Cityroom is reporting that comedian Rush Limbaugh is bidding the Empire State adieu over the millionaire's tax:
Mr. Limbaugh also had harsh words for Mr. Paterson, calling his tax increases "stupid," and, according to The Huffington Post, saying they amounted to "punishing the achievers for the mistakes and the lack of discipline on the part of a bunch of corrupt politicians."
...
Mr. Paterson said he was hardly sorry to see him go.
"If I knew that would be the result," he said after a speech Thursday morning in Midtown, "I would've thought about the taxes earlier."
In response to Mr. Limbaugh's departure, the New York Regional Manager of McDonalds announced that the chain would shutter 30 branches. Similar statements were echoed by executives of Burger King, Popeye's, and several pharmacies.
Hours after the NRCC accused Democrats of trying to "steal" the election in which their candidate was actually leading, Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves to claim that Murphy's lead was a "slam dunk loss for the Democrats". No, really.
After the break, Rush came back to the sea turtle story, then took another break, then came back to the sea turtle, but only briefly this time as his attention was quickly diverted to a matter of actual substantive importance -- the special election in NY-20. Rush declared Democrat Scott Murphy's narrow lead over Republican Jim Tedisco a "slam-dunk loss" for the Democrats, because it was the Democrats who invested heavily in the race and had Obama and Biden cutting ads (never mind that the GOP was also heavily invested in the race). More importantly, according to Rush, this was a failure of the Democratic strategy of bringing Limbaugh in, because, according to Limbaugh, the Democrats believed that invoking Limbaugh's name would bring them a landslide.
Satisfied with his analysis, Rush then turned to attacking the Politico for reporting that "a few things are clearer after Tuesday's contest, none of it welcome news to the Republican Party." Rush claimed the only reason the Democrats "pared down" Tedisco's double-digit lead in the polls was that they spent so much. Rush noted that the Politico reported that "even if Tedisco is ultimately declared the winner when all the votes are finally counted, the delayed result will have diminished any momentum that a clear-cut Election Night victory would have provided." According to Rush, this means that even if the Republican wins it doesn't count, and this is how the left does the scorecard. Remember that, moments earlier, Rush characterized as a "slam-dunk loss for the Democrats" a race in which the little-known Democrat erased a double-digit deficit to take a narrow lead in the initial vote count.
I'm sure that the irony of making the claim that anyone was trying to "steal" the seat once held by the leader of the infamous "Brooks Brothers Riot" was mostly lost on the recipients of the NRCC email, but Limbaugh absolutely knows what he's doing here. He's feeding outright falsehoods to his audience of halfwits and trying to create the impression that Democrats have already lost an election in which they currently lead. I'm sure this is just the beginning.
Liz is also reporting that the GOP is bringing out their big gun lawyers to fight this, including the man who got Libertarian Eric Sundwall knocked off the ballot, and counsel to the SRCC, John Ciampoli. Oh, and a state employee to boot.
In addition, Tedisco has a team of three local legal eagles working on his behalf: John Ciampoli, counsel to the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee; Schenectady attorney Jim Walsh, who worked for RACC when Charlie Nesbitt was minority leader; and Mike Cuevas, who is on Tedisco's state staff.
We simply can not allow the GOP to lawyer away a hard fought victory. Scott Murphy started with zero name recognition and a 21 point deficit, yet he is leading the vote count the day after the election. We aren't going to let them pull a Norm Coleman here, folks.
That's why I've launched a new ActBlue page. It's called Protect NY-20. You can help. Once again, I've set the goal in people, not dollars.
I'm not going to sit back and let anyone accuse the candidate in the lead of trying to "steal" anything. I'm not about to let ridiculous claims like Limbaugh's go unchallenged as he attempts to set a narrative that has no basis in fact. Enough.
"Jim's comments were in response to a question about what voters are asking him about on the campaign trail. So far, the concerns he has been hearing from voters on the campaign trail have been local in nature, such as his support for lower property taxes, fiscal responsibility, and his opponent's appalling support for the AIG bonus loophole. That was his point and any effort to characterize it otherwise is a distortion of the facts."
No, no, we L-U-V LUV RUSH!
Poor Jim.
Poor Jim Tedisco just can't keep from stepping in it and then shoving his foot in his mouth.
"Rush Limbaugh is meaningless to me," Tedisco told the editorial board of The Daily Star on Thursday. "The only constituency I'm worried about are the residents of the 20th Congressional District."
It seems that Jim Tedisco is simply constitutionally unable to take a stand on much of anything of significance. He is still refusing to say how he would have voted on the single most important piece of legislation that the Congress he hopes to join has considered in ages. It's rather insulting to the people he hopes to represent that he will not tell them if he would have been the only GOP member of the US House to vote for the stimulus package. The residents of the 20th CD deserve much better from those who would seek to represent their interests. They deserve answers.
Maybe they can get an answer to this question. Does Jim Tedisco hope, much like embattled RNC Chair Michael Steele (who appeared at a fundraiser for Tedisco last night) and his drug addled pal Rush Limbaugh, that the President of the United States fails? That's a serious question and one that deserves an answer.
Does Jim Tedisco agree with those who are raising money for him, those who are hoping for the President to fail? Does he agree with Michael Steele that his party shouldn't support Republicans, all three of them, that voted for the stimulus package? Does he agree with Rush Limbaugh, who just forced Steele to grovel before him, that he hopes that the policies pursued by the administration, policies that are intended to create jobs, keep people in their homes and rebuild America, fail?
Will media types ask him that directly? Should we even wait for them?
Maybe we should ask him ourselves.
Jim Tedisco for Congress
518-373-2702
info@JimTedisco.com
Call up Jim Tedisco and ask him if he agrees with Steele and Limbaugh. Let us know what you find out.
OK. Think about it. Don Imus finally gets called out for making racist remarks on nationwide radio (and television, actually) and is forced from the airwaves. After a few months, the money folks figure he's paid his dues and it's time to let him make them even more money. Problem is, they need a slot to put him in.
Imus refers to the Rutgers Women's basketball team as "nappy headed hos". Gets fired. Takes a vacation. Then gets hired back for another huge pile o' dough. Who gets the shaft? Ron Kuby, civil rights attorney.
I love Eric Massa. In this video he calls out noted draft dodger and drug addict Rush Limbaugh for his history of demeaning soldiers who with the temerity to publicly differ with his warped worldview. Take away quote: "You're a pompous coward and it's about time someone called you out on it and that someone is me...My name is Eric Massa and you know where to find me."
