Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The newest anti-Obama smear

Do a Google blog search for the phrase “walking gaffe machine.” That’s the latest line of attack against Barack Obama from the right-wing noise factories.

Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin, in a column last week, described Obama as a “walking, talking gaffe machine”... because Obama does things on the campaign trail like mixing up Sioux Falls (South Dakota) with Sioux City (Iowa).

Now “walking gaffe machine” is spreading across the blogosphere like a rash on a baboon’s ass.

Rush Limbaugh, on his radio show today, pumped up the meme. He called Sen. Obama a “walking gaffe machine” for claiming that his uncle had helped liberate the Auschwitz concentration camp. (Actually, the Soviet Red Army did that; Obama was referring to Buchenwald.)

“Don’t we think these guys running for president ought to know something about their own country?” Limbaugh ranted.

I have two things to say. Number one: Compared to Scott McClellan’s fresh reminder that the Bush Administration plunged us into war with a campaign of deception and propaganda... Obama’s misstatements don’t seem like much.

Number two: Rush Limbaugh isn’t qualified to police other people’s gaffes. That genius didn’t even know that polio and smallpox are caused by viruses. Seriously... Rush has never heard of “the polio virus”!

On April 24, Rush Limbaugh talked about a news report that said scientists are pessimistic about the development of an AIDS vaccine.

“We’re talking about a virus, are we not?” Limbaugh said. “Do we have a cure for any virus? ... We don’t have a vaccine against the common cold, which is a virus. ... My common sense is, we don’t have a cure for any virus.

“And so the notion that we were ever gonna have a cure for AIDS, or even a vaccine for it...”

At this point, someone informed Rush that smallpox is, indeed, a virus. “Smallpox is a virus,” he said. “So we do have a vaccine for that. ... But polio, that’s not a virus.”

YES IT IS, DUMB-ASS!

The greatest achievements of modern medicine – the eradication of smallpox and the near-eradication of polio – Rush Limbaugh is totally ignorant about.

Click here to hear a 3-minute audio clip of Rush revealing this ignorance. It’s quite comical... unless you happen to have HIV or know someone who does.

Speaking of comical, let’s remember that sweet day in 2004 when Michelle Malkin got OWNED by Chris Matthews on “Hardball.” The subject: Sen. John Kerry’s war wounds:

23 comments:

dubbleu said...

David, I swear that you spend your day searching for this stuff! That Matthews clip is a pretty good find. He's kinda good at making people look like idiots.

Undercover Black Man said...

^ I remember watching that Michelle Malkin "Hardball" throwdown live... Quite amazing.

dubbleu said...

Oh yea, did you see how mad she was at Dunkin Donuts because Rachel Ray wore a kefeiyyah (sp?) in one of their commercials. Very funny indeed.

Jeff Vaca said...

Michelle Malkin is one of those people to whom it never occurs that they might be wrong - she made up her mind on every single issue known to man a long time ago, and nothing anyone has said or will ever say will sway her from the righteousness of her cause. For that reason, I find her the most detestable of any pundit currently working today. On my own blog, when I was putting together a set of links for pundits of all stripes, I put a lot of effort into making sure that thoughtful folks from all sides of the political spectrum were represented. Malkin was where I drew the line.

Bay Radical said...

Hate on, UBM! Malkin is crazy, evil, and putting on some kind of act, because, can anyone really be that crazy and evil?1 She's just so over the top. The Dunkin' Donuts thing was just insane! I liked this post about it.

SJ said...

"For that reason, I find her the most detestable of any pundit currently working today."

Fully agree. I can't believe people like her are still welcomed on TV.

Anonymous said...

This makes me wonder how actual Muslims fare in this country.

Anonymous said...

UBM readers probably should not "detest" Malkin. She might not be as sharp a knife as equally or more popular progressive and liberal pundits. So detesting her might be like detesting children who can't keep up with the rest of the class. That's just mean.

Moreover, a conservative's 2006 statistical analysis claimed, "It seems that the Republicans used to be the more intelligent party, but that may no longer be true."

Democrats may now be the more intelligent party

Kellybelle said...

Obama's a gaffe machine? What about McCain who can't tell a Sunni from a Shiite?

the handmaid's kale said...

I do find it somewhat comforting that this is the best they can come up with. Honestly? Buchenwald v. Auschwitz? That's the worst gaffe? It seems like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel on this stuff.

Phelps said...

I agree. Malkin and Limbaugh are not qualified to be president either.

This argument about Right-wingers "smearing" Obama over these remarks would be a lot more credible if we didn't have seven years of this.

http://www.slate.com/id/76886/

Some old quote about motes and beams comes to mind...

Anonymous said...

After Hardball, Malkin should have cried like Hillary.

K. Kojei said...

I'm sorry y'all. Michelle Malkin is a gorgeous woman, has a lot going for her and will probably grow out of that penchant she has for having fixed opinions based on little but what she has read. I find it very difficult to listen to anybody's opinions when it's obvious their worst nightmare is a broken nail. She has no context of life experience from which to base a lot of her opinions so they come off like dry wheat puffs. With no milk. As for the inimitable Mr. Limbaugh, the term talking head should be taken absolutely literally. Below that head is nothing more than a bag of seething contradictions.

Anonymous said...

Limbaugh, as I've said many times, was not even able to stop himself from taking drugs even after the drugs seemingly made him go deaf---he was deaf for quite some time and did not enter drug rehab until after getting caught red handed. Who can take this man seriously?

Anonymous said...

Wow, I'm really at a loss to understand how being "gorgeous" would be an apt qualifier in this issue. Does being "gorgeous" make it somehow less awful that she says and does things that are evil and insane? It's that kind of qualifier that will allow her to continue doing this kind of stuff because even people that disagree with her won't feel moved to show her the error of her ways, having been distracted and disarmed by her being "gorgeous". I imagine as long as she has the looks to blind even her detractors she'll never find any motivation to grow out of that penchant of hers.

Anonymous said...

^She's a younger Ann Coulter! :-D

LeaNder said...

For some time now I occationally look at the blog pulse, and it is frightening.

blogpulse

People have to start to push against the flood of this dirt. I was surprised to find e.g. "cannonfire" among the distributive channels.



I deeply felt the attraction methods, so I followed a link.

INDICTMENT!/Part 1 first sentence: "The most trusted leaders of the Democratic party, such as John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, ought to be ashamed of themselves for supporting Barack Obama." Does this moral indignation make you want to read even one more line more?

But some people are attracted to this, and yes it connects to the feeling people have concerning politics. These people seem to find the "yes you can utterly" dangerous. If they are not simply nutty and attracted to the big noise machine.

There should be someone who collects the memes, I am sure after a time certain patterns will appear. Isn't there a good prof in journalism who could do this with his students? A cooperation project among a group of universities? I think that would be fun for students, and would be an enormously valid experience.

And please kids (no harm meant; I am an elder kid) create the most attractive site of them all. Us the lures, you'll see surface.

"Yes we can".

LeaNder said...

NO idea why this keeps happening. Let me separate links and text.


blogpulse

LeaNder said...

Now the Rumorchannel Cannonfire disappeared. Although it was clearly there in preview:

Again:



Let's add something, and see if it is swallowed again.

Still fine, in preview. Links and text is clearly separated.

LeaNder said...

People have to start to push against the flood of this dirt. I was surprised to find e.g. "cannonfire" among the distributive channels.

I deeply felt the attraction methods, so I followed a link on Cannonfire.

INDICTMENT!/Part 1 first sentence: "The most trusted leaders of the Democratic party, such as John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, ought to be ashamed of themselves for supporting Barack Obama." Does this moral indignation make you even read a line more?

But some people are attracted to this, and yes it connects to the feeling people have concerning politics. The seem to find the "yes you can utterly" dangerous.

There should be someone who collects the memes, I am sure after a certain time certain patterns will appear. Isn't there a good prof in journalism who could do this with his students. A cooperation project among a group of universities. I think that would be fun for students, and would be an enormously valid experience.

Undercover Black Man said...

^ That doesn't look like Malkin to me. Sure it's her?

K. Kojei said...

To Anonymous: Re Gorgeous- I was waiting for that comment and no, gorgeous has not a blinkin' thing to do with smarts. In too many instances gorgeous is counter-productive to smart. To much attention to the superficial. Being able to put sentences together is not enough. Being able to put sentences together that reflect you actually had an independent and well researched series of thoughts about a matter is another thing altogether. The statement is not a qualifier. Not by any means. But you're not about to get an apology from me for being a red-blooded American Male. She is hot! Dumb...but HOT!

Anonymous said...

At one time I had respect for Michelle, but lately she is a nut. I am not sure why she rides the coattalis of other pundits, but she lacks conviction and independence. You never know what side of the fence she is on.