nascar has a vast audience yet i manage to ignore it, and them, assiduously- no mean feat. practice can not replace a natural gift like, say, that of being an inveterate iconoclast, but neither does it diminish the effect. because such a vile dissembler, such an emotional eunuch as is the subject of this article has a vast audience is precisely the reason not to be part of it.

Well, as Ann Coulter can attest, plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery. The lovely and charming Rush’s latest shtick sounded vaguely familiar to me, and, sure enough, after a little digging through those German newspaper archives of the 30’s, I discovered that Oxy-guy had indeed cribbed his routine from another gifted comedian.

In fairness, Rush would probably call his little nod to his Teutonic mentor an “homage” rather than an outright rip-off, but let’s not quibble over semantics. God knows Rush never does.

Of course, Rush tweaked the language of the original a little to fit his current audience’s needs, and, yes, the circumstances and the players (not to mention the targets) are somewhat different.  But, in terms of tone and style, basically The Song Reamins the Same, as Led Zeplin used to say. Contempt for the democratic process is, after all, timeless.

From an April 13, 1936 edition of Der Spiegel:

“In an interview given shortly after his most recent Nuremberg rally yesterday, Chancellor Adolf Hitler encouraged Nazi efforts to deliberately dupe German voters.”

“‘I mean, you take a look at the average German voter, you can assume that for every hundred thousand voters who actually show up at the polls, the cumulative IQ would probably be less than a braunschweiger’s. So when it comes time for an election, half of them can be fooled into saying, “Wait, the Jews or the Commies are undermining our country. Better vote for the Nazis to preserve the glorious Vaterland.” And they show up in droves and sweep us into office, and then the Communists and the other scum claim a trick has been played on them. Yeah…and? Sorry, that’s just how stupid some of these voters are. Hello, suckers!’”

“Hitler then pointed out a specific example of a successful campaign to deny opposition parties a voice and trick ‘the Herrenvolk’ into voting for the National Socialist Party:”

“‘You think I’m lying? That happened. Us Nazis did a dirty trick and burned down the Reichstag a few years ago, blamed it all on the Commies and Jews, blah, blah, blah, blah. The Commies and the Jews heard about it, “Aww,  this is such a dirty trick.” They were worried because they knew it would work, because the German people are basically stupid idiots! But then those Commies, half their supporters are stupid idiots, too! They have to be when you look at the way they vote. I mean, Karl Marx? Like, a total Jew!’”

“‘Speaking of which,’” chuckled the Chancellor, stroking the shade of a desk lamp beside him, ‘check out the covering on this sucker.  Custom-made, courtesy of Dachau! And soft as a baby’s. . .well, let’s just say we’re not talking chintz anymore.’” Chancellor Hitler then roared with Faustian gusto at his own little joke, proving that—-contrary to Jew-spawned slanders—he does indeed have a sense of humor.”

“Asked if dismissing both his supporters and opponents as being equally stupid and manipulable wouldn’t strike some carping critics as somewhat cynical and hypocritical, Hitler responded, ‘Well, duh! That’s my whole point. Voting is too important to be left to the voters. Why do think we call it the Big Lie? Propaganda, dirty-tricks—-hey, it all works! Maybe someday our American friends will finally give up their so-called “democratic” fantasies and figure that out, too.’”

Heil, Rush. You done your role model proud. Dubya uber alles!

Robert Puglia has a point, but unfortunately Limbaugh has a vast audience, and is, therefore, a ‘player’ in the political arena.  The majority of Americans would be genuinely appalled, both at the events Limbaugh described, and his characterization of the victims.  For some thoughtful Republicans this episode will prompt a deep look in the mirror, and for others it will discredit Limbaugh further.  But the biggest benefit could be the move to investigate these reports - a move that would increase voter’s disgust both at the nefarious deeds of some Republicans and the words of this most mendacious toad.

There goes the mind altering drug again.

Boy, was he high or what.

I fully agree with Robert Puglia, Truthdig. Even mentioning the utterances of the likes of Rush L gives the appearance that those utterances are of some importance.

But I guess, in America, if you’re famous it’s assumed by Americans you must also be intelligent, rich, of good moral character, and worth listening to.

The rest of the adult world knows better.

Looks like Rush is still using the same moral compass that told him he should send his maid out to get the Oxy scripts. You put a snake in rehab, you get a sober snake.

what a scum bag…thats like blaming the victim for the doctor’s malpractice.

The funny thing is: Limbaugh is right—for the wrong reasons.

We KNOW that the GOP, led by Karl Rove (on the elections) side will pull any and every dirty trick imaginable, that to THEIR minds, the ends, keeping power, justifies ANY means!

If we know this, which we should, and let them GET AWAY WITH IT, then, Limbaugh’s right: We are idiots.  We are stupid enough to think that the GOP still believes in America, and freedom and all those things that have made the US special.

We are too stupid to realize that the leaders of the GOP don’t believe in any such thing. They believe in a one-party nation, an empire, and the ability to shut down any criticism of them.

If we allow it, it IS our fault, because we know better!

Oh, that’s *rich*, that is…a quintessential example of Social Darwinist thinking (so common among neoconservatives) at its worst. Essentially, what Rush is saying is that the voters practically DESERVE to be deceived and disenfranchised and so there isn’t anything all that bad *really* about a deliberate plot on the part of Republicans to do just that. For starters, what Rush is dismissing as stupidity is just as likely to be trust. All good con men know that most people (and especially honorable people) are more inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are trustworthy than to suspect them of deception from the get-go—although one could argue that this is not particularly intelligent when the other person is a politician. Rush is also conveniently ignoring the matter of intention. Is stupidity deliberate? It can be argued that there is such a thing as wanton ignorance (that is, choosing not to know)—but it would be a stretch to claim that this is malicious. Was the Republican plot to deceive voters deliberate? There’s no doubt of it. Was it malicious? Unquestionably. Limbaugh carefully sidesteps all of this because it crushes his argument. The fact remains that any attempt to deliberately mislead voters so that they are prevented from voting is execrable, inexcusable, unforgiveable, and beneath contempt.

Just goes to you these conservatives have no moral or ethical basic. They just shoot their mouths off and utter any non-sense that comes to their little mind. I have to hand it to them. Given how their mind works, they make a natural criminals.

Just like Rush to be saying anybody who doesn’t play dirty is stupid, that anyone with any smarts at all would obviously get out there and rig a few voting machines. I can’t help but hope when his wave crashes there are sharp rocks and sharks around and that he’ll remain happy as a pig in shit there, for about a second.

when you further publicize the rants of this vacuous “man” (which description is an insult to men, vacuousness and ranting) you waste space which might be occupied by a legitimate cartoon. publicizing this cipher perpetuates and encourages the myth that it is anything but a cipher. but for want of humor it would be a joke. i don’t think it should be mentioned let alone publicized.