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WH Denounces Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh Haiti Comments

by Tommy Christopher | 8:03 pm, January 14th, 2010

» 30 comments

Much has been written on this site about the despicable comments of Pat Robertson (who said that the Haiti earthquake was the result of a pact with Satan) and Rush Limbaugh (who, among other things, urged his listeners not to donate to relief efforts), both of which came up at today’s White House press briefing. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs‘ responses were properly calibrated to the importance of these men at a time such as this.

Gibbs was first asked about Robertson, but didn’t get far before being interrupted:

Transcript:

Q And just one more quick question. What did you think of Pat Robertson’s comments yesterday that the Haitians brought this on themselves by making a pact with the devil?

MR. GIBBS: It never ceases to amaze that in times of amazing human suffering somebody says something that could be so utterly stupid, but it like clockwork happens with some regularity. What is — well, I won’t –

Q Hey, Robert, you were going to come back on AIG –

Q No, go ahead.

MR. GIBBS: No, no, no, no, I got — hold on, let me just go –

Q You wanted to say something.

MR. GIBBS: Yes, I know, and I — the universal right of a –

Q Unburden yourself.

MR. GIBBS: — free press secretary to — no, I won’t. You know, well, I’ll tell you afterwards, it actually applies to what I might have said and I quickly formulated it through and — go ahead.

Q It would have been very stupid.

MR. GIBBS: Yes, it would. (Laughter.)

At the very end of the briefing, however, he had the opportunity to revisit both comments:

Transcript:

Q Robert, Rush Limbaugh says that Americans shouldn’t donate to Haiti. What do you say about that?

MR. GIBBS: Again, I’d refer you back to the — again, I think in times of great crisis there are always people that say really stupid things. I don’t know how anybody — I don’t know how anybody could sit where he does, having enjoyed the success that he has, and not feel some measure of sorrow for what has happened in Haiti. I think to use the power of your pulpit to try to convince those not to help their brothers and sisters is sad. My sense is that most people, though, because they understand we’re part of an amazing world, won’t listen, and instead will seek to help those that they know, because through no fault of their own, have suffered an unspeakable tragedy.

Gibbs is right, of course. Most Americans will ignore Rush, whose previous yardstick on Haiti was his perception of the quality of their prostitutes (really), but some won’t. At a time when every little bit counts, that really is sad.

deal with the devil, dittoheads, Haiti, haiti earthquake, haiti relief, msnbc, Oliver Willis, Pat Robertson, President Obama, Rachel Maddow, Raymond Joseph, Robert Gibbs, Rush, Rush Limbaugh, Shep Smith, The State of Journalism, Tommy Christopher, twitter, YouTube

Pat Doherty

Do you think if you keep saying Limbaugh urged his listeners not to donate to relief efforts it will really be true?
TfT

Is Tommy auditioning for a job on MSNBC? Really….tell a lie often enough and hey….it’s still a lie.
marigrace

Rush’s statement was taken out of context when he commented on our government’s wasteful, inefficient spending in reference to Haiti. He wasn’t suggesting that people refrain from donating to Haiti, but to donate to agencies that use the majority of the money for the people who need it! Something govrnment agencies
http://lnsmitheeblog.blogspot.com LNSmithee

Apparently, Tommy has a taken his daily dose of whatever it is Glynnocchio takes every morning that gives her the courage to provide the site’s readers enough evidence to disprove her own conclusions.

I direct you to the king (or queen) of all lies on Mediaite (at least since I’ve hung around), now in its 45th day of not being corrected: Glynnis MacNicol’s assertion that a “Birthers [Compared] Obama To An Ape” in a newspaper ad. Just one look at the ad itself (which MacNicol provided without fear of contradiction) disproves her accusation.

Tommy’s advantage in this thread is that he is letting the reporter’s question alleging Rush “[said] that Americans shouldn’t donate to Haiti” stand on its own without the context that made a liar out of him. You can find more proof Rush is being smeared here and in other posts.
ZoneDaiatlas

Tommy “I’M A LYING DOUCHE BAG” Christopher, Where are you getting your BS facts that Rush Limbaugh is telling his listeners not to donate to Haiti? Where are you getting your facts from you spineless coward? Keith “I Get Low Ratings in Bed” Olbermann just now said that Rush Limbaugh was selling gold on his website not taking donations for Haiti. Let’s take a look at Rush Limbaugh’s website. Let me see here…. What’s that on top of his website? A link to donate to Haiti?
Jim R

America needs to see these two charlatans for what they are and the role they’ve played in denigrating our public discourse, misleading millions into hating the other and voting against their own self interest.

Robertson and Limbaugh deserve to have exposed their truly anti-American despicable hate mongering. One could only hope that this forty-year jihad on American Democracy and decency by corporatists and demagogues working in tandem to steal from the masses for the few; will be viewed as a tragic historical anomaly that evolution eventually cured.
Pat Doherty

Tommy didn’t post the article, he was one of the only liberals who had the integrity to criticize it.
ZoneDaiatlas

Opps, My Apologizes to Tommy Christopher. He did not write the vile article about Conservative women…
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taj-Bozeman/661000669 Joshua Taj Bozeman

Tommy, seriously? You were caught lying in one article, so you decided to continue the lie here?

Folks, don’t trust Tommy, he’s simply telling a bald-faced lie here. I listened to the entire section of the show, and Rush NEVER told people not to donate. In fact, after some sites posted lie, he talked about it today and noted what he DID, in fact, say. He simply said that we’ve (the US govt thru USAID) has sent billions to Haiti, and it often gets stolen from corrupt politicians and a class of thugs that rule the place. Things haven’t gotten better, but have instead gotten worse. He brought it up today and stated unequivocally that he did not believe it a good thing to refuse to donate to this cause.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taj-Bozeman/661000669 Joshua Taj Bozeman

Smithee- nice link. I wonder if everyone who writes at mediaite is full of shit like this?

She can’t honestly claim she’s never seen the well known statues of the see no/hear no/speak no evil monkeys! Liberals ALWAYS make everything into a racial issue…and their love of lying about race DESTROYS the lives of black Americans. Which is why I find it amazing black Americans so desparately cling to liberals, because they’re being used as pawns all the time.

If Tommy can’t be trusted to tell the truth and MacNicol is full of it too, is there ANYONE that can be trusted on this site? I stopped reading mediaite when Tommy posted his nonsense about Griff Jenkins being a coward because he refused to do public relations for Fox News…in that post, Tommy also lied by trying to imply that Jenkins made several comments that OTHER Fox News people made. I’m seeing a pattern here with our boy…
http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

@ZoneDaiatlas: I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but it looks like the Haiti relief ad at the top of Limbaugh’s site links to a ClearChannel effort that they’re linking from their other properties, too. At least all day today, if not some of yesterday in addition to today, Google has been spreading ads for their own effort across their adsense and doubleclick networks and I assume that Yahoo! and Microsoft have been doing the same.
Duc du Berry

Can’t wait for karma to come back on these two odious creatures. Talk about your basic reptilian brain on steroids – that’s Rush, and Robertson, well he is an addled and satanic lump of flesh himself. If there was a god, I’m sure he would relieve us all of these two.
TfT

Perhaps Tommy is working for MSNBC, I see that Mourning Joe is repeating your lie. Congratulations. Top cover from the propaganda station known as MSNBC.

Once again, I ask where is Dan? Why does he allow his “columnists” to mislead in their “reporting”? Sad
Jim R

“[W]e’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.” Rush Limbaugh.

Sounds like a rousing call to donate for the poor and unfortunate HUMAN BEINGS in Haiti to me!
Cecelia

Oh, it’s crap.

They know that Limbaugh was telling his listeners not to donate through the White House website, rather than telling them not to donate at all.
Cecelia

[W]e’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.” Rush Limbaugh.

Sounds like a rousing call to donate for the poor and unfortunate HUMAN BEINGS in Haiti to me!

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

Well, in the context of Rush telling people to give to PRIVATE rather than government relief efforts, THAT would make sense.
Zakk

Robertson is an idiot and Rush is once again correct. If he wasn’t right, why did Hillary Clinton make a point of saying that there would be ‘oversight’ with all money donated for this charity? Could it be because the government that is about to take over healthcare is famous for ‘losing’ money?

All Rush was saying was make a donation to a charity that will actually give the money to the people of Haiti. But, nice try. It’s really kinda pathetic to watch the left try to make this an issue.
J Baustian

I agree with Zakk — what Robertson said was just plain nuts, but to selectively edit Limbaugh’s remarks then try to link him to Robertson is disgusting.

Also, while I totally support the American people donating as much as they can, and support using the military to get relief supplies and medical care to the Haitian people, there are limits to what the government can do to rebuild Haiti. The US has been exceptionally generous to Haiti in the past and there was never much to show for it. The roads and bridges the US built in Haiti during the Clinton years quickly fell into disrepair, for example.
captainkona

“We’ve already donated to Haiti!” he declared. “It’s called the US income tax!” He then goes on to point out that lots of churches and other groups are already trying to help. “There are people who do charitable work every day in Haiti. It’s not as though… it’s our fault.”

Sorry, un-American Tea Bag Fags. The above is Rush Limbaugh clearly encouraging his traitorous listeners NOT to donate. Excuses are not made for being pro-active, they’re made for being inactive.
When are you sorry, racist, un-American vermin going to get it through your empty heads that America hates you and wants you to leave?
sarainitaly

captainkona says:
January 15, 2010 at 2:26 pm

“un-American Tea Bag Fags”

wow, somebody sure sounds like a bigot….. I find your comment very disgraceful. I really don’t like gay bashing bigots.

“When are you sorry, racist, un-American vermin going to get it through your empty heads that America hates you and wants you to leave?”

wow….
deg007

I went to all the trouble of registering and logging in for the very first time for no other reason than to respond to the despicable hate and trickery of Zone “I’m a white secret racist who hides behind a keyboard and would never confront a black man or President Obama because I’m a coward” Daiatlas.

( By the way, I look like a typical conservative white Republican. I’m not, though. I care about people, and want to help Haiti. )

Anyhoo, that dumbass posted that Rush Limbaugh’s site links to giving aid to Haiti. The truth is, it’s ‘Iheartradio”. It isn’t Rush Limbaugh behind it. So, thank you, Iheartradio. You can see it for yourself.

Zone “I’m a clone filled with hate and mayonnaise” Daiatlas implies that selling gold isn’t first and foremost. Okay, I click on one of Rush Limbaugh’s stupid links to some vitriol-filled garbage he is spewing, and what fills my screen? Giant bars of gold. You can find this for yourself.

No where. NO. WHERE. does Rush “I’m one Big mac away from the Big One” Limbaugh state, “Please help Haiti. Please give a few dollars.” Nope. Instead, he states our income taxes go to aid, and so we are fine.

We aren’t. How those two lying sacks of hate, Rush and his suckling Zone, can sleep at night is beyond me.

Oh, wait, I know. They have soft pillows filled with cash. And Ho-Ho’s.

God, I was wishing Rush had died last week. And I really mean that.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taj-Bozeman/661000669 Joshua Taj Bozeman

Wow deg, nice way to show the site (and the world) that you’re a lunatic.

And a child at the same time apparently.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taj-Bozeman/661000669 Joshua Taj Bozeman

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011510/content/01125106.guest.html

Only someone who already hates Rush would have interpreted his comments as, “don’t donate to relief efforts in Haiti.” Only a dishonest person who hates Rush, in fact.

He was so clearly saying that all the govt does is throw money at the Haiti problem, and historically just throwing money at a problem has NEVER fixed anything. And it’s true. If money fixed things, there’d be no one on welfare. Welfare has been a disaster that has created a generation of people who think the govt should pay their way, no matter how many kids out of wedlock they have. Which is basically what he said of Haiti- the problems haven’t gotten better, but rather worse with money.
Thrasher

When will White House issue a statement against David Brooks’ racist commentary in the NYT towards Haiti??
http://www.facebook.com/people/Hanna-Jack/100000537150402 Hanna Jack

an ancient curse on Haiti was responsible for this week’s earthquake spurred a dumbfounded response from the White House
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davinciemily

Yap I agree with Gibbs; that statement was utterly stupid
Davinci Emily
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That is fare. I think those comments came out too soon and so had to be guided back.
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