Joe Klein sees sedition like Haley Joel Osment sees dead people - It's everywhere

This video is making the rounds in the blogosphere. Normally I would skip a post on something so widely available but since this involves Joe Klein, I can't resist.  One of my earliest posts on this blog involved the sorely misguided Mr. Klein who can't seem to find a subject he is not willing to completely change his mind about if it suits his politics.  When I last took on one of Mr. Klein's absurd accusations he was accusing Sarah Palin of leading a party of nihilists.  Klein was outraged she dared to interfere in a difficult end-of-life discussion with his father.  Evidently Sarah Palin's death panel statement was directly targeted at Mr. Klein's aging parents who were going to be robbed of end-of-life counseling thanks to Palin's "obscene" statement. Oh the drama.

In an appearance on Chris Matthews Sunday show,  Joe Klein dragged his drama queen garb out of mothballs to take on Governor Palin once again.  This time he accused her of sedition.  He threw in Glen Beck on his seditious bandwagon just or good measure.  Holy time warp Batman, when was the last time someone was charged with sedition?  Actually it wasn't that long ago, Joe Klein sees sedition like Haley Joel Osment  sees dead people.  It's everywhere.

John Heilemann of "Game Change" fame can't wait to take a whack at the sedition pinata.

"And Joe's right and I'll name another person, I'll name Rush Limbaugh who uses this phrase constantly and talks about the Obama administration as a regime," Heilemann said. "That phrase which has connotations of tyranny. And what's so interesting about it to me, to get to Norah's point - what is the focus, what is the cause of this? You think back to 1994, there was Ruby Ridge. There was Waco. There were triggering incidents. There's been nothing like that. The only thing that's changed in the last 15 months is the election of Barack Obama. And as far as I can see, in terms of the policies that Obama has implemented, there's nothing."

Heilemann also suggested that the alleged up tick in militia activity is a result of the Obama presidency. Klein said it was not only the Obama presidency, but that he was "African-American," and had "Hussein" as a middle name, along with the "scary" economic crisis.

"Two are two things going on here and one thing is certainly that," Klein said. "One thing is he is African-American, but that his name is Barack Hussein Obama. The other we've had a very scary economic crisis. And when people get scared, they get defensive and they get a little crazy."

Speaking of getting a little crazy, woah.   Has anyone checked the water at MSNBC?  Rush let Heilemann have it with both barrels:

Okay.  So did you hear what Heilemann said?  Heilemann said, "There haven't any triggering incidents here. There's nothing to explain why the tea party people are so angry," except they're not that kind of angry, Mr. Heilemann.  They're just a little ticked off that the country has been stolen and the economy's been destroyed for two or three, four generations.  They're overtaxed.  The country is not what it was.  He even goes on to say there wasn't any triggering incident like Waco. Did Mr. Heilemann inadvertently step in it there, calling Waco a triggering incident for McVeigh?  Well, who was Waco? (doing Clinton impression) "Uh, you have to go ask Janet Reno the attorney general about that, I had no idea we were going to launch those tanks in there.  You have to ask her.  Heh-heh-heh.  Don't bother me.  Where's Monica?" 

Glenn Beck "felt like a horse stepped on his chest," when he heard Klein's craziness.  I can only imagine what Matthews Sunday show will be like after November.  They'll need to tape it in a padded cell.

Rush thanks Obama

Via Memeorandum
In response to yesterday's Tea Party protests, President Obama commented at a huge fund raiser at the home of Gloria Estefan:

President Barack Obama said Thursday he’s amused by the anti-tax tea party protests that have been taking place around Tax Day.

Obama told a fundraiser in Miami that he’s cut taxes, contrary to the claims of protesters.

“You would think they’d be saying thank you,” he said.

At that, many in the crowd at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts stood and yelled, “Thank you!”

Obama's tax cuts were Keynesian or stimulative and decidedly short-term. He made no change to our overall tax burden, so he is blatantly misleading when he tax about tax cuts, but what else is new.

The Hill adds that Obama also took the opportunity to declare the results of the Florida 19th Congressional Dist. special election a referendum on health care and the stimulus and the rest of his left-wing agenda. This borders on delusional as the district is D+15 and includes Palm Beach which is probably the heart of Democratic support in Florida. Turnout for the election was an abysmal 10%, that is quite a referendum.

The real gall of his statement is that he mocks those who are concerned about future tax burdens caused by his outrageous spending. This man purports to be the President of the United States, rather than address concerns of citizens he mocks them. Rush Limbaugh responded with words of thanks Obama likely doesn't want to hear:

Video Via The Right Scoop

Heh, Fausta takes aim at the menu at this fund raiser in the heart of Cuban paradise. Sushi, yes sushi. Were they out of arugula? Fausta has the MSM video "Conga" noting, "we shall wait and see what the Tea Party conga line looks like in November."   Yes, indeed we will.

Carol at  No Sheeples will never thank Obama.  She put together a great video to make the point.  Great job, Carol.

Congratulations Ed Morrissey - CPAC Blogger of the Year

Wow, what an honor. Trite but true, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Congratulations to Ed for this much deserved honor and for that marvelous introduction from Rush. I will admit I am a tad emotional this week for a few reasons but this video got me a bit choked up. It is just wonderful to see someone so genuinely honest and hard working get this kind of acknowledgement.

I would add that it speaks volumes about Allahpundit's character that he is so obviously thrilled for his colleague. Michelle Malkin was wise to choose these two excellent bloggers to head the good ship Hot Air. It is this foresight that makes her such a leader in the conservative movement. This was an amazing week for all at Hot Air. Congratulations!

Illinois Primary Tomorrow - Andrzejewski Gets Big Endorsements

The Other McCain has been hot on coverage of the Illinois primary elections tomorrow.   In his latest article The American Spectator, McCain notes the Andrzejewski campaign for Governor has caught fire with conservatives online:

The Andrzejewski campaign has caught fire with conservatives online -- including Red State, Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, First Things blogger Jim Hoft and Glenn Reynold's Instapundit mega-blog -- and the candidate was featured last week on Andrew Napolitano's Fox Business Channel program. That kind of New Media coverage has helped compensate for the paucity of attention the campaign has received from traditional media in Illinois.

Rush Limbaugh threw his support behind  Andrzejewski eliciting a "Holy Mackerel" from the candidate:

"We're gonna win this race . . . That's got to be the closer," said Andrzejewski, whose GOP gubernatorial campaign was also reportedly endorsed today by Glenn Beck on the eve of tomorrow's primary. "It's a historical election for Illinois. Nothing like this has ever happened here before."

Andrzejewski had another high profile endorsement over the weekend when Lech Walesa flew in to throw his support behind Andrzewjewski.  The Other McCain has audio of Limbaugh, Walesa and Glenn Beck endorsing Andrzejewski.  Amusing Bunni has a report after attending a Chicago tea party rally and links to local news coverage of the event as well.

It seems Andrzejewski is building momentum going into election day which is often key in determining the outcome of a race.  Recent polls in the seven person race for the Republican nomination are tight:


Though the polls show McKenna with a lead, Anne Leary at Backyard Conservative reported McKenna violated the party's code of ethics by commissioning the poll without obtaining GOP State Central Committee's approval. The poll leaned a bit heavy toward favoring McKenna which would make the results at least somewhat questionable. The violation was exposed by another candidate Dan Proft who has the support of Anne Leary whose opinion I certainly respect.  I would add that after reading Anne's links on Proft he certainly does seem to be a strong candidate.

Adam Brickley at Race4 2012 has more recent poll information and analysis including a recent internal poll from the weekend showing Andrejewski within two points of the lead.  Though this is an internal poll Brickley thinks this may be an accurate picture considering the dynamics of the race.  There are a large number of undecided voters who could be Tea Partiers deciding between Proft and Andrzejewski or "downstate" conservative deciding between Andrejewski and Brady.  I guess we'll see tomorrow night how they voted in the most important poll, the election itself.

Final note, Anne Leary mentions the winner may have the pleasure of facing Alexi Giannoulias, the banker who bankrolled Obama along with Tony Rezko:

 Alexi Giannoulias, who bankrolled Barack Obama early on....along with Tony Rezko...who hasn't been sentenced yet by the way. He's been sitting in jail for over a year now....

...and Blago's trial starts in June. A nice prelude to the election in the fall.

Should be fascinating to watch that all play out.

"Rush Limbaugh has exceptionally impressive fist pumping skills"

Carolyn asks  "Do Gators Dance"?  Yes, indeed they do and they appear to be in fine company.  Who knew Rush Limbaugh could bust a move?  Politico reports Rush won Judge of the Night for his amazing fist pumping skills displayed for all as he got up and danced alongside Vivica Fox to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face."  Is it me or does that song seem the absolute perfect song choice for Rush to unleash his dancing prowess on the unsuspecting world?

Rush elaborates on his big win, Talent on Loan from God Wins Contest for Miss America Judges:

 Last night's emcee was Dena Blizzard, comedienne from New Jersey.  She involved, off the cuff, us six judges.  She said, "You know, it's time for us to judge the judges.  The judges get to sit here and judge everybody else."  So we're caught up in this, and we have to play along and there was only one thing we had to perform, and that is we all had to stand up on cue and dance -- all six of us -- and then the audience is going to vote as to which one of us was the winner. So I got up and I started dancing and I did the Jersey fist bump because that's what she said she wanted, and I was doing the Jersey fist bump and I went kind of nuts there for 30 seconds. And, lo and behold, if I didn't win it! I won the judge talent show last night, was called up on stage.

Photo Donoghue Photography

See More at RushLimbaugh.com

Miss America Live tweets the news:

GO RUSH

Lady Gaga - New Music - More Music Videos

Hoax and Change - UPDATED

Rush's comments on Obama's speech today pretty much sums up the substance, or lack thereof, Obama's plan for jobs and growth has become. Blame Bush, check. Total revisionist history, check. Rush destroys the speech:



UPDATE: Via Hotairpundit: Karl Rove responds:



See more at the link to Hotairpundit.

Rush Interviews Sarah Palin

While the Barbara Walters and Oprah interviews focus on Palin persona, Rush focuses on Palin the political powerhouse. The interview touches on many policy issues including the economy, unemployment, foreign policy including Iran and Afghanistan with some clarification on the issue of illegal immigration as well. The highlight seems to be her declaration that America is not quite ready for a third party:

You know, to be brutally honest, I think that it's a bit naive when you talk about the pragmatism that has to be applied in America's political system. And we are a two-party system. Ideally, sure, a third party or an independent party would be able to soar and thrive and put candidates forth and have them elected, but I don't think America is ready for that. I think that it is... Granted it's quite conventional and traditional, but in a good way that we have our two parties, and I think that that's what will remain.

It looks as though there won't be a third party run for Sarah in the future.

The Lefties are taking note of the number of times Palin uses the term commonsense:

If you're keeping score at home, that's eleven "commonsense"s in an interview than runs about 3,400 words.

Well, we've always known this about Palin -- she absorbs catchphrases rather than ideas, and then she runs those catchphrases into the ground. (Remember "hungry markets"?)

George W. Bush also glommed onto simple words and phrases -- you know, like "freedom." But at least that was aspirational. Freedom! What did it mean to be a champion of freedom? It was a worthy goal, even if the execution was abysmal.

Are we to presume "hope" and "change" are aspirational catchphrases. What does it mean to be a champion of hope, we've not seen very much of it coming from this administration. We certainly have seen very little commonsense.

Part I



Part II

Rush has a thread at Memeorandum
Transcript at RushLimbaugh.com

Pat Buchanan Shreds Sharpton on Rush/Rams Deal

I saw this when it aired earlier on Hardball and thought Buchanan had Sharpton on the ropes on his hypocrisy over the Rush Limbaugh Rams deal.  To his credit, limited though that might be,  Chris Matthews doesn't give Sharpton much room to squirm here either.  Though his tone seems a bit congratulatory on Sharpton's influence toward the end, he is also getting at the point that those like Sharpton used their influence to stop Limbaugh from taking a minority ownership of the Rams based on two statements:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Meanwhile the lefty blogs are beside themselves with glee over the outrage. John Cole at Balloon Juice has been huffing the helium and can't stop laughing:

I have to admit, the freak-out over Rush not being wanted as an investor in the Rams bid is better than I expected. Scott at LGM points out a couple good reactions, but my personal favorite is Allahpundit:

"Needless to say, the next vocal liberal who tries to buy a sports franchise is going to have a hell of a time."

OOOOOHHHH! Tough guy, you think you’re like the Shaq!

Yeah, I suppose the next liberal who compares half the players to crips and bloods and has a long history of racially offensive statements probably will have a hell of a time.

Balloon Juice must be getting their marching orders from the Little Green Douchebag, Charles Johnson. Earlier today Johnson posted this rip on this Red State post

Balloon juice updates with the exact same point:

Well that took a lot of thought, Cole checks his thesaurus for a suitable replacement for Johnson's use of ubiquitous and finds obligatory works just fine.  But seriously he was honest to goodness crying and all.  OOOOOOOOOOOOH Tough guy. 

H/T: Memeorandum

Rush Limbaugh's Criticism of McNabb in Context

The controversy surrounding Donovan McNabb's tenure as quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles began long before Rush Limbaugh's assessment of his potential as a top rated NFL quarterback. Perhaps the liberals who seem so desperate to paint Limbaugh as an unrepentant racist they would be willing to make up quotes out of whole cloth, should examine the truth of Limbaugh's statement in 2003 in light of the criticism of McNabb by many others.  McNabb's rocky start in Philadelphia started with criticism from a prominent political figure and that politician is none other than former Philadelphia mayor and current PA Governor Ed Rendell:

In the spring before the 1999 NFL Draft, Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell had a message for the Eagles organization:

“If you don't draft Ricky Williams, we'll all meet at city hall and burn the Vet down.”

Of course Rendell was not making a racist statement about McNabb because Williams is also an African-American.  Rendell merely believed Williams had greater potential and Rendell of course was wrong.  His controversial intervention in the selection of a team quarterback fueled criticism of McNabb from his earliest days as Eagles quarterback.  Some may recall a local radio station rented a bus and selected thirty fans referred to as the "Dirty Thirty," to travel to the NFL draft to boo McNabb off the stage when he was selected by Andy Reid.  Nasty yes, racist no.

The question in fans minds whether McNabb is the quarterback who can bring Philadelphia a Super Bowl victory has lingered long after the Dirty Thirty faded from the headlines.  When Limbaugh criticized McNabb in 2003 he suggested that sportscasters had been rooting for McNabb's success because he was black.  His words were immediately characterized as racist precisely because it was Limbaugh who spoke them.  Few spoke in Limbaugh's defense save one liberal writer Allen Barra in an article for Slate:

In his notorious ESPN comments last Sunday night, Rush Limbaugh said he never thought the Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb was "that good of a quarterback."

If Limbaugh were a more astute analyst, he would have been even harsher and said, "Donovan McNabb is barely a mediocre quarterback." But other than that, Limbaugh pretty much spoke the truth. Limbaugh lost his job for saying in public what many football fans and analysts have been saying privately for the past couple of seasons.

Barra then addresses the question of whether some in the media have wanted him to be successful because he is black:

Consequently, it is equally absurd to say that the sports media haven't overrated Donovan McNabb because he's black. I'm sorry to have to say it; he is the quarterback for a team I root for. Instead of calling him overrated, I wish I could be admiring his Super Bowl rings. But the truth is that I and a great many other sportswriters have chosen for the past few years to see McNabb as a better player than he has been because we want him to be.

Rush Limbaugh didn't say Donovan McNabb was a bad quarterback because he is black. He said the media have overrated McNabb because he is black, and Limbaugh is right. He didn't say anything that he shouldn't have said, and in fact he said things that other commentators should have been saying for some time now. I should have said them myself. I mean, if they didn't hire Rush Limbaugh to say things like this, what did they hire him for? To talk about the prevent defense?