Limbaugh accused media of "pure politics" for supposedly "celebrat[ing]" Katrina anniversary while ignoring 9-11
SUMMARY: Rush Limbaugh accused Democrats and the "drive-by media" of "celebrat[ing] a one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina." He complained that the media have recently avoided coverage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because it "would help the Bush administration," and that this purported lack of coverage is responsible for a "split in public opinion on the war in Iraq and the war on terror."
On the August 28 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh accused Democrats and the "drive-by media" of "celebrat[ing] a one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina," and complained that the anniversary will culminate in an alleged "two-week orgy of reliving [the] disaster" while "9-11 has been allowed to be forgotten ... sort of shoved away in a memory drawer." Limbaugh claimed that the media have recently avoided coverage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because it "would help the Bush administration," and that this purported lack of coverage is responsible for a "split in public opinion on the war in Iraq and the war on terror."
Limbaugh asserted that "when any attempt to relive the day of 9-11 on television" occurs, "people here in New York and around the country [say], 'No, no, no, no! It's too soon! I can't handle it.' " Further criticizing those he claimed condemn any focus on the 9-11 attacks, Limbaugh later stated: "New York is sacred ground. The hole in the ground is sacred ground. Can't talk about it. Can't show the video of 9-11; 'No, no, no! Too soon! Still too soon! We are too emotionally fragile! We can't handle it! No!' " Limbaugh claimed that the real reason the media purportedly ignore the 9-11 attacks is because "[r]ecasting, replaying, re-airing the events of 9-11 would help the Bush administration." But according to Limbaugh, as the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, the media have no problem showing the devastation it caused. He claimed the media "cannot wait to show the destruction," "cannot wait to show the disaster," and "cannot wait to show the suffering" so they can "blame the Republicans and blame President Bush" and claimed that the alleged discrepancy in coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the 9-11 terror attacks was "pure politics," adding that the "[d]rive-by media knows if you relive 9-11, it only enhances everybody's concern for the war on terror we find ourselves in."
From the August 28 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: I cannot ignore the discussion of the Democrats' efforts to celebrate a one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Some anniversary, is it not? You know, it was "too soon," five years later, to see United 93. "No, no. Too soon! We can't stand those images. We can't stand to -- No, no, no, don't show us that movie!" When any attempt to relive the day of 9-11 on television with footage of what happened was discussed, people here in New York and around the country, "No, no, no, no! It's too soon! I can't handle it." Well, here with Hurricane Katrina, by God, we cannot wait to show the destruction! We cannot wait to show the disaster. We cannot wait to show the suffering.
We cannot wait to relive all of the horrors and call it an anniversary. Now, I'm sure you people understand why this is. Recasting, replaying, re-airing the events of 9-11 would help the Bush administration -- it would, and I think we need to see them every day because of this. It would remind everybody that we are at war. Read a good piece over the weekend. We really aren't at war. The military is at war, but we aren't. How's the war affecting your daily life? It really isn't. May be affecting your mood; you may be palpably pessimistic or whatever. But the country really isn't at war. And it's evidenced by so many events that you just watch.
See, the split in public opinion on the war in Iraq and the war on terror and whether this is something that we need to seriously be engaged in. And that's because 9-11 has been allowed to be forgotten, it's been sort of shoved away in a memory drawer, and whenever we think about opening that drawer and looking at the contents, "No! No! Too soon!" But here, at the end of August, nearing the one-year anniversary of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, well, by golly, we're gonna look at this and we're gonna celebrate this, and we're gonna remember it for two weeks, and we're going to show you.
We're gonna have speeches by the mayor, "School Bus" [Ray] Nagin. How about this guy? This guy, you know, he should not have apologized. He's got a point. He's got a point. Everybody is complaining about the lack of rebuilding in New Orleans. He says, "hey, you got a hole in the ground at the World Trade Center for five years, haven't done diddly-squat." That is an excellent point. What's in common? Liberals run both places. Liberals run New York. I mean, the -- everybody knows what should have happened, you start rebuilding the World Trade Center as they were, one inch, one foot, two feet taller, whatever, just do it. "No, we had to have a memorial." We had to have a plaque blaming America for everything that's gone wrong in this country, from displacing the Native Americans, to the new Survivor show.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: OK, there's that. Isn't it interesting? New York is sacred ground. The hole in the ground is sacred ground. Can't talk about it. Can't show the video of 9-11. "No, no, no! Too soon! Still too soon! We are too emotionally fragile! We can't handle it! No!" But we're going through a two-week orgy of reliving disaster called Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and we're probably gonna relive all the lies, too, about all the murders that didn't take place and all the rapes that didn't take place and all the toxic soup that didn't happen. The water, supposedly poisonous.
I want -- Are we gonna relive Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat in Louisiana's trip to his house to get his $90,000 or whatever he took out of there? Are we gonna relive that? Isn't it amazing? I sort of understand "School Bus" Nagin's frustration here. Of course, for these guys, it's a celebration. They get to go out and blame somebody else for why nothing's happened down there. They get to blame the Republicans and blame President Bush, just sitting around waiting for what?
And, of course, when it comes to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, whoosh, we can see it all. We can hear it all. We can do retrospectives. We can break out all those Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists to recount the horrors, the details, many of which were abject lies. But so what? "We won a Pulitzer doing it. We'll try to win a Pulitzer again for our re-coverage. Yes, another Pulitzer for not letting people forget. Never forget. "Never, ever forget what happened when George Bush let Hurricane Katrina destroy New Orleans and the levees and then didn't rebuild it." But when it comes to 9-11, Ground Zero and -- oh! "It's too soon. It's too soon."
Pure politics. Drive-by media knows if you relive 9-11, it only enhances everybody's concern for the war on terror we find ourselves in. So -- and this is the kind of stuff Democrats think is gonna win them elections.
too bad the brain damage is too advanced to do much about...
He's still stoned on his "happy pills."
The comment makes *NO* sense whatsoever, especially since Katrina happened a year ago TODAY.
It's about 2 more weeks until 9-11.
Funny how mentioning the day our leader failed to keep us safe would supposedly help him. I can't tell if Rush is being asinine or if there's a shred of truth to that idea.
I saw a Nat'l Geographic show last night on 9/11... and it was not bush-bashing in the least. If anything it was a very scary piece on how the terrorists are out there and ready to pounce at any minute (even including the last, supposedly thwarted, 'liquid' threat in the UK)...
However, all I could think throughout the entire mess, as I watched again the devastation and death of 9/11 was... this is a failing of OUR gov't... I hope others feel the same. We're approaching about 10,000 dead Americans on Bush's watch to date (not to mention, the countless Iraqis). With any luck, people just won't be fooled so easily (again).
When has anyone backed away from 9/11? I watched a very good documentary the other night about 9/11 on the National Geographic channel - which I'm sure Rush would consider another liberal outlet. The media continue to cover 9/11 - and Ann Coulter calls its widows "harpies". Rush Limbaugh is nuts. I could change parties tomorrow and become a Republican but Rush is going to be nuts for the rest of his life.
You can FIND a program that deals with 9/11 OR "The War on Terror", if not on Fox, CNN, or MSNBC, then check out The History Channel Or The Discovery Channel. So basically Rush is full of crap.
Of course there would be EXTENSIVE coverage on the ONE year anniversary of Katrina. I doubt you'll see as much on the 2nd anniversary. I do hope EVERY aspect of this tragedy will be covered. Fair & Balanced coverage would be nice. Warts & all. Not to play the BLAME game, BUT to finally get a FULL account on what went wrong, and what is being done to correct it.
Why did you have to resurrect that egregious phrase "Blame Game"??!! All I can think of when I hear it is Simple Scotty's flatulent parrot routine, "let's not play the blame game, let's not play the blame game, awkkkk!", as if anyone was playing freaking games except the cons who were ducking and dodging any sense of responsibility for having their fingers up their rear while people were drowning in full view of the nation.
"...as if anyone was playing freaking games except the cons who were ducking and dodging any sense of responsibility for having their fingers up their rear while people were drowning in full view of the nation."...by chimpevil
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Unless you've JUST emerged from under a rock and have NO clue as to the "Blame Game" [yes I'll use that term--it fits like a glove] that began a year ago and has continued unabated, then I'll have to CONCLUDE you are either a bald faced liar OR a partisan so BLINDED by your bias that you have no trouble lying to yourself. But please don't attempt your revisionist history on me.
The finger-pointing came from BOTH sides--that's NOT even debatable. Its a FACT. Do you read or watch the news? IF you do, then you MUST filter out what you don't want to hear/read.
Who was MOST culpable and to what DEGREE is the only debatable issue. Not whether BOTH sides BLAMED each other. They did, and they STILL do a year later.
Local, State, and Federal government failed miserably in handling Katrina. To give Local and State a pass and lay the blame ALL on Federal is ludicrous...just as blaming it ALL on local and state and giving Federal a pass would be.
Get real.
I wasn't attacking you personally, so I don't appreciate your lashing out at me like that. I was just reacting to your use of that vacuous phrase obviously generated from an RNC talking point that we heard only 10,000 times by the 'pubs, and that served to deflect attention from what their own share of the blame was. I haven't been posting long, so thanks for the warm welcome to the boards!
I apologize for coming on like gangbusters, BUT if you take a swing around the threads here you'll see POSTS that make mine seem almost cordial.
FYI, I'm a Republican/Conservative--traditional/moderate--dislike Bush & his cronies, was and remain against the invasion of Iraq, and sometimes agree with Liberals on certain issues. Just to let you know where I'm coming from.
My objection was to the the part of your post that I highlighted. I'm so sick & tired of hearing that ONLY Republicans were pointing fingers OR trying to DEFLECT blame. Guess I got a bit nasty/testy about it.
But you're absolutly correct, I did make it personal. I am sorry, I'm usually a pretty mild mannered, polite poster, BUT I've been here a long long time, and OCCASINALLY get a bit heated.
Stick around, you'll see I get BLASTED here on occasion too ;-)
Someone should tell Mr. Limbaugh that this year the anniversary of 9/11 falls on 9/11
Katrina and the failure to come thru for the people on the Gulf Coast is a big embarrassment for the Bush machine. That's why Rush is bitching anout people paying attention to it.
Usually I don't bother reading all the crap Rush spouts, but I went through this one, and I just couldn't stop laughing at this bit:
"What's in common? Liberals run both places. Liberals run New York. I mean, the -- everybody knows what should have happened, you start rebuilding the World Trade Center as they were, one inch, one foot, two feet taller, whatever, just do it. "No, we had to have a memorial." We had to have a plaque blaming America for everything that's gone wrong in this country, from displacing the Native Americans, to the new Survivor show."
Liberals run New York? Giulliani? Bllomberg? hee hee
"whatever, just do it. 'No, we had to have a memorial.'" You're complaining that we aren't remembering an event by pointing out that they built a MEMORIAL? Snort
"We had to have a plaque blaming America for everything that's gone wrong in this country, from displacing the Native Americans, to the new Survivor show." Uhhhhh . . . Wow. Hahahahahahahaha! WTF! The 9/11 memorial plaque blames America for displacing the Native Americans? The new Survivor show? Wow. Talk about projection. Hahahahahahahahahaha!
Hahahahahahahahahahah! Snort! Hahahahahahahaha!
Oh man, thanks Rush. It was a hard day until I read this.
Hee hee. "Memorial!" Hee hee.
The new Survivor show! Ha!
Whatever medication you're on now, keep it up!
I think if you went back and looked at the media coverage of the one year anniversary of 9/11, it would look pretty similar to the coverage of Katrina now. And if you could time warp to 2010, coverage the five year anniversary of Katrina would be far less than the 9/11 coverage is now.
Who is it that is saying it is "too soon" to discuss 9/11? Does he mean it was too soon four years ago? If it is too soon now, I'd hate to see what it's like when enough time has passed. We have had full-length theatrical releases of "Flight 93," and "World Trade Center," they released and aired those NYFD dispatch recordings, and we have seen god-knows how many documentaries on the History Channel and A&E depicting the events of 9/11. A&E had a 9/11 documentary marathon on last weekend and Court TV is airing the 9/11 Commission documentary this week. So, yes, there is plenty of 9/11 coverage to go around, and it does NOT appear to be giving the President much of a boost, as Limbaugh has theorized.
Also, let's say, for the sake of arguement, that Bush and the U.S. Government had nothing to do with 9/11. The attacks on our country were the entire story. With Katrina, Bush and the government's ineptitude to respond to the disaster was almost a slarge a part of the story as the hurricane herself. So of course any rememberance of the events of a year ago will invoke the President's failures. If he didn't want to be forever linked with these events, he should have done a better job, plain and simple.
I think if you went back and looked at the media coverage of the one year anniversary of 9/11, it would look pretty similar to the coverage of Katrina now. And if you could time warp to 2010, coverage the five year anniversary of Katrina would be far less than the 9/11 coverage is now.
Who is it that is saying it is "too soon" to discuss 9/11? Does he mean it was too soon four years ago? If it is too soon now, I'd hate to see what it's like when enough time has passed. We have had full-length theatrical releases of "Flight 93," and "World Trade Center," they released and aired those NYFD dispatch recordings, and we have seen god-knows how many documentaries on the History Channel and A&E depicting the events of 9/11. A&E had a 9/11 documentary marathon on last weekend and Court TV is airing the 9/11 Commission documentary this week. So, yes, there is plenty of 9/11 coverage to go around, and it does NOT appear to be giving the President much of a boost, as Limbaugh has theorized.
Also, let's say, for the sake of arguement, that Bush and the U.S. Government had nothing to do with 9/11. The attacks on our country were the entire story. With Katrina, Bush and the government's ineptitude to respond to the disaster was almost as large a part of the story as the hurricane herself. So of course any rememberance of the events of a year ago will invoke the President's failures. If he didn't want to be forever linked with these events, he should have done a better job, plain and simple.
my azz! I only wish there were some mainstream media outlet that consistently held the repub's feet to the fire, as pigbag's use of the phrase implies. In truth (wait I used the word "truth" within 25 words of a reference to pigbag--I'm sure that violates some court order somewhere that "truth" and rush aren't allowed within 10,000 miles of each other!) Anyhow, "drive-by media" is a brilliant orwellian (or is that rovian?) device that ascribes the very tactics used by rush and the other gangsters of hate to that stock figure of the con games, the evil, insidious--and, as we here all know, thoroughly mythological--"liberal media." rush and his ilk are the ones who politicize utterly everything for the purpose of sliming their opponents, as this piece cited MMFA is an excellent example.
Gotta love these conservatives openly talking about how much they loved the 9/11 attacks.
This moron, like the rest of them within GOP, dont give a damn about what happens to people. This is one of the main reasons for the Katrina tragedy. Given several days of early warning, this was an avoidable tragedy. Lack governement actions led by GOP amounts to ethnic cleansing. The GOP party has become a party of criminals.
Is that Independence Day? Leap Year? It rings a bell, but I just can't place it, what with the low-key media emphasis on that date for the last 5 years.
Nah, just kidding, it comes up all the time. What is not mentioned very often by our sickly, feeble media is what happened on that date.
It wasn't the day we were shown that maniacs hate us because we're free.
It was the day that the biggest military, defense and intelligence F*ck-up in the history of the United States happened, and the people in charge of all those areas are still in charge.
What I don't get is why El Lushbo thinks the media's failure to bring this up is a bias AGAINST BushCo.
Oh yeah, it's because Rush knows his audience. They're the ones who call in and tell him he's brilliant. Help our Country.
The crawler on Fox that said "Bush: biggest disaster to ever hit the US" or something to that effect? Once in a while, a propaganda outlet accidentally tells the truth. I think the Righties are just pissed because they can't blame Katrina on Clinton.
For some of us who saw September 11, 2001 actually happen, you're damn right it was a trauma that is still hard to deal with. Where were you, fatso? In Florida paying your maid to score oxycontin for you, you junkie? As for Katrina, who is celebrating? Nobody comes out unscathed. Bush, Chertoff, that jerk running FEMA, Nagin, Blanco, any and all. And it goes back even further: try Jimmy Carter, that old political tool Bush the elder, Clinton, and now the fratboy drunk. Nobody wanted to pay attention to New Orleans because the majority of its population was BLACK. Well, not Carter, he was just a moron; and perhaps not Clinton either. But the other ones? The Bushes? Racist, stupid, greedy, seeing a way to make a buck off a tragedy that would force the n*gg**s out of N'Awleans so Halliburton et al. could rebuild it. I talked to a man who lived in the 9th Ward and he said what's coming for New Orleans is what came to New York's Times Square: "Disney and Whores." Like there's a difference.
So Rush, do us all favor. Die of an overdose, but share it with the bitch Ann Coulter.
Next time don't hold back...I agree with you. Everyone recalls 9/11 EVERY day. Go to the airport, watch TV, hear the words IRAQ or Terror, anything and everything reminds us of 9/11. And Rush, it is the ONLY reason that the Gang That Can't Think Straight is still in the White House. You speak of the drive-by media on a daily basis, maybe 10-100 times a day. But Rush, you are a major contributer of the "TO THRIVE-YOU-MUST-LIE" media which consists of yourself and the rest of the Radio Mafia. Yes, I've said it, Rush, you are a mobster. Think of how much respect you can now expect. You are a MADE-MAN (although only in your little mind) but, hey, you are important. As a matter of fact, you are ranked right up there with Osama BinLaden.....which leads us back to 9/11.
Today, Rush, we can all forget about Katrina because that is not good for us. We can now get ready for Happy Bush Day 9/11.
You love to criticize the "liberal", "drive-by media" . . . so, why are you agreeing with that liberal rag, the New York Times, who said that Dems were "seizing" on Katrina's anniversary "with something approaching glee"?
Either you and the NYT mistakenly got the same copy of Rove's latest talking point, or you got ahold of some bad oxycontin . . . or both . . .
Every time I think of 9/11, it makes me sick of this government more and more and I feel that the President and his cabinet share responsibility for allowing it to happen.
They did nothing.
Explain again how 9/11 is a good thing for President Bush? Does he realize how completely crazy that sounds?
We all know that the Bush administraion performed so much more briliantly in 9/11 than they did for Katrina. They ignored multiple warnings that Bin Laden was poised for an attack INSIDE the United States. Bush himself sat on his brain while the twin towers were collapsing around us. Five years later we still haven't caught or killed the one responsible, and Bush himself says he doesn't even think about him anymore while his minions in the media actually have the gaul to describe the man who caused the deaths of 3000 americans as "irrelevant" So if Rush wants to forget about the botched federal response to Katrina and instead talk about 9/11, I say give the man his wish.
Rush Limbaden seems hell-bent on destroying America for anyone who isn't cynical, self-absorbed and paranoid like him.