November 4, 2009

Rush Limbaugh "blew his nose in his napkin."

"He talked about Chopin's Polonaise No. 6, C.S. Lewis and how much he loved the end of the movie 'Love Story.'"

That was some years ago, when he had a 4-hour dinner with Maureen Dowd, who is currently displeased that the radio man called Barack Obama a big narcissist.

***

Bonus link: Chopin's Polonaise No. 6.

131 comments:

Hoosier Daddy said...

He more or less raised himself and came to terms with his Oedipal demons on his own, and he radiates a hard-won maturity.

I don't think I've laughed so hard in my life. I swear she should write comedy.

TWM said...

He should have just used her napkin.

David said...

HD--She is writing comedy. I clipped the same quote you did, but with more.

"He more or less raised himself and came to terms with his Oedipal demons on his own, and he radiates a hard-won maturity.

W., on the other hand, was like a kid who knew that Daddy’s friends would take care of him; he was always running off to the gym or going biking, leaving the governing to his regents, Cheney and Rummy, or incompetents like Brownie."

Michael Haz said...

Still bitter about not getting laid that night, that's my take.

Poor narcissist Rush, not taken by the wonder that was seated before him. He must be punished!

AllenS said...

I would have blown my nose in Maureen's napkin.

Widmerpool said...

My wife gets on me for that restaurant faux pas all the time. Good to know I'm not alone.

Is it nitpicking to point out that her "pot, kettle, black" conclusion doesn't make sense unless O is in fact naracissistic, immature and in way over his head?

Anonymous said...

"He should have just used her napkin."

He should have used her dress.

You know ... like Clinton did.

Bonus: Rush is a Cigar Aficionado ... just like Clinton.

X said...

MoDo seems like a lonely sort. She should get a blog.

former law student said...

who is currently displeased that the radio man called Barack Obama a big narcissist

The pot-kettle-black meme is perhaps the oldest one on the Internet.

Is it nitpicking to point out that her "pot, kettle, black" conclusion doesn't make sense unless O is in fact naracissistic

It doesn't have to make literal sense under the childhood rule of "It takes one to know one!" (Cf. I'm rubber and you're glue -- everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you.) One can similarly nitpick that the epithet "son of a bitch" insults the listener's mother, but not the listener, who had nothing to do with his mother's temperament or fidelity issues -- also to no purpose.

But what caught my eye was Rush's ordering a bottle of Corton-Charlemagne -- a burgundy that retails for $100 - $140 at Bevmo.com and thus would cost $300-$400 in a restaurant -- heady fare indeed for a populist like Rush.

traditionalguy said...

So The Enemy of the People is a rude sort of fellow, unlike The Woman of the year who can see all the flaws in all of the men she encounters. That is cruelty to the men and to herself.

miller said...

I know this is just nit-picking, but

"heady fare indeed for a populist like Rush"

what exactly is that supposed to mean? I mean, really? Is there a Good Housekeeping Seal for the right kind of populist?

former law student said...

I don't think I've laughed so hard in my life. I swear she should write comedy

Rush's dad lived till he was almost 40; W's dad is still alive, providing advice, guidance, and a model of how to be a man. Obama's dad split while Obama was tiny, and he had to search for role models ever since.

Charlie Martin said...

The pot-kettle-black meme is perhaps the oldest one on the Internet.

justly.

former law student said...

Is there a Good Housekeeping Seal for the right kind of populist?

To take the curse off, Rush should have announced "I just took a $150 piss of cheese-eating surrender monkey wine."

vw: chess -- a game that is also a pie.

LouisAntoine said...

No one has ever explained to me how a middle-aged millionaire bachelor who lives alone in a mansion with his cat and goes on golf vacations-- good on him and everything-- is qualified to evaluate anyone else's maturity level?? Can we not agree that having a wife and kids is more of a traditional marker of maturity than remaining a bachelor well into middle age?

Though why anyone would want to compare their relative maturity levels is a good question. Also, the fact that Rush is clearly immature does not mean he can't call someone else immature and have a valid point. I would just say that anyone who listens to the man in an earnest way is probably a little bit feeble-minded.

David Walser said...

FLS - Rush isn't nor does he pretend to be a populist. He's not ashamed of his wealth; he believes he's earned it. He hopes and believes others will become wealthy, too. Rush talks on his show about his frequent golf trips, his private jet, his expensive cigars, etc. Ordering an expensive bottle of wine is, therefore, not a surprise. You're going to have to look elsewhere for an example of hypocrisy.

LouisAntoine said...

Also-- good on MoDo for writing a column about a week behind this here blog. Why do we need columnists anymore?

David said...

Obama.
Limbaugh.
Dowd.

Any one of these seems eligible for the Narcissist Hall of Fame. Entrance is not constrained by political viewpoint.

David said...

I do think, however, that you can enjoy expensive wine and not be a narcissist.

I do not see it recorded that Modo failed to drink her share of said bottle. I expect that she and expensive wine are very well acquainted.

David said...

Furthermore, if the wine was paid for by the NYT, that certainly would appeal to Rush's sense of humor.

Modo knows that Rush will respond to this column. It should be interesting. (I predict chivalry.)

Andrea said...

"No one has ever explained to me how a middle-aged millionaire bachelor who lives alone in a mansion with his cat and goes on golf vacations-- good on him and everything-- is qualified to evaluate anyone else's maturity level?? Can we not agree that having a wife and kids is more of a traditional marker of maturity than remaining a bachelor well into middle age?"

The thing I like about liberals is how tolerant they are of other peoples' lifestyles.

Jason (the commenter) said...

People often complain about qualities they themselves have when they see them in others. I think Dowd is missing something here. She wants to call Rush a hypocrit so badly she misses the idea that if what she thinks about him is true, he would be the perfect person to diagnose someone else with narcissism. In this case Obama.

jeff said...

"heady fare indeed for a populist like Rush."
Why in the world would anyone think he was a populist?

"No one has ever explained to me how a middle-aged millionaire bachelor who lives alone in a mansion with his cat and goes on golf vacations-- good on him and everything-- is qualified to evaluate anyone else's maturity level??"
Interesting. First since it sounds like you have actually been waiting for someone to explain that? Really?
Secondly, I am 48 years old. I am a bachelor. This makes me immature? How so?

traditionalguy said...

Montagne montaigne...Rush is a great communicator of ideas he has learned from his father and other Traditionalist men. He is not 100% right. Surprise, surprise. But he is a free speaker that manages to spot and expose the propaganda nuances of today's three card monte politicians faster than most. He spoke against Bush's sly tricks regularly. Hate him now, but you will miss him the day free speech is removed from radio to please the Obama, Chavez, Castro and Soros types who want only predetermined votes in support of a smiling and personable Strong Man.

Hoosier Daddy said...

heady fare indeed for a populist like Rush.

Rush is a populist? Let me ask, do you liberals have a bag of labels that you assign haphazardly to make whatever point you're trying to make?

LouisAntoine said...

I don't care how Rush Limbaugh lives his life, Andrea. I even said "good on him." Did you miss that? Or are you just looking to express some variation of that great wingnut talking point that liberals are really just Nazis in disguise?

I also don't think that marriage and child-rearing are necessary to become "mature." I said we could agree that it is a traditional marker of maturity.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Can we not agree that having a wife and kids is more of a traditional marker of maturity than remaining a bachelor well into middle age?


No. Not really.

Michael Haz said...

Can we not agree that having a wife and kids is more of a traditional marker of maturity than remaining a bachelor well into middle age?

Are you calling Maureen Dowd, childless and single, immature?

Michael Haz said...

Can we not agree that having a wife and kids is more of a traditional marker of maturity than remaining a bachelor well into middle age?

Okay, let's agree. Now let's reflect on the maturity of John Edwards. Or maybe William Clinton.

El Presidente said...

Rush is certainly not a populist. If anything he is a first amendment mercantilist, madly bent on the export of his own thoughts.

If 'Narcissist Quarterly' published a list of worlds biggest narcissists with Dowd, Limbaugh and Obama on it, Dowd and Obama would be offended and Limbaugh would smile.

Unknown said...

I know someone, married with children, who has the maturity of a three year old.

Rush is divorced and, in his marriages, both parties chose not to have kids - both fairly common these days. He lives well and keeps out of trouble.

This is immature how?

LouisAntoine said...

OK, you guys are great progressives. Why don't you tell the Mormons and the anti-gay marriage folks to shove it and start fighting the ideas about what constitutes a "traditional" lifestyle. Oh, and stop supporting politicians like Sarah Palin who make careers out of "protecting traditional families."

It's great to have some new allies in this cause.

AllenS said...

Montagne Montaigne--

We used to have a president who would insert his cigar in the vagina of a young intern, would you consider that a traditional marker of maturity?

Andrea said...

Your goalpost moving isn't working, M&M. The truth is liberals are just as intolerant of lifestyles they don't approve of as anyone else. Your tirade is a case in point.

I'm just trying to rescue you from being a hypocrite, the only great liberal sin. It's because I care.

Meade said...

Montagne Montaigne said...
Why do we need columnists anymore?

Blogfodder for Althouse, et al.?

Freeman Hunt said...

Rush is not even remotely a populist.

He's also a very extravagant spender and makes no secret of it. Why should he? He certainly has the extravagant income to afford it. He also tips magnificently.

MadisonMan said...

I'm reminded of the insulting upwards blog entry you had 2 or 3 years ago.

Dancing Bear said...

New Flash...ALL politicians are Narcissists, as is Rush, MoDo, and AA...not necessarily a bad thing but can make it hard to see your own flaws clearly. I think this fits in nicely with my personal theory of election reform...Anyone who wants the job should NOT be allowed to have it.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

OK, you guys are great progressives. Why don't you tell the Mormons and the anti-gay marriage folks to shove it and start fighting the ideas about what constitutes a "traditional" lifestyle. Oh, and stop supporting politicians like Sarah Palin who make careers out of "protecting traditional families."


Why? Speaking for myself as a conservative. I don't give a rat's patootey how traditional or non traditional someone is in their private life. Whether they have kids or not. Whether they go to church or not. I just don't care.

Those issues seem to be front and center for you liberals however. I have never understood the compulsion you all have to judge people's personal and private choices.

As for politicians: I'm more concerned with what they do in their voting record and how serious they are about supporting the Constitution of the United States, lowering the cost of government and protecting my rights.

Being married and having children is no guarantee of becoming a mature or responsible adult. So....no...I don't agree with you.

former law student said...

Rush is a populist?

Yes, a man of the people. A proud member of the "Cape Girardeau-Middle America axis." Do the fine steakhouses and other restaurants in Cape Girardeau sell $300 bottles of wine? I think not.

former law student said...

from a PhD I once worked with, I learned in Chinese culture one remains a child until marriage. We were discussing who got red envelopes at Chinese New Year, and he was eligible even though he was in his early 30s.

LouisAntoine said...

DBQ, I'm not saying I think being married with children makes you mature. I'm saying it's a traditional marker of maturity. See the difference?

p.s. Hint: the point I'm making is obvious and really barely worth arguing

Chip Ahoy said...

Oedipal demons is a weird reference regarding Obama. Did he kill his father, wed his mother, have big feet? What? Is it supposed to refer to anything other than customary upbringing? Yo no lo comprendo.

But speaking about obsessive derangements, I love this note so much I took it, seen this morning on passiveaggressivenotes Flickr photo stream.

LouisAntoine said...

and p.p.s. DBQ: your libertarianism is heartening. I wish you could spread it around to your fellow conservatives in the "let's make things the way they used to be" crowd. Start in Colorado Springs at Focus on the Family.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

FLS: Populist can also mean :: a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people

You don't have to live in a mud hut or be poor to be a populist. In fact most of the common people would love to be able to aspire to Rush's lifestyle.

It is mostly the progressives who are jealous and want to punish the successful and keep the common people in their rightful/poor places. The rest of us want to emulate their success and admire their ability to succeed. It is an inspiration to the 'common' people to think that they too can enjoy a fine bottle of wine, even if it means that you have to share it with Maureen Dowd.

former law student said...

Did [Obama] kill his father?

His father disappeared soon after Obama was born. A child's imagination surely could have made him think he was responsible. In psychology, the myth of Oedipus involves eliminating your father as a rival for your mother's attention and affection.

Kirk Parker said...

Comrade X wins the thread! :-)

Andrea said...

This isn't China, fls, and Rush isn't Chinese.

By the way, I've never heard that a definition of a populist meant someone who lived in a small house, didn't spend any money, and drank only cheap wine so no one would think he was extravagant. Where I come from those people are known as "tightwads," and they're a lot worse IMO than big spenders.

Really, have you lived with a cheapskate? They won't throw anything out, and they won't buy anything new because their dictum is "use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without." So you get to live in a dump and worry about lead poisoning from the cracked coffee cup they're too cheap to replace. And they just love to sit there all day separating their trash, and they're the first on the block to have an indoor composting setup, so their homes smell like garbage all the time. Give me a big spending, immature, cat-owning guy any day.

former law student said...

so their homes smell like garbage all the time. Give me a big spending, immature, cat-owning guy any day

You enjoy the smell of cat poop?

To each his own.

LouisAntoine said...

Andrea, would you happen to be an underage Dominican prostitute? Because that's the only way you're getting a chance with Rush.

Alex said...

100 million Chinamen can't find wives because there are not enough women. Are they immature because they will forever be bachelors FLS? Really you're bigotry against lifestyles that belong to right-wingers is breathtaking!

Unknown said...

Montagne Montaigne said...

Andrea, would you happen to be an underage Dominican prostitute? Because that's the only way you're getting a chance with Rush.

No, moron. That's how you get in with your friends at ACORN, remember?

Alex said...

Andrea, would you happen to be an underage Dominican prostitute? Because that's the only way you're getting a chance with Rush.

Monty - stay classy as always.... Karma is a bitch!

jeff said...

"Andrea, would you happen to be an underage Dominican prostitute? Because that's the only way you're getting a chance with Rush."

His ex-wifes might disagree with you on that. Your back starting to hurt from lugging those goal posts all over this morning?

Sigivald said...

Four hours with Maureen Dowd?

That's the most sympathetic thing I've ever heard about Mr. Limbaugh. My heart goes out to him.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Andrea:

Please try to keep up :)

FLS loves Obama. Obama is a socialist maybe a Marxist and his communications director worships Chairman Mao. I guess you could call it the Six Degress of Barack Obama according to FLS.

ricpic said...

According to MM's marker the entire homosexual "community" lacks maturity. In that he is correct. Though I'm sure he'd make an exception for the boys.

Andrea said...

FLS: I own a cat. I clean the cat box regularly because I do not, in fact, enjoy the smell of cat poop. Fail.

MM: what I like about liberals is how they respect women and are always supportive of their right to air their opinions in public.

former law student said...

FLS loves Obama.

Somebody has to keep this from being an Obama bash fest.

ricpic said...

...use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without...

That's all men when it comes to their underwear.

ricpic said...

A narcissist would never define himself with the phrase talent on loan from God.

LouisAntoine said...

Yes Andrea, my joke at the expense of Rush Limbaugh, a man who makes millions of dollars airing his views on the radio and is therefore a public figure, is an attack on you and the rights of all women to express themselves. You've outed me! I give up! Get back in the kitchen and start making babies, wench!

In the meantime, in the non-delusional part of the universe, your hubby Rush Limbaugh has the following wonderful things to say about ladies...

"My cat -- here's how you can get fooled. My cat comes to me when she wants to be fed. I have learned this. I accept it for what it is. Many people in my position would think my cat's coming to me because she loves me. Well, she likes me, and she is attached, but she comes to me when she wants to be fed. And after I feed her -- guess what -- she's off to wherever she wants to be in the house, until the next time she gets hungry. She's smart enough to know she can't feed herself. She's actually a very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn't have to do anything for it, which is why I say this cat's taught me more about women, than anything my whole life. But we put voices in their mouths."

So Andrea, you like cats, Rush likes cats, Rush thinks women are like cats... you're right! It's a match made in heaven.

AlphaLiberal said...

W., on the other hand, was like a kid who knew that Daddy’s friends would take care of him; he was always running off to the gym or going biking, leaving the governing to his regents, Cheney and Rummy, or incompetents like Brownie." .

Very true. Obama is a self-made man. W. failed upwards. What did he ever accomplish without some bush family patron bailing him out?

Arbusto? No. Texas Rangers was a sweetheart deal. Hell he even got out of never showing up for duty in the Air National Guard (no-one ever did claim the $5 grand prize by showing proof she showed up).

X said...

Andrea is the classy lady who moderated the excellent Tim Blair blog before he went to the Daily Telegraph.

Montague is the guy who posts racists comments and attributes them to others.

Your mileage won't vary.

AlphaLiberal said...

I don't get this one:

MM: what I like about liberals is how they respect women and are always supportive of their right to air their opinions in public. .

All MM did was to refer to Rush Limbaugh's apparent fancy for sex tourism. That was absolutely no reflection on Andrea.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Very true. Obama is a self-made man.

Alpha wins for most comedic post yet.

Or delusional, let me think on it and get back to you.

victoria said...

God, i love you Maureen. You tell it like it is. You rock!!!!

X said...

You're right Alpha. Obama's daddy was a deadbeat. Why are we interested in his dreams?

AlphaLiberal said...

HD: "Or delusional, let me think on it and get back to you."

You could just disprove it. But you can't.

Nice to see you had the sense not to even defend Silver Spoon George.

David said...

Monty? Alpha?

Have you noticed how much contempt you have for people who do not believe as you do?

This trait is one of the essential pillars of bigotry.

David said...
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David said...
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X said...

Alpha, would your mom happen to be an underage Dominican prostitute? Because that's the only way she's getting a chance with Rush. No reflection on your mom though.

kentuckyliz said...

I thought El Rushbo has a wife or GF right now...he's mentioned her.

What is wrong with his topics of conversation? Speaking about movies, music, etc. is perfectly proper social conversation.

You should go to the bathroom to blow your nose though...that's gross, at the dinner table!

LouisAntoine said...

ricpic said...
According to MM's marker the entire homosexual "community" lacks maturity. In that he is correct. Though I'm sure he'd make an exception for the boys.


What is saddest is that people like ripic are too dumb to see that they are making your own point for you. Hey ricpic, I said tradition dictates that marker, not that I agree with it. You obviously DO agree with the traditional definition of maturity. In which case, you will agree that by traditional standards, Rush "Marriage is for making children" Limbaugh is less mature than B. Hussein Obama, married with two children.

Look, Rush said it himself-- "Marriage is for making children." That's why he hates the gay marriage advocates. It's his stated reason.

And why Rush lovers balk when you point out the things that Rush actually believes? You'd think they would defend those beliefs. Maybe they don't because then they would have to admit to being regressive, bigoted liars.

kentuckyliz said...

I find high quality alcohol necessary to endure an evening with intolerable people.

Rush's wine choice was perfectly logical, given his company.

kentuckyliz said...

MM, question the tradition. Why is it tradition? Because the Pill only became available in the mid 20th century.

So, does tradition also dictate having as large a family as you can possibly spew forth? In the vast course of human history, and still in many parts of the world today, yes.

Does that make it a traditional marker of maturity?

If so, anyone with less than a tribe of offspring is immature.

LouisAntoine said...

I'll admit to being a bigot, David. I have a hatred for self-satisfied idiocy. I would love to see it eliminated for the world. I guess that makes me a racist nazi, like Obama/Farrakhan/Mao.

Alex said...

When crack hos are having kids, that is no longer a sign of maturity. I'm in my early 30s and no where near being married w/kids. Does that make me an emotional child? Yes according to Monty.

Freeman Hunt said...

Rush Limbaugh's apparent fancy for sex tourism.

How about you back that up?

Andrea said...

Actually, Montaigne, I was referring to your cute prostitute joke, and the fact that you think because I prefer the company of big spenders to misers I'm in love with Rush Limbaugh. Because after all, a woman who talks about a man just wants to get in his pants. To tell you the truth, I don't even listen to Rush Limbaugh (I don't listen to talk radio at all).

But you go right ahead and claim that conservatives are racist meanies who want to pave the planet and make Baby Jeebus cry while liberals are gentle woodland creatures who only want happiness for all humankind!

LouisAntoine said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
former law student said...

You should go to the bathroom to blow your nose though...that's gross, at the dinner table!

I'm sexist to assume that every woman carries tissues, so I would have asked Maureen for one in Rush's place. In fact, why did she not realize what Rush was doing, stop him, and offer him one? To make a better story?

Freeman Hunt said...

If someone has a really terrible cold, how many times does it take getting up to go the bathroom to blow one's nose before doing so at the table is preferable?

Alex said...

Freeman - if you're that sick don't go to a restaurant - stay at home.

Sofa King said...

I'll admit to being a bigot, David. I have a hatred for self-satisfied idiocy. I would love to see it eliminated for the world.

Hey, three generations of idiots is enough, right? RIGHT? Surely that's a noble goal!

AlphaLiberal said...

Freeman, you can look it up, but Lush was busted with a bottle of Viagra in someone else's name after returning from a vacation to sex tourism haven Dominican Republic.

Connect the dots.

And, to be fair I referred to "Rush Limbaugh's apparent fancy for sex tourism."

Just like I don't know if he is still popping pills anymore or having his maid buy them for him, as MoDo points out.

Bill Kilgore said...

If Rush was as bad as people say he is, he would send MoDo a letter of thanks- and a distaff.

d-day said...

Maureen is an embarassment to women and feminism.

The self-esteem lacking woman ("reporterette!") attacks the man for having too much. Make that "men" because the case she makes that Rush is a narcissist convinces me that Obama is too.

And her proof that Rush is a narcissist? "Double standard!" she whines, while deploying her own double standards. "Isn’t immaturity scoring OxyContin from your maid?" Seriously, Mo? You couldn't leave that one alone in your "defense" of President Cokehead? Pot, kettle, indeed.

That double-standard "it's not fair" bitching gives feminism a bad name. Give us the standard! Make your argument! Display some rigor in your reasoning! Because all you've managed to convince me of is that Rush and Obama are both aprincipled beasts, and I'm pretty sure that's not the point you intended to make.

Alex said...

I'll admit to being a bigot, David. I have a hatred for self-satisfied idiocy. I would love to see it eliminated for the world.

What is it about lefties and their eliminationist rhetoric? No wonder Communism left heaps of corpses.

LouisAntoine said...

Alex, what fun is it for you to call me a commie when I already compared myself to Mao in the post you're quoting?

I AM A REV.WRIGHT-HUSSEIN-HITLERASAURUS!!! ROOOWRRR!!!

Don't be too frightened. Only an hour and a half before Glen comes on to soothe, soothe your troubled mind.

Jeremy said...

Be careful now.

Ann loves the fat man...and you know you want to remain in the Queen's good graces.

*She's still praying to get another mention from fatso...

Jeremy said...

d-day - Speaking of "whining."

Give it a break.

Jeremy said...

miller "what exactly is that supposed to mean? I mean, really? Is there a Good Housekeeping Seal for the right kind of populist?"

Well, why not ask one of your friendly "populist" friends the last time they ordered up a $300 bottle of wine?

Do you even know what the word means??

Alex said...

Jeremy - has Limbaugh ever pretended to be faux populist like Michael Savage(another millionaire btw).

ricpic said...

No one has ever explained to me how a middle-aged bachelor who lives alone in a mansion with his cat and goes on golf vacations--good on him and everything--is qualified to evaluate anyone elses maturity level?? Can we not agree that having a wife and kids is more of a traditional marker of maturity than remaining a bachelor well into middle age?

That was MM's original argument. When called on it instead of defending his statement he attempted to separate himself from his own words by claiming that, well, I don't believe in what I just said, it's the traditional belief. But note that there are no scare quotes around traditional in MM's original statement. In other words he attempts to have his cake and eat it. Man up MM! If you're capable of manning up, that is.

Delayna said...

el presidente said:

"If 'Narcissist Quarterly' published a list of worlds biggest narcissists with Dowd, Limbaugh and Obama on it, Dowd and Obama would be offended and Limbaugh would smile."

Would Dowd and Obama be more offended at being on the list, or at finding someone else ranked higher?

WV: charl. Tries to be churlish, but just misses.

Shanna said...

Rush likes cats, Rush thinks women are like cats... you're right! It's a match made in heaven.

Aren’t there about a zillion women=cats, men=dogs jokes out there? It's hardly new territory.
Rush’s big blind spot is women. He doesn’t get them.

I’m not sure why Monty is hung up on his being a “bachelor” and thus not mature when he’s been married twice (?). That’s not the same thing as never married. (Not that I accept the premise, considering you want to say that an adult who have chosen not to marry is less mature than a 21 year old who got married at 17 and had a baby and got divorced immediately without learning a damn thing. You can't tell whether someone is mature or not just based on their status as single or married)

You know what I love about this blog? Someone will always show up in the comments with the weird meme/slander of the day direct from wherever those things come from. Where did this rush is a sex tourist thing come from? Who knows, who cares? Somebody made it up and posted it on the internet and now it’s been mentioned about 10 times.

Donna B. said...

Had I been the reporterette, I'd have dug deeper into Rush's fondness for "Love Story".

wv barinall - what we all hope neither Rush or Dowd does publically

LouisAntoine said...

Here's what we are referring to when accusing Rush of being a sex tourist.

There's no "proof" as in, there is no videotape (THANK GOD), but if you use the same burden of proof that Rush uses to slander others on his show daily, uncontested, then it's fair game.

Why would you have that much unprescribed viagra on a trip with a half dozen other men to the D.R.? Oh, no reason, right? Whatever. Who cares.

Freeman Hunt said...

So you can't visit DR without doing so for sex tourism? I think it's relatively common for people to both go on vacation and have sex. The sex tourism thing is pure speculation and gossip-mongering.

Alex said...

Freeman - if Rush was so inclined he'd ask Ann to report him the slander posts so he could sue their fucking asses for every cent.

LouisAntoine said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alex said...

Monty - you joke now but if high-profile conservatives like Rush Limbaugh lose their inhibition to file lawsuits, you will not be laughing.

LouisAntoine said...

Let's just say that I, uh, am not too worried about serial rapist and pope-murderer Rush Limbaugh suing me for defamation. But thanks for the warning, Al.

ricpic said...

Rush's blind spot is women. He doesn't get them.

What man does? The mark of the consummate con-man is his ability to convince the woman he wants that he gets her -- thereby getting her.

Shanna said...

As I suspected, that link says not a thing about "sex tourism". Just that the guy had a prescription for viagra. Jeez.

What man does?

Well, some of them seem a little more clued in than Rush. Maybe they are just all excellent fakers, who knows.

LouisAntoine said...

Is it a stretch to infer that someone on a vacation to the D.R., a notorious sex tourism destination, with half a dozen other middle aged buddies and a bottle of viagra is there for sex?

I go to Pattaya, Thailand with Amyl Nitrate all the time. I would resent the inference that it was for anything other than the elephants. So maybe you are right.

Shanna said...

Well, you just proved your point? I have never heard someone make a joke about sex tourism that didn't involve an asian destination.

Freeman Hunt said...

So you really can't visit Thailand without everyone assuming you're going to whorehouses? That's sad.

I never heard DR described as a sex tourism only destination until Rush went there.

Kensington said...

It may not be a stretch to assume that someone with Viagra might be anticipating the possibility of sex, but it is a stretch, and a pretty despicable one at that, to assume that he's paying for it and/or partnering up with children.

It's funny, too. The website for the Dominican Republic's Ministry of Tourism outlines all kinds of things one might do for leisure and enjoyment but doesn't once mention its sex tourism.

It's almost as if there might be more to offer than just sex tourism, but why concern ourselves with that when we can slander a man over a Viagra bottle.

Have the Althouse Lefties always been this loathsome? I'd gotten the impression that there was some decent back and forth to be found here, but there's none on display here.

LouisAntoine said...

Thank god Rush has you all to defend him.

See, as Rush listeners I would assume you would get the tremendous subtlety of my argument. See, when Rush says something like "Michael J. Fox is faking his Parkinsons," it's not because he has proof of that. See, as an entertainer and a thinker, Rush is coaxing forth some deeper truth about celebrity culture by slandering Fox, all for the edification of his audience.

As educated Rush listeners, I would hope you could understand my point: Rush Limbaugh is a child rapist.

former law student said...

Rush may simply have been hoping he would meet an age-appropriate lady somewhere along the way. Or he may have been carrying the Viagra for safekeeping. But the prescription medicines you carry should always be in your own name to avoid trouble at the border.

William said...

I heard part of the Limbaugh show today. He was asked about the Dowd column. He replied with a brief one liner. He said that she was out of sorts because either Michael Douglas had again dumped her or because they had raised the price of bourbon. Then he dropped the subect......I think both Maureen and Rush have more in common than they would like to admit. Their stock in trade is not to be right but to state their positions in the most amusing and provocative ways possible. I enjoy Rush's zingers, and I particularly enjoy the way they get under the skin of certain leftists. He's really good at it....I read Maureen with pleasure most of the time. She's very unfair, but she's interesting and witty......I am pretty sure that whatever makes these two commentators so interesting was not their happy childhood or their mature outlook on life. Talent is a negative predictor of maturity and emotional balance. Neither is blind allegiance to either of these two flawed human beings.

traditionalguy said...

Rush has friends because he does tell us what he really thinks. Of course he is wrong sometimes. But his batting average is still the best we've seen.His problem with women is understandable. You try to get an ambitious trophy wife type to listen to your opinions all day long, while she knows that she can leave and resume life as a rich single girl anytime she feels like it, and see how long your marriages will last. Rush the average man does have an extraordinary teaching talent on loan from God, and he works very hard to share it with us everyday.

Andrea said...

I notice that M&M didn't reply back when I pointed out that I didn't listen to Rush Limbaugh. Maybe the way to get him to shut up is for us all to say "we don't listen to Rush, we're just defending him because people should be defended against jerks." Because I think that confuses M&M.

As for the shocking Viagra bust -- the thing I love about liberals is their non-judgmentalism. They truly embody the phrase "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"! We conservatives should pause in our stealing ice cream from infants and setting fire to the huts of poor brown people to contemplate this lesson.

Anonymous said...

In my "conversations" with liberals, I've noticed that they really love the old "Pot calling the Kettle black" idiom.
Usually, they will couch it like this; "Pot, meet kettle."

This is what they think passes for cleverness?

Poor, poor liberals. They are so sensitive. Hypocrisy is so very very heart-rending.

traditionalguy said...

Random thoughts: A populist is a politician that can think and act like the working class and enjoy being one of them, while he uses his elective office to gather the spoils of victory for the common man/woman, that is himself. The Sarah Palin phenomena is a populist that won't steal. What are the news media gonna do with her...so far they are pretending like she steals. But false slander will not work once people know the accused's actual character. Stay tuned.

Bruce Hayden said...

Random thoughts: A populist is a politician that can think and act like the working class and enjoy being one of them, while he uses his elective office to gather the spoils of victory for the common man/woman, that is himself.

And this is part of why Rush is almost the furthest thing from a populist that you can have. As noted above, he proudly imbibes the finest things in life, and doesn't make apologies about it. The hypocrites are the liberals who pretend to act and think like the working class, and in private are indistinguishable from the hated capitalists like Rush from a point of view of consumption.

A guy who uses "talent on loan from God™" or takes "Obscene Profit Breaks™" is not a populist.

Bruce Hayden said...

Oh, good, my ™'s came through.

traditionalguy said...

Bruce...Rush Limbaugh is not a politician ( a user of political power) and cannot be a populist in my definition. My experience with populism has been with the family that ruled in Georgia on and off for 50 years. They knew how to get the votes and keep the voters happy. They were near genius in that ability to act plain and uneducated while they never left a drop of money and power on the table for anyone else. You would have liked them: Eugene Talmadge and his son Herman E. Talmadge.

Gabriel Hanna said...

I await denunciations of this faux populist from Montaigne and FLS:

http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/michael-moore-celebrates-capitalism-premiere-capitalism-fueled-penthouse_7568

The event, hosted by Esquire, doubled as the launch of the magazine’s “Ultimate Bachelor Pad,” a fully tricked-out, 11-room, nine-bathroom, 9,200-square-foot signature penthouse in SoHo, filled with flatscreens, sleek, modern furniture and luxury brands -- each room meticulously designed around an advertisers’ theme. (The Hugo Boss bedroom! The Heineken lounge! The Lufthansa kitchen!)

As Esquire publisher Kevin O’Malley explains in the Esquire SoHo brochure, part of the reason that the magazine does this every year -- alternating between New York and L.A. -- is to meet its “advertisers’ growing need to create relevant and innovative new consumer touchpoints for their brands. Our affluent readers share a range of passions: a real desire for the best-of-class products and services that our advertisers represent.”

In other words, the pinnacle of capitalism. A fantasy in capital excess. A byproduct of the corporate greed Moore rails against in the film.

By the time Moore arrived, the party was in full swing, with revelers enjoying the 360-degree views of Lower Manhattan on the 3,000-square-foot terrace, top-shelf themed bars, sipping signature cocktails (there was a guy hired to blow dry ice on one pomegranate-and-melon-martini thing) and devouring skewers of filet mignon.

Esquire even hired models to strip down and slip into the obligatory hot tub.

Anonymous said...

All this personal stuff is fascinating, but I'm stuck on MoDo's reference to Rush's "auto-da-fé" against moderate Republicans. I mean, if we've heard it once in the last 6 months, we've heard it 10,000 times. But my question is: why do Dems care about it? I mean, I couldn't care less about how the Democrat Party organizes itself, who it nominates, what internal battles they wage, etc. Or perhaps I should ask: why do they talk endlessly about it? They must think it has some benefit--the "big lie" strategy, I guess. But do people believe or care what one party says about the other's internal politics? I just don't get it.

LoafingOaf said...

Freeman Hunt: I never heard DR described as a sex tourism only destination until Rush went there.

From the Wikipedia entry "Sex Tourism":

"Several countries have become preferred destinations for sex tourists. These include Thailand,[4] Brazil,[5][6] Sri Lanka,[7][8][9] Dominican Republic,[10][11] Costa Rica,[12][13] Cuba,[14][15] and Kenya,[16]"

And I really don't know why people wouldn't assume the worst about Rush Limbaugh having all that viagra on his travels to a sex tourism haven. This is, after all, a man who sat there during his commercial breaks telling his assistant (or whomever it was) to score some OxyContin for him. He'd do that before coming back from commercial and telling us how this and that person are the worst people in America.

---

One thing interesting about Maureen Dowd's column is that - for those of us who don't hear Rush every day as we are at work - you understand better how much Althouse's blog takes its cues from Rush Limbaugh.

For example, from Dowd:
"If W. had gone to Dover in the middle of the night to salute the war dead, Limbaugh and Liz Cheney would have been gushing about his patriotism.

"But since it’s Obama who at last showed up there to see the brutal cost of war, they simply have to dismiss the moving moment as a publicity stunt."

Althouse had a post suggesting the same as Rush.

I already knew that about one-third of the Althouse blog is just providing a comment section for whatever is on Drudge. Apparently another third is just setting up comment sections for whatever Rush is saying. It keeps the hillbillies happy.

Don't get me wrong. I like checking in on Althouse every day, and she's definitely a good blogger, better than most of the bloggers out there. And she's a very good writer who writes some very original things. And I'm not even that huge a fan of Barack Obama. But this blog and its commenters are so unfair to Obama while bending over so backwards to be generous to Bush and Palin, it gets ridiculous.

MOST OF THE PROBLEMS ON OBAMA'S PLATE ARE CARRY-OVERS FROM BUSH!! The Bush years almost destroyed this country! You'd think she'd have a bit more empathy for Barack and a lot less for the people who caused so many of the problems Barack's getting gray hairs over.

Methadras said...

I saw Rush yesterday on TV and it's been awhile since I've seen him and seriously, what the fuck happened to him? He's thinner and he got his teeth capped. He looked totally bizarre.

LoafingOaf said...

As for the shocking Viagra bust -- the thing I love about liberals is their non-judgmentalism. They truly embody the phrase "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"! We conservatives should pause in our stealing ice cream from infants and setting fire to the huts of poor brown people to contemplate this lesson.

At some point during Rush's OxyContin scandal I guess I must've been busy with other things and I'd have to Google around to figure out how he didn't get in more legal trouble over it. I know people who have felonies on their records simply because they grew up in high-drug neighborhoods and (for example) got pulled over in a car where someone had a crack pipe.

If we have a country with such a "war on drugs" where large percentages of people from poor neighborhoods have their entire futures severely crippled over some small-fry thing they got caught up in, then how is it that a hardcore drug fiend like Rush is not in prison?

I don't think Rush should be in prison (and I have compassion tha his drug problem seems to have begun because of his hearing problems). But then a lot of people who get locked up in America should not have been locked up. Maybe conservatives should care more about that as they make excuses for Rush's illegal drug activity. Obama seems to care, which is why he made that step with respect to medical marijuana a couple weeks back.

Heck, the cops in my city (Cleveland) are so busy slapping people with felonies over drug possession that they didn't even investigate a house that smelled of dead bodies and turned out to have the bodies of at least 11 murdered rape victims in it.

Oops, I went on a tangent. Um...what was I saying? Oh, why are conservatives so hard core about the war on drugs yet they give Rush Limbaugh a pass? He did worse than many of the people in jail and prison over drug stuff!

DADvocate said...

Dowd's column is a complaint about Rush acting towards Obama like she did Bush. She's a truly strange woman. No wonder she can't get a date.

X said...

Pot had helped, and booze, maybe a little blow when you could afford it

Andrea said...

How do you know I'm "hardcore" on the War On Drugs, Oaf? Frankly I wish they'd not only legalize all narcotics, but pass them out free at coffee houses, vegan restaurants, college student unions, and all those other places liberals hang out. And while you people are giggling and stoned, we'll take over the country again.

Rush can take drugs too if he likes. Whoever doesn't want to participate can opt right out if they so please.

former law student said...

But do people believe or care what one party says about the other's internal politics?

One of America's great strengths is its political stability -- unlike, say, Britain, we don't lurch from nationalizing heavy industry one year to privatizing even the post office the next. Stability makes things predictable, allowing both businesses and individuals to plan for the future. Now the Republicans threaten to destroy that stability by turning themselves into a minority fringe party.

Reaching across the aisle to accomplish America's goals in a bipartisan manner is becoming less and less possible, as Republicans flee from the center.

Gabriel Hanna said...

@fls:

Reaching across the aisle to accomplish America's goals in a bipartisan manner is becoming less and less possible, as Republicans flee from the center.

Well, since you evidently think that the Democrats represent the moderate center, and the Republicans are fringe loonies; then why should Democrats reach across the aisle?

They don't need to-they have the majorities they need to pass any moderate, reasonable legislation they wish.

Any speculation on why they don't?

I know why--they don't want to be RESPONSIBLE for something that may blow up their face later, like sweeping changes to health care.

Still waiting for your denunciation of faux populist Michael Moore. Rush, at least, doesn't dress up as a poor person.