If you have ever doubted that Rush Limbaugh's arrogance exceeds that of any living man on earth then please read this transcript of his May 09, 2014 broadcast reacting to Pope Francis' inspiring speech to the United Nations that I reported in Pope Francis calls for legitimate redistribution of wealth to the poor (updated: full transcript.)
Limbaugh's grandiosity soars to the "heavens" with no upper bounds. Can you imagine someone chastising a Pope on a live national broadcast to millions about the Catholic definition of charity based on a news report that just happens to cross his desk with no other checking? Anticipating my conclusion, Limbaugh provides liberals a tremendous service and opportunity by setting himself up as such an easy and absurd target of what might otherwise might cause us to be accused of being shrill, and excessive in characterization our attacks on the right-wing extremists like Paul Ryan.
Let's watch as Rush Limbaugh makes a total fool of himself, and insults a billion Catholics, as well as sets himself up to be the perfect "right-wing straw man" in Pope Francis is Talking Redistribution Again, wherein Rush starts by reviewing an AP wire report describing a speech to the UN Pope Francis delivered that same morning as Rush reads that Pope Francis "called Friday for governments to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the 'economy of exclusion' that is taking hold today."
The pope is describing charity, and that's what the church is for. And the Vatican is a country. But the pope is demanding that the United Nations somehow use it's influence to get member states to redistribute wealth. That's Marxism. That's socialism. That's not charity. ...
One paragraph is: "Francis had a similar message to the World Economic Forum in January and in his apostolic exhortation 'The Joy of the Gospel.' That document, which denounced trickle-down economic theories as unproven and naive, provoked criticism in the U.S. that he was Marxist." ... But trickle-down economic theories are proven, they are not naive, they happen to work, and it is the essence of economic growth. Trickle-down is exactly what happens in a vibrant economy. Anyway, "Francis urged the UN to promote development goals that attack the root causes of poverty and hunger, protect the environment and ensure dignified labor for all."
The UN is one of the root causes of poverty, if you want to get down to brass tacks. The UN wouldn't know how to properly identify the root cause of poverty if it had to because the root cause of poverty is the isms: socialism, communism, Marxism, liberalism, you name it. ...
I'm just gonna tell you, redistributing wealth is not charity. That's why a lot of people sign on for it, they think it is. But it isn't. It's income redistribution. It is generational theft. Charity is an entirely different thing.
There you have it folks, Pope Rush Limbaugh is going to tell us and this Pope Francis, a thing or two about charity, and income redistribution. Rush is trying to get through to use no matter how dense we may be, ... let me paraphrase ... "Listen up here Pope Francis, because Pope Limbaugh has some "schooling for you, and that Jesus fellow too." "Income redistribution... It is generational theft. Charity is an entirely different thing." (Snark alert)
Are you listening? Rush is trying to help you out here. He's saying as patiently as he can, given how dense you keep being, seeing how he's already pointed this out before, "let me tell you a thing or two about ... how to really address poverty and hunger - its not charity - its trickle down economics! Where did you get such silly ideas from Pope Francis? You better but those books aside and start listening to the true Gospel of the Prophet Rush Limbaugh." (Snark alert!)
(Please don't send complaints letters to me folks, I know this is offensive, I'm just the messenger here. Send complaints to Rush Limbaugh, or Markos, aka kos, at Saturday Morning Hate Mail. Kos is the Big Boss and responsible for all concerns about quality or propriety here at Daily Kos. (Also, BTW, my understanding is that as the founder and owner of this site Kos is always happy to get little notes from anyone about anything you are unhappy about, or think might be improved around here, especially any perceived shortcomings of front-pagers and highly visible writers - that's what I heard somewhere anyway. I think MB told me that. Or maybe it was Bob Johnson - one of those really famous guys I can't remember which, what a shame to get old. (Triple humor alert!!!)) (Uuuhhh - on the other hand, maybe don't send any complaints to kos. Ah,come on kos, and everybody, you have to admit, that was pretty funny!)
Back to our Rush Limbaugh - Outrage of the Day! Someone apparently hands Rush a paper, because then he stops and shifts, direction. His radio room staff are apparently going bonko trying to get him off the the mike.
RUSH Okay. They're trying to say the pope didn't say what he said.
Father Jonathan Morris, who I think appears on Fox, has tweeted, "Bad reporting by many. ... Pope Francis didn't tell nations to redistribute wealth. He said legitimate redistribution of economic benefits." Deep doo-doo again over there, trying to talk this back.
This is also inaccurate, but even here, can you imagine the arrogance of what we are witnessing?
Many Catholics will reflect and pray deeply about this remarkable speech. This generous and historical speech inspires me as a scientific humanist, as I am sure it will inspire many others of other faiths, as well as atheists, agnostics, and other humanists. I have provided a link to the entire text below and my briefer synopsis of it at the beginning of this post.
Also, is it not somewhat well beyond the "grey line of astonishing" that Limbaugh would have the unmitigated audacity to suggest to Pope Francis that his notions about charity, compassion for the poor, and feeding the hungry that he heard from the words attributed to the man he believes to be his savior, Jesus Christ, in the New Testament are all rubbish, according to Limbaugh, and equivalent to Marxism, and communism.
According to Limbaugh, the "real" solution to poverty and hunger is "trickle down economics" and that this bizarre notion, which happens to be discredited in academic economics, is proven according to Pope Limbaugh, who now is apparently, also a Chair Professor in Economics from a major university.
Holy Smokes. I suspect psychology students of the future will be watching, or listening to this tape as the text book definition of the symptoms of "delusions of grandeur," "grandiosity," and narcissistic personality disorder." Perhaps, this is an act Rush Limbaugh affects to be entertaining, because it seems as if even Napoleon might feel challenged to match Rush for Napoleonic complexes of this magnitude.
More importantly, I wonder this: "are his conservative listeners actually listening to what he is saying?" "Are his listeners understanding Limbaugh is not just "trashing Pope Francis, here with these outrageous rants, but he is also trashing the core ideas of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament?" Yet, they keep supporting his show, and spouting off the same right-wing ideological rubbish!
Apparently not, or we would have heard protest by that vocal conservative president of the American Catholic organization that sometimes acts like an anti-defamation league.
Also, what an amazing idea for some new polls. My list of things to do keeps growing as now I have to set up some troll accounts at RedState and some of the other right-wing sites to do some polls to discover how many of those on the right, and Tea Party adherents believe that the true message of the New Testament is "trickle down" economics, and Jesus was the original inspiration for the Reagan Republicans, and the Paul Ryan austerity budgets with his inspiring speech about fiscal conservatism and supply-side economics in the Sermon on the Mount?
Holy goodness! This Rush Limbaugh is just ... unbelievable, infuriating and sad. I ended up being a scientific humanist, but I almost was a Catholic and know enough about it to have empathy for any Catholic who want to be outraged and upset by this moron Limbaugh in the comment section of this post.
Please feel free to be as outraged and indignant as you like in the comments, no limits as this is Friday, so I'm declaring this also to be an Open Thread, and since I've taken so long writing this, this will serve as my Friday Night Sillies post as well , so anything goes and we can see if we can have some fun while everyone else is out on the town like I wish I was. One of the drawbacks of Deluxe Cable packages is my girlgfriend doesn't see any reason why we should go out to movies which I miss.
Full Transcript of March 9, 2014 Speech to UN by Pope Francis:
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THE END
Pope to UN: Resist the economy of exclusion, serve the poor12:41 PM PT:
(This note is just for hard-core Democratic Party Strategists. I don't want "normal readers" to think this is a long post. My challenge goal this week has been writing briefer posts and I want to try to limit the "damage" this one does. So can we all agree this is the end of the post, and this here is just a little not for those that what to target converting and extra 5% to 15% of the national Catholic and Christian voter to our side, especially in mid-west swing state like Ohio. Everyone else can ignore this.
Here, I must pause and speak to all liberals as a strategist for a moment. We have an unprecedented opportunity here which we could easily blow, or fail to capitalize on if many of us us react in our customary manner, for which we would have many legitimate reasons to do. I am going to be suggesting that we attempt to repair our relationships with the communities of faith, and vice-a-versa, and use this event as an opening wedge to split the python like grip the right-wing zealots have on many in the Catholic, and other Christian communities.
By virtues of our core values, many have much more in common with compassionate and wise progressive, liberal or centrist Democrats than cruel, heartless, and short-sighted right-wing zealots like Rush Limbaugh. But, "we" may need to be disciplined and restrain our tendency to lash out with anger and pain at the many real abuses we have individually or collectively suffered had he hands of the Catholic, Christian, or other churches, or organized religious institutions. I do not mean "forgive them. I mean break the political alliance they have with the right and get them to vote with and for us.
During "Post-Mortum" analysis of several of our presidential, senate, and house election loses, I've consistently noticed that often the difference between victory and defeat came down to as little as winning or losing 5% to 10% of the Catholic or other Christian identified vote. My strong personal opinion is that if we were to seriously apply ourselves in a disciplinesl, focused, well organized, long-term and coordinated plan we could realistically pull even a higher percentage of these voters away from their current lock with the right.
Perhaps, they may not vote with us on every issue, but what substantial progress we would make if we just freed them from a lock and put them in a position of open mindedness where they may go either way on the issues, rather than being hypnotized by the Limbaugh - Ryan, right-wing anti-liberal, anti-Democrat(ic), aniti-"Marxist," anti-"social" rhetoric.
Please let me apologize for being blunt and brief about his point. I'm not unaware of the Boston pedophilia scandals, the Vatican crackdown on the U.S. nuns, the Crusades, the over 1,000 year history of the Church's oppression of GLBT, as well as violent repression of pagan, Native American and African religions, the issue of choice, woman' reproductive health and choice, and I do forgive anyone or any institution for that. Right now all I want to do is plant a seed of an idea. Back to the original post.
When I praised Pope Francis' ambitios and lofty commitments in my previous post many wrote in to suggest that "actions speak louder than words," which I agree with. In the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey advices us that many succssful people "seek first to understand, and only then seek to be understood." When someone new comes into a new position of power we should listen to what they have to say with an open mind, and let them be as aspirational as they have the courage to dare.
Time will pass quickly, bringing the harsh crucible of reality to test their words. If we agree with their lofty goal we should help in any way we can. Pope Francis has potential influence over 1 billion Catholics and perhaps even more compassion people whose hearts break when observing the wretched poverty and sufferring our worlds poor exist in at the same time some live in such unimaginable grandeur and excess as to be shameful.
How I hope Pope Franic succeed in acheiving even 25% to 50% of the goals he laid for improving the world's environment, feeding the hundry, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick, creating dignified jobs for those that wish to work, and redistributing overly concentrated wealth and income.
As long as he is working as hard as he can to acheive these goals I will consider him to be a fellow "humanist" ally who may have some "unresolved issues" just like many of the rest of us. His go back a lot longerg to the Holy Wars, participation in mass genocide of Native Americans, the Vaticans coverup and rotation of preists guilty of pedophilia etc. but then 'nobody's perfect.
BTW he didn't personally carry out those acts. He has collective, historical moral responsibility for them in the same way we as Americans have collective moral responsibility for the wars in Afghanstan, Iraq, using the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, testing sypholys on the Testigee airmen, bringing slaves over from African and opressing them for over 200 years, and now being 4.5% of the worlds population but consuming about 23% of the worlds non-renewable resources, and generating CO2 which is destroying our atmosphere to such an extent that we may destroy modern civilization on earth as we know it. Like I said, "nobody is perfect."
Let's focus on action steps for creating a better future for all of now. We will have plenty of time for backbiting and recrimination if the whole system goes to hell later. We have too much work to do now, and we still may have a chance to suceed. Sorry if this sounds preachy, its just the only attitude that gets me through the day.