Rush is an ass, BUT a lot of us did worry about the same thing with Bush/Cheney.

"Rush is an ass, BUT a lot of us did worry about the same thing with Bush/Cheney."

Five months into the Bush II presidency?

Steve Benen wrote: "Limbaugh, a drug-addled blowhard, says all kinds of ridiculous things on the air every day. That's his job. It's what he's paid (handsomely) to do ... what caught my eye is the fact that Time's political analyst described Limbaugh's harangue as essential reading."

Because what Mark Halperin is "paid handsomely" to do is to legitimize Rush Limbaugh's vicious lies for a general audience.

This is the way the bought-and-paid-for corporate shills of the so-called "mainstream" media work in close coordination with the bought-and-paid-for corporate shills of the so-called "conservative" media to undermine public support for and confidence in the Obama administration.

And to think of all those people who apologized to Rush. I hope at least some of them are wincing.

Sounds to me like Rush has already blown off the GOP's chances for winning back the White House in 2012. That's the sort of thing that'll get Rush Limbaugh really pissed once he hears about it. I fully expect Rush to get on the air and slam Rush to the wall, at which point, Rush will grovel for Rush's forgiveness, further proving just how influential Rush is as the de facto leader of the Republican Party.

Seriously, though, any GOP politician should be furious at Rush for writing off their chances of winning in 2012. Of course, who are THEY gonna complain to?
Schadenfreude...it's not just for breakfast anymore!

Speed wrote: "... a lot of us did worry about the same thing with Bush/Cheney."

Such worries were justified given that Bush/Cheney seized power in a bloodless coup, through a blatantly stolen election in 2000 (Florida), and retained power through a second blatantly stolen election in 2004 (Ohio).

More material for Stewart's bit "S(tuff) that's never gonna happen."

I often think that many liberal bloggers, including sometimes you, put too much time into refuting the obvious inanities of the right wingnuts. The fact that a "respectable" commentator like Halperin can apparently take Limbaugh seriously is depressing evidence that I am wrong.

In point of fact, they are of course correct: Obama fully intends to serve 19 1/2 days beyond 2016 (if he can get the votes in 2012).
Infamy!

I would guess that Obama thinks at least as much about why he ever worked to get elected president as he does wondering about a second term much less beyond a second term. Unlike Dumbya and Cheney, the guy had a life apart from politics and while that life is gone forever, I can not imagine that he wants more than 8 years in the fishbowl. I mean love him or hate him, he does appear to be a sane individual of above average intellect.

"Funny"... From mid November of '05 until January 20 of '09, I kept worrying about Chney/Bush heading a military coup and setting themselves up as dictators for life. Bring Blackwater back into the country as their private SS, set up FEMA re-education camps for old, recalcitrant libruls...

Truth to tell, I even worried -- in late October of '05 -- that, should Kerry win, the same scenario would occur.

But neither Limpballs nor Halperin would listen to me, much less consider it "essential" that my fears ought to be disseminated to all and sundry. Wonder why.

Rush is concerned about "the legalities that might be trampled"?

Rush?

Personally I think anyone who wanted to be Pres for more than 8 years would be certifiably insane. I also get the distinct impression that Obama would relish having the kind of normal life where he could go get a hamburger with mustard on it without cauusing the the dervishes to start whirling. Jesus how the hell does any sane person pay attention to the never ending drivel that comes out of these blowhards pieholes.

Hmm. The last time I heard about getting around the two term limit was in 1988. I can't remember the guy, but he had a cult like following - could do no wrong - and was "wildly" popular. Raygun? Raygut? Something like that.
Of course, that was before Rush started his current radio job.

Must be a slow news day if that is all they have to bloviate about. It really goes to show that the current crop of cons got nuthin'.

>> But there might be this movement in the
>> country from his cult-like followers...

Well, if anyone is an expert in manipulating cult-like followers, certainly it's Rush Limbaugh.

In fact, I'd almost say he's pretty good at manipulating the people who are routinely shocked at the nonsense he prattles on about.

Seriously, Steve, why do you bother? It's kind of like worrying about silly Sarah Palin. Stop, already.

This will surely make Ron Reagan's top of the show screed tonight. Rush is a comedian.

Rush is an ass, BUT a lot of us did worry about the same thing with Bush/Cheney.

Well, to be honest with you, a lot of us thought you guys were odd for worrying about that. I wouldn't even have bet a small amount of money at very long odds that such a thing would have happened. Obama has a better chance of getting a third term than Bush ever did.

The powers of Republicans have always been vastly overstated; both by them and by folks on the left who demonized them. Seriously, they couldn't even get the f-ing CIA to rubberstamp their war efforts, and had to scratch and claw just to get tiny little scraps stovepiped into CIA reports, which they had to cherrypick in order to find any sort of justification for war. Had these guys any real power, not only would this have been unnecessary, but they would certainly have "found" the WMD's in Iraq. That didn't happen because guys like Cheney were relatively impotent.

They may have scared the pants off the mainstream media, but they had no real power. That's why all their biggest coups involved presidential directives and the like; as they couldn't even pressure a Republican-led Congress into doing anything truly dastardly. President for life? Ha! They couldn't even kill Social Security, and had to expand Medicare to score political points. Those bozos were all bluff.

What is it with the sudden uprising of the use of the word "whit". ....Because that's definitely what all the hip youngsters today are saying....("Frankly, Scarlett. I don't give a whit.")

Rush Limbaugh, a mere five months into President Obama's term, is convinced not only that Obama will win a second term...

All because Sarah Palin wouldn't give him a blowjob.

With his track record, I didn't think Rush cared about the Constitution.

All because Sarah Palin wouldn't give him a blowjob.

I just threw up a little.

I was pretty sure Bush would have quit in 2006 if he was creative enough to come up with the right justification.

Dr. Biobrain writes: "The powers of Republicans have always been vastly overstated; both by them and by folks on the left who demonized them."

Yes, but: They DID win two terms, the first with the help of a SCOTUS tailored by the Republican party.

And they DID invade a foreign country without the consent of the majority.

Not to mention tax cuts in a time of war, illegal wiretaps, etcetera.

Ah, I see you haven't seen the other path that's happening. http://www.end22.com

Now the bite to the site is that there is, indeed, a bill submitted to repeal the 22d amendment. Thing is, it's the same bill Serrano has entered every single session since 1997. The site is registered to a management holding company in New York, and other than that there's nothing to tell what is going on. Me, I thought it was some other nuttiness. Now, I'm wondering who you'd find if you really dug into the ownership of this site.

So you're surprised that Mark Halperin is a glorified stenographer for every right wing talking head? He's been this way ever since he landed the job. Remember, this is the guy who idolizes Matt Drudge's style of "journalism".

Of course changes to the constitution don't involve the executive branch.

Ronald Reagan:

"I have come to the conclusion that the 22nd Amendment limiting the presidency to two terms was a mistake. Shouldn't the people have the right to vote for someone as many times as they want to vote for him"

William F. Buckley, Jr.
National Review, 4/1988
"Repeal the 22nd Amendment"

More DFH Obamacons

Mark Halperin is a dick.

(That Rush Limbaugh is a dick goes without saying --- oh, oops!)

When Nixon won his second term in office I heard a radio interview in which several Nixon supporters discussed a move by the Republican party to alter the Constitution so that Nixon could be elected President for life.

I have mentioned this pretty much every time I get an excuse to bring it up because in all probability that mentality still exists in the party that claimed, under Bush, that it had established a 40 year majority.

Also, hasn't anybody else noticed that just about anything the RepoTaliban PR machine accuses the liburls or Dims doing of, it is something that they are doing themselves. Their PR machine is just trying to deflect attention away from themselves?

So if Rush says its true, it probably is, he’s deliberately accusing the wrong party

Limbaugh: I wouldn't be at all surprised if in the next number of years there is a move on the 22nd Amendment, which term limits the President of the United States.

Interesting. So Limbaugh predicts the Republicans will remain uncompetitive for te Presidency beyond 2016.

Please, dr sardonicus. Sarah Palin isn't Rush's type. She's much too old, to female, and not nearly Dominican enough. He wouldn't waste a Viagra on her.

"...cult-like followers..."

This from a guy whose listeners slavishly begin by repeating their password, "Dittos," identifying themselves as folowers of the High-Priest Limbaugh.

What happened to self-awareness? Sense of irony?

a lot of us did worry about the same thing with Bush/Cheney

I didn't. I'd have loved to see Obama crush Bush in 2008, and to see McCain forced to subordinate his Presidential ambitions to Bush the Lesser yet again into the bargain.

Never underestimate the right wing's ability to project their own desires on their opponents. It's uncanny.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if in the next number of years there is a move on the 22nd Amendment, which term limits the President of the United States.

Well, duh, there is a "move on" the 22nd Amendment every few years anyway. Given how much is necessary to get a Constitutional Amendment ratified, its unlikely in the extreme that any such move would succeed within the term of the President during which it started (and, given the past history of moves on the 22nd Amendment, its unlikely it would succeed at all), and most efforts to alter the 22nd Amendment either involve provisions that would explicitly make it first apply to the first President elected after the repeal went into effect, or only propose to modify the 22nd Amendment to apply the limit to consecutive terms.

Style sheet suggestion re: Limbaugh:

"drug-addled blowhard" is too soft. Call him what he is: a junkie. A loud-mouthed junkie. A junkie blowhard.

Junkie. Junkie. Junkie.

Yes, but: They DID win two terms, the first with the help of a SCOTUS tailored by the Republican party.And they DID invade a foreign country without the consent of the majority.
Not to mention tax cuts in a time of war, illegal wiretaps, etcetera.

Yes, but we're contrasting that with the power to either rewrite the Constitution or engage in the biggest coup in history. These aren't even close. They did absolutely NOTHING that was even close to the level of power needed to extend Bush's presidency.

Again, they couldn't even get the f-ing CIA to rubberstamp the war. For as much as they were used all their powers to manipulate Congress into granting them the powers you mentioned, they couldn't even kill government programs they've hated for decades; let alone something truly catastrophic like extending Bush's presidency. They never were that powerful.

Limbaugh has some nerve referring to anyone else as having "cult-like followers". One day I will meet someone who actually listens to Rush instead of just hearing about them.

The guy even tells you he's a joke so how could anyone take him seriously.

Old joke: What's the difference between Rush Limbaugh and the Hindenberg? One is a flaming Nazi gasbag. The other is a Zeppelin.

In Honduras, "the quintessential 'banana republic," (http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/afburns/afrotrop/Honduras.htm) the president was overthrown by the military because he wanted to overturn the presidential term limits. Conservatives argue that libruls, esp Obama, are turning the US into a banana republic (Google yourself, too many links will put this in the spam bin). Obama has joined with socialist-commie Hugo Chavez in expressing support for the deposed Honduran president.

Ipso facto, Obama must be planning to make himself president for life!

The brainwashing continues.

Someone really needs to take a close look at how people are incited to assasination... Or, you know what, it looks like Limbaugh has already studied how its done, and done within the limit of the law.

And on the strength of Republicans to execute a coup -- my real fear from them was a total disregard for the law combined with 20% of the country that masturbates themselves to sleep every night with fantasies of militarily restoring a Christian nation. Add to that a very compliant media, a Republican tilt in the military (including an explicitly Dominionist group in the Air Force), and, what the hey, lets through 90% of national Republican office holders who have a highly developed sense of irreality.

But I didn't really think they would NEED to go the coup route, when they could just continue to steal elections; Republicans are a well oiled oligarchy, not a cult of personality, so I didn't think Bush would need to stick around. In fact, he was getting to be a liability. But... you know... I can sort of understand the Republican paranoia, because Obama is really damn popular, popular in a way Reagan was only after he left office.

And another point of contrast: Getting elected to a third term is not a coup.

And, finally, as someone else stated, whatever paranoid fantasies Democrats have do not get repeated six times a day on radio and national television. 'Serious' media people do not nod their heads up and down and say, "An important point," when a Democrat says that FEMA is being prepped to take over government after the pres declared a national emergency.

And... maybe the thing the Republicans are really missing so far is an internal enemy to justify pushing their rivals aside. They were really trying to develop that theme linking dems to terrorist...

Things do need to get a lot worse here economically, I think, before we get to a military coup, though... but, damn, this unitary executive shit is out of control, and it's only going to continue to get worse with every succeeding Republican president until congress decides to impeach... and impeaching a Republican president might be the perfect thing trigger a little rebellion.

Wolverines!

"...a democratically-elected leader who is loved and adored has carte blanc once elected."

So Rush understands two things: Obama will be "loved and adored" and that he will already have been re-elected. Suits me.

Remember though, there were ACTUAL discussions for how to do exactly this for Reagan.

Rush's stuff usually makes my blood boil but this time I was actually giddy. Maybe he's coming around.

Well, we can't be sure whether a Villager like Halperin meant "essential reading" as a joke or not (IAC, that's gone now - anyone have a page capture?) But here's what makes pukes like Rush, the king of poop, tick: If someone accuses one of theirs of something bad X, then a liberal leader must be accused of X in "retaliation"." It doesn't matter at all whether there's any case for X in either instance, it's just the vindictive principle of the thing. So, Bullsh was accused by the levofringe of maybe wanting to extend his rule, hence the dextrofringe must do likewise to Obama. See, it makes "sense"!

They really are running through the Clinton playbook at top speed, aren't they? I remember hearing those rumblings about Clinton from Republicans in 2000, and that was even before the fuckup in Florida.

If their idea of fresh, new attacks is to use the exact same ones from 10 years ago and only change the names, that's fine by me.

They really are running through the Clinton playbook at top speed, aren't they?

And they can keep running it right on through their foe's re-election and enduring popularity.

These are people who seek power for reasons other than to serve. They seek to rule.

I call projection!

Does no one remember that the Bush administration actually talked about canceling or postponing elections "if necessary"?

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0716-16.htm

Wake me when Obama does anything remotely similar.

Wait a minute - wasn't Rush one of those guys ecstatically screeching "Five More Years!!" at the Bush rallies just before he captured a second term?

Maybe he just has a problem with math.

So Rush is worried about Obama doing a Michael Bloomberg?

It will take a real genuis like Glenn Beck to connect all the dots and tell us why Rush was right about Obama wanting three (or more) terms. I'm betting he will say Obama is after a third term because he can't complete his concentration camps for conservatives in two terms. Any takers?

Well, that puts things in perspective. I was talking to someone today who made exactly Limbaugh's point in all seriousness, I was beside myself and couldn't figure out how one could possibly come to such a conclusion. Now I know, what a crazy world American Conservatives live in.

rush predicts the future?

3-TIMES he has sworn to love "until death due us part"

how'd that work out?

Mark Halperin : Limbaugh & Drudge :: Mark Sanford : Maria.