The anti-union movement is on, and it all is centered around the automotive industry's quest for a rescue package/loan from the government. Limbaugh leads the charge in his Monday, Nov. 17 broadcast.

As the clip unfolds it appears that his own boss was trying to get him to change the topic. A caller who self-identifies as a Republican tries to shoot down some of the myths of the UAW that Limbaugh pushes on his flock on a daily basis. When asked about working past 67, he spins it by saying you shouldn't retire at 55.

It's a long clip, but this is what's being said. His boss even freaks out on him at the end:

Limbaugh: You're a nice guy and I'm sure that you are a salt of the earth guy but since you asked, What I am supposed to do, go back to work at 67? No, you're not supposed to retire when you're 55. You sound to me like you are totally capable of still working. Unless you work for a place that forces you out and says 55 you can no longer do the job, you got no business retiring at 55 IF you can't afford to retire. What's wrong....My boss is having a conniption there. What's wrong? Is that the unpolitick thing to say? I have not ... the American Dream. I have not redefined the American Dream. The American Dream is retire at 65. People are retiring now at 50 and 55 and so forth when they are still capable of working. According to the tables at 55, you've got 22 years left...

I have not redefined the American Dream. I have not redefined it. ... I don't understand what I said that's wrong here.

What planet is this man living in? He keeps digging deeper and deeper. Does he even know what the American Dream is?

h/t to C&Ler Dan for sending in the audio and says:

Rush basically tells auto workers that if their pension plans go bankrupt, they should go back to work.

Limbaugh obviously has no idea what concessions the UAW has already made. "GM, Union Agree on Contract to End Strike"

And this:

For General Motors (GM), a new labor contract represents a step forward. For the United Auto Workers, a big step back.

The two sides came to a tentative agreement on a new, four-year labor pact at 3:05 a.m. EDT Sept. 26, ending a two-day strike. If UAW President Ronald Gettelfinger can get the deal ratified by his 74,000 GM workers in the coming days, the contract will pull the automaker much closer to Toyota's (TM) cost structure. But for the UAW, it will roll back contract benefits and wages won over years of collective bargaining.

Many in the progressive movement did not like these concessions, but they happened. We can debate that later, but to gasbags like Limbaugh, if you work for a company for 30 years, you shouldn't get a pension and should work till you die. Does he hate policemen and firemen as well? Should they not be able to retire with a pension after trying to keeping us safe for thirty years on the job?

Jim Quinn yesterday on The War Room with Quinn & Rose:

You know, I was thinking about this. You know, if you were a slave in the old South, what did you get as a slave? You got free room and board, you got free money, and you got rewarded for having children because that was just, you know, tomorrow's slave. So, you got a free house, you got free money, and you got rewarded for having children. Can I ask a question? How's that different from welfare? You get a free house, you get free food, and you get rewarded for having children. Oh, wait a minute, hold on a second. There is a difference: The slave had to work for it.

Yeah, that was the difference. Right.

This raises the question: Are the wingnuts coming so unhinged they are losing any contact with reality?

[H/t to Hume's Ghost.]

Glenn Beck had Erick Erickson on his radio show today to talk about his plans for a Republican bloodbath over Sarah Palin, of which Beck thoroughly approves.

Indeed, Beck believes most conservatives voted for John McCain in the hopes that he would soon die:

I mean, I have to tell you if I heard once, I heard 1,000 times from people, and I never said this, never said this on the air because you just don't say these things, but I heard a million times from people, "I'm going to vote for John McCain and, you know, I mean, he's old. Maybe we get Sarah Palin in the first term." You know what I mean?

Of course, you could occasionally find wingnuts saying such things in public during the campaign, but now that I guess the election is over, the lid is off and the bats are flying out of the belfry.

ThinkProgress has the audio.

Having seen the polls numbers, all good wingnuts appear to have fled to Planet Bizarro, where they can comfort themselves knowing that their stock portfolios are doing 20%, the Cubs won the World Series and George W. Bush enjoys an 80 percent approval rating. Oh, and John McCain is on his way to winning the White House.

Especially Rush Limbaugh, whose rumbling gut tells us that "Obama campaign workers" have been "throwing off the lid" about the real story inside the campaign, and he's been reading their "inside information" over the airwaves. To wit:

"The Bradley Effect. Do not believe these public polls for a second. I just went over our numbers, found that we have next to no chance --" this is regarding Obama, "-- in the following states: Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada. Ohio leans heavily to McCain but it's too close to call it for him. Virginia, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico, and Iowa are the true toss-up states. The only two of these the Obama campaign feels confident are Iowa and New Mexico, but now Obama's headed back to Iowa on Monday. The reason for such polling discrepancy is the Bradley Effect, and this is a subject of much discussion in the campaign. In general, we in the Obama campaign tend to take a ten-point percentage in allowing for this, a minus ten-point percentage for allowing this and are not comfortable until the polls give us a spread well over this mark."

She goes on to decry the "demonization" of Sarah Palin and concludes that she won't be voting Obama.

Um, right. And of course, Limbaugh assures us that we can know for certain that this is a real "Obama campaign worker" because ...

Now, you might be saying, "Rush, are you sure this is not a setup?" Well, tell me something. I share this stuff with you. I tell you it comes from the Obama campaign, disaffected female members of the Obama campaign. Does it depress you? Does it inspire you not to vote, or does it do the opposite? What could be in it for Obama to have people going on websites putting this stuff out? I can't think of anything. If you can, let me know.

Gee, I dunno. How about if it were another right-wing dittohead nutcase posing as an "Obama campaign worker" and hoping to spread as much disinformation as possible?

I guess that possibility just never crossed Limbaugh's mind. Gee. I wonder why.

Rush Limbaugh, somewhat predictably, isn't backing down from his claim that Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama was a product of their both being black men -- that is, that it was about race, not policy;

"I thought it should be about race," he said. "I thought you liberals thought this was a historic candidacy because finally we are going to elect a black guy…why hide behind this, why act like it's not about race?"

"This was all about Powell and race, nothing about the nation and its welfare," Limbaugh added.

Limbaugh simply doesn't get it. Obama's candidacy is historic, yes -- but what has made it possible all along is that his campaign has been about transcending race, not wallowing in it.

Obama has carefully eschewed identity politics throughout this campaign. Meanwhile, the Republican campaign has been about nothing but. And it has its most transparent mouthpiece in Limbaugh.

Limbaugh is the guy at the sports bar who carefully tabulates the racial composition of every team on the screen and roots accordingly. If a team has a black quarterback, he predicts they're going to lose. Heaven forfend that any black player demonstrate too much enthusiasm over a touchdown or a dunk or a home run, or that any black linebacker should level a white quarterback, because then the "thug" and "jungle" references come out. He hates Tiger Woods with an inexplicable venom (mostly because he's too uppity "full of himself").

We all know that guy. (Some of them are in our families.) And anyone who's even moderately serious about sports, and moderately knowledgeable about them, knows that that guy is completely and hopelessly full of shit.

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Audio and more from Media Matters:

On the August 19 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh said that "it is striking how unqualified [Sen. Barack] Obama is and, and how this whole thing came about with, within the Democrat [sic] Party. I think it really goes back to the fact that nobody had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy." Limbaugh went on to say: "I think this is a classic illustration here where affirmative action has reared its ugly head against them. It's the reverse of it. They've, they've ended up nominating and placing at the top of their ticket somebody who's not qualified, who has not earned it." Limbaugh added: "It's perfect affirmative action. And because of all this guilt and the historic nature of things, nobody had the guts to say, well, wait a minute, do we really want to do this?" Read on...

Yes, someone should have told this young, uppity negro to STFU and know his place in American society. You knew he was a baby killer, right?

Rush is a racist pig, we all know that. We knew long ago that the Republicans weren't going to go down without a fight and that this election cycle was going to yield some of the ugliest politics in modern history -- this is what it looks like. The stench of desperation makes this even more pathetic, as Limbaugh and the party he so diligently carries water for, take their nose dive into the political dustbin.  

Everyone knew this presidential election was going to be ugly and now the gloves are off. Unable to run on issues, the Republican attack machine is in full swing and as always, we are inundated with endless smears, lies and attacks from a party that is in a steep, painful and very public decline.

Silent Patriot posted yesterday about "author" Jerome Corsi's appearance on Larry King Live where he was dismantled by Media Matters' Paul Waldman. Now, the Obama campaign has responded to Corsi, debunking the staggering number of lies in his book, Obama Nation. Fight The Smears - Unfit for Publication:

One of the most vile smear peddlers of the 2004 election has found a new target.

Jerome Corsi just published a new book full of rehashed distortions and the same old lies about Barack Obama, and the right-wing noise machine is in full gear promoting it.

In 2004, Corsi helped launch the Swift Boat smear campaign with a book of distortions and lies he wrote about John Kerry.

It's up to you to spread the truth, so here it is. We've posted some of the facts about Corsi and his desperate fabrications on this page, but there's even more in our (PDF)PDF: Unfit for Publication.
A LITTLE RESEARCH DISPROVES EVEN CORSI'S MOST BASIC CLAIMS

LIE: "The year 1995 was a banner one for Obama. He had just married Michelle and the couple bought a Hyde Park condo, the first home Obama ever owned."[p 145]

REALITY: OBAMAS MARRIED IN 1992 AND BOUGHT A CONDO IN 1993

10/3/92 Obama And Michelle Robinson Were Married. [Chicago Sun-Times, 10/3/07]

1993 Obama Bought a Condo for $277,550. [Chicago Sun-Times, 1/22/06] Read on...

Once again, House Republicans are on Capitol Hill during the August recess, and once again, they are holding something of a sit-in, giving spirited speeches about coastal drilling for tourists and congressional staffers who happen to pass by the charade.

Yesterday, however, there was a bit of a twist in the Republican rhetoric. Far-right lawmakers actually believe they’re affecting the market by talking to each other.

House Republicans on Tuesday said their protest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision not to allow a vote on expanded offshore oil drilling has helped lower gas prices.

Heading into a third day of speeches in the near-empty chamber, Republicans acknowledged that the average price of gas and oil has declined in recent weeks. But they claimed credit for part of that reduction.

“I think the market is responding to the fact that we are here talking,” said Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) at a joint press conference with other GOP lawmakers. “I think the market realizes this kind of pressure from Congress may, in fact, lead to a change in policy.”

The Republican members did not answer questions about whether they would take the blame if gas prices go up again.

Yes, House Republicans are hosting a very sad little photo-op on the Hill, and some of them are willing to argue, out loud, in public, that simply by talking to each other about drilling, they’re able to bring the price of fuel down.

If you told me that Speaker Pelosi’s office was paying these clowns money to make House Republicans look ridiculous, I’d be tempted to believe you.

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Representative Mike Doyle (D-PA) takes on Michael Savage's ridiculous comments on autism.   The strongest movement yet to

get

Savage

fired

is underway.  

UPDATE: (Nicole) And it's been successful, at least in the Cleveland market.  Media Matters documents Talk Radio Network's impressively spinsational attempt at retroactive context to explain Savage's comments by using comments made after that misrepresented his original comments.

StlToday:

WASHINGTON—The Senate unanimously confirmed Stephen Limbaugh Jr. to the federal court in St. Louis Tuesday.

Limbaugh, currently a Missouri Supreme Court judge, won final approval to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri after being nominated by President George W. Bush in December.

Limbaugh is a cousin to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Read on...

Well, Rush, your water carrying for George Bush and the GOP has finally paid off. My condolences to the people of Missouri.

It's no secret that the right STILL hasn't figured out how to effectively use the internets, so it comes as no surprise that the Grand Poobah of right wing radio talkies <corrected>, Rush Limbaugh, has made a complete fool of himself by using a 12 year old essay by a 10th grader to attack Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama.

The best story I’ve heard this week by far was told today over lunch. Apparently, a co-worker of mine named George listens to the Rush Limbaugh show in his car, and yesterday heard him discussing Barak Obama’s comments about similarities between the recent housing crisis and the lead-up to the Great Depression. I imagine the comments were referring to the obvious similarities between those who obtained ridiculous sub-prime loans and those in the 1920s who bought stock they couldn’t afford on margin. However, Limbaugh decided that Obama’s comments were the result of a crazy “liberal education” - and even remarks how “lucky” he is that he didn’t graduate from college, thus allowing him to escape the perils of actual knowledge.

To prove his point, Rush says he did some Google searches for “Great Depression” and then proceeds to attack each of the results as liberal propaganda. Because we all know that college professors teach straight off of Google results pages. So my friend is listening and hears something rather striking… the name of one of our mutual colleagues - Paul Alexander Gusmorino (”The Third!” - I love the way Limbaugh says that).

Limbaugh found among the top results an essay written by Paul, entitled “The Main Causes of the Great Depression.” He quotes Paul’s essay and refutes each of its claims, dissecting them as if they were part of a Harvard professor’s lecture on the subject. He doesn’t pull any punches either. “Mr. Gusmorino, you better check Karl Marx and see if you plagiarized him in putting this piece together.”

Ouch. Those words would be harsh if they really were for a Harvard lecturer. But that’s not who wrote this essay. It was my friend who works as a Program Manager at Microsoft. When he was in 10th grade. Read on...

The story checks out. I followed his link and sure enough, the transcript is right on El Rashbo's website. (scroll down a bit) He even has the Freepers going nuts over this.

President Bush made outrageous claims today in Israel, saying that Democrats were appeasers to Iran as you know since it's the hot topic of the day. Right wing talker Kevin James tried to call Obama "Neville Chamberlain," but as is usually the case with these talk show conservative hosts, he knew nothing about the historical facts revolving around Chamberlain and what happened as Hitler took power and started a war with Europe. I guess just repeating RW talking points doesn't work sometimes.

Chris: You are BS'ing me... You don't know what you're talking about.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Rough transcript:

Chris: I want to do a little history check on you---what did Neville Chamberlain do wrong in 1939? What did he do wrong?

Kevin: It all goes back to appeasement. It's the key term.

Chris: No, what did he do, tell me what he did?

Kevin: It's the key term.

Chris: You have to answer this question. What did he do?

Kevin: It's the same thing, it puts it all...

Chris: Well tell me what he did?

Kevin: It's appeasement.

Chris: What did Chamberlain do wrong..

Kevin: His actions, his actions enabled, energized, legitimized

Chris: What did Chamberlain do?

Kevin: It's the exact same thing.

Chris: No stop, Kevin. I'm not going to continue with this interview unless you answer what that thing is. What did Chamberlain do in '39, tell me? '38?

Kevin: Chris, it's the exact same thing alright?

Chris: What did he do? <Yelling> What did he do!

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Download | play Download | play

Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy's son Peter took the bronze on Monday's Worst Person in the World segment on Countdown for his pathetic hit job on Senator Barack Obama during a live shot from his school.

William "The Bloody" Kristol won the silver for accusing Senators Obama and Clinton for not condemning MoveOn's General Betrayus ad, when in fact, they both signed on to the Senate amendment condemning the ad.

Bigoted pill popper, Rush Limbaugh, took top honors for his insulting and racist remarks made on FOXNews, in which he accused Bill Clinton of hitting on his date, and referred to Los Angels Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa as the Shoeshine Boy, or a Secret Service Agent. Said Olbermann of Doocy Jr:

"Wow, I wonder which emotion impacts dad more at this moment? Pride that at twenty years old, the boy is already a completely replaceable cog in the vast Rupert Murdoch media manipulation machine, or buyer's remorse when he gets the bill for college and realizes the kid's mind has already been nailed shut."

Yesterday on Hardball, Chris Matthews went after Rush Limbaugh's so-called "Operation Chaos" -- the right-wing pill addict blowhard talk-show host's plan to prolong the Democratic primary fight by urging his brainless listeners to vote in open primaries-- and whether it's actually having any effect.

Download | play Download | play

It's doesn't surprise me that Rush Limbaugh and his dopey listeners are stooping to such levels. They're desperate, after all, considering their party's nominee is promising to extend the policies of the most unpopular President in history...a President they have championed all along. The thought of the conservative beast dying terrifies them. And what better way to prevent that than making a mockery of American democracy and sabotaging the other party? It makes perfect sense in their twisted, little minds.

Unfortunately for them, whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee will mop the floor with John McCain.

Listen: Download | play

Above audio clip and more from Media Matters:

While discussing the controversy surrounding Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, on the April 30 edition of his nationally syndicated Fox News radio show, host John Gibson aired an audio clip of MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow in which she asked, "What else has to happen in the news to push Jeremiah Wright out of the headlines?" Following her comments, Gibson aired an unidentified audio clip of a man saying, " Ooh, lesbians. Yummy." Later in the segment, Gibson's producer, known on-air as "Angry Rich" said, "That Maddow's become bathtub boy's pit bull, hasn't she?" -- an apparent reference to MSNBC's Countdown host, Keith Olbermann. Gibson replied, "Ooohhh. ... Well, I don't know, you know? She may have one of those -- I shouldn't say anything more, should I?" "Angry Rich" said, "No," and Gibson said, apparently referring to his associate producer, "Christine's shaking her head back and forth," and went on to air an audio clip in which an unidentified woman said, "I would like to thank my wife." Gibson later said, "Did I tell you about the people ... on the island of Lesbos?" Read on...

Poor Gibby. His tee vee show got yanked from the polluted FOXNews network and is stuck in the vast wasteland of right wing talk radio. Poor bigot.