February 18, 2010

Rush Limbaugh keeps mocking Obama for being too much of a professor.

And I agree with a lot of this mockery. So don't get me wrong: I like Rush Limbaugh. I listen all the time. But that means I catch some things that you may not notice. And I caught a couple of ironies in yesterday's show.

First, he's twice played this clip from the Rodney Dangerfield movie "Back to School":



And yesterday he says that it shows "an economics course with an Obama type professor, an arrogant, conceited snob who has no understanding of what really happens in the business world... who thinks he has all the answers."

So Obama doesn't know what goes on in the real world, and the evidence of what goes on in the real world is... a Hollywood movie. Irony #1.

Later, after this putdown of professors, he's talking with a caller about the subject of "the Big Lie" (a concept from Hitler's "Mein Kampf"):
RUSH: Well, see that's the nature of the Big Lie. You tell something --

CALLER: You're right.

RUSH: -- so audacious that nobody could possibly think they'd make it up.

CALLER: No. No. Well, Hitler used to do that. Goebbels was great for that, just tell a bigger lie and bigger lie --

RUSH: Hitler didn't need Goebbels. Hitler was the architect of all this stuff. Goebbels, he just implemented it all. He didn't need Bormann. He might have needed Rommel --

CALLER: -- started it all (crosstalk)

RUSH: -- and he might have needed Christoph Waltz, and Hitler might have needed Bormann.

CALLER: Yeah, that's right.

RUSH: But Goebbels made movies out there....
Rush and the caller are suddenly acting like a couple of know-it-all history professors. What the hell does Rush know about who Hitler needed? Irony #2.

104 comments:

MadisonMan said...

Back to School is the most excellent movie ever filmed in Madison, even though the plot is paper thin. Rodney Dangerfield is hilarious in it.

Ann Althouse said...

A footnote: "Back to School" was filmed at the University of Wisconsin. I watched some of the filming from my (professorial) window at the Law School. There is a spot on Bascom Hill where there should be plaque -- there are so many plaques on campus! -- where Dangerfield stood -- looking like a doofus -- surrounded by cast and crew working out some scene. It was one of the coolest things for me ever, looking out my office window and watching Rodney Dangerfield.

Ann Althouse said...

MM, you beat me to it!

Hoosier Daddy said...

Hitler only need Horst Wessel for that catchy martial tune.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Woo hoo I'd like to tame your shrew!

One of my favorite lines of the movie.

MadisonMan said...

I was in grad school when it was filmed here, and it was such a big deal, as I recall, to try and be an extra in the film, though I didn't try. And that scene of the limo driving across the Wisconsin countryside near the beginning of the movie is a perfect I love Wisconsin postcard from Hollywood.

Hoosier Daddy said...

And Oingo Boingo was one of my favorite 80s bands too.

MadisonMan said...

That is a great great song. Wow, to have them play in your dorm room at your party!

Although I have to ask: In the song, why is the lightning walking down the street?

Meade said...

Hoosier Daddy said...
"Woo hoo I'd like to tame your shrew!"

I'm afraid that will be a one hour detention for you, Hoosier.

Kev said...

(the other kev)

So, if Obama is supposed to be Dr. Barbay, the economics professor, would that make Limbaugh Professor Terguson?

Joan said...

Rush and the caller are suddenly acting like a couple of know-it-all history professors. What the hell does Rush know about who Hitler needed?

What, you think Rush is basing his comments on Inglorious Basterds? I'm pretty sure this is the kind of stuff that Rush has read up on, extensively. (Does it come up in Mein Kampf?) "Show prep" and all that, plus a genuine interest in the subject. And Rush always sounds like a know-it-all!

What struck me about this particular criticism is that Rush is wrong. Dangerfield's objections to the Professor's lecture are not that what he's teaching is wrong, it's just that it's too general, leaving out a lot of specifics that businesses have to face in the real world. This isn't a problem with the Professor, it's a problem that Dangerfield's character doesn't understand how a finance or economics course works, giving the students a general framework ("widget factory") from which to learn general principals. In the real world, of course you're going to have to deal with a lot of stuff you won't even see in the theoretical model, but the theoretical model is useful for teaching the basic process -- and Dangerfield (and Rush) dismiss it as if it were useless. That's the problem with Rush's critique of the movie.

vet66 said...

Meade, "Now you know why tigers eat their young."

Too funny.

KCFleming said...

"So Obama doesn't know what goes on in the real world, and the evidence of what goes on in the real world is... a Hollywood movie. Irony #1."

The film clip was as close to reality as any film clip could get. The alternative would be to post a one hour city zoning meeting, and then the lawsuits that followed.

Obama and his crew have always believed that the business world will continue to truck along as before, no matter how much they get soaked for taxes or choked by rules or bound by unions.

They assume a fixed or ever-expanding pie, and their task is get as many slices as possible. Where the pie came from they have no idea and don't care to discover. Like in the film clip, the pie is assumed.

Stupidest buncha smart people ever to grace the national stage.

I'm Full of Soup said...

"Stupidest bunch of smart people"

Jeez it was just about a year ago when historians etc were raving about the brilliant team of rivals Obama had assembled as his advisors.

Fred4Pres said...

Quoting lines from movies such as "Back to School", "Animal House", and "Caddyshack" is always appropriate and never too professory.

There is nothing wrong with being smart--but being too myopic and out of touch with what is going on (like Jimmy Carter did and Barack Obama is doing) can get you into a lot of trouble. I love that clip of the widget professor.

Tank said...

"Stupidest bunch of smart people"

The perfect followup to the discussion on Tom Friedman yesterday.

Joe said...

(The Stunningly Handsome One, Unlike the Other Joe's Who are Certainly Above Average, But Not Quite as Good-Looking)

Let me get this out of the way early on, Rush Limbaugh:
"Fat," "Pill-Head," "Liar," and "Goes to the Dominican Republic for sex with the under-aged...." Oh yeah, "Divorced four times"

This way Jeremy won't have to comment, the substance of his comments already having been made.

bagoh20 said...

The point of this professorial out-of-touchness is perfectly demonstrated in that scene with nuance. Its hard to make the point that well any other way. That knowledge gap is a major problem in business today and leads to many failures. Obama's policies and the things he says are exactly in line with that disconnect. The movie doesn't prove the point, but illustrates it.

Since all current knowledge of Hitler is second hand at this point, there is no choice but to have that as your reference.

That's the point of the limits of academic knowledge. It's often limited to dated information from books written referencing older books and other academics. This often produces an understanding that has not been tested in the actual application for a long time, if ever.

Of course it's designed to be teachable and testable in a classroom situation. Real life situational teaching and testing would be very difficult and expensive.

I don't see the irony. Rush isn't using the movie to suggest policy.

Shanna said...

I love that clip of the widget professor.

I love that clip too. I haven’t seen that movie in ages but it used to be on cable all the time. I think all the students started taking notes from Rodney Dangerfield’s comments, which was the best part for me (unless I’m confusing that with another movie).

Kev said...

(the other kev)

Things I remember from seeing Back to School back in '86:

Rodney Dangerfield might actually have a career in movies.

Keith Gordon should come out of the closet, he's not fooling anybody.

Robert Downey Jr. looks stoned the whole movie.

Sally Kellerman is still hot.

Sam Kinison was used just enough.

Ned Beatty should do more comedy ("In fairness to Mr. Melon, it was a really big check.")

Funny, but no Animal House.

Terry Farrell is Brooke Shields done even better.

Kurt Vonnegut - best writer cameo ever?

Didn't know who Oingo Boingo was going into the movie, but bought their album the next day.

Thornton's commencement speech was too on the mark.

Funny, but definitely no Real Genius, which I hold up as the college movie done right.

Nobody will remember this movie in five years.

garage mahal said...

This way Jeremy won't have to comment, the substance of his comments already having been made.

Irony #3
Limbaugh is a college dropout after two semesters.

Sorry couldn't resist.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Irony #3
Limbaugh is a college dropout after two semesters.


So was Bill Gates, what's your point?

bagoh20 said...

The should give a two semester super doctorate degree - seems like the stuff after that is counterproductive.

Sofa King said...

Irony #3
Limbaugh is a college dropout after two semesters.

That's not ironic. It's just an amusing coincidence!

Skeptical said...

Christoph Waltz? What the hell? Isn't he the guy who played a Nazi in that Tarantino movie?

garage mahal said...

So was Bill Gates, what's your point?

Failed student mocking the professor. C'mon.

Peano said...

Ann said, "So Obama doesn't know what goes on in the real world, and the evidence of what goes on in the real world is... a Hollywood movie. Irony #1."

First you quote Rush as saying that the clip was chosen to illustrate "an arrogant, conceited snob who has no understanding of what really happens in the business world... who thinks he has all the answers." Obama is like this fictional windbag.

Then (cue the Twilight Zone theme song) you say that Rush presented the clip as "evidence of what goes on in the real world."

If your law students engaged in that kind of sophistry, I'll bet you'd call them on it in a heartbeat.

Kensington said...

Ooh, I second the brilliance of Real Genius. I'll never forgive Michelle Meyrink for going away.

Franco said...

"...it's a problem that Dangerfield's character doesn't understand how a finance or economics course works, giving the students a general framework ("widget factory") from which to learn general principals. In the real world, of course you're going to have to deal with a lot of stuff you won't even see in the theoretical model, but the theoretical model is useful for teaching the basic process -- and Dangerfield (and Rush) dismiss it as if it were useless."

Rush is pointing out that Obama is all theory and no experience. He is not saying, nor is anyone else, that abstractions are useless, just incomplete.

Rush is pointing out that Obama and those in the top of his administration have no real world experience.

I'm sure Rush is well versed on how the abstractions in business work as well, since he has his own multi-million dollar media empire.

AlphaLiberal said...

I agree with Lush Windbag on that narrow point. Obama has been far too professorial. He overrates the ability of conservatives to debate policy on the basis of fact and reason.

Everyday Althouse's comment section shows what a foolish notion that is.

Instead, Professor Obama needs to go away for the next 7 years and let President Obama rock. Knock some heads and get some work done.

It's also worth pointing out that Lush is comparing Obama to a Nazi. When one individual did a video comparing Bush to Hitler and uploaded to a Dailykos video contest, the MSM and Republican Outrage Machine were apopolectic.

But if the Republican leader/pill popper/sex tourist wants compare Obama to Hitler - NO PROBLEM!

AlphaLiberal said...

..and to be fair: credit to Althouse for saying something non-dittoheadish and critical of Lush.

It's a minority oh her Lush posts but, what the hey.

Automatic_Wing said...

Failed student mocking the professor. C'mon.

Well, if Limbaugh was some loser working a 7-11 you'd have a point. But since he went on to become a millionaire without the benefit of a college degree, his mocking of professors doesn't really seem ironic. You might call it arrogant or disrespectful, but not really ironic.

Michael said...

Obama doesn't have, and couldn't have based on his background, the slightest idea of business and how it works. I know that when I left teaching to go into business I was struck by a couple of things that I never expected and that went totally against everything I had been "taught" in the humanities about business and business people. Business people were considerably more honest and straight forward than were my university colleagues. Despite the supposed cutthroat reputation of business I found that even the most treacherous were a lot less devious and a lot more ethical than their academic counterparts. Most importantly the business people did not reflexively consider themselves smarter than their colleagues, customers or suppliers. I don't think Obama understands any of this and he certainly doesn't understand market forces. He seems to think that you can "create" jobs in advance of products and customers. Nope.

Anonymous said...

MadisonMan, I think the lyrics are "I was struck by lightening, walking down the street, I was hit by something last night in my sleeeep . . ." Oh dear, its gonna be stuck in my head all day now

Anonymous said...

Ah geez I never noticed the grammatical problem with those lyrics. Til just now

Michael said...

AL: "...let President Obama rock." Right. With both houses of congress the only thing he has gotten done is the "stimulus" package that is a huge success until and including that point when only 2,000,000 Americans hold jobs. Great leadership, great communicator, great talker, great disappointment.

Joan said...

Apropos Michael's comments on the difference between business and academia, Dan Akroyd's comments on this in Ghostbusters were the spot on: I've worked in the private sector. They expect results.

(YouTube - about 4:45)

Business people are nicer and more honest because they have to work with others. A certain type of asshole can do well in business, but your garden variety asshole is going to alienate too many people to do very well.

You would think that politics would make the same "play nice" demands on its practitioners, but it doesn't. In politics you only have to play nice for the camera/audience, just long enough to get the votes to get you into office.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks for the Oingo Boingo. Now, would it be appropriate — Hoosiers, please advise — to say bingo bongo?

Beth said...

Caller knows his line cold: "You're right!"

Even Sarah Palin knows it, too. "You tell those retards, Rush!"

Ann Althouse said...

Alpha: "and to be fair: credit to Althouse for saying something non-dittoheadish and critical of Lush."

And I took a whack at CPAC yesterday too. I'm a suck-up to the libprofs this week.

AllenS said...

Business people are nicer because they don't have tenure.

Ann Althouse said...

And by the way, I don't disagree with the point that Obama is too much of a professor or that a problem with professors is depicted in the movie. I'm just saying... there was some irony.

garage mahal said...

Well, if Limbaugh was some loser working a 7-11 you'd have a point.

Plenty of losers are millionaires.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Failed student mocking the professor. C'mon.

Oh. Well I'd rather be a failed student with a $300 million dollar radio contract than a graduate student working at McDonalds.

Just sayin

Hoosier Daddy said...

Plenty of losers are millionaires.

LOL!

Hoosier Daddy said...

Thanks for the Oingo Boingo. Now, would it be appropriate — Hoosiers, please advise — to say bingo bongo?

I have no comment.

Brian said...

Let's not forget William Zabka was in Back to School, a great 80's villain.

Back to School is an all-time classic. You never see fun movies like that anymore.

traditionalguy said...

You can tell that this Big Lie analysis is new to Rush and he has a learning curve to get the nuances right. But give him credit for discussing the most important aspect of political life since 1918. The Media is the message. The mind lives and breaths by images. The image maker has already won unless the opposition has a competing image that is in the minds of the voters. That is why the GOP needs Palin more than they are likely to admit. The image of the noble black man that is all smiles and non-threatening cannot be beaten by a white man. He can be beaten by a white woman with guts to fight. Rush will back off this Hitler was the Chosen One that created the Nazi Big Lie propaganda technique, although it is true, because no one believes that the man who was driven into insanity from his demons could have been so shrewed at politics in the early 1930s.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Let's not forget William Zabka was in Back to School, a great 80's villain.

Well I still think his best peformance was beating the snot out of Ralph Macchio.

I was so damn jealous.

DADvocate said...

Come on, Ann. Rush is a Hitler wanta be. He lives and breathes Hitler. He knows everything about Hitler, including where Hitler hid out in Argentina after WWII.

Hoosier Daddy said...

You know...they never did find Martin Bormann after the war and Rush is about the right size.....

Trooper York said...

Rodney Dangerfield also taught the fashion industry how to do it in "Easy Money" which in my opinion is by far his best film.

Trooper York said...

And of course Dean Martin is the only univerity employee you can have any respect for. His avarice and cupidity is right out front where you can see it.

Opus One Media said...

I beg your pardon Ann but you would

Listen to a liar? Why?

Listen "always" to a liar? Why?

Listen closely to a liar? Why?
For the off chance that he might tell the truth sometime?

Honest to God Ann, there is keeping an open mind and there is also a thing called no internal controls.

orbicularioculi said...

Yes, I actually was listening to Rush when he didn't quite get the movie scene accurately portrayed. But the jist was right on, as usual - professors don't quite understand the details nor difficulties of starting or running a business, large or small.

Rush is fun to listen to. He's both entertaining and he is a Professor of "Liberal Thinking". He does NAIL the fallacy of liberal thought and actions most of the time.

AllenS said...

And he does it with half his brain tied behind his back.

Michael said...

Opus One Media: Open mind? Sounds like yours is pretty well made up.

Anonymous said...

Plenty of losers are millionaires.

Yes. They are called "heirs."

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Thanks for the Oingo Boingo. Now, would it be appropriate — Hoosiers, please advise — to say bingo bongo?


Bongo Bongo Bongo would be the correct form.

Unknown said...

The issue is not that The Zero's a professor (he was only a lecturer, after all), the issue is that, for someone who's supposedly been in the real world (CO, politics), Barry hasn't picked up a damned thing.

Pogo said...

The film clip was as close to reality as any film clip could get.

The Blonde had the same complaint about many of her profs when she went for her nursing degree. Most had done little or no floor nursing and hadn't a clue of what went on when the patient missed the bedpan.

...

Stupidest buncha smart people ever to grace the national stage.

You broke the code.

AlphaLiberal said...

I agree with Lush Windbag on that narrow point. Obama has been far too professorial. He overrates the ability of conservatives to debate policy on the basis of fact and reason.

Yes, Sarah Pailn showed that when she blew BarryCare out of the water with two words.

...

It's also worth pointing out that Lush is comparing Obama to a Nazi. When one individual did a video comparing Bush to Hitler and uploaded to a Dailykos video contest, the MSM and Republican Outrage Machine were apopolectic.

But if the Republican leader/pill popper/sex tourist wants compare Obama to Hitler - NO PROBLEM!


Against Dubya, it was opportunistic character assassination on the Alinsky model. Such as what you're doing with Rush.

Barry, on the other hand, is putting into practice what National Socialism was all about, economically, although, comparing Barry to Adolf is inaccurate. A closer fit is probably Ernst Rohm.

Joe said...

Listen to a liar? Why?

Listen "always" to a liar? Why?

Listen closely to a liar? Why?
For the off chance that he might tell the truth sometime?


That certainly sums up why I never listen to Pres. Obama, speak.

I'm sure you'll be able to regale us with scads of things where Rush Limpballs has "lied."

jeff said...

"Plenty of losers are millionaires."
One is currently president.

ricpic said...

Plenty of losers are millionaires.

I've always been uncomfortable with the term, loser, because it is reductionist and cruel. That said, there is an undeniable rough justice in the term. And clearly millionaires - who are winners in the who's-got-the-most-marbles status war - cannot be losers.

Trooper York said...

A closer fit is probably Ernst Rohm.

Ouch that's a low blow.

Or a down low blow.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

rhhardin said...

Rush says we don't know whether the Austin building pilot was a professor denied tenure.

Peg C. said...

Loved "Back To School." Robert Downey Jr.'s comic genius in full flower, before he started having problems.

Heard this part of Rush live yesterday. Everyone everywhere pulls TV and movie moments out to relate to and explain real life - we endlessly quote lines from "Seinfeld" in our home. Life in the entertainment age. I think you're making a mountain (post) out of a molehill (a few minutes of Rush's show), Ann. And Reynolds, also a professor as you are, links. Irony all around, wouldn't you say?

AllenS said...

garage mahal said..."Plenty of losers are millionaires"

That was great. One of your better lines. I wish The Blog Woman would put that up on her masthead for a while.

garage mahal said...

And clearly millionaires - who are winners in the who's-got-the-most-marbles status war - cannot be losers.

Britney Spears, John Edwards, Kevin Trudeau........I could sit here all day.

Joe said...

Britney Spears, John Edwards, Kevin Trudeau........I could sit here all day.


This is going to be a "No TRUE Scotsman" argument isn't it Garage?

Because Spears ISN'T a loser, she's a very talented and able entertainer worth in excess of $100 million...John Edwards is an extremely able and talented trial lawyer worth more than $25 million...don't know who Kevin Trudeau is and don't care to "Bing" him to find out...

My point being, these people ahve been VERY successful, so you'll need to define "loser"...and I assume it'll be along the lines of No True Scotman would do "X"....

Hoosier Daddy said...

My point being, these people ahve been VERY successful, so you'll need to define "loser"...

Well in Rush's case, it's clearly due to his conservative beliefs. For guys and gals like garage, that's the only requirement.

garage mahal said...

Maybe I was a little too hard on Britney. But I ain't taking back the crack on John Edwards and Kevin Trudeau. Especially Trudeau - the Infomercial Charlatan. Read his Wiki page. This guy takes loserdom to an entirely new level.

Joe said...

Well Garage just skimmed a bit about Trudeau...so I'll leave that to others. Edwards isn't a loser...I'd wager he's done more than you or I have, with his life and affected far more people, both positively and negatively.

Again he was a FINE trial lawyer...as a husband, no not so much or as a father, especially to "Quinn", isn't it, yeah not so much...but we've never adequately defined "loser."

For anyone who received their 30% to 70% of their "cut" from a law suit, well I'd say wager they'd disagree with Edwards being a "loser." He got elected Senator....ran for POTUS, and was a Veep candidate...is that being a loser? If so, then you and I are ...what's worse than "losers?"

And if you haven't noticed I'm a fairly conservative Republican, who thinks Edwards was a two-faced, hypocrite Girly-man...but I just ahve trouble with "loser."

Hoosier Daddy said...

If you're older than 23 and not mentally incapacitated and still living with your parents, you just might be a loser.

Hoosier Daddy said...

And garage, I have to commend you for paring down your list of losers to a trial lawyer and convicted criminal. Even I can't argue with that.

Rich E said...

re: Michael - Obama doesn't have, and couldn't have based on his background, the slightest idea of business and how it works. I know that when I left teaching to go into business I was struck by a couple of things that I never expected and that went totally against everything I had been "taught" in the humanities about business and business people. Business people were considerably more honest and straight forward than were my university colleagues. Despite the supposed cutthroat reputation of business I found that even the most treacherous were a lot less devious and a lot more ethical than their academic counterparts. Most importantly the business people did not reflexively consider themselves smarter than their colleagues, customers or suppliers. I don't think Obama understands any of this and he certainly doesn't understand market forces. He seems to think that you can "create" jobs in advance of products and customers. Nope.

I went in to academia after being in the IS industry for 28+ years. I went and got my PhD and the major problem with the courses were that the professors (most but not all) had absolutely no "work" experience but thought that every word they uttered was absolute gems and if business people just did what they said everything would be fine and their companies profitable and so forth.
They had no clue what they real world was like. Some though admitted that and said they were creating a base to work off of and then after they created that based used the people with work experience to fill and the gaps so other had the realistic picture.

The clip shows someone who is not willing to go that far. Years ago MBA programs used to be taught mainly by people in industry do did the job, now it is professional students. w

comatus said...

I reckon Limbaugh's wrong as can be.

He's saying, through this movie clip, that Our Visiting Professor doesn't know enough about corruption, bribes and kickbacks?

I just can't go along with that.

Anonymous said...

And, seeing as how Althouse voted for Obama, we have to wonder what the hell she knows about irony.

SH said...

fair enough Ann.

SH said...

Joan said...

"In the real world, of course you're going to have to deal with a lot of stuff you won't even see in the theoretical model"

Not buying it. They didn't have the graph paper out with talk about shifts on the demand curve. This was more like the econ experiment / project where you have to raise a family / do a budget. It was not a theoretical model. It was also bunk as presented by the prof. RD had him at the point about building vs. renting... that this was a waste of time due to the limits placed on the project's scope / re: not realistic enough.

Opus One Media said...

Rich said...
"I went in to academia after being in the IS industry for 28+ years. I went and got my PhD and the major problem with the courses were that the professors (most but not all) had absolutely no "work" experience but thought that every word they uttered was absolute gems and if business people just did what they said everything would be fine and their companies profitable and so forth."

Obviously not in the English department...tell me Rich, was this a foreign university? One where English was a second language?

That old saw about "those who can't do teach" is a typical Rush refrain and is silly. I'm sure that those who have dealt with Enron, Global Crossing, Bear Sterns..(oh the list!) would be surprised to hear about the honesty and forthrightness of the American business community.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Opus One Media said Obviously not in the English department...tell me Rich, was this a foreign university? One where English was a second language?

Speaking of irony....

Hey henhouse, can you list your academic creds again? I need a good laugh to get me through the winter blues.

Alex said...

So now Althouse has thrown Rush under the bus.

Michael said...

Opus One Media: You make the case perfectly. You have to sneer at someone to prove your linguistic superiority and then to show your understanding of the vile business world you use those handy examples of Enron, Bear Sterns and Global Crossing. You are exactly the specimen described. Exactly. But here is a difference between someone who has been both in business and academia. They have been in both. Have observed both first hand. And you? I daresay I have read more books, made more money, traveled to more places, caught more fish, shot more birds, paid for more private schools and had more wives than you. Trump that you snotty rude shit.

Alex said...

I'm always amused by college graduate elitism against college dropouts who made millions.

Alex said...

Sneering is what liberals do best.

Alex said...

And clearly millionaires - who are winners in the who's-got-the-most-marbles status war - cannot be losers.

Yet that doesn't prevent the sneering. You see, because Rush is not with the Manhattan in-crowd, he's a loser.

Opus One Media said...

Michael said...
"And you? I daresay I have read more books, made more money, traveled to more places, caught more fish, shot more birds, paid for more private schools and had more wives than you. Trump that you snotty rude shit."

Ohhhh Michael..hit a nerve did we?...daresay all you want but let's start after the und einen shall we?

doubtful.
very doubtful
extremely doubtful
probably
birds? you shoot birds?
why are you buying private schools?..ohhhh you mean "paid for" like in tuition....gosh, well you can see my confusion with your syntax or lack thereof...now where were we? wives? ahh yes..and you are bragging or just a serial looser?

Trump that...? ohhh a play on words...I love a play on words...

..snotty rude shit"...tell me Michael...is snotty an adjective in this usage or did you just do some run-ons ending in shit?

You simply have to be more precise or momma's not gonna let you play with the big kids.

Michael said...

"You simply have to be more precise or momma's not gonna let you play with the big kids."

I surrender!! And I laughed out loud. Well said. Brilliant. Back to class you witty person!!

Bruce Hayden said...

Well, this isn't the only thing filmed at Wisconsin. There is some reality type show going around, maybe web based, I don't remember, that follows maybe 4 Wisconsin students through their freshman year. Kinda. It is like all reality shows, unrealistic. One poor guy had spent much too much of his first semester drunk, and apparently flunked one of his classes as a result. We mostly saw him drunk. At his age, he is still a funny drunk, but still.. And the girls agonized about boy friends, etc. The other guy got a tattoo, which he was worried (with good cause) would freak out his mother.

The people involved apparently really are Wisconsin freshmen. A friend of my kid goes there, and when they saw one of the guys in the show (the one with the new tattoo), he was mobbed. When I saw this friend over Christmas break, I asked whether anyone studied there, or just went to parties, got drunk a lot, and the girls obsessed about their social lives. I was assured that there were plenty of students there that actually worked quite hard (and was one of them, which I don't doubt).

Jeremy said...

Rush Limbaugh...lecturing people on "the real world."

Anybody who ever read this fat clown's bio knows that he's from a very wealthy family, has never really had to work a day in his life, and spent much of his younger years, after flunking out of college, as a radio D.J, hawking tickets for the Royals, and now spewing racism, homophobia and hatred on a daily basis.

I also find it amusing that Ann Althouse holds the man in such high esteem...although I think the only reason she sucks up to him is so he just might mention her someday...what a thrill.

traditionalguy said...

Jeremy...El Rushbo has worked his ass off. And he has a talent at communications that is rare to find. Also having an upper middle class family is a blessing, but they do not buy your way through life...they really wont do it... Something about self reliance. Rush is far from perfect, like you must be to feel that you put down his existence so angrily. Why not point out the flaws in his arguments, and forget that he is human trash. We have already read your comments about that a hundred times.

Michael said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael said...

The liberal commenters on this site seem content to think that sarcasm and ad hominem fallacies are winning methods of argument. Very rarely do I see someone trying to actually pose a thesis that can be defended. I think that lazy discourse springs from a group think that has overtaken liberals who substitute insults against the opposition for ideas. The ideas used to be supportable, but so many intervening facts have undermined liberal premises that I suppose they are more comfortable with taking positions they view as "settled."

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Much better to pretend that you don't know any of the answers, nearly precipitate an economic depression, and then yell insults at the party in power for actually doing anything about it. Yeah, that's a brilliant alternative - for shameless assholes.

rhhardin said...

Imus said that Limbaugh has to be the greatest broadcaster ever.

Consider Air America, if you think it's easy.

David said...

That's not an economics class. An economics class never looks inside the business, assuming that over time all businesses will look the same.

It could be a strategy class (we will run simulations, like this one, although that's not exactly how we do it.

Opus One Media said...

Michael said...
The liberal commenters on this site seem content to think that sarcasm and ad hominem fallacies are winning methods ...."

Oh for Christsakes Michael do I have to beat you like a rented mule once again? You are going to have to eat at the kid's table if you don't behave. Now shoooo.

Opus One Media said...

rhhardin said...
Imus said that Limbaugh has to be the greatest broadcaster ever."

No he didn't. He thought Michael Morgan was. He thought Rush was a natural radio talent (witness his failure on TV)..but Imus doesn't like liars and Rush is one. Why do you defend the undefendable.

traditionalguy said...

Opus O...Rush uses an analytical mind to spot what is going on behind the smoke and mirrors. Now that is a threat to any ruler that is not leveling with people. He was hard on Bush several times. He almost puked while supporting McCain as the lesser of two evils. And today he is sincerely worried about Obama's systematic sabotage of every single American strength. Since the MSM is in Obama's pocket, only the strange Fox News commentators and the bombastic Limbaugh are left to alert us to the truth. That makes Limbaugh more valuable than he has ever been before. Why not listen to him for yourself and see.

Opus One Media said...

oh traditionalguy

what complete bullshit. did you really say "alert us to the truth"??? did you ? are you wacked?

I haven't heard that phrase since goldwater and none dare call it treason.

For once and for all Rush Limbaugh is a lying drug addict. What the hell are you thinking that this guy has anything to say except phlem.

I don't mind the conservative voice if it is a voice of intelligence and reason..that's fair. but a cheap lying bastard who plays you fools on the right like a cheap banjo..well i have no use for him as he is leading you off a cliff of his own making...and that making is money. he doesn't give two shits and a tinker's damn about "the cause"...he is about ratings and sponsors and money. get it? you should. if you don't, well then woe be on to you...god help ya.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

well then woe be on to you...god help ya.

Well, then woe be 'unto' you. God is a proper noun and should be capitalized.

God help you as well.

Arturius said...

Much better to pretend that you don't know any of the answers, nearly precipitate an economic depression, and then yell insults at the party in power for actually doing anything about it.

Suffice to say that if anything averted a repeat of 1929 it was TARP, authorized by Congress under the Bush administration. The 'stimulus' was nothing more than a sop to federal and state government employees and selected Obama constituencies. I'm sure a few private sector jobs we're created but hardly enough to justify a nearly 3/4 trillion dollar price tag.

kentuckyliz said...

AA, your irony #1 was stated by Rush himself. He acknowledged it was just a movie. Just sayin'.

Unknown said...

The silliest part about this is that we're to put Obama in the role of the too-professorial instructor who can't imagine things like working with the corrupt unions or kick-backs for local government cronies and then, soon enough, Rush is complaining about "Chicago politics" and how Obama is from a world of corrupt unions and local government kick-backs.