GOP Candidates Can't Campaign Without Lying

[_Kevin Graham]

The Worst From The Right-Wing Media's Picks For GOP Debate Moderators

After the CNBC Republican presidential debate generated controversy, conservative media have suggested upcoming debates should be moderated by right-wing pundits. Their suggestions have included serial misinformers and inflammatory commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, and Erick Erickson. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz also proposed "a debate moderated by Sean Hannity and Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh."

Here is a look at what right-wing figures like Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin, Beck, and Erickson would bring to the debate stage.

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh has a long history of offensive and controversial remarks during his decades-long radio career. He came under heavy fire and lost advertisers and affiliates following his nasty attacks on Georgetown University Law Center student Sandra Fluke in 2012.

Limbaugh Regularly Engages In Misogynistic Smears And Attacks On Women. Limbaugh once compared a young Chelsea Clinton to a dog, claimed feminism "was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream," and said Hillary Clinton is in possession of a "testicle lockbox." He repeatedly attacked Sandra Fluke, calling her "a slut" and "a prostitute." [Media Matters, 3/5/12, 3/5/12, 3/15/12]

Limbaugh's Long History Of Making Outrageous, Offensive Comparisons And Invoking Rape When Discussing Politics. Limbaugh has compared welfare recipients to wild animals who rely on humans for food, health care reform to Nazi policies, and President Obama to various dictators. In 2013, Limbaugh compared changing Senate filibuster rules to "allow[ing] women to be raped." [Media Matters, 11/23/13]

Limbaugh Has Made Offensive And Controversial Remarks Targeting Immigrants. Limbaugh has described undocumented immigrants as an "invasive species," and repeatedly mocked, denigrated, and insulted them as disease-ridden, criminal, and unintelligent. [Media Matters, 3/10/12]

Limbaugh Uses His Program To Mock Those Suffering From Natural Disasters And Illnesses. Limbaugh once accused actor Michael J. Fox of "exaggerating" the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease in a commercial for a Senate candidate, and expressed amusement that a deadly earthquake hit an environmentally conscious country. [Media Matters, 3/11/12]

Limbaugh Launches Racial Attacks Against Minorities And President Obama. Limbaugh has a long history of discriminatory attacks on minorities, which escalated during President Obama's presidency. During a 2013 discussion of George Zimmerman's trial, Limbaugh claimed he could now use the word "nigga" because a trial witness used the word. [Media Matters, 3/7/12, 7/16/13]

Limbaugh Frequently Engages In Attacks Against LGBT People And Issues. [Media Matters, 3/9/12]


Mark Levin

Radio host Mark Levin uses toxic rhetoric to rail against progressives and those he sees as insufficiently conservative.

Levin's Long History Of Pushing Conservative Lies And Hateful Rhetoric. Levin has compared marriage equality to incest, polygamy, and drug use; compared supporters of the health care law to Nazi "brown shirts"; and likened immigration reform to the "destruction" and "unraveling" of society. [Media Matters, 3/6/14]

Levin: President Obama Is A "Low-Life" And A "Racist" For Using "The N-Word" After Charleston Shooting. [Media Matters, 6/23/15]

Levin Accused Obama Of Being Anti-Semitic. [Media Matters, 3/18/15]

Glenn Beck

TheBlaze host Glenn Beck is best-known for his fringe rhetoric and outlandish conspiracy theories that helped lead to his parting from Fox News in 2011.

Media Matters' Comprehensive Guide To Glenn Beck's Tenure With Fox News. Beck's tenure at Fox News included violent rhetoric; conspiratorial musings; and rhetoric steeped in steeped in anti-Semitic stereotypes. [Media Matters, 6/29/11]

Beck Smeared President Obama As A Racist With "Deep-Seated Hatred For White People." [Media Matters, 7/30/09]

The 8 Most Ridiculous Attacks On Public Education In Glenn Beck's Book Conform: Exposing The Truth About Common Core And Public Education. [Media Matters, 5/13/14]

Glenn Beck Has History Of Using The Holocaust To Advance His Political Agenda. Beck has repeatedly invoked Nazis, Hitler, and the Holocaust to attack his political opponents. [Media Matters, 8/22/11]

Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson is a conservative blogger, radio host, and Fox News contributor. He's used his media platforms to push ugly rhetoric about women, LGBT people, and progressives.

Erickson's Fringe Rhetoric: Supreme Court Justice A "Goat damned Child Molester," When Are We Going To Beat Legislators To "A Bloody Pulp?" [Media Matters, 8/4/15]

Erickson Has A History Of Sexism, Including Claiming That Males Should Be "Dominant," "Feminazis" Are "Ugly," And Michelle Obama Is A "Marxist Harpy Wife." [Media Matters,8/4/15]

Erickson Has Been Called Out By Colleagues For "Being Disrespectful To Women." [Media Matters, 8/4/15]

Erickson Is An Anti-LGBT Activist Who Has Suggested LGBT People Are Hell-bound. [Media Matters, 8/4/15; EqualityMatters.org, accessed 11/2/15]

[_subgenius]

Thanks for furthering the point, that you're basically just a child.

A dumb child at that.

all you ever have is insult and mockery for those who, ironically, you believe you can change through that same strategy....how is that working out for ya?

(technically I am telling the truth here....does that mean I am not being honest?)

[_Kevin Graham]

That you cannot distinguish between deception/lying and misspeaking is just a testament to your immaturity and/or stupidity. Take your pick.

Because there really is a distinction. Every other thinking person with half a brain accepts this.

I cited your own sources and they gave Sanders zero "pants on fire" judgments. Your GOP clowns all have anywhere between two and twelve. Trying to equate Sanders with these deceptive assholes is an exercise in futility.

[_Themis]

It does spend more than twice the amount as is spent in countries like the UK and Canada, which would have been sufficient to establish his point. Socialized medicine reduces costs, that's a fact.

Yup. Some of the reasons for less money is they don't have insurance companies who need to make a profit as well as pay for things like advertising. That ends up being a good amount of money for people not really involved in providing you any medical services. Better to keep that money in peoples pockets to spend on other things that can make peoples lives better.

[_ajax18]

Some of the reasons for less money is they don't have insurance companies who need to make a profit as well as pay for things like advertising. That ends up being a good amount of money for people not really involved in providing you any medical services.

I think you might have a point here.

Medicines top earners are not MDs

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/sunda ... .html?_r=1

[_Kevin Graham]

Hello capitalism.

[_ajax18]

Hello capitalism.

What's your alternative, to have doctors treated the way public school teachers and police officers are treated now?

[_moksha]

What's your alternative, to have doctors treated the way public school teachers and police officers are treated now?

No way. Medical doctors are smart and well trained. If not for piles of money, we would need to resort to those applicants who are driven by altruistic motives. We should treat insurance executives more like school teachers (not like police officers, since it won't do to have insurance executives shooting unarmed civilians).

[_Themis]

Hello capitalism.

What's your alternative, to have doctors treated the way public school teachers and police officers are treated now?

The alternative is what all other industrialized countries have done and are doing at a much lower cost.

[_ajax18]

The alternative is what all other industrialized countries have done and are doing at a much lower cost.

And the best and the brightest still want to be doctors and come back to rural Canada to practice?