Limbaugh Louisiana Lies

It's not a big news flash that Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric isn't exactly grounded in truth. However, it is nice when he gets called on it.

After suggesting on his show that recovery in New Orleans is proceeding well and impugning the character of state and city officials while defending George Bush, the General Manager of the New Orleans radio station that carries his program has invited him down to broadcast from the devastated city.

The incident was triggered by a caller, referred to as "Ray from New Orleans," who was obviously put on the show to mark Limbaugh's return to the New Orleans affiliate after 3 months of local, emergency programming.

According to the article:

"Ray set the tone by criticizing President Bush's fabulously framed Jackson Square TV speech to the nation.

"'All lies,' the caller said. 'None of the things that he promised are happening.'

"Countering Ray's contention that New Orleans isn't progressing toward normalcy, Limbaugh then mentioned that he has friends here.

"'And I'm not hearing this from them,' he said. 'I know it's bad but . . . I'm under the impression that the main problem that the local officials have is that they don't have enough Democrats coming back who fled or who were evacuated and they're worried about the next elections.'

"Limbaugh added that he'd heard about lots of good-paying recovery jobs going unfilled.

"'There's no place for people to live,' Ray said.

"'The whole city?' Limbaugh countered. 'There's nowhere to live? The French Quarter?'

"You know, the town sector filled with reasonably priced efficiency accommodations. The kind that a laborer's wage, here in the post-Katrina worker's paradise, could easily afford.

"'They're going to do Mardi Gras for crying out loud,' Limbaugh said.

"Eventually, Limbaugh blamed the failure of the federally designed levees on New Orleanians.

"You know, the ones who waded out of their neighborhoods in neck-deep swill."

The article later reports that "Diane Newman, the WWL operations manager and program director who bumped local talk hosts to return Limbaugh to the New Orleans airwaves, listened to the Wednesday segment twice and concluded that 'there was a disconnect,' she said. 'He did sound uninformed. But he's not here.'

"And so Newman vows to formally invite Limbaugh for a visit.

"'I will do my damnedest to get Rush Limbaugh to broadcast from here, to drive through Lakeview, through Gentilly, drive through Mid-City, drive through New Orleans East, drive through St. Bernard, drive through the 9th Ward,' she said."

But the point is that, in his effort to be the George Bush pit bull on all issues, Limbaugh reveals his utter lack of humanity and compassion. And, once again, Limbaugh demonstrates that the facts do not matter in Rushbo's politics of slam and slander.

And someone is finally taking him to task for it.