Rush Limbaugh defends Somali Pirates

[Covenant]

It's hard to tell what Rush says in any context. On that day he had a Russian caller and Rush said, what, something about fighting against Glasnost in this country?

RUSH: Thank you, Victor, and we're going to continue our fight here against glasnost and perestroika from the Obama administration.

Glasnost and perestroika, really? Apparently Rush is a hardline totalitarian. Damn that Glasnost!

"Glasnost can also refer to the specific period in the history of the USSR during the 1980s when there was less censorship and greater freedom of information."

"The perestroika reforms began the process leading to the dismantling of the Soviet-era command economy and its replacement with a market economy."

Are you sure that wasn't the section meant to be absurd? Because this just shows he's got no idea what he's talking about. Again. And then there was the section where they all complained about how 24, softcore right-wing pornography that it is, incldued a PSA where the people at 24 asked their viewers to join Jack Bauer to fight against global warming. They were all pretty steamed about that. Damn them and their radical climate change agenda, asking for support! As Rush said a viewer stated, "I won't watch 24 again!"

Put into the context, then, we have an insane fatass complaining about how his favorite show had a PSA asking for support to save the environment, and talking out of his fat ass and using terms he doesn't even have the barest understanding of. In that context, yes, perhaps I shouldn't take Rush's words seriously--but not for the reason you assert. Is he always wrong?

In any case, I'm forced to agree that the piece was a meanspirited piece of farce. Look at the Gergan/Sharpton bit:

SHARPTON: The so-called pirates, they call themselves voluntary Coast Guard in Somalia, which may be more apt.

RUSH: Well, there you have it, from one of America's true leaders of the civil rights movement, the black community, they're not even pirates. They are voluntary coast guards. So in fact what we have here, according to the Reverend Sharpton, these young kids, black Muslim kids, three of which were ordered shot by President Obama on Sunday afternoon, they're just a voluntary Coast Guard trying to protect Somalia, they're just patrolling off the coast of Somalia as sort of a voluntary National Guard, so-called pirates, they're not really pirates, according to reverend Sharpton. He's confirming me, Mr. Snerdley. Don't look so incredulous. They're just community organizers and they have decided to organize out on the high seas as a means of protecting their beloved country, is all this is about.

I have no idea if he took Sharpton in-context, but I think this is an instance of Poe's Law, not of actual Rush Limbaugh expousing a position that they're poor, innocent sailors--and how do I wish it was. I mean, look at this, and then ask if he's really being serious:

RUSH: No, you don't understand. You don't understand. I'm glad you called and said this to give me the opportunity to explain. We don't have enemies. Well, we have enemies, but we have enemies because of us. We have made them our enemies by being a superpower, by having such a big military, by having such a big economy, by having so much prosperity, by having so much freedom, by feeding the world, by outperforming every other civilization in the history of human existence. We are the problem. We have only been able to do this, you see, by stealing from the Somalis and stealing from the Kenyans. We have stolen all of the resources of the world to use ourselves in a selfish effort to make ourselves bigger than anybody else. And so it is guilt that forces us to send food and good wishes to our enemies like this. This is the way the left thinks. Remember, the United States is the problem in the world.

[Covenant]

Damn edit timer. I was going to add that the real big issue is how he weaves in and out of the farce--at the end, for example, he shows his hand. So what parts of that segment were in semi-racist jest, and which are serious? I can't tell at first glance, and I doubt most people can, and I'm not willing to slog through it. But I won't hang him for this when there's other legitimate reasons.

[Kon_El]

And in the end, what about this situation is absurd? Answer me that, what is so absurd and inherently funny about pirates holding AK47 to the head of a merchant mariner and then getting shot?

Its not the situation that is absurd. Someone being held hostage is a serious matter. The absurd part was how he reported on the matter.

we were very much concerned here that this kind of action against three young teenagers, black Muslim teenagers on the high seas could anger the pirates, merchant marine organizers even more and heighten and increase hijack activity. The left itself warned us of this in Iraq, they said all we're doing is creating more terrorists. So apparently we've created more hijackings on the high seas, in the Gulf of Aden by teenaged black Muslims, the merchant marine organizers.

He was mimicking the style of many reports about the "war on terror".

Was calling me a big fat liar really necessary?

[Patrick Degan]

we were very much concerned here that this kind of action against three young teenagers, black Muslim teenagers on the high seas could anger the pirates, merchant marine organizers even more and heighten and increase hijack activity. The left itself warned us of this in Iraq, they said all we're doing is creating more terrorists. So apparently we've created more hijackings on the high seas, in the Gulf of Aden by teenaged black Muslims, the merchant marine organizers.

He was mimicking the style of many reports about the "war on terror".

No, Sir Porkalot was engaging in his customary sport of jousting strawmen.

[Aratech]

we were very much concerned here that this kind of action against three young teenagers, black Muslim teenagers on the high seas could anger the pirates, merchant marine organizers even more and heighten and increase hijack activity. The left itself warned us of this in Iraq, they said all we're doing is creating more terrorists. So apparently we've created more hijackings on the high seas, in the Gulf of Aden by teenaged black Muslims, the merchant marine organizers.

He was mimicking the style of many reports about the "war on terror".

No, Sir Porkalot was engaging in his customary sport of jousting strawmen.

Jousting? You mean they've actually managed to find a horse strong enough to support his fat ass? Or does he have to do it from a specially modified sport utility vehicle?

[Yogi]

we were very much concerned here that this kind of action against three young teenagers, black Muslim teenagers on the high seas could anger the pirates, merchant marine organizers even more and heighten and increase hijack activity. The left itself warned us of this in Iraq, they said all we're doing is creating more terrorists. So apparently we've created more hijackings on the high seas, in the Gulf of Aden by teenaged black Muslims, the merchant marine organizers.

He was mimicking the style of many reports about the "war on terror".

You're taking his words out of context. That's not what he means.

[Darth Onasi]

It sounds to me like an attempt at sarcasm by someone who is rather crap at it.