Rush Limbaugh Attacks Obama over Pirate Shooting

by Blue Crush | April 16, 2009 at 06:06 am

2169 views | 79 Recommendations | 47 comments

While most are praising US President Obama for the way he handled this latest pirate attack, Rush Limbaugh has found yet another way to attack him.

He mockingly called the pirates "merchant marine organizers," and said "imagine the hue and cry had a Republican President ordered the shooting of black teenagers on the high seas."

While most people celebrated Obama’s authorization of the shooting, radio host Rush Limbaugh yesterday used the showdown to smear Mr. Obama’s name. Via Limbaugh’s website:

They were kids. The story is out, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but apparently the hijackers, these kids, the merchant marine organizers, Muslim kids, were upset, they wanted to just give the captain back and head home because they were running out of food, they were running out of fuel, they were surrounded by all these U.S. Navy ships, big ships, and they just wanted out of there. That’s the story, but then when one of them put a gun to the back of the captain, Mr. Phillips, then bam, bam, bam. There you have it, and three teenagers shot on the high seas at the order of President Obama.

Limbaugh went on to say he believes Obama wouldn’t have given the order had he known the boys were Muslim: "If only President Obama had known that the three Somali community organizers were actually young black Muslim teenagers, I’m sure he wouldn’t have given the order to shoot. That’s the correct way to look at it. If only Obama had known."

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Karen Hatter

at 06:49 on April 16th, 2009

Mr. Limbaugh's comments were an interesting and bizarre observational assessment.

Jordan Yerman

at 07:03 on April 16th, 2009

Limbaugh's argument here is silly. After all, he firmly supported the unprovoked invasion of an entire country, so his credibility here is... insufficient.

Blue Crush

at 07:28 on April 16th, 2009

Thanks for commenting. Notice how he gets the words black, muslim, and community organizer in there? Silly and bizarre as it is, it's also scary how he has so many viewers!

aurealeus

at 03:07 on April 17th, 2009

.... not to mention, scared, hungry, teenagers who only wanted to go home.

Give me a break!

Roy C

at 08:32 on April 16th, 2009

If pure obvious sarcasm scares you, then Keth Olbermann should have you terrified. You all seem to have missed the point.

Mikasi

at 08:58 on April 16th, 2009

The point, as I see it, is to advance your partisan views no matter how silly - and that applies to the left as well as the right. These crowd "leaders" say they adhere to a certain set of beliefs about life, and liberty and behavior towards their fellows, but the professed beliefs are cast aside the moment such inconveniently collide with any given task the "leader" wants done at the time.

Shall we lower federal spending? Sure... no wait, there is a military expedition we want to go on.

Shall we champion state's rights as being enshrined in the Constitution? Sure... no wait, that crazy-ass state over there wants to do something that goes against our agenda.

Again, this is not just the right who does this - the left is guilty too.

Knowing this is why some 8% or so of us vote for either Ralph Nader or Ron Paul. While polar opposites at least both strike me as men of honor and consistency. Both are willing to piss off people with a more consistent message and for that alone they ought get more votes.

Roy C

at 08:49 on April 16th, 2009

The pirate problem for Obama has only begun. There will be no negotiated solution. Shooting these men has only inflamed the problem, yet that was the only thing to do in the situation.

Now Obama has to deal with a situation that created the "Blackhawk Down" scenario.

nyctuber

at 09:05 on April 16th, 2009

Limbaugh is idiotic, as are the vast majority of wacko Right Wingnut commentators. They appeal to a dimwitted demographic, and are just rendering themselves irrelevant. I'd bet some of the crackpot Righties are even getting tired of Glenn Beck's 24/7 scare tactic temper tantrum.

Amy Judd

at 09:19 on April 16th, 2009

I just have a hard time believing that the pirates actually were saying that and really wanted to give the captain back.

Roy C

at 10:18 on April 16th, 2009

Of course, Amy. It was pure Rush, whose commentary looks as good and bad to the right and the left as Olbermann's does to the left and right.

Tuber, calling fans of Rush "idiots" is just like calling Olbermann and Maddow fans "idiots". Now, what good did that do?

nyctuber

at 10:23 on April 16th, 2009

One makes sense, the other doesn't. Stop wasting my time.

Roy C

at 10:42 on April 16th, 2009

"One makes sense, the other doesn't. Stop wasting my time."

This is another example of an unncessarily personal comment by you and a clear violation of the code of conduct here, NYCTUBER.

What is good for the goose, is good for the gander. Get with the program. You have insulted us twice in this thread.

nyctuber

at 10:47 on April 16th, 2009

You addressed your comment toward me, I wasn't talking to you. I voiced my opinion toward the story, which I'm free to do. Enough already.

QueensHart

at 10:23 on April 16th, 2009

You know what Tuber? You just reveal what a whack job you really are to call all

conservatives Wingnuts. There are nuts on both sides. Go out of your little circle of

people and meet more Americans. You might be surprised. You have a lot of pain to

hate so much. I am sorry you feel the way you do. It is not fun.

Amy Judd

at 10:31 on April 16th, 2009

Please don't be so personal in your comments, it's against our code of conduct.

Roy C

at 10:37 on April 16th, 2009

Point well made, Amy, but calling Rush fans "idiots" is a way to label any Rush fans here as idiots. I listen to him. I can find him annoying, but, as Camille Paglia said, the right has the better political commentators. And Paglia is definitely on the left.

We call this insulting by proxy. Suppose Queenshart had said that people opposed to Rush were idiots? Not OK. Then not OK to label Rush fans "idiots", either.

As a centrist, I am going to say that the left has a bit more narcissism than the right. Not an easy thing to do, by the way. But I have my "metrics".

nyctuber

at 10:50 on April 16th, 2009

The only pain as I see it is submitting onseself to that base level of a Rush Limbaugh. These types were branding Obama a 'Socialist' and tossing out the juvinile scare tactics before the man even entered office. I think it's absurd that anyone takes them seriously, especially after 8 years of a Neocon nightmare.

Roy C

at 11:05 on April 16th, 2009

The neo-con nightmare just got upped and ante-d. It is even worse than Bush. Obama, more than Bush and the neo-cons, thinks he can and should save the world.

He also thinks he can save us and triple the national debt, and most of us already objected to Bush's crazy spending.

Why give rich retired men and women free drug care coverage? Shoudn't there have been a means test? Let the rich buy their own stuff.

Then along comes Obama. He will make sure that there are no rich.

nyctuber

at 11:25 on April 16th, 2009

Yes of course it was, it always is. It's always the exact same nonsical argument, Bush can rip up the constitution, cripple stem cell funding.. but Obama will always be 'worse.' Bush's deficit doubled all previous deficits, and his budget didn't even include to cost of IRAQ. Obama's first task is to pump trillions into the Neocon Depression Economy to stop the bleeding. If people don't like it, they should at least blame the administration which created it. TARP began under Bush, was that due to Obama's polcies? If GW were still in office, would he doling out trillions to prevent a collapse? Of course he would, he'd have little choice. At least Obama's vision, which is FAR sighted. lays down massive investments in infrastructure. All Bush did was lay down infrastructure in Iraq. We got ZERO for it.

Roy C

at 11:33 on April 16th, 2009

Believe it or not, there are actually people who don't want Bush or McCain or Obama. You and many others seem to think that these are only choices.

What limits you to such narrow dysfuntional thinking? Obama is Bush's spending programs writ even larger and Obama kept Gates and is going into Afghanistan without any real European help.

What change does that represent?

I want all troops home out of all foreign countries yesterday and on the border to stop the drug smuggling and the violence.

I want the drug program that Bush passed rescinded. I want the rich to pay for their own medicine. No more Social Security for them, either, and no medicare.

I want the Medicare to negotiate prices for the drugs with the drug companies, and not let it be determined by them. Has Obama said anything about this? That whole thing was pure insanity, but Obama, by not mentioning it ever, has given it tacit approval.

I want the jobs back from China. I want energy independence. I want a new third party and I want the Fairness Doctrine declared unconstitutional.

I want all the TARP money back and the financial institutions permitted to fail and I want all the executives' pensions seized under SEC rules that have to do with fraud.

nyctuber

at 12:00 on April 16th, 2009

I don't know where you intend to buy the magic wand, but 8 years of Neocons has done serious damage and the 'let them fail' bit doesn't convince me personally.

I just really can't buy into the idea that people who were content with Neocons running the USA as a for profit private war machine corporation are suddenly outraged at 'both parties.' It's too Glenn Beck, it's almost corny. The fact is we have a two party system, if someone wants to change that I'd be open to a third party, but there are Party lines and it's one or the other. I'm not voting for any Republicans, knowing there is a 95% chance that they'll tamper with things like abortion rights, federal stem cell funding, and will come down on the side of Big Oil and pretend Global Warming is a myth. And they still seem to think Supply Side Economics works, but it never has.

tikun

at 12:16 on April 16th, 2009

Hi NYCTuber,

Having grown up in the Bronx and spent most of my early life in NYC, including university I received a rude awakening one day hitch-hiking across America. There are people in the heartland that actually love their country and love their life styles. Not afraid to serve in the Armed forces and volunteer in their religious institutions to help the needy. What a concept. If these are the stupid, naive, foolish, idiotic, less-then-normal, Americans that watch Fox then I am with them. They may not be flashy or intellectual snobs but a heart felt concern for freedom, as they see it, is sincere.

Maybe not my cup of tea but nevertheless they are a real, genuine, concerned and honest folk that keep America churning so that we big-city types can rip on them with our myopic way of seeing the world from "our" parochial view out of the 20th floor on Madison.

nyctuber

at 15:08 on April 16th, 2009

That's such a touching story. All those xenophobic, anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, anti- stem cell funding bible thumpers magically disappeared when you passed by! I hear violins, do you hear violins? Anyway, back on Planet Earth, Republican ideology is bankrupt and a large number of your midwestern brothers in arms were solidly behind McCain/ Palin continuing the Neocon preemptive war loving, Big Oil loving, anti- abortion anti-gay way of doing things. No thanks.

tikun

at 03:12 on April 17th, 2009

So what. That's what makes America so great. The ability for ALL types of people and view points to enter into the public debate. To defame them and write them off as miserable weirdos doesn't do your view point any favor.

nyctuber

at 08:42 on April 17th, 2009

A lot of them are miserable weirdos. Did you check the 'tea parties' they're comparing Obama to Hitler,and worse. The racism and hatred is boiling to the surface. When the President (Bush) starts doing the bidding of religious nuts by banning stem cell funding or trying to legalize discrimination against gays, it's a problem.

colejv (not verified)

at 10:31 on April 16th, 2009

I agree with Roy C and NOT with nyctuber. I don't believe people who listen to Rush or Glenn Beck are "nutjobs" or are a member of the "dimwitted demographic". (nyctuber did however solidify my perceptions of those who are left of center.) Rush and Beck do a great job of providing material for listeners to research themselves.

Roy C

at 10:59 on April 16th, 2009

Here is the word from Camille Paglia on the right-wing nuts. She is probably one of the last real libs around, as opposed to modern libs who are the harbingers of left-wing authoritarian culture, a la Chavez and the Castro bros.

Sensible Liberal: Camille Paglia
Salon editorialist Camille Paglia might very well be the last remaining liberal in the true sense of the word—as opposed to the liberty-suppressing “progressive” leftists who now occupy the White House and dominate both Congress and the mainstream media.

Why? Because Paglia is actually a liberal/Democrat who opposes the “Fairness” Doctrine! I know, I know, you’re shocked. I was too.

The blog Freedom’s Lighthouse posts this statement by Paglia:

If there’s anything that demonstrates the straying of the Democratic Party leadership from basic liberal principles, it’s this blasted Fairness Doctrine—which should be fiercely opposed by all defenders of free speech. Except when national security is at risk, government should never be involved in the surveillance of speech or in measuring the ideological content of books, movies or radio and TV programs.

Broadcasters must adhere to reasonable FCC regulations restricting obscenity, but despite the outlandish claims of Democrats like Sen. Charles Schumer, there is no analogy whatever between pornography and political opinion. Nor do privately owned radio stations have any obligation to be politically “balanced.” They are commercial enterprises that follow the market and directly respond to audience demand. The Fairness Doctrine is bullying Big Brother tyranny, full of contempt for the very public it pretends to protect. […]

Instead of bleating for paternalistic government intervention, liberals should get their own act together. Radio is a populist medium where liberals come across as snide, superior scolds. One can instantly recognize a liberal caller to a conservative show by his or her catty, obnoxious tone. The leading talk radio hosts are personalities and entertainers with huge rhetorical energy and a bluff, engaging manner. […]

Talk radio is a major genre of popular culture that deserves the protection accorded to other branches of the performing and fine arts. Liberals, who go all hushed and pious at Hays Code censorship in classic Hollywood, should lay off the lynch-mob mentality. Keep the feds out of radio!

Source: vocalminority.typepad.com

And here is her own view of Ms. Couric:

Paglia even explained why liberal talkers continue to fail on radio:

The leading talk radio hosts are personalities and entertainers with huge rhetorical energy and a bluff, engaging manner. Even the seething ranters can be extremely funny. Last summer, for example, I laughed uproariously in my car when WABC's Mark Levin said furiously about Katie Couric, "What do these people do? Open fortune cookies and read them on air?"

Yuliya Talmazan

at 11:54 on April 16th, 2009

Interesting take, Blue Crush. The Somali pirates are definitely not seizing ships for fun, but out of dire need to survive. However, in this situation, I doubt there was any other way out.