Last updated on February 7th, 2013 at 04:20 pm
Carl Levin, Democratic Senator and Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, is calling on the American Forces Network (AFN) to pull the hate.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Levin told CNN, “I would hope the people that run it see just how offensive this is and drop it on their own volition,” Levin told CNN in an exclusive interview in the Capitol.” The Department of Defense’s press secretary justified keeping Rush on the air by saying they like programming to reflect a “wide range of opinions.”
So, the DOD thinks Rush calling a private female citizen a “slut” and a “prostitute” is an acceptable “opinion” among a wide range of opinions. They think this is perfectly acceptable family radio. The AFN plays “popular American” shows for, just to name a few, the DOD, Navy ships, domestic troops, and US government civilians and their families stationed at bases overseas.
What would be on the other end of that spectrum for balance? The DOD balances Rush out with Ed Schultz and Alan Colmes. Alan Colmes is hardly a hate-monger. We all know the formerly right wing Ed has gone too far and in fact had to apologize for calling Laura Ingraham one of the names Rush Limbaugh bandies about against private citizens with apparent impunity. But can you picture Ed singing Rush’s “Barack, the Magic Negro, doo doo do doo”?
Nothing like a little racism and misogyny to bring the troops together. Time for a little refresher for anyone tempted to draw a false equivalency. Courtesy of Media Matters:
On the Chinese President’s speech: Hu Jintao was just going, “Ching cha. Ching chang cho chow. Cha Chow. Ching Cho. Chi ba ba ba. Kwo kwa kwa kee. Cha ga ga. Ching chee chay. Ching zha bo ba. Chang cha. Chang cho chi che. Cha dee. Ooooh chee bada ba. Jee jee cho ba.” Nobody was translating, but that’s the closest I can get.
After Obama was inaugurated: The days of them [minorities] not having any power are over, and they are angry. And they want to use their power as a means of retribution.
Against Native Americans: “Holocaust?” Ninety million Indians? Only four million left? They all have casinos — what’s to complain about?
Against people of mixed ethnicity: Hey, Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry. “As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry’s support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,” Obama said. He didn’t say it, but — anyway, there are those out there — greetings.
On Obama: When Clarence Thomas said uppity black thinks for himself means he’s off the reservation, so to speak.
The poor are targets: Do you know any low-income people who want to get a better job? … Do they even want to work?
Gosh, the DOD must be so proud to be filing our troops with such uplifting, all-American ethnocentricity.
Here are the companies who don’t agree with the Department of Defense about Rush Limbaugh’s misogyny being covered under “opinion“:
AccuQuote Life Insurance, Allstate Insurance, AOL, Aquarium of the Pacific, Bare Escentuals, Bethesda Sedation Dentistry, Bonobos, Capital One, Carbonite, Cascades Dental, Citrix, Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, Constant Contact, Cunningham Security, Freedom Debt Relief, Geico, Girl Scouts, Goodwill Industries, Hadeed Carpet, JCPenney, Legal Zoom, Matrix Direct, Netflix, Norway Savings Bank, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Philadelphia Orchestra, PolyCom, Portland Ovations, ProFlowers, Quicken Loans, Regal Assets, Reputation Rhino, RSVP Discount Beverage, Sears, Sensa, Service Magic, Sleep Train, Sleep Number, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Tax Resolution, Thompson Creek Windows and Vitacost.
Naturally, Levin doesn’t want Congress to tell the DOD what to do, he’d like the DOD to act as if they had some sort of standards all on their own. Levin told CNN, “I’d love to see them drop it but I don’t think I’d legislate it.”
It’s so liberal of Carl Levin to want to protect freedom of speech and decline to legislate Rush out of business. And it’s so quintessentially Big Conservative Government for the Right to use taxpayer money to push their radical agenda of blatant hatred and disrespect down the throats of our troops in the name of “opinion.” The DOD seems to forget who’s fighting these wars; among our troops are women, poor people, African Americans, and plenty of other minority classes whom Rush demeans. What would be the other end of the “wide range of opinion” Rush represents?
Perhaps that’s the problem. There is no left equivalent to Rush Limbaugh because there really isn’t a real left in America. Conservatives will scream that NPR is the equivalent, but here in the rational world, we all know that’s not true. NPR is simply too fact-laden for the Right, and that alone is their objection; NPR is not steeped in unsubstantiated opinion. Perhaps the DOD needs to give 3 hours a day to a radical socialist who can whisper sweet nothings about socialized medicine and 6 hour work days into their government sponsored microphone. Maybe someone like an Occupier.
Of course, said socialist would be anti-hate and anti-war; being a real pro-lifer and that wouldn’t go over so well, now would it. We can’t have the troops getting ideas. And one thing they’re never going get from Rush Limbaugh is ideas.
Whereas the British Forces Broadcasting Service is separate from the Ministry of Defense, here in the USA we like to keep the media tied directly to the agenda of powers that be. The Department of Defense likes to feed the troops fear laden propaganda about the “other” courtesy of Rush Limbaugh. How un-American of them. Is the DOD going to use three hours a day to let an angry member of the 99% lash out at hate-filled crackers hopped up on Viagra and Oxy, languishing in government-paved gold palaces long after they dodged the draft?
I suppose you can email them and let them know what you think about all of this at afrtops1@hq.afis.osd.mil, but mind your language. One of our guest writers, M.S. Bellows, had his email rejected for using Limbaugh’s own language. Too vile for the DOD, but perfect for the families of our troops.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
