Comments on: Has Rush Limbaugh Hammered The Final Nail Into The GOP Coffin?

By: Australian_Young_Lib

Australian_Young_Lib — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:04:50 +0000

Your article is quite well balanced, no matter how much I despise Michael J Fox, I still agree with you that Rush was wrong to make such a vicious personal attack on him the way he did. But nonetheless, well done. People like Rush should be held responsible for what they have to say.

By: WolvenBear

WolvenBear — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 01:46:33 +0000

As I pointed out in my article further down the page, also on embryonic stem cell research, “Ignore the Man Behind the Fetal Stem Cell Initiative Curtain”, while I may disagree about the moral issues being important, I am still against the deliberate, willful, and malicious distorted misrepresentation of the views of the Pro-Life crowd. Michael J. Fox got on during the World Series, and used his condition to slander Senator Jim Talent. He flat out lied about Talent’s wanting to outlaw the procedure. He misrepresented the potential and viability of fetal stem cells. And his ads have basically stated “You can vote for the evil Republicans, who don’t care about the sick, or you can vote for my candidate, and I’LL BE CURED!” Of course, he doesn’t use those words, but in his dozens of nation-wide attempts, it’s his basic message.
I don’t even like Limbaugh, but come on. Limbaugh is being denounced for having the temerity to suggest that Fox was doing something he had done before, and for that he is demonized in the press. Fox gets in ads, and preaches nonsense for a minute, with no way for someone to counter it until the next day. Limbaugh can be argued on his own show. And now that Limbaugh counters his blatant BS, Fox hides behind his bretheren, who use his disease as a bludgeon to beat on Rush.

Ann Coulter called it the Liiberal Doctrine of Infallibility…I call it Cowardice.
If the message is worth hearing, then why not put it forward from someone who can be debated without suddenly crying out, “OH, I’m SOOOO sick.”

I’m sorry, but even if Limbaugh’s remarks were as awful as you made them out to be, and they weren’t, one would have to be pretty foolish to allow that to sway them away from a candidate, or party. When I was 5 I didn’t hold what my dad said against my mom, yet you’re arguing that rational intelligent people will hold the views of a talk show host against dozens of candidates who have never met him. You must think said people are pretty stupid to make such an outrageous comment.
The Foley scandal wouldn’t have been a scandal under a balanced media, nor would it have been held against the “party of corruption” without some massive bias. Abramoff dealt with jerks on both sides of the aisle, and the War in Iraq is being used by the media as a drum to inflame lazy voters against the Republicans.
I said it before and I’ll say it again, if Republicans lose the House or Senate this November, it won’t be because they were wrong on the issues. or because of their “corruption”, but because they were just unwilling to combat the never ending propeganda against them.

By: rightwingprof

rightwingprof — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:09:03 +0000

“However, with his cheap shot towards actor Michael J. Fox, Limbaugh might have hammered the final nail into their coffin.”

In what fantasy world?

By: 64dodger

64dodger — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:03:35 +0000

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!! You are living in a fantasy world.

By: Mountain Man

Mountain Man — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:54:24 +0000

Mr. Goldstein,

You did a marvelous job parroting the leftist talking points, giving wholesale acceptance to the media’s portrayal of how the controversy unfolded. Even today I read an AP story that used the exact same original quotes from Rush, despite the perhaps hours of subsequent commentary Rush has done on this issue.

I heard the entire broadcast in question, and Rush talked for an extended period about this. Rush did not attack Fox. Rush did what he always does: Deal with the issues.

Clearly you did no fact-checking beyond the media portayal. He actually did argue “that Fox cannot know if stem cell research will find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.” He did challenge “Fox’s claim that Senator Talent wants to ‘criminalize’ stem cell research.” He exhibited great sympathy for Fox’s condition, but did not let the illness immunize Fox from legitimate and justified criticism.

What will really torpedo the GOP is not issues like The War in Iraq, the Abramoff scandal or the Mark Foley thing. It will be the inability of the GOP to cut through the misinformation promulgated by leftists and the complicit media regarding these issues.

But worse than that, it will be due to conservatives and others like you who pile on without getting the full story. It amazes me how willing we are to shoot our wounded when we really should be working at doing a better job getting out the facts. Of course, that depends on us using the real facts rather than simply regurgitating leftist rhetoric.

By: Patrick Mulligan

Patrick Mulligan — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 14:16:20 +0000

One question that comes to mind though, is why is it always conservatives who have to be held to such a high moral standard and be constantly apologizing for “crassness”? I’ve heard quite a lot worse come from hollywood, and Michael J. Fox himself, about conservatives and conservative candidates. The entire point of the ad in question (read about it in the article below this one) was to blur the distinction between embryonic and adult stem cell research and to accuse the Republican candidate of not caring about finding a cure for Parkinson’s Disease. It’s pretty dispicable to deliberately try to deceive voters, don’t you think? Probably every bit as despicable as accusing someone of being a liar, especially when they are. Even if Fox wasn’t “acting” or intentionally over-emphasizing his illness, he his guilty of contributing his name and support to an ad whose sole purpose is to disparage one candidate by lying about his views on Parkinson’s research and to blur the distinction between the two types of stem cell research, one of which has been proven as a very effective treatment method, the other of which has never been used to cure a single illness. I think Rush Limbaugh should issue an apology to Fox just as soon as Fox issues an apology to the candidate whose name he’s trying to smear with dishonest political ads. Having a disease does not make you beyond public reproach anymore than your gender or skin color does. When you put your political opinions out in the public sphere, they should be subject to public scrutiny. If Fox didn’t want his honesty called into question, he shouldn’t have lent his name to a dishonest attack ad for his chosen political party.