About us Login Get email updates
Quick Clip
Print

Limbaugh says "to see where liberalism will take you," look at Cuba, Detroit, and New Orleans before and after Katrina

December 11, 2009 2:28 pm ET

From the December 11 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

Please upgrade your flash player. The video for this item requires a newer version of Flash Player. If you are unable to install flash you can download a QuickTime version of the video.

EMBED
Expand All Expand 1st Level Collapse All Add Comment
    • Author by Übermensch (December 11, 2009 2:34 pm ET)
      1 1
      well connected dot...all of them
      Report Abuse
    • Author by wolf kotenberg (December 11, 2009 2:35 pm ET)
      3  
      Detroit ???? Katrina hit Detroit ?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by political_left-religious_right (December 11, 2009 3:48 pm ET)
        1  
        Yes, and we in Ann Arbor really dodged a bullet.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by wolf kotenberg (December 11, 2009 5:36 pm ET)
          1  
          I lived in Ann Arbor when my dad got his Masters from UM. Went skating at Parke-Davis a lot.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by Publius39 (December 11, 2009 2:36 pm ET)
         
      Actually, I live in Detroit and the reason why we are in the situation that we are in is because of our over-reliance on manufacturing jobs and the big three, which is something that Limbaugh would have probably endorsed if he lived here. There was no economic diversification, and our politicians did nothing to bring in service sector jobs to offset the loses incurred from the decline of the manufacturing sector. This had nothing to do with Liberalism, and I get sick of him playing the "pin-the-liberal-tail-on-the-donkey" game that he always plays. He has no concept of the plights of this area, and really should keep his mouth closed when dealing with issues that are out of his arena. But that would be too much, as he would probably have to have his mouth sewn shut.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by NiceguyEddie (December 11, 2009 2:38 pm ET)
      5  
      Unless conservatism actually MEANS not giving black people a voice, or LIBERALISM means all the white people move out when the blacks get a voice... and White Flight seams to be more a conservtaive response than a liberal one... what does LIBERALISM have to do with Detroit?

      Cuba? I'm not going to dignify 'liberalism = communist dictatorship' with a response.

      And New Orleans? Are you serious? Before and after KATRINA? Seriously? Bush and Cheney leave a city to drown and that says something about LIBERALISM? Well... yeah... I guess it does, but only in contrast to the apathy and ineptitude displayed by the governance of the Right.

      --------------------------------------------------------------
      This guys own words are like a rhetorical oroborus: they turn on themselves and eat themselves.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (December 11, 2009 2:47 pm ET)
        2  
        Yeah, "Liberal Cuba" might be funny to us, put probably perfectly sensible to the average dittohead. Wingnuts are just jealous of the Cubanos rides.

        [http://static.flickr.com/121/315055959_0b87c7fd8a.jpg]
        Report Abuse
        • Author by pete592 (December 11, 2009 3:02 pm ET)
          4  
          One interesting thing I read about a while back was how Cubans keep those American classics running. They retrofit them using parts from old Russian military trucks.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by twseattle (December 11, 2009 4:48 pm ET)
          2  
          Boy will they be surprised when they can't get Eisenhower on the radio!
          Report Abuse
        • Author by John Paradox (December 11, 2009 5:07 pm ET)
          2  
          Song in head: All. my. friends. drive. lowriders......
          Report Abuse
      • Author by Boxer1979 (December 11, 2009 2:50 pm ET)
        1  
        Cuba? I'm not going to dignify 'liberalism = communist dictatorship' with a response.

        Hey Eddie Rushie knows no history at all. Yes Communism has been linked to a left-winged ideology, but every leader with a communist agenda did not like liberalism.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by NiceguyEddie (December 11, 2009 3:22 pm ET)
          8  
          The problem is that Conservatives see their ideology as being inherently good. Thus they don't really have to acknowledge the issue of extremism. In Rush's mind, there's no such thing as being too conservative. But the average american Liberal DOES understand the dangers of extremism, and thus draws a line somwhere to the LEFT of them as well as well as to the Right. That we all, naturally, draw our lines in different places might explain why the Democrats never seem to have the cohesiveness that the hardcore Republicans always seem to: they don't draw a line to the Right of their position, ANYWHERE. And it's a lot easier to draw a line between you and your opposition that it is to agree on how far you're willing to go.

          That's also why they always dismiss any evidence or arguments against them. Since they KNOW they're right, anything that disagrees with them MUST be wrong.

          Liberals evaluate the evidence and then form their position. That's why our positions sometimes change: New evidence comes to light. We don't believe our position is inherently good, we believe it's as good as the evidence that supports it.

          Conservatives, OTOH, form their position first, and then evaluate all evidence accordingly. That's why they ALMOST NEVER change their positions: They have the luxury of simply dismissing any contrary evidence as liberal and thus, at least in their minds, wrong. This is what comes of believing in the inherent goodness of your philosophy.

          -------------------------------------------------------------
          IMO, that's why there's as many of them as there are, and why it's so prevalent among the relatively un-educated whites: It's a much easier philosphy to have. Very little real thinking or analysis (and thus the admission that you might be wrong) is required.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by k1dork (December 11, 2009 6:15 pm ET)
          4
        Right, Katrina was Bush and Cheney's fault. It was certainly not a reflection of the DEMOCRAT mayor and governor.

        Really, blind partisan idiocy will be the end of America.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Marker (December 11, 2009 7:03 pm ET)
          4  
          No, the end of America will be the relentless stupidity of repugs.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by mescal (December 12, 2009 2:25 am ET)
          4  
          "Really, blind partisan idiocy will be the end of America." - the Dork

          Yeah, and you prove that every time you post, kid.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by Brabantio (December 12, 2009 7:55 am ET)
          3  
          It's not necessarily a choice between the two. Even if you assign blame to Democrats, you can't change the fact that the "F" in FEMA stands for federal.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by jjamele2880 (December 11, 2009 2:40 pm ET)
      7  
      "To see where liberalism will take you, look at the Health Care systems of Canada, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Japan..."

      "But don't look too hard. In fact, I take that back- don't look at them at all. Just take my description of them as gospel truth. They are horrible. Trust me."
      Report Abuse
    • Author by fantagor (December 11, 2009 2:41 pm ET)
      4  
      Cuba is a communist country to the south, not a bastion for American liberals, therefore not part of the debate.

      Detroit is part of America that the auto industry failed.

      NOLA is part of America that government failed.

      And Rush Limbaugh stands for gossiping about other countries while accepting domestic failures so easily.

      Randy
      Report Abuse
      • Author by jeff191 (December 11, 2009 4:11 pm ET)
        1  
        as a neighbour of Detroit, i can say many things have killed that city. Racial hatred,the decline of the manufacturing base, the interstate highway system that gutted old established neighbourhoods and turned citizens into commuters,who rarely interacted with their neighbours, a series of municipal governments that preferred laying blame and corrupt nest feathering to tackling the very real problems of Detroit. the idea that liberal or conservative policies are to blame is juvenile
        Report Abuse
      • Author by jeff191 (December 11, 2009 4:11 pm ET)
        1  
        as a neighbour of Detroit, i can say many things have killed that city. Racial hatred,the decline of the manufacturing base, the interstate highway system that gutted old established neighbourhoods and turned citizens into commuters,who rarely interacted with their neighbours, a series of municipal governments that preferred laying blame and corrupt nest feathering to tackling the very real problems of Detroit. the idea that liberal or conservative policies are to blame is juvenile
        Report Abuse
    • Author by caels (December 11, 2009 2:42 pm ET)
      2  
      "to see where conservatism will take you, look at the entire damn country"
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Boxer1979 (December 11, 2009 2:44 pm ET)
      6  
      Limbaugh says "to see where liberalism will take you," look at Cuba, Detroit, and New Orleans before and after Katrina

      Lets see....

      Cuba - Dictatorship - More so a right-winged ideology.

      Detroit - Once a prominent city in the 1950's - 1980's Then deregulation changed that. Thank you Reagan.

      New Orleans - Bush totally dropped the ball on that one!

      PROJECTION!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Don Quixote (December 11, 2009 2:47 pm ET)
      6  
      Limbaugh was very selective in his examples, drawing heavily on the false cause and strawman fallacy. Most U.S. liberals don't want to be communists like Cuba or the old USSR. Limbaugh neglects to mention the EU nations which are basically socialist states. Most of these nations are doing quite well, and generate high scores on surveys that measure a more holistic form of wealth including feeling secure and content. And calling Detroit and New Orleans "liberal" cities? C'mon! Even if it were so, the collapse of these cities had nothing to do with liberalism.

      To use his false cause fallacy in reverse, the poorest states in the nation are mostly southern and mostly under conservative control. Furthermore, lots of Latin American nations' economies collapsed spectacularly after installing what are considered to be "free market" conservative economic policies. Everytime they tried to copy us, they would fall flat. That's why Europe went the other way. Ergo, (using ditto logic) conservatism, in both national and world contexts, is a failed ideology.

      Hey, using twisted logic based on fallacious reasoning can be fun!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by pete592 (December 11, 2009 2:51 pm ET)
      3  
      Too see where conservatism will take you, look at Somalia and Indonesia and the UAE, you just have to hope you end up on the good side of the income gap, because there's no in between.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by historygeek001 (December 11, 2009 3:00 pm ET)
      2  
      Time to change your meds, Rush. Whatever you're taking doesn't work.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by gs-425 (December 11, 2009 4:31 pm ET)
        1
      A more accurate way to describe where liberalism and progressive-ism will take you is Stalin's Russia, Mao's China and Nazi Germany to name a few. All end up in rule by the barrel of a gun.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by SLRTX (December 11, 2009 4:54 pm ET)
      5  
      Watch out for them liberals! Next thing, they'll be declaring themselves independent!

      [http://iwampum.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/declaration-of-independence-signers.jpg]
      Report Abuse
    • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (December 11, 2009 5:20 pm ET)
      2  
      OK RUSH,I'll tell you what LIBERALISM has done for this country,For women, it's given them the right to vote( 1913),and other rights over the years including reproductive rights.
      For workers, better working conditions, pay,hours, workplace saftey, child labor laws to keep CONSERVATIVE business owners from exploiting very young children (as young as 7 years old.)
      For the population in general LIBERALISM has given us agencies to moniter our air, water, and food so business will make the effort to keep those esential items free of life threating contaminents.
      For non white AMERICANS, civil rights including the right to vote so as to give all AMERICANS of every color and creed the promise of this great country as spelled out in the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and the CONSTITUTION.
      By the way RUSH, over our history people fought and DIED to get these improvements and it was CONSERVATIVES such as you that fought tooth and nail to stop this progress and improvement. You sit in your chair every day spitting venom and hate for anyone trying to better the situation for those less fortinuate than yourself,all you care about is yourself, your rich CONSERVATIVE pals and your money.
      YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF RUSH for istead of trying to better things for people you put people down who don't fit your very narrow view of what are real AMERICANS. You are a DIVIDER,NOT A UNITER and PRESIDENT OBAMA IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE of your sorry self. I hope that eventually enough people will see you for the classless individual you really are and discard you onto the trashheap of history where you belong.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by LIBERTY OR DEATH (December 12, 2009 12:53 am ET)
        4
      Detroit the poster child for failed liberal policies
      Report Abuse
      • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (December 12, 2009 1:07 am ET)
        3  
        DETROIT the poster child for failure to diversify its business base.It relied too much on the auto industry,not liberal polocies.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by New Frontier (December 13, 2009 11:12 am ET)
        2  
        2006 and 2008: the poster children for failed Republican policies.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by williamf75 (December 12, 2009 7:24 pm ET)
      1  
      Limbo and his fans treat politics like sport.

      True story:

      I had a weekend home in a very small texas town on the coast. Very, very libertarian / conservative population. Ron Paul's district. Mostly a weekend retreat for Houstonians that wanted to really get away (Galveston has become too crowded). Anyway - stil lots of backwoods locals. Two of the locals got into a bar fight one night. Argument was about who had a better football team - Texas or A&M. Ended up being a gun fight and one of the guys was killed.

      Neither one attended college. Didn't even graduate high school.

      Folks on the right don't care what their team does or doesn't do - they only care about opposing the other team.

      Also note how all the very large protests occurred during the most boring sports period of the year. Mid-season baseball. Once football season started, crowds became a lot smaller. Look for a crowd resurgence in March.
      Report Abuse