Rush Limbaugh calls for military coup against Obama

[bascule]

I'm all for free speech, but wow...

 

http://www.examiner.com/x-4383-Portland-Progressive-Examiner~y2009m11d26-Politics-or-sedition-Rush-Limbaugh-calls-for-military-coup

 

I mean, yeah, Obama is a liberal, at least in the eyes of Rush Limbaugh. But what exactly has he done that calls for a military coup?

 

I'm sure more moderate conservatives will write off Rush as being a crazy blowhard, but this is the latest in a never ending volley of crazy coming out of the Republican right.

 

(Please note: I do not support those who call for any action against Rush Limbaugh on the grounds of "sedition". He should be free to say whatever he wants, even if he's advocating a military coup against the President. Now if he were to say "I AM GOING TO PERSONALLY KILL PRESIDENT OBAMA WITH MY OWN BARE HANDS" that might be a different story, but I consider what he did protected free speech)

Edited November 28, 2009 by bascule

[ydoaPs]

According to the rest of the world, isn't Obama a conservative?

---

Merged post follows:

Consecutive posts merged

(Please note: I do not support those who call for any action against Rush Limbaugh on the grounds of "sedition". He should be free to say whatever he wants, even if he's advocating a military coup against the President. Now if he were to say "I AM GOING TO PERSONALLY KILL PRESIDENT OBAMA WITH MY OWN BARE HANDS" that might be a different story, but I consider what he did protected free speech)

 

QEQOvyGbBtY

 

[DJBruce]

I am not a fan of President Obama, but to say something like this is just stupid, and irresponsible. If you disagree with the president debate his policies and ideas, don't say you want him detained. I for one want to disown Rush Limbaugh from conservative American because for every good point he makes he makes ten of these dumb ones which show negatively on an entire ideology

[swansont]

I wonder when sedition became an American value.

[Phi for All]

I definitely support Rush's right to talk this way. He's an ass but he has the right idea, just the wrong target. If anyone needs overthrowing, it's Congress. But we shouldn't need the military to do it, we need to ignite the passions already present in the voting public, and call for some real change in the way our tax dollars are spent to skew the free market for big business. IMO.

[bascule]

Whatever happened to talking about impeachment before jumping straight to a military coup?

 

I guess to talk about impeachment, Obama would have to have, you know, done something first.

[Mr Skeptic]

I mean, yeah, Obama is a liberal, at least in the eyes of Rush Limbaugh. But what exactly has he done that calls for a military coup?

 

Did you forget your previous sentence already?

[Phi for All]

I guess to talk about impeachment, Obama would have to have, you know, done something first.

Something more than offend the great Rush Limbaugh, you mean? Someone needs to remind Rush that all ideas are liberal until they become conservative.

[John Cuthber]

I can't help thinking that the problem is not that a foolish man said something foolish, but that somehow he gets to say it on national television.

[Phi for All]

I can't help thinking that the problem is not that a foolish man said something foolish, but that somehow he gets to say it on national television.

Foolish men, smart men and average men rarely get the chance to say anything on national television. Foolish celebrities get them all too often.

[Sisyphus]

Children being children.

[Mr Skeptic]

Eh, they should make a database to keep track of all the dumb things they say, and then play it back to them when the president is from the other party.

[ydoaPs]

Eh, they should make a database to keep track of all the dumb things they say, and then play it back to them when the president is from the other party.

 

I'm sure there's an app for that.

[padren]

I'm sure there's an app for that.

 

There's a Daily Show app?

[Pangloss]

The article seems light on evidence. This article quotes him as saying (with video clip):

 

So we've got hell breaking loose in Honduras. You know what we learned about Honduras? We learned the Obama administration tried to stop the coup. Now what was -- the coup was what many of you wish would happen here, without the military.

 

Sure he's hinting in that direction, but not actually calling for it. Still a bunch of nonsense, but no real departure from the usual nonsense. (shrug)

[bascule]

Pangloss, sorry for not including the direct quote from Limbaugh in the OP. However, the one you pasted is wrong. Here it is:

 

[President Obama's'] national address will occur from West Point on December 1st. My question is: will they detain him? Hopefully.

 

(audio clip is available in the article linked from the OP)

[JohnB]

I think it is best summed up by this exchange in the comments at Media matters.

 

by pilotshark (November 25, 2009 1:38 pm ET)

He he has the IQ of a 2x4.

 

by christopher howard (November 25, 2009 1:44 pm ET)

Must you really insult 2X4s like that? Wood has a million uses.

 

by pilotshark (November 25, 2009 1:49 pm ET)

I stand corrected as you are absolutely right on that.

 

I admit to being amazed at the latitude you guys give your talking heads. He'd be off the air down here.

[iNow]

It's a double-edged sword, for sure... but the guaranteed right to free speech written into the first amendment of our constitution applies equally to good ideas and bad... intelligent comments and hateful ones.

[Mr Skeptic]

But not illegal speech. You are not allowed to threaten to kill/hurt someone. You are not allowed to tell someone to murder someone. You are not allowed to tell people to rebel against the government (including the president).

[ecoli]

You are not allowed to tell people to rebel against the government (including the president).

 

huh? This last statement is certainly not true. And I remember what seems like half the country proposing doing this, and some people the other two, during the Bush years.

[A Tripolation]

Really Mr Skeptic? We're not allowed to talk about overthrowing the president? I mean, yeah, right now, that's crazy talk, but what about the time when that talk isn't crazy?

[Phi for All]

Technically, the Smith Act prohibits even talking about *forcibly* overthrowing the government. Since he's a national radio celebrity, his mention of it also seems to automatically indict all of Rush's listeners who agree with him.

 

How ironic that Rush could be done in by the same law McCarthy used to demonize leftists in the 50s!

[Sisyphus]

Saying you hope there is a military coup is not technically the same thing as calling for one, I guess.

[bascule]

Saying you hope there is a military coup is not technically the same thing as calling for one, I guess.

 

Yes, again, the situation would be different if he were to say "I call upon the US military to detain President Obama when he gives his speech at West Point"

[Phi for All]

Saying you hope there is a military coup is not technically the same thing as calling for one, I guess.

 

Yes, again, the situation would be different if he were to say "I call upon the US military to detain President Obama when he gives his speech at West Point"

The Smith Act includes the phrase "advocates the desirability" of forcibly overthrowing the government. Aren't "hope" and "desirability" synonymous in this context?

 

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government;... Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.

Emphasis mine.

 

I fully support the right of anyone who wants to change the system by using the system, but Rush seems to hope the military will take matters into their own hands.