The sad thing is that she's had many struggles in her life, and I would have thought that would make her more compassionate, but apparently not.

For Limbaugh to pour salt into the Gulf State's wounds is, sadly, typical for him. How much aid will now NOT be sent because some mouth breather listens to his tripe? In this case, he could do something good for a change, and encourage his listeners to help. What a wretched, miserable, excuse of a human he is.

[dsharp88]

9. New Orleans is still 75 percent destroyed

I live in the New Orleans area. I know the facts.

The city was 80 percent destroyed by Katrina. It has come back maybe five percent. At the one year post-Katrina mark, I suspect it wil be back by 70 percent, and at two years by 95 percent.

It hasn't come back to near normal yet.

The uptown area is okay, as is the downtown area including the French Quarter, and Algiers on the west bank. But mid-city, Lakeview, Gentilly, the Ninth Ward, and so many other areas of town are completely destroyed. There's no electricity, no gas, no water, no telephone, no mail delivery, no businesses, and no people. Homes and businesses stand completely empty. To drive there takes courage not only because no traffic signals work, but to see the equivalent damage of a horrific hurricane followed up the next day by a flood that lasted weeks takes quite a toll on the heart.

The Bush administration has made promises that are not being kept.

Laborers who have come to the area have no place to live. Residents who were forunate to have livable housing, myself included, have taken into their homes families who lost everything.

Insurance companies aren't quickly paying damages they know they owe because they benfit two ways by holding onto the money - 1) they make money off the investments and interest being earned as long as they keep it, and 2) they make people more desperate for the funds which, in turn, coerces them to take the too-low amounts of damages being routinely offered.

These are the facts. Conservatives need to get a clue. Lives are at stake - if they care.

[sabra]

15. Welcome to DU, so glad you decided to join.

peace.

[ninkasi]

18. Welcome to DU...

I hope you and the other residents of NOLA are able to put your city and your lives back together again. We all need to pitch in and give whatever help we can. What's the point of sending our troops to engage in an illegal and bloody war, when the NG could be doing good here, by helping rebuild the Gulf Coast.

Again...welcome to DU...:hi: :hi: :hi: :hi:

[newyawker99]

21. Hi dsharp88!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[daleo]

23. Good post

It is always interesting to hear straight reportage from someone on the scene.

[No Exit]

12. Hey, political image is MUCH more important than

silly things like, you know, keeping people alive!

[PassingFair]

13. Pay no attention to the body count!

We need Rumsferatu down there to reassure everyone that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, or whatever spews out!

[No Exit]

16. You'd need to be high on narcotics to not notice the body count!

Oh... I forgot... Rush IS high on narcotics.

[Drum]

25. so true, so true...

the man's speaking defies belief. lovvved the 'Rumsferatu' label...a new one to me, and delightfully apt.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. OxyBoy doubletalked this caller and never gave him a straight answer

Limbaugh has no concept of the real world. Drugs have turned his brain to jelly.

Cowards are typically like that. He would never set foot in New Orleans, unless wrapped in a bubble of RW asskissers.

[raccoon]

5. I wish they'd leave that creep in the Ninth Ward! nt

[DemoTex]

6. Katrina was a godsend for R/W hate radio's cynical agenda.

Just like 9/11 was.

:puke:

[Uben]

7. Drug addict and felon

limbaugh
No credibility. Liar. Scum-head traitor of the U.S.A. Should be tried for treason and hung by the neck.

[gratuitous]

8. Rush? Know what he's talking about? Heaven forbid!

Facts are anathema to Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. When you start considering facts, then you might have to start considering differing opinions, and before you know it, you're not frothing at the mouth anymore, and demonizing 2/3 of the population doesn't sell anymore. And Rushbo gots to get paid.

[Ilsa]

10. Even Cokie Roberts on NPR was saying things are still a mess

in NOLA, and she sounded down on the Bush* Admin over their lack of interest in helping NOLA.

[No Exit]

11. Listen up, St. Bernard: here's your FAIR-WEATHER FRIEND

Why do I say St. Bernard? Because a large number of St. Bernard's people were supporters of republicans. (And they got not just water, but oil--from Murphy Oil--in their homes.)

Oh, they must've been some rich suburb, right?

Well, not exactly. Many of them were just working people--you know, the types of working people we meet who don't seem to notice that everything Shrub does is against them, who want to "do the right thing even if it's hard" and support 'Murica.

The Addict is just another one of the republicans whose true colors are now being shown to republican voters in and around Orleans, St. Bernard, and Jefferson Parishes. (That's the greater N.O. metro area.)

I think those voters are going to have a hard time reconciling what they are seeing with their rosy view of Patriotic Republican America.

Good!

I wish their reality check hadn't had to be so painful. But sooner or later, reality must be confronted.

[funkybutt]

20. PLEASE HELP US BY CALLING!!

If you would like WSMB (formerly Progressive Talk 1350)to return the Al Franken - Air America show to the 11am-2pm slot instead of Rush Limbaugh please call [phone] and ask for the "Rush Limbaugh Comment Line" and leave message

"Please return Al Franken - Air America show to the 11am-2pm slot on
WSMB instead of Rush Limbaugh"

You must leave your name and phone # or your comment does not count

[KamaAina]

22. Why? Is there another levee breach that needs to be plugged?

Hey, I know! The OxyMoron can start an "Adopt-A-Katrina-Family" scheme where all the money actually goes to him! :sarcasm:

I take it at least some pharmacies are back open. Without his Oxy, Rush is just a plain moron...

[Drum]

26. We could simply

have the Army Corps of Engineers drop Rush's fat ass in there---breach fixed! (But it would probably taint the water.)

Rush is a big dumb walrus.

[stanwyck]

27. Answer this, please

since the GOP is so closely aligned with the Christian Right, how does Rush get away with his open contempt of the poor? Afterall, isn't that what most of the New Testament is about...helping the poor? The dispossessed?
Air America played some clips of Rush discussing New Orleans and Katrina. You should hear the contempt in his voice...the way he says "the poor". He hates poor people. It's chilling to hear the hate in his voice.
And what you hate is what you fear.
It's about all the money for guys like Rush. He lives in fear that "someone" (minorities...gays...women) will take away his money.
But hating the poor has become acceptable to the right. Poor are the enemy and they're below consideration.
So much for "give us your poor, your huddled masses".
America under Bush is a different country.