Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Let Them Eat Cake: Limbaugh Mocks Recession During Speech to Wealthy Right-Wing Donors
Last night, Rush Limbaugh came to Washington, D.C. to address the President’s Club Dinner, a meeting of wealthy donors and supporters of the Heritage Foundation. The audience included Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), as well as various millionaire trustees of the Heritage Foundation, like Thomas Saunders.
After more or less reprising his radio show routine, Limbaugh went on to brag about his $400 million contract with Clear Channel Communications. As he continued to gloat about his show’s success, Limbaugh mocked the idea that Americans are suffering, noting, “I’ve never had financially a down year” despite the “supposed” recession:
LIMBAUGH: But during all this growth I haven’t lost any audience. I’ve never had financially a down year. There’s supposedly a recession, but we’ve got - what is this May? Back in February we already had 102% of 2008 overbooked for 2009. [applause] So I always believed that if we’re going to have a recession, just don’t participate. [laughter]
Listen here:
Limbaugh is no stranger to belittling the poor and dismissing the economic troubles of others. In March, Limbaugh scoffed at a question on homeless children, asking, “Would somebody tell me the last time you saw a kid sleeping under a bridge?”
As Media Matters reported, even Limbaugh’s employer Clear Channel is struggling under the weight of the recession. Already this year, Clear Channel has “shed nearly 3,000 employees, or 12 percent of its workforce.” While Limbaugh jets around the country in his $54 million Gulfstream G550, laughing off the recession, does he even realize that his own bloated contract is contributing to the rising unemployment rate?
| Also in Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | |||
| After 5 Weeks, 3 GOP Filibusters and 200,000 Americans Running Out of Bennies, Obama to Sign Unemployment Extension This is how things work in DC these days. Post by Steve Benen. November 6, 2009. |
Unemployment Hits 10.2 Percent, Economy Sheds 190,000 Jobs A run-down of the employment picture. Post by Dean Baker. November 6, 2009. |
Meet Some of the People Who Have Jobs Thanks to Obama's Recovery Act 640,329 jobs were created or saved. But the true significance of this number lies in the people behind it. Post by Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins. November 4, 2009. |
|
EMAIL
PRINT
25 COMMENTS
PERMALINK