In a recent Politico article, Rush Limbaugh was quoted as saying that he doesn't “rally people” to take action because when he tried to do so early in his radio career, “the reaction to it from the media was that the response was not genuine ... because people only did what they did because 'Limbaugh told them to.' ” However, following the release of controversial ACORN videos that were heavily promoted by Fox News' Glenn Beck, Limbaugh and Beck have helped “rally” numerous Republican lawmakers to call for investigations of ACORN.
Limbaugh, Beck help rally GOP lawmakers to call for investigation of ACORN
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
Limbaugh: The danger is that conservatives will be seen as doing something because “Limbaugh told them to.”
From a September 17 Politico article:
Limbaugh's role in promoting the [9-12] protest? He said it's not his thing.
“I don't rally people and haven't since the first year of my radio show,” he wrote to POLITICO. “At that time, all local talk hosts were attempting to prove their worth by getting people to cut up gasoline credit cards, call Washington, etc. I thought it was cheap and disingenuous. The few times I did, early on, suggest people call Washington, the reaction to it from the media was that the response was not genuine (I shut down the House switchboard) because people only did what they did because 'Limbaugh told them to.'”
Limbaugh hasn't abandoned the call to action entirely; last year, he launched “Operation Chaos,” urging his listeners to register as Democrats and vote for Hillary Clinton in Democratic presidential primaries to prolong the nominating process and weaken Obama.
But now he suggests that conservatives don't need any egging on -- and he seemed to downplay Beck's role in goosing the turnout for last weekend's march.
“The rally Saturday was special and important precisely because there was not a single, charismatic leader behind it,” he said. “I never mentioned it, on purpose. People are rising up from genuine passion and concern, they are NOT being whipped into a frenzy. This is REAL and not inspired by anyone. This outpouring has been effervescing for years and Obama has brought it all to the boiling point. PEOPLE DO NOT NEED TO BE TOLD. They are living it.”
Limbaugh and Beck call for ACORN investigations
Beck: We need "full independent rigorous investigation" of ACORN that “goes all the way to the top.” During the September 15 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck, Beck said (from the Nexis database):
While the government is going to make speeches and throw you a bone of cutting off funding -- you know, we're going to cut off funding. Really? Until the Republicans and the Democrats rise together and demand a full independent rigorous investigation that doesn't concentrate just on the local level and these few dirtbags, but goes all the way to the top, to the power brokers at the highest levels of ACORN, and in our own halls of Congress, and this administration, it's all going to be a sham. You won't be able to trust anything in Washington.
Limbaugh: "What's really called for here, folks, is a genuine wide-scale investigation of ACORN activities." In his September 16 "Morning Update" (subscription required), Limbaugh stated:
What's really called for here, folks, is a genuine wide-scale investigation of ACORN activities. Will it happen? No. The Community Activist-in-Chief and his Democrat Party cannot afford to have the inner workings of their surrogates fully exposed. Obama is ACORN ... and verse-visa.
Numerous GOP lawmakers have also called for ACORN investigations
Lawmakers that have recently called for investigations of ACORN include:
Reps. John Boehner (D-OH), Eric Cantor (R-VA), and David Camp (R-MI)
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)