The Three Little Pigs

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
---Abraham Lincoln

As I sat down to write about Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter, it occurred to me that I couldn't possibly summon the eloquence needed to express my opinion of them. So, what I've decided is to let them speak for themselves. Therefore, the following are some of the more infamous quotes of each with a little context provided as well:

Rush Limbaugh:

"Take that bone out of your nose and call me back".

Response to a black caller he was having a hard time understanding in the 1970s when he worked under the name "Jeff Christie" on a top-40 music program in Pittsburgh.

"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

As quoted in Flush Rush Quarterly (January 1993).

"They're 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?"

Of African-Americans, as quoted in "Limbaugh Brings Baggage with his ESPN Blabber" by Derrick Z. Jackson in The Boston Globe

"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

As quoted in "Limbaugh : A Color Man Who Has A Problem With Color?" by Jeff Cohen and Steve Rendall in FAIR and The Los Angeles Times (6 July 2000

"Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."

From "The 35 Undeniable Truths" (18 February 1994) by Rush Limbaugh

"I'm going to tell you, what's good for al-Qaeda is good for the Democratic Party in this country today. That's how you boil this down. And it doesn't have to be al-Qaeda. What's good for terrorists is good for John Kerry. All you got to do is check the way they react."

(15 March 2004) on his radio show.

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act... This is really shameless of Michael J Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."

About Fox's Parkinson's Disease, referring to his appearance in Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill's political ad (23 October 2006).

"Community service is one of the baby steps towards fascism."

September 11th, 2009 on his radio show.

Glenn Beck:

"I find this guy [father of Nick Berg] despicable. Everything in me says that. The want to be a better person today than I was yesterday says he's a dad, he's grieving, but I don't buy that. I'm sorry, I don't buy it. I think he is grieving, but I think he's a scumbag as well. I don't like this guy at all."

The Glenn Beck Program, May 14, 2004
Comment on Michael Berg, the father of murdered American businessman Nicholas Berg, who was captured and beheaded by Islamic extremists in Iraq.

"With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let`s cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies. And I know you’re not. I’m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that’s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way."

The Glenn Beck TV Show, November 14, 2006
Glenn Beck to Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison who happens to be a Muslim.

"Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization. The goal is global carbon tax.…You need to have fear. You needed to have the fear of starvation. You needed to have the fear of the whole place going to hell in a hand basket. Which — do we have that fear now with global warming?…Then you have to discredit the scientists that say 'That's not right.' And you must silence all dissenting voices. That's what Hitler did. That's what Al Gore, the U.N., and everybody on the global warming bandwagon [are doing]."

The Glenn Beck Program, April 30, 2007
Glenn Beck on Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth

"You pinhead. You think we would actually be sitting here and saying "well, look at the way she was dressed?" If she were Joan McCain, stop it. You self-centered self-righteous socialist out of control dangerous man-hating bitch. Shut your mouth. We might have bought into this crap in the 1960s because too many people were doing LSD. We're not on LSD anymore — we need to start making sense."

The Glenn Beck Program, March 3, 2008
In response to feminist Gloria Steinem's opinions on the John McCain/"Joan" McCain accusation.

"This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy — over and over and over again — who has a deep seated hatred for white people or white culture, I don't know what it is."

July 28, on Fox and Friends (apparently unaware that Obama's mother was white).

Ann Coulter:

"I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo."

Her column; December 21, 2005

"Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."

Her syndicated column, September 28, 2001 (apparently unaware of the existence of Timothy McVeigh and the Una Bomber).

"I don't know if [former U.S. President Bill Clinton is] gay. But [former U.S. Vice President] Al Gore - total fag."

From Media Matters; July 26, 2006

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

This Is War; September 12, 2001

"I'm a Christian first, and a mean-spirited, bigoted conservative second, and don't you ever forget it."

From her book, If Democrats had Any Brains, They'd be Republicans

"These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis... These self-obsessed women seemed genuinely unaware that 9/11 was an attack on our nation and acted as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them... I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much."

Comment made in reference to a group of 9/11 widows called The Jersey Girls who supported John Kerry. From her book Godless: The Church of Liberalism

What more could I possibly add? These are the three loudest and most persuasive (at least to the converted) voices of the radical right. A morbidly obese drug addict, a half a nut job who would cry at the opening of a gas station, and a cadaverish, fascist party doll.* They are the leaders of the Republican base. Even moderate republicans are loathe to draw their ire. RNC Chairman Michael Steele was only one republican who criticized Rush one day (referring to Limbaugh's rhetoric as "ugly" and "incendiary" on CNN, March 1st, 2009), only to find himself bending over backwards in apology to Limbaugh the next.

So, it is with great admiration and affection that I speak of Lindsey Graham's repudiation of Glenn Beck last week (October 4th) on clusterFOX no less. He referred to Beck as a "cynic" who "doesn't represent the Republican party." And here's the best part, days have passed and he has not backed down from his statement. Considering that Graham is a Republican Senator hailing from South Carolina (where Beck is certainly popular among his constituents), I consider this no small act of courage. Unfortunately for Graham and his party, there has been no one to join the chorus. And that's a shame, because it's going to take a lot more huffing and puffing by sensible Republicans to blow down the house of these three little pigs.

Sumo-Pop
October 11, 2009

*Richard Belzer said this about Coulter on Real Time with Bill Maher. One of my all-time favorite insults.