" I can't help attaching, you know, political reaction to this". Yeah, we noticed.... - Edit 1
Before modification by Joel at 16/03/2011 11:10:52 PM
If it's a bad joke, it's a bad joke, but not a false claim in service of his political agenda while accusing his foes of that very thing.
I'm afraid I can't link the audio to you, so its pointless for me to tell you that it's clearly a joke and that he's also carry on a conversation with his producer and his sound engineer that you can't hear. Yes it's all one big long bad joke. I'm not sure why Rush making fun of environmentalists is all that outrageous, TV and radio talking heads regularly make nasty comments, we don't really need people to start posting remarks from Jon Stewart with "and look what he said about West Virginia, that's slander! I didn't marry my sister. No, he really meant it too, he said all West Virginians marry their siblings, right here!"
As snoop said, the context only underscores the meaning of his comment, without changing it one whit. He was holding environmentalists responsible for something none of them have said IN ADDITION to making fun of Japans tragedy (at length). He virtually admits to begging the question when he says, "I have no doubt they're gonna try to claim global warming had something to do with the earthquake and the tsunami. Well of course they will". Note the future tense: "gonna try", "will". He's already taking them to task for something he states as fact will happen, but then, he began by taking them to task for something they hadn't done (but it's OK, because they will, trust me.... ) It's almost a clinic in begging the question; before he accuses environmentalists of blaming the tsunami on global warming, he first bitches about Obama for a while before asking, "But how long is it gonna be before the press starts talking about this earthquake and the tsunami and how it impacts Obama?" Well, gee, Rush, I dunno; how long did it take after you said that for it to be broadcast around the country? Though, to be fair, Rush Limbaugh only qualifies as "the press" by the loosest of definitions. After taking a moment to pre-accuse environmentalists of blaming the earthquake on oil exploration as well, he again pulls Obama into it, out of the blue, so he can complain about the media pulling Obama into it out of the blue before reiterating his pre-accusation that environmentalists will blame the earthquake on oil exploration, and get away with it because "Remember, the nature of the evidence is not the concern here". Kinda like when you hold entire groups responsible for something they haven't done, because you KNOW they will.
All of which is tacked onto a series of jokes at the expense of the Japanese people and to incidentally attack Obama and environmentalists that had no connection with the tragedy (other than evil Obama sending emergency aid) until Rush created one. Apparently Gilbert Gottfried tweeted two jokes about the disaster in Japan and is no longer the voice of the Aflac duck; we can hope Rushs comments are received similarly well.
Bottom line remains that the transcript shows Rush both was sincere in his charges that environmentalists blame the tsunami on global warming, though he first said so in the course of laughing about the tragedy, and has no examples of environmentalists actually doing so, though he feels the charge is legitimate because he KNOWS they will.
The context changes nothing, except to show Rush was making light of the tragedy AS WELL AS making serious, sincere and completely concocted accusations against environmentalists.