Friday, October 09, 2009

OH, HE'S JUST JEALOUS
(and not only of Obama)


From Newsweek:

Obamamania comes as little surprise to Rush Limbaugh, who e-mailed us this morning after we asked him to share his thoughts. "The Nobel gang just suicide-bombed themselves. Gore, Carter, Obama, soon Bill Clinton. See a pattern here? They are all leftist sell-outs. George Bush liberates 50 million Muslims in Iraq, Reagan liberates hundreds of millions of Europeans and saves parts of Latin America. Any awards?" Limbaugh says "Obama gives speeches trashing his own country and for that gets a prize, which is now worth as much as whatever prizes they are putting in Cracker Jacks these days." ...

Left out of Newsweek's story is the fact that, two years ago -- no joke -- radio frother and best-selling book-length screed writer Mark Levin's Landmark Legal Federation actually nominated Limbaugh for the Peace Prize. I'd say that was just a joke if Limbaugh didn't still maintain a page dedicated to the nomination at his Web site, with links to several transcripts, including this quite serious-sounding recommendation of a letter in support of the nomination by a wingnut writer named John Berlau. This material is still available to all readers two years after the fact. (Most free content at RushLimbaugh.com goes to subscriber-only status after a week.) The winner that year was Al Gore -- whom Limbaugh had accused of illegally lobbying for the award after he gave a speech in Oslo. Maybe this is merely a joke, but I think he was dead serious:

Well, Gore's over there lobbying. That's cheap. You're not supposed to lobby for this thing. You're supposed to have dignity. You're supposed to sit back there and let the selection process take its course, but there's Gore over there lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize. I'm not doing that. As you know, I'm an accredited nominee this year for the Nobel Peace Prize, and I'm not over there speaking to these people about anything. We submitted our application full of qualifications: the resume, all of the support materials. We're not going over there trying to influence these people and their votes.

So, does it still sting a little every year when the Peace Prize is announced and the winner isn't Rush? Surely he didn't know Barack Obama would win, but is it a coincidence that he chose yesterday to announce this?

Last week on his show Rush Limbaugh told his viewers about how he had been invited to serve as a judge at the 2010 Miss America Pageant, which is in January, but that he was hesitant because it's a week-long commitment--in Vegas!--and Rush felt, as he put it, "I can't miss a full week of radio here out judging evening gowns and stuff."

But now it sounds like Limbaugh may have decided to throw professional caution to the wind and spend a week rating evening wear. According to Greta Van Susteren's "Greta Wire" blog, Limbaugh has now been named as one of the judges for the 2010 pageant....


I think what's really bugging Limbaugh is that he's being eclipsed -- not so much by Nobelists, or by a Democratic ascendancy (which isn't going all that well in a lot of ways), but by the rise of Glenn Beck. On Don Imus's show Monday, Beck denied that there's friction between the two, but I don't buy it.

Limbaugh accepts the Miss America gig. Limbaugh goes on Jay Leno's show and drives a (gasp!) electric car. Limbaugh expresses interest in buying the St. Louis Rams.

Limbaugh isn't the center of even the wingnut universe anymore. And it's getting to him. He wants attention.

****

UPDATE, SUNDAY NIGHT: I just watched this clip, in which Bill O'Reilly kinda-sorta defends Obama, declaring his Nobel a good thing for America ("deserved or not"). I bring it up not for that, but because Limbaugh shows up in the first few seconds, reacting to the Nobel, and he utterly loses it. Watch:



That's not schtick (or not just schtick). Limbaugh's genuinely upset.

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