On April 28th, there was a panel discussion at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, sponsored by the Milken Institute as part of the annual Milken Institute Global Conference. Limbaugh, one of the panelists, was allowed to bloviate on his strange and fact-free view of our world, nearly unopposed, just like he does daily on his radio show.
The 68 minute panel discussion was moderated by Frank Luntz, pollster and political language strategist.
Please stick with me through the fold for a quick synopsis. The entire video can be viewed here.
On the panel were Harold Ford Jr, Chairman of the DLC and former Tennessee Congressman,
Willie Brown, former Speaker of the California State Assembly and former Mayor of San Francisco,
Rush Limbaugh, conservative talk show host and de facto head of the Republican party, and
Ed Gillespie, Counselor to the President during the Bush administration, and Republican political strategist.
The Milken Institute Global Conference brings together some of the most extraordinary people in the world – from scientists, business executives and philanthropists to journalists, academics and Nobel laureates – to discuss, debate and deliberate today’s most pressing social, political and economic challenges.
The Global Conference has become an important venue for thought leaders in a wide range of disciplines to present their views before an informed, influential audience and the news media. It is also an important place for peer-to-peer meetings to take place.
Among the participants are Nobel laureates, hundreds of CEOs from the world’s top-tier companies, senior elected and appointed foreign and U.S. government officials, high-level executives in the American and foreign capital markets, global academic experts and leaders in education, health care and philanthropy.
Some of the topics covered at this high dollar soirée:
* CEO: How Will It Stop Being a Dirty Word?
* Market Solutions to Global Climate Change
* Health-Care Reform: Once More Into the Breach
* Investing in Iraq
There were several discussions of various aspects of social networking, along with investment strategies, fashion advice, and discussions on the state of the entertainment industry.
Their web site is complete with videos of all the various discussions. There may be some other diaries lurking among the chafe there if one has the desire to wade through it.
But the one discussion that caught my attention was the one that included Rushbo. I figure he's always good for a laugh, or at least a little pulse jolt.
The first question asked by Luntz was about what grade the audience would give Obama for his first 100 days. Apparently they had some electronic devices at their tables to tally these results and Luntz pointed to a slide that updated with those real time results. The audience gave Obama's first 100 days:
A - 37%
B - 32%
C - 24%
D - 5%
F - 2%
Then Luntz asked the panel how they'd grade Obama's first 100 days. Ford gave an "A-", Brown offered an "A", Limbaugh gave Obama a "D-" and then went on a tirade.
He started out saying how all the other panelists were politicians and he wasn't, offering "I don't pander, I don't lie..." getting a few jeers from the crowd. He also said that Obama has a "cult-like following" that is blindly following him for no apparent reason.
Luntz finally had to shut him up and remind him that all he was asked was about what grade he gave Obama's first 100 days. In shutting him up, Luntz got some push back from Limpy prompting Luntz to remark "Swine flu begins right here".
Gillespie offered two marks for Obama's first 100 days, a "B" on style and a "D" on substance. Then he spouted off some lies about the high cost of Cap and Trade according to an MIT study. That's the study that the goposaurs continue to use to prop up their "Cap and Trade is too expensive" argument, claiming that the study shows a $3100-$3900 annual increase in average family energy costs, when the author of the study has debunked their reading of it. Gillespie tells the audience that the MIT study shows that Cap and Trade would cost the average household an additional $260 per month ($3120 per year).
Back to Ford for more of his take on Obama's first 100 days and he mentioned the "disastrous 8 years of the Bush administration".
When Limbaugh got another chance to speak he said the "Bush disaster is a media myth", and got some jeers from the crowd over that.
Gillespie got another chance to spit out some more goposaur crap when he was asked by Ford what the GOP would do for stimulus. Of course, the answer was tax cuts. Gillespie put forth the same old 'only way' to get things going is to provide more tax cuts for small business. Like that is going to motivate small business owners magically to hire more people, even though demand for their products, as well as their profits are down!
Then Limbaugh got another chance to lie and he jumped right into it claiming that Democratic programs never work. He said the war on poverty didn't work and claimed that the poverty level today is the same as it was before the war on poverty. He said the Democrats want to grow government to control the people and that big government stimulates the "Democrat" party, a remark that drew some laughter from the crowd. He blamed the whole economic meltdown on the Community Reinvestment Act and laid it at the feet of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter who he claimed "came up with the idea that people who will never be able to pay back a loan should be given one." Then he elaborated by saying "where do you think derivatives came from?" Per Limpbaugh, lenders were forced to make these "worthless loans" and they had to get rid of the loans themselves to get the worthless paper off their books, and they "sold it, sold it, sold it" and voila! Economic meltdown! His ignorance is breathtaking and his grasp of facts is as solid as melting ice cream in a toddler's hands.
The only push back he got on his claim that all government programs fail is when Ford said that the GI Bill and the Interstate Highway system are two programs that were wildly successful.
Sure wish it was possible to get that fat piece o' crap into a real debate with someone that has a brain. I know that's a stretch and Limpy will never set himself up for such a drubbing, but it's a happy thought for a Saturday afternoon.