Limbaugh Spins NYT Story as a Victory for Hate Radio

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 1:43 PM on February 21, 2008.

Rush Limbaugh and other hate radio talkers have aggressively attacked the candidacy pf Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Today on his radio show, Limbaugh responded to the explosive New York Times story on McCain's relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman by spinning it as a victory for hate radio.

According to Limbaugh, this episode is the predictable consequence of McCain shunning him and other hate radio pundits:

The important question for John McCain today is, is he going to learn the right lesson from this, and what is the lesson? The lesson is liberals are to be defeated. You cannot walk across the aisle with them. You cannot reach across the aisle. You cannot welcome their media members on your bus and get all cozy with them and expect eternal love from them. You are a Republican. [...]

There's a great opportunity here for Senator McCain to learn the right lesson and understand who his friends are and who his enemies are. He's had that backwards for way too long.

Right-wing pundit Laura Ingraham was similarly self-righteous today, stating:

I ask the McCain campaign this question: Do you think you need talk radio now? Do you think that talk radio's important to set the record straight, or do you think a press conference, where the media is shouting question after question at you -- do you think that's going to put an end to all of this?

Right wing pundits still don't like McCain, but they're willing to give him a second chance -- as long as the senator is willing to see the light and change his ways. David Brody of CBN believes that this New York Times "hit job" may seen as "a conservative badge of honor" and "could actually help John McCain."

Always classy, Limbaugh ended his segment by saying that he wasn't surprised that The New York Times published an unfavorable piece on McCain. "It's as predictable as Ted Kennedy finding a bar at happy hour," he said.

Tagged as: limbaugh, conservatives, new york times, mccain, right wing radio, lobbying, iseman, ingram

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.