Rush Limbaugh Knocks Glenn Beck; Criticized for "Reparations" Comment

(AP Photo)

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is criticizing Fox News host Glenn Beck over Beck's criticisms of the Republican Party at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday.

At that event, Beck said he has "not heard the people in the Republican Party yet admit they have a problem" and said that he doesn't "know what they stand for."

Glenn Beck: GOP Needs to Admit it Has a Problem

"I would not have said that the only people who can stop Obama, Republicans, should be excoriated for being just as bad," Limbaugh said on his radio show (watch at left, via Mediaite). "I don't know how you can say…that the Republicans are just as bad as the Democrats. It would never occur to me to say that. I don't know what the objective would be."

The incident is the latest demonstration of Beck's unique position in the political landscape. A hero in the Tea Party movement, he's not shy about criticizing Republicans.

But he has also shown a willingness to break with right-wing orthodoxy, as evidenced by a new interview in which he says he believes global warming is real and thinks a legitimate case can be made that it's been caused by mankind.

Beck even goes so far as to question the connection between the GOP and perhaps its most admired member, telling USA Weekend that "I don't think [Ronald] Reagan was a real Republican."

Another conservative radio host, Mark Levin, is also taking a shot at Beck for his CPAC comments. Levin said Beck should "stop acting like a clown" and "dividing" Republicans, Politico reports.

"Decide what you are," he said in reference to Beck. "A circus clown, self-identified, or a thoughtful and wise person. It's hard to be both."

Back to Limbaugh: The conservative flamethrower is once again angering liberals, this time for casting the health care reform effort as "a civil rights bill" that amounts to "reparations."

"The rich are going to stop getting all the good stuff, we're gonna take -- this is income redistribution, this is returning the nation's wealth to its quote-unquote rightful owners," he said yesterday in discussing the reform effort. "This is a civil rights bill. This is reparations, whatever you want to call it."

"I'm going to go on a limb here and describe this as about the most racist thing a major American media personality has said in quite a while," writes liberal blogger Steve Benen. "This is about Limbaugh trying -- with no subtlety at all -- to stir up racial fears and anxiety in the hopes of blocking improvements to a dysfunctional health care system, which has repeatedly screwed over a fair amount of Limbaugh's audience."

(The linking of the health care reform effort to reparations is not new, as another liberal blogger notes -- an editorial in the conservative Investor's Business Daily last year called the bill "affirmative action on steroids" with the possible goal of "the redress of health care disparities on the basis of race.")

In a bit of welcome news for Limbaugh, the New York Daily News reports that the trade magazine Talkers has released its latest list of the most influential talk radio hosts in the country, and "El Rushbo," as he calls himself, is in the number one slot.

He is "the most-listened-to talk host and more relevant culturally than ever," the influential magazine has determined. The second most influential host was found to be Sean Hannity, followed by Beck and Michael Savage.

[jmanders2009]

I think Rush is on the mark here. The more I listen to Glenn Beck, the more I get the impression that he is trying to cast himself as the new transcendent voice of conservatism that has the answer for all those fed up with the political party system in America. By harshly criticizing both Republicans and Democrats, it almost seems like he's trying to show everyone that he, unlike most conservatives, is not afraid to call out everyone on both sides. In this way, he escapes any charge of partisanship. His is a new way, a repackaged version of conservatism that makes it more palatable even to skeptics. Though it might seem a clever approach, it is also disingenuous. To say that Republicans in Washington, most of whom are anywhere from center-right to hard-right on the political spectrum, are just as bad as the Democrats is a very good example of that. It may sound good but it sacrifices the real reality in the process. If what Beck said was really true, can you imagine the shape this country would be in by now? Fact is if it weren?t for that small group of Republicans standing strong in Washington today, things would be a whole lot worse than they are.

The bottom line is there is no work-around. If you stand for what is true, you are going to be criticized, ridiculed, slandered, and the like. If you can't accept that, get out of the battle. The political party you align yourself with says something about you, what you believe, and what you stand for. We may not all agree on everything as Republicans, but we share enough in common to unite under the one banner. If the recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts tell us nothing else, they ought to remind us that we have no reason to be ashamed as Republicans. Nor do we need to be afraid for our political future. There is no need to suck up to the haters. Our message is what it is, and right now, it's doing pretty damned good.

[tundraline]

Please use current and accurate photos of Rush Limbaugh when reporting his comments. Rush is muhc, much, much fatter and porkier than the picture shown above.

[krusenjames]

These folks make their living by getting a rise out of us. They are parasitic at best. Instead of whipping yourselves up in a frenzy over mpeople like this, you should see them for what they are, opportunists.`Limbaugh fans the fire of partisan politics. It is no surprise that his ilk spawns mini-mes that turn on the party.
What does all this name-calling accomplish? It keeps all of you angry at each other, instead of finding common ground. Compromise is not a dirty word. It is the foundation of democracy. Without it tyranny flourishes.
Republican, Democrat, independent, we should respect the rifle next to ours. The best response to divisiveness and intolerance is rejection.

[krusenjames]

What is it the conservatives want to conserve, Robber Barons and yellow journalism, packing houses selling rotten meat, work houses and debtor's prisons?

Or is it a Jeffersoninan America, all yeoman farmers and state's rights?

The proto-republicans rejected that, way back with the founding of a central bank, the Hamiltonian solution. Very Republican on his part.
Federal power over state's rights came in the 1860's. Definitely Republican. I bet you missed that little song and dance, huh?

FDR's solutions worked, until their dismantling in the '80's. If you take a look at the trends, both social and economic, over the long haul, you'll find a definite trend spiraling downward from Nixon on.

Government may have its $700 hammers. But Business Madoff with $16,000 shower curtains. Enron got grandma's pension.

In 1776 this kind of conservative would have been called a Tory.

You cannot buck change. Like the Luddites, you'll only get ground up in the machinery. You have to adapt and innovate, not stick your head in the sand.

It seems that along with wisdom, short term and long term memory is affected.

[bantamei]

Rush Lamebaugh is nothing but a drug addled fat a$$ hypocritical faschist.

[krusenjames]

There's no h in fascist. He's neither addled nor fat (anymore). He's a self-aggrandizing opportunist who cares more for his $2o,ooo,ooo home than the ideology he "represents", embodies would be the better term.

[babooph]

A fat ,drug addicted fool ,puts down a deluded competing blowhard-I guess that is news...

[Dgunner]

limbarf is about three cheese burgers from the morgue. the question now is when will he eat them.You can't keep sitting on your head a nd talking into a tunnel without exercise. it is just a matter of time . is there anything i can do to speed it up?

[Previewer]

They both laugh all the way to the bank because they can hold an audience,just like Hitler did. These two idiots would be run out of town in an another country,maybe put in jail for hyprocracy. Don't listen to them and try to pretend they don't exist. Turn the dial or station and watch cartoons,you'll be better off. This is the last time I will comment on these two idiots.They are not newsworthy

[Previewer]

Beck & Limburger are just trying to earn enough money by B - Sing who ever wants to listen to their no nothing comments they try to stir up. In this country one can make money by selling nothing. These two clown use tv to make a paycheck and will use Fox Network to sell anything they can say or write down. Both are hippocrites,phoney,self centered and like to make controversy for the money and not the truth. Truth is anyone who takes them seriously may vote for their Presidency of these United States.

[anagheel]

what judgment is it when u call yourself a ukraine lover and u have love 4 a drug addict even try 2 defend him by saying he is addicted 2 prescription drugs?i guess u can say u have a low IQ?or u r a half human half narcotic sycopath?or,just a pair 4 limbaugh that he hasnt figured out missing from him?HELP YOURSELF!i do see 1 thing that's familiar though.....it's the love 4 non american goods and countries that u and limbaugh share.and the hate 4 america 2 be the land of the free and the home of the brave.