{"id":15332,"date":"2008-04-25T11:00:57","date_gmt":"2008-04-25T15:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/15332.html"},"modified":"2008-04-25T11:00:57","modified_gmt":"2008-04-25T15:00:57","slug":"lets-play-imagine-if-a-democrat-had-said-this-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/lets-play-imagine-if-a-democrat-had-said-this-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s play, ‘Imagine If A Democrat Had Said This’"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know how tiresome it can get to play one of my favorite parlor games: “Imagine if a Democrat had said this.” But I’m trying to imagine what the response would be if, say, a host on Air America Radio told listeners how helpful it would be to Democrats if people started a riot at the Republican National Convention.<\/p>\n

Because that’s what Rush Limbaugh seemed to tell his listeners<\/a> this week about the Democratic convention in Denver.<\/p>\n

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments calling for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer.<\/p>\n

He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens.<\/p>\n

“Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats,” Limbaugh said during Wednesday’s radio broadcast. He then went on to say that’s the best thing that could happen to the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When callers suggested it’s probably inappropriate for a radio host to call for violence at a political convention, Limbaugh clarified: “I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver.”<\/p>\n

He kept going. “There won’t be riots at our convention,” Limbaugh said of the Republican National Convention. “We don’t riot. We don’t burn our cars. We don’t burn down our houses. We don’t kill our children. We don’t do half the things the American left does.”<\/p>\n

He concluded, “[R]iots in Denver, at the Democratic Convention, will see to it we don’t elect Democrats. And that’s the best damn thing that can happen to this country, as far as I can think.”<\/p>\n

Limbaugh’s website told visitors<\/a>: “Screw the world! Riot in Denver!”
\n
\nSo, as far as I can tell — I didn’t hear the broadcast and am relying on quotes from news articles — Limbaugh didn’t literally call on his listeners to commit acts of violence at the DNC. He just said riots at the DNC would be really great and he hopes someone<\/i> at the convention commits acts of violence in order to help Republicans.<\/p>\n

How could anyone be bothered by a major figure in Republican politics pining for politically-motivated violence in the United States?<\/p>\n

And just for additional context, Limbaugh also reportedly spoke about how he “dreams” of a riot in Denver, in order to undermine Barack Obama’s chances, to the tune of “White Christmas.”<\/p>\n

No, no racial subtext there at all.<\/p>\n

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said<\/a>, “”Anyone who would call for riots in an American city has clearly lost their bearings.”<\/p>\n

Limbaugh’s Denver affiliate, 850 KOA, issued a statement today, saying its marquee talker “was not advocating violence in Denver,” according to the statement listing program director Kris Olinger as the contact.<\/p>\n

Olinger did not return telephone calls for comment, but the station sent out a second e-mail to local media stating, “Did he go to [sic<\/i>] far? Or is this just Rush being Rush?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, Rush is just “being Rush.” There’s no reason to be alarmed, because the most popular entertainer in conservative media does stuff like this all the time. Sure, Limbaugh said he wants to see a riot at the Democratic convention, but that’s not a big deal because he’s unhinged on the air all the time.<\/p>\n

As if irresponsibility is justified by additional irresponsibility. <\/p>\n

Denver City Councilman Charles Brown, a Republican and Limbaugh listener, told the Denver Post, “What an insult. Regardless of political labels, for any radio announcer to wish a riot on a city so his party could win, that’s disgraceful and it’s absurd.” He said he has found Limbaugh to be a “great entertainer, but he’s really gone too far.”<\/p>\n

Has he? I doubt it. Will John McCain be pressed to address this? Will the Republican National Committee tell Limbaugh he’s not welcome at its convention? Will this have any bearing at all on whether far-right Republican officials — from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue — appear on his show? It seems highly unlikely.<\/p>\n

Now try to imagine what would happen if a prominent Democratic voice did the same thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know how tiresome it can get to play one of my favorite parlor games: “Imagine if a Democrat had said this.” But I’m trying to imagine what the response would be if, say, a host on Air America Radio told listeners how helpful it would be to Democrats if people started a riot at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}