Thursday, May 14, 2009

Conor Friedersdorf vs. Rush Limbaugh

"At his core [Rush Limbaugh] is an opportunistic rhetorician: if an opportunity to skewer a liberal arises he'll take it, never mind the underlying principles, or even whether he defended a conservative for a similar sin two months prior; when loyalty to the GOP conflicts with adherence to conservative principles (e.g., 2000 to 2008) he generally sides with his party; he prefers capitalistic 'creative destruction' to community preservation, which is fine and defensible but isn't particularly conservative; often when he flouts political correctness, his purpose isn't to speak unpopular truths . . . but to rile his critics and make himself seem daring to an adolescent segment of his listeners."
-- Conor Friedersdorf

Rush Limbaugh has an audience of 20 million. He has been the No. 1 national talk radio host for 20 years and, for his efforts, was recognized as an honorary member of the freshman class of the 104th Congress.

Friedersdorf's biggest contribution to the conservative cause? "A Case for Gay Marriage."

Sorry, Conor: I'm with Rush, and Carrie Prejean, and Sarah Palin, and Ann Coulter . . . Nothing personal, but good luck with that Perez Hilton Coalition idea.

(H/T: Hot Air Headlines.)

14 comments:

  1. Maybe we can get Steyn to take it to Friedersdorf the way he took it to the "obscure think tanker" the other day:

    http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjJkNThlNGQwOGZkMTFlOTIyYWFlMmY2NDY0ODkyNzk=

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  2. In the great game of conservative roshambo, Rush covers Conor...and smothers him to death.

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  3. Conor who? I should recognize the name why??

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  4. I would find this guy to be more persuasive, as a Limbaugh listener, if he could provide some backup to his begged questions...what positions or arguments has Rush made that were so bad or clearly made as a party hack, instead of as a principle?

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  5. You're just proving his point, Mr. McCain.

    Conor has a brain; Rush has a mouth. What's incredibly freightening is that the mouth has 20 million unthinking dittoheads listening to his every word.

    Don't you dare criticize Rush! He has 20 million listeners! That doesn't make any sense. But I stopped trying to make sense of the conservative movement some time ago.

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  6. I'm sorry, but Culture 11 was just really, really gay.

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  7. Stacy, think about how weak your argument is. I could write, for example, that Robert Stacy McCain is a little known conservative journalist, whereas Dan Rather is a nationally known news anchor whose career spanned decades being beamed into living rooms across America. Does that mean that your ideas are wrong, and that his are right?

    If you were a famous person with a huge platform, it might make opportunistic sense for you to try to knock down my arguments based on my relative obscurity. But given that you're basically as obscure as I am, I find your approach strange and self-defeating.

    Oh, and Diogenes, I haven't heard of you either.

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  8. Stacy,Stacy,Stacy

    Good God Man, how did you ever find the virtual rock whence this blog exists?

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  9. Well, I skimmed "A Case for Gay Marriage" and I do not believe that I've seen a more frivolous, flippant, shallow and silly work in some time. I think Mr. Friedersdorf and his ideas could use a good bit more time in the oven.

    He might want to give the whole mess a good deal more thought before announcing an opinion, much less one for the purpose of appealing to the least experienced, and least introspective segment of the electorate, of which he very clearly is one.

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  10. Umnnnhhhh...

    20 million people listen to Limbaugh instead of rock'n'roll, or NPR, or baseball games. There are a bazillion other offerings on the radio during that time-period, nationally. That means that Limbaugh has something the other offerings do not have.

    Most people who listen to Limbaugh do so because they actually learn something which they cannot learn through any other source. He certainly does not follow the MSMsheeple-line, (usually talking points distributed by Emanuel) does he?

    He's the best political wonk in the USA; partly because he knows what he's talking about, and partly because he makes wonkery very entertaining, indeed.

    I seriously doubt that every one of the 20 million agrees with every single position Limbaugh ever espoused. But every one of them agrees with MOST of his thought--which is a helluvalot better than John McCain did with (R) voters in the primaries.

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  11. Dan Rather? Dan Rather is NOT a "nationally known news anchor" He is an EX-anchor. Why? Because of PROOF of one specific instance of journalistic malfeasance. If this phantom "pattern" had actually existed over the past 30 years, Rush would not have CONTINUED to increase listeners. THAT is the distinction you fail to grasp. This "pattern" you speak of only exists in the minds of Liberals as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The phony-soldiers episode comes readily to mind. Anything Rush says is deemed "divisive" or "hateful" merely because Rush is the messenger, rather than the true content of the message. And because what he says is hateful, he is a hateful person. And because he is a hateful person, everything he says is hateful. And because what he says is hateful... ad nauseum ad infinitum.

    Seriously people, stop buying into the BS Liberal Koolaid Premises and think for yourself.

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  12. The first I heard of Culture 11 is when it met it's demise here..

    funny, when you think about it..

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  13. At his core [Conor Someoneorother] is an opportunistic rhetorician: if an opportunity to skewer a [successful Conservative] arises he'll take it, never mind the underlying principles ... or that his assertions are unintentionally comical.

    Sorry... That was a weak argument to make. Don't blame me, though, I just mindlessly dittoed one of the great luminaries of modern Conservatism.

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  14. The motto of the Perez Hilton coalition, as they march:

    "I won't switch
    for that bitch!
    I won't switch
    for that bitch...!"

    Repeat as needed until someone gives a crap.

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