After losing dozens of advertisers, Rush Limbaugh has largely decided to direct his attention away from Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke -- indeed, the host seems to have picked a new target -- but some of Limbaugh's allies aren't quite ready to move on.
Fox News host Eric Bolling speculated on Tuesday that Sandra Fluke, the law student who has become famous for being attacked by Rush Limbaugh, was part of an elaborate White House plan to distract voters from the economy. [...]
President Obama and his "allies in the press" were "trying to pull a fast one on you," he said. Calling Fluke a "foot soldier" for the White House, he added, "President Obama, on the ropes with the economy and specifically with women voters, gets Mrs. Fluke to create a controversy, and the liberal media puppets play along as scripted."
One of Bolling's Fox News co-hosts agreed, scoffing at "anyone who thinks this was accidental," and adding, "This was very purposeful and specific."
I've watched the clip; I've read the transcript; and I still haven't the foggiest idea what these folks are even trying to say.
As Bolling sees it, the Obama White House recruited Fluke "to create a controversy." Those dastardly fiends in the West Wing must be incredibly clever at setting traps, because it wasn't the president's idea to have Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) reject Fluke as a witness, and it certainly wasn't Obama's idea to have Rush Limbaugh call the young woman a "slut" and a "prostitute," followed by a request for a sex tape for Limbaugh to watch.
How was the White House able to see into the future, knowing weeks in advance how Republicans would respond to an unknown witness at a House committee hearing? Apparently, we're supposed to believe that Obama and his team are just that good.
"This was very purposeful and specific"? What was very purposeful and specific? I can't figure out what "this" even refers to.
On "The Ed Show" last night, Ed Schultz called Bolling's argument "moronic." That's as good a description as any.
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Probably the same people that went back in time and inserted that birth announcement in the Honolulu Times.
Yep...and they thought Back to the Future was some kind of Hollywood fantasy.
Don't people see that Michael J Fox was in the future as Obama's spy? Doc was actually working for Obama as he was instructed by the young Obama who was visited by the older Obama from the future (ok, so Arnold is in on it , too). Ohw....and can't anybody see that Darrel Issa and Rush Limbaugh are actually an undercover Democrat working to create a bad name for the Republican party?
Where the heck did I put my bong????
I thought exactly the same thing.
I am coming to believe Steve Benen does not sleep or eat or go to movies or pet a cat (petting a cat is necessary to good mental and physical health). All he seems to do is write, and write well, all the time.
Not on subject, but I do not care. Been on @Maddowblog long enuf to have acquired certain rights.
If you can believe it, he's actually slowed down a bit from his years at the Washington Monthly. He appears to take weekends off now. I have NEVER seen a bad commentary from him. Pretty amazing.
That was good, brown nose the bosses. Just kidding keep working on your resime.
@Shumuwda
What?
Steve Benen totally ROCKS! And you're right, I think he has learned to live without sleep.
So, Benen & friends, how about looking at the "distractions" the Republicans/Fox have raised in just the last six months of the economic recovery - to distract fromo the growth and rebounding in the economy?
@nextmsnbcstar I was referring to your handle. =resime or audition I was trying to be funny.You were brown nosing because you want to be the next msnbc star get it?
Huh??? Really??? It never ceases to amaze me how Fox news can twist things and turn it into a conspiracy. Is being a paranoid schizophrenic a prerequisite for having a job at Fox news?
How are the Democrats upsetting Women voters? We are not the ones not wanting you insurance company to pay for them like they do Viagra. We are not the ones who think you need to have a ultrasound to get an abortion. And We ARE the ones who think you should be paid equally as a man if you do the same work.
Well that's a good point Spiral. It really makes you wonder. Are they saying that the conspiracy was to bring Fluke out of the corner so that they would attack her? If that's the case then aren't they really saying that they are too immature and stupid to be held accountable for their own actions? Maybe someone should bring that up to them the next time they start whining about 'personal responsibility.'
There's so much projection in that statement, he could open a chain of movie theaters...
Think of the rot in Bolling's mind that allowed him to say, "President Obama, . . . , gets Mrs. Fluke to create a controversy, . . ."! He's a certified dolt if he believes this fantasy causal relationship, and he's a stooge if he simply read the script before him that offered such a bastardization of reasoned thought!
The Fox Empire is a threat to justice and liberty everywhere! I like to refer to FNC as Whitey's Narrative. It serves no other purpose! -Kevo
Don't kid yourself . He knows exactly what he is doing .
It is the Faux Nooze FUD generator .
Fear , Uncertainty , Doubt .
That Obama .
Not trustworthy
Not one of Us
Kind of Shady
Another lie that your crazy uncle can send you in an email .
I heard it on the news ...so it's possible...
Yes, it is FUD. I love this term. I first learned it about it in Sales Training. Sales Reps are taught to create Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt about using the competitor. IBM was considered the master of the technique, and there is a saying in IT, "you can't get fired for buying IBM". Meaning even if it doesn't work it's not your fault.
FUD is what we are up against with the GOP. But now with all the birth control laws and labor law assaults the Dems are in a strong position to use FUD against the RW.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
I love these accounts of a super-Machiavellian mastermind in the Oval Office who can manipulate his opponents into putting their 1.7 mm footguns on full auto, and at the same time is such an incompetent tool that he can't give a speech without reading prepared text from a teleprompter.
Did you know that Obama also killed Breitbart? It hasn't gotten to Fox & Friends just yet but the kook right is kicking that one around, too.
I know Seriously, sometimes it sounds like they ascribe near godlike powers to Obama, and other times they claim he's completely incompetent
Seriously GOP make up your minds
Fox news has to make up their news in order to stay on the air if they actually reported the facts they would be out of work. If they were out of work they would become a part of the real world, you would see their opinions change almost instantly. This would work also when the first male becomes pregnant there would no longer be any controversy about birth control.
I don't think any conspiracy took place, but the conversation has definitely moved from free contraceptives.
The conversation was never about free contraceptives Eric
I guess Obama looked pretty hard for a woman whose name suggests coincidence, just to throw conspiracy theorists off.
"Is being a paranoid schizophrenic a prerequisite for having a job at Fox news?"
Indeed, not only a prerequisite, but being a badge of honor as well.
Not for working there, just for being a viewer. They get paid well for spoting nonsense. The viewers eat the garbage willingly. Served with a nice tall glass of kool-aid.
...and we would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!
Sandra Fluke is....Farmer Brown!
Please, the Scooby Gang are liberals, like all good hearted people
With the "regression" of the GOP base towards a more "biblical, mythical" time and the political class that has fostered the "conspiracy aimed at the GOP" that they've got going on - these people are losing the last shreds of their ability to remain coherent in the face of: 1) their policies that have almost pushed US over the cliff, 2) their failures with the whole "WAR on TERRA", 3) in spite of their obfuscations, mendacity and temper tantrums - this President they hate so much is still managing to try and bring this nation back from the edge!!
What we're witnessing is a hysterical breakdown on a massive scale, as their brains are unwilling to process the destruction that their policies have wrought against this nation!!
Bolling said this because he knows that's what the cult following FOX viewers want to believe. Now that someone inside their echo chamber has confirmed their suspicions, they have enough "proof" to hold as true in their fevered minds that Obama and the "liberal media" are planting controversies to distract voters away from Obama's efforts to intentionally raise gas prices.
Or something like that.
I know. I can't understand it either. Maybe we should organize or form a posse to investigate this and then the rest of us can continue our responsibility as citizens to enlighten close-fisted individuals who are really the frightened ones. Seriously, I don't want their dirty money.
Eric Bolling and Sean Hannity are Limbaugh wannabes. I loathe Limbaugh, but I accept that he has a brain. Bolling and Hannity do not.
A brain, maybe - but he has NO manners, NO conscience, NO journalistic integrity, NO acceptance of his own personal responsibility, and 'No Sense of Common Decency', to quote Joseph Welch, from the Army McCarthy hearings, back in 1954.
In short, Rush Limbaugh is NO Gentleman, and it's time for Republicans, Conservatives, Faux Journalists, and others, to STOP 'Covering' for him - "The Emperor has No Clothes", and it's time for his 'Reign of Terror' to End!
EUWWWW! "Limbaugh" and "no clothes" do NOT belong in the same sentence.
Damn that wily Kenyan, taking a page from a former Black Muslim Mohammed Ali's rope a dope playbook.
Man, this guy is playing 3 dimensional chess to their checkers and their collective heads are exploding. Nice.
What has gotten lost in this is that this was a Congressional Hearing that would have had all the staying power of 'Let's Visit The Water Department!' on the community access channel if the Republicans had just let her read her remarks (and would it have killed the Republicans to have a woman or two on the freaking contraception panel?) and then go home. But Daryl Issa had to "Send a message" to the people who didn't agree with him and now look at the result. He looks bad, Republicans look bad, even Rush looks worse than normal.
Do these people go out of their way to be jerks? Is it a conscious process? Or does it just come naturally to them?
Convicted felons like to send messages.
Okay, she was a plant.. Does that mean that Rush is off the hook for his denigrating comments (about anything/anyone)? Oh yeah, Tea-tards, Conservatives and the GOP all care about the economy soooooooooooo much; they've been trying to pass tons of legislation to ease the plight of the middle class, right FOX "news"?
Actually, it Really DID Start with the White House! Only it wasn't Obama, it was Richard Nixon, back in 1970, with Title X, "Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970"! Republican President Nixon started the Government Funding of 'Family Planning', which is the 'Root' of this whole controversy, not Obama, or any Democratic President!
What I want to know, is how 'The White House' stopped Limbaugh from actually READING a transcript of Ms. Fluke's Statement, or how 'They' caused him to use the Language and Tactics he attacked her with. He could have made a reasonable argument about the whole subject of Government involvement in Family Planning, for which reasonable people can legitimately have different opinions, but he CHOSE a Vile and Vicious Personal Attack, and now has blamed pretty much everyone, EXCEPT Rush Limbaugh! Personal Responsibility? HA!
Richard Nixon - Statement on Signing the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970 - December 26, 1970
ps: This was all before Sandra Fluke was even born....and before Rush had a Nationwide Radio show!
How far Nixon's party has fallen. That's an interesting piece of history. I had just graduated from a Catholic high school and my friends were all pro pill and Family Planning. Even back then the nuns were not pushing the Papal nonsense on us. They knew how important Family Planning is for womens health and general well being. All the women's magazine were also full of articles about birth control too. It was a massive public education effort.
I didn't know this piece of history, probably because I was just a few months out of high school and family planning was not in my sights. It just goes to show that for all his misdeeds, Nixon was a pretty moderate, maybe even liberal, Republican.
Here's an article from last year, on "The New American", NOT exactly a 'Flaming Liberal' website: "Planned Parenthood Republicans: A Decades-Long History". Barry Goldwater, the Bush family, and many more Republicans, once SUPPORTED Planned Parenthood!
The 'Good Old Days', when they were still sane.... *sigh*
Most Americans do not know their history, most American journalists are just as ignorant of their history as most American citizens are, and most of you young folks look at anyone over the age of 60 as a relic who is totally useless to you.
I've been seeing a few lists that are trying to consolidate all the reproductive/repressive womens healthcare bills that are being pushed around the country, but none are complete. Is there a reliable source that is compiling all of the Federal, State and Local stuff that is being proposed around the country?
It seems like there are hundreds. A list like that would sure cause some FUD.
Took me a few minutes to find this (saw it on Twitter yesterday): "2012: Another record year for abortion restrictions?" (Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/2012-another-record-year-for-abortion-restrictions/2011/12/29/gIQAw5tKxR_blog.html)
Although it doesn't have the complete list...it only mentions some of those currently in process or that have passed.
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/0305womenstimeline_big.jpg The link shows a timeline for just since January 2011 and I don't think it's complete either. Wasn't there another state that went for the 'transvaginal' ultrasound? Just ONE year! This has been going on for years.
If only the white house had the power to for see how far out the right wing idiots have gone. He still seems to give them way more respect than they deserve.
If Obama had the ability to master mind this plan, that ALONE would be a reason to vote for him.
Damn liberals pandering to the intellect of the masses. Blind Faith is a good name for a rock group but a lousy guide to the future. Their good old biblical days had Jesus crucified because he was too liberal.
Republican Jesus who bounces on the dashboard of your car was not a librul, Republican Jesus was crucified by libruls, Republican Jesus thinks the New Testament is too librul.
Just another example of the right making up their own "facts." Republicans do it all the time and then say I don't have to be factual to make a point. The problem is, too many viewers do not know these are not facts. Hatred and fear make you believe what you want to believe even if it is a lie.
I think the name calling is just a distraction. They did not want the real messages in her testimony to gain any public traction. They want to push the "free, government paid birth control for hussies" meme.
The real threat here is to not get the real message out. That being that the priests at Georgetown have overruled the doctors and some women have suffered serious consequences like losing an ovary.
We need to push back or we will have another "death panels" on our hands.
It's official. The Republican Party is completely insane. After driving out all the moderates, they are left with only the barking mad.
You should not be surprised that the White House manufactured this controversy.
It's the same dastardly conspiracists who plucked a baby from Kenya in 1961, placed a false birth announcement in a Honolulu newspaper, groomed the child and made him President in 2008.
They're incredibly foresighted in their planning of ways to bring down this country!
/snark off
Those FOX guys are soooooooo funny. HaHa.
I bet that they also think the recent huge sun spots are arranged by the White House to disrupt GOP campaign GPS and communications! HaHa
Fox News won't be happy until Civil War II breaks out between the Republicans and the Democrats. Then they can take responsibility for inciting this war. They just want to start a war somewhere don't they, even if it's on our own soil. Who stands to benefit from another Civil war? I hold them totally responsible for my inability to talk to some of my relatives whom I love dearly. They be hypnotized.
What is an Eric Bolling?
I think it's an oversized pimple on one's bottom-side. Possibly due to an ingrown hair.