Hagel had sharp words for Rush Limbaugh Tuesday.

[Doughboy71]

Hagel takes aim at Limbaugh, Senate colleagues
Posted: 03:13 PM ET



(CNN) — As his Senate career nears its end, Republican Chuck Hagel isn't holding back when it comes to criticizing members of his own party — including conservative talk radio hosts.

"We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh," Hagel said Tuesday during a speech in Washington, according to the Huffington Post.

"You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office," a sarcastic Hagel continued. "They have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly. they try to rip everyone down and make fools of everybody but they don't have any answers."

Hagel has increasingly become critical of his party in the aftermath of the Iraq War and notably held back endorsing his longtime friend John McCain during the presidential campaign. He's reportedly under consideration for a cabinet post in the Obama administration.

Speaking at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Hagel also faulted Washington lawmakers for "raw, partisan, political paralysis."

"The American people don't like what is going on… they want us to start doing what leaders are expected to do, address the problems, find some consensus to governing. Get along. There will be disagreements, sure… but in the end we can't hold ourselves captives to this raw, partisan, political paralysis."

OMG.. Would that not be funny if Rush or Hannity ever did think they had what it takes to run for office. How funny would that be? How much fun would the left have with that?

[malaise]

1. Shuster is going to discuss this on KOs program n/t

[Adsos Letter]

2. Put that Senator in a Toga!

Damned if he doesn't look and speak the part...!

[Inuca]

19. Great comment :-) n/t

[Initech]

3. That should be the text book definition of punditry:

"One who has an answer for everything and contributes nothing of value to society."

[tblue]

4. Good for him. If people like him made up the Republican party,

it would make all the difference in the world. The Bush/Cheney/Limbaugh/Rove/Chambliss/Bauchman/Dobson/Robertsons of the world have absolutely destroyed that party from within. Thank God it did not last.

[patrice]

5. L & H will get behind Gingrich for something instead. It'll happen if you see G slim down & get a ma

keover.

Gee, I wish Hagel agreed with me more on the Economic and Social Justice issues.

[Sebass1271]

6. I like chuck hagel he has principles.. i hope Obama

give him a cabinet position...

could Hagel be for Republicans what joe lieberman is for us?

[sarcasmo]

7. Now we know why they wanted to call themselves the GOP Party.

The infighting is great, coming up next on K.O.

[HEyHEY]

8. It's not the job of guys like Limbaugh to find a solution

It's their job to find the problem.

[StClone]

11. More like cause problems.

[TwilightZone]

13. Or, if they can't find one, manufacture one.

Rush gets paid $20 million a year (or whatever) to do exactly that.

[HEyHEY]

14. Mostly manufacture... Limbaugh and his kind are too dumb to find real problems

[KatyMan]

15. Heard of little bit of Rush on the radio today

He made two points before I had to turn it off:

1. Given the obesity problem, there can't possibly be any hunger in America. And any kids that the government has interviewed about hunger were just being kids, because kids and teens are hungry all the time anyway. Idiot.

2. The Somali pirate thing is proof that the rest of the world doesn't have as rosy a view of the US as the post-election reporting has shown. Somehow, the pirate situation was a repudiation of Obama. I couldn't follow the tortured logic behind it, so switched over to a music station for some relief!

(As an aside, heard a couple of morning DJ's here in Houston this morning talking about the pirates. One said, jeez, I thought we eradicated pirates like 400 years ago...besides, how can you take over a modern ship carrying a sword and wearing an eye patch? The other guy said, yeah, now we have to worry about pirates...what's next vikings? Are we going to start hearing about viking raids again? Anyway, it was kind of funny, maybe you had to hear it)

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

17. Only in the addled brain of Limpballs

could Obama have some connection to a bunch of Somali pirates. Somehow I suspect that the pirates are in business for themselves.

[malaise]

9. On now n/t

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

10. Man, Hagel stripped the bark off of the reichwingers

pretty harshly. Props to Sen Hagel for truth.

[Joe the Liberal]

12. Wow...

a repuke with a conscience and principles? A pretty rare sight, Hagel seems alright.

[Jade Fox]

16. It's nice to see any politician admit the impact RW radio has......

on our national political life. Most of them act like it's the elephant in the living room, Democrats and Republicans alike.

I'd love to see Limbaugh, etc. have to debate others. Of course, now that Palin has set the debate requirements so low (just stand there and speechify, regardless of what you're asked) maybe even Rush could handle a "debate".

[badgerpup]

18. "...the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh."

:wow:
GREAT?? LIMBAUGH???
:wtf:
Then I got to thinking..."great" has several definitions.

F'rinstance, there's the Great Wall of China...meanining it's pretty damn HUGE...sorry...HUGH.

Lotsa stuff is epitomized as 'great'...but it's not a reference to quality. It's merely a quantifier as to size.

So, yeah. Rush Limbaugh IS 'great'...in that sense.


Yeah, glass house, stones, probably not a good idea...:shrug:
but that particular fountain of right-wing hypocrisy and self-righteous, xenophobic bloviation makes me positively ill. :puke:

I can't even stand the sound of his voice. :nuke:

[KharmaTrain]

20. The Reason They Won't Run Is They Tried...

If you look at many of these right wing "entertainers", most of them either served in some low level government gig or tried to run for office and got their asses kicked. Just like washed-up athletes seem to always end up in the broadcast booth, this is the political equivelent.

I've long discussed the game of hate radio and how it's worked hand-in-hand with the repugnican party...a party line that served them well throughout the 90's as the medium was on the rise...but things haven't been so kind to them over the last 4 years...IMHO their venom did more to turn people toward Democrats last year than to help their own inept candidate. A decade ago, for some, their shtick was new and funny...now its bitter and fatalistic. There's no fun listening to a rushbo angst unless you're as hopeless as he is.

Hagel's having some fun on the way out...why not? I have a feeling this election lifted a lot of weight off his shoulders and he's enjoying not giving a shit what he says. If anything, he's giving voice to what millions of others have felt over the past couple years...former hate radio listeners who got tired of the empty rhetoric and hate.