Rush Limbaugh Blasted For Remarks On Haiti Disaster

26
>>Follow Matzav On Whatsapp!<<

rush-limbaughConservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and televangelist Pat Robertson are being scolded for their comments in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake in Haiti that has killed tens of thousands, according to early estimates.

Critics from both the left and right are denouncing their remarks as insensitive to the disaster and attempts to score political points off human tragedy.

Speaking on his radio show Wednesday, Limbaugh said the earthquake has played into Obama’s hands, allowing the president to look “compassionate” and “humanitarian” while at the same time bolstering his standing in both the “light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.”

He added: “We’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.”

Limbaugh’s comments were, in part, a riff on Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) much publicized remark in a new book that Obama was able to win the election because he is “light-skinned” and lacks a “Negro dialect.”

But regardless of the intended context, Limbaugh’s comments have been widely panned.

“They are deeply insensitive,” said conservative commentator Pat Buchanan on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“The president speaks for the country when he says we’re going to go in there,” he said. “You want your whole nation, and it’s very positive. And I think Rush’s comments were cynical.”

Sitting next to Buchanan on set, host Joe Scarborough called Limbaugh’s comments “deplorable.”

“The insensitivity is stunning,” said the former Republican congressman.

Liberal commentators also quickly jumped on Limbaugh.

“Limbaugh did not know when to just be quiet,” said liberal commentator Keith Olbermann on his MSNBC show “Countdown.” “Today he blamed communism for the poverty of Haiti, blamed President Obama for holding a news conference the day after this cataclysm when he did not hold one after the failed terror attempt in Detroit.”

John Amato from the left-leaning website Crooks and Liars added that “with thousands of people dead already and as the suffering continues in Haiti, Limbaugh and his ilk only care about one thing: destroying Obama.”

The conservative media watchdog site Newsbusters stepped up to defend Limbaugh, saying his comments were not put in proper context, but very few others are backing the conservative firebrand’s latest controversial remarks.

While Limbaugh received a modicum of support, nobody of note has stepped up to defend Robertson’s claim that Haiti got hit by an earthquake because it is “cursed.”

Speaking about the disaster during his program “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson said that when Haiti was still a French colony its leaders “swore a pact to the devil” to get out from “under the heel of the French.”

“They said, ‘we will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal,'” Robertson claimed, as was recorded and sent around by the liberal group Media Matters.

“But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other,” he continued. “That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle on the one side is Haiti the other is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty.”

Robertson, who has a long history of making controversial remarks on his program, urged his followers to pray for the residents of Haiti and said that “out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come.”

Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said Thursday morning she was left “speechless” by Robertson’s remarks.

“That’s not the attitude that expresses the spirit of the president or the American people, so I thought it was a pretty stunning comment to make,” she said.

A statement from Robertson’s spokesman Chris Roslan tried to downplay the “cursed” remark.

“Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath,” the statement read. “If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson’s compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them. His humanitarian arm has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help the victims of this disaster.”

{Politico/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}


26 COMMENTS

  1. This Politico article is Democrat spin. Rush said people should donate through private agencies such as the Red Cross rather than through government bureaucracies such was whitehouse.gov that will siphone off a good percent of the donation towards government waste.

    And the “light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country” and “Negro dialect” comment was racist Democrat leader Harry Reid’s own words that Rush made a play on!

  2. Rush Limbaugh deserves to be chastized and get all the harsh criticism that is coming to him. he is a rosha merusha for doing what he did and said. I cant fathom why the frum community still listends to this vile disgusting oyzvarf. on top of being an uneducated rop out drug addict hypocrite, he has just proven himself yet once again (as he has numerous times) to be a heartless beast. an inhumane hateful spiteful disgusting individula. not an example or role model for anyone, certainly not a commmunity such as ours with such high values morals and standards. disgustin. rush limbaugh …fech!

  3. #4 disgusting yid —

    You should stop buying lock stock and barrel every lie you read about Rush in the mainstream press. Like someone said, this Politico hatchet article is a lie.

  4. #2, listen to the full clip in its full context. watch both videos of robertson and limbaugh themselves in the their own words, uncut and unedited in the full show context and then tell us again how you want to beleive that it is democrat spin? please. wishful thinknig. they are bad peopel who said bad things because they overpolticize and sensationalize everything. limbaugh and robertson are evil.

  5. Avener:

    I listened to the full clip in its full context. You likely only heard part 1. Rush advised people to donate through the Red Cross rather than whitehouse.gov, as the government will eat up a good percent of your donations through buerocratic waste. Everything else you heard is pure media spin.

    Do not trust the media.

  6. #5 Rishon, i dont buy anything, i am smart person who can think for himself. I saw and listeened to the full original show in its entirety – its avaiable for anyone to hear and listen to and judge for themselves. no spin, just him in his own words. He is a RUSHa merusha of the highest order.

  7. Lets see, one of the very very few people we Yidden can truly count as a friend and a true Oheiv Yisroel shows what a jerk and opportunitst he is. I guess thats why they call it Golus, we are forced to have these kinds of friends.

  8. Rush didn’t say anything wrong. Buchanen, who never amounted to anything, other than an ego driven “talking head” on some low rating cable show & Scarborough a known lefty, are hardly criticism “coming from the right”! Don’t drink the coolaid of the media!

  9. The Media will not show you how all the US ‘aid’ being CONSTANTLY poured into Haiti does absolutely nothing. There’s no insensitivity in saying that. There’s a lot of insensitivity in globelizing the world and making the US an open checkbook with no accountability.

    When he campaigned, Obama didn’t stop bringing up how much the war on terror is costing the US.

    Limbaough is right about this: Obama doesn’t care to be the President of the United States, he wants to be President od the world, and he always made it very clear.

  10. “Moron” was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard[3] from the Greek word moros, which meant “dull” (as opposed to “sharp”), and used to describe a person with a mental age located between 8 and 12 on the Binet scale.[4] It was once applied to people with an IQ of 51-70, being superior in one degree to “imbecile” (IQ of 26-50) and superior in two degrees to “idiot” (IQ of 0-25). The word moron, along with others including “retarded”, “idiotic”, “imbecilic”, “stupid”, and “feeble-minded”, was formerly considered a valid descriptor in the psychological community, but it is now deprecated by psychologists

  11. OK, I listened to Limbaugh a little today. I get what he’s saying though I wish there were more compassion coming through. This morning, Mike Gallagher gently took Rush to task, particularly over politicizing this (we didn’t like it when “they” did it to W, did we…)

    And a line I heard about Robertson this morning: “Science never made me doubt the existence of G-d, but Pat Robertson does.”

  12. I listened to the “RUSH” Yeshiva LIVE – all he said was that you should donate directly so that 100% of your contribution will make it to its intended recipients.
    Feel free to be disgusted all you want – I for one am not.

  13. #15- I see you are so intelligent that you know how to copy and paste from Wikipedia. You fit your posting’s description very nicely.

    Remember something- the Torah itself says that man’s failure to act morally and our failure to honor HaShem will result in Divine wrath and curses (Devarim 28:15- “However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.”) Reward and punishment is a very big part of how the Eibeshter interacts with His children. Many other civilizations were destroyed for their immorality and evil, and in the case of the Haitians, these are people who are baalei avodah zarah and cast spells and sacrifice children and literally bow down to idols, among other many evil acts. While I have nothing but compassion on these people, let us not forget that all evil nations are brought down by G-d at one point or another. Just as the Bnei Sodom v’ Gomorrah violated the issur against certain crimes, the Haitians violated the issur against avodah zarah under the Sheva Mitzvos. And all of them are destroyed or will be destroyed when Moshiach comes.

  14. Baruch Hashem Rush is on the air. Otherwise they would be no redeeming value to broadcasting.

    Limbaugh is perhaps the only man on the air who’s values come closest (although don’t reach) Klal Yisroel.

    Yasher Koach Rush Limbaugh!

  15. Rabbosai, we all need an “outlet”, even adults. Even if Rush isn’t at the level of Yidden, he by far comes much much closer to Bnei Yisroel than any single other nochri.

    We need more Rush Limbaugh’s.

  16. I,for one find it very interesting that all of the above see themselves suddenly as political analysts.It’s really very simple:
    -“Halachah:Eisav soneih es Yaakov.”

  17. Take the word “liberal” out of Rush Limbaugh’s diatribe. Substitute “Jew” and you’ll see he’s no different then Father Coughlin or Goebbels. Admittedly he doesn’t have an anti-Jewish agenda but he still spreads hateful fear mongering lies every minute he’s on the air.

  18. Amused #24: It is obvious, and more than apparent, you haven’t spent much time listening to him but rather spent a lot of time on liberal blogs and media (i.e. the NY Times) reading the lies they spread about Rush. Not one single attribute you attributed to Mr. Limbaugh has an iota of basis in fact.

  19. Aside from being one of the greatest intellects in this nation, Rush has more compassion than any liberal. This country would benefit immensely if Rush’s positions were implemented as public policy.

Leave a Reply to Teimini Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here