Liberal bloger Nate Silver calls out fellow liberals for lying about Rush

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In Defense of Rush Limbaugh

by Nate Silver @ 10:22 AM

No, the headline is not sarcastic. No, I do not particularly care for the guy. Yes, Rush has said all other various and sundry sorts of racially inflammatory things.

But there's pretty compelling evidence a couple of particularly inflammatory quotes that have been attributed to Limbaugh on CNN and at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch are things he simply never said. There's no audio file, there's no YouTube, there's no transcript -- there's no sourcing of any kind to speak of, and given that Rush is one of the most listened-to and tape-recorded people in the history of the world, you'd certainly think that there would be. There's not even some kind of half-assed backstory -- "Oh, he said these things off the record at a fundraiser for Alexander Haig" -- or anything like that. The quotes appear, in other words, to have been completely made up.

Rush has handled the situation pretty well, not drawing undue attention to the quotes, but making the commonsensical argument that if he had said, for instance, words to the effect that James Earl Ray (Martin Luther King's assassin) was a hero, then surely there would have been a Don-Imus-to-the-nth-power-sized blowup long before now. I'm actually a little surprised that the conservative blogs haven't made a bigger deal of this -- some of them, I suppose, are so used to reflexively alleging irresponsible behavior by the media that they've sort of been led off the scent of a case where it actually seems to have occurred. And I'm disappointed that the "liberal" media and meta-media sites have in fact not lifted a finger to verify the veracity of the quotes, nor to call out those who repeated them without checking their facts first.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/10/in-...h-limbaugh.html

[almaty 19]

nate was right ..and Burwell should be suspended for throwing that out there...

[Peikko 1,575]

Flamin' librul retards!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Ignorance in action. If you want to know what Rush has to say.... turn on the radio.

But people don't. They don't fact check either.

[Peikko 1,575]

It is the duty of journalists to do so. 'People' are under no such obligation.

Personally, I don't give a ####### what Rush has to say though.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Rush. America's own Jabba the Hutt.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Rush. America's own Jabba the Hutt.

You obviously don't follow him. He's lost 80 lbs.

[Peikko 1,575]

Good for him. Always good to hear success stories around health issues.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Rush. America's own Jabba the Hutt.

Ahhh Mr. Tolerance and Diversity has arrived.

[SMR 368]

Rush. America's own Jabba the Hutt.

Thanks, that image makes me laugh. But remember, Jabba did get slave-girl Leia (at least until she strangled him).

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Rush. America's own Jabba the Hutt.

Ahhh Mr. Tolerance and Diversity has arrived.

Tolerance. Diversity.

Two of the most overused and most misunderstood words in your vocabulary.

Seriously - learn a new tune, you clapped out old windbag.

Edited October 15, 2009 by Gene Hunt

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Good for him. Always good to hear success stories around health issues.

He won't reveal his diet he says because its "too complicated"... I wish I knew, because I need to lose a few LBs and can't seem to steer clear of that drive thru window.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Good for him. Always good to hear success stories around health issues.

He won't reveal his diet he says because its "too complicated"... I wish I knew, because I need to lose a few LBs and can't seem to steer clear of that drive thru window.

That'd be your problem right there.