Not that I needed more reasons to despise Rush Limbaugh, but it turns out that among his many shortcomings, he’s clueless about cats and women. This gem (from last November, but still not stale) comes via figleaf:
LIMBAUGH: My cat — here’s how you can get fooled. My cat comes to me when she wants to be fed. I have learned this. I accept it for what it is. Many people in my position would think my cat’s coming to me because she loves me. Well, she likes me, and she is attached, but she comes to me when she wants to be fed. And after I feed her — guess what — she’s off to wherever she wants to be in the house, until the next time she gets hungry. She’s smart enough to know she can’t feed herself. She’s actually a very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn’t have to do anything for it, which is why I say this cat’s taught me more about women, than anything my whole life. But we put voices in their mouths.
Figleaf comments that Rush apparently thinks “men are interested in women only for pussy.” And I can’t really top that for pithy insight.
But I gotta say: Rush doesn’t know cats. He might live with one who sees him as her meal ticket, but he’s still cat-illiterate.
Grey Kitty started her life as a traumatized little stray kitten who was separated from her mama too soon. She remained neurotic her whole life (and I say that in the most loving possible way). But she didn’t stay skittish forever. Over time, she responded to affection in her own way. She’d usually jump onto my lap if I draped a blanket or afghan over it – not at my will, but because she wanted to cuddle, and she pounced on the invitation.
GK wasn’t trained in some crude stimulus-response, behaviorist way. My mom discovered the blanket trick, but in retrospect it’s pretty clear that GK was training us, not vice versa. She sometimes chose not to jump on the blanket. When she did, she was responding of her own volition, like any good cat. That doesn’t mean her affection was an illusion; it means it was real.
Also, like any wise cat, she knew that a main purpose of her life was to clog my laptop’s keyboard with her hair, so blanket-plus-computer was well-nigh irresistible.
Funny thing. When men recognize women’s volition, they too might just respond warmly.
Cats can teach anyone, not just wingnutty dudes, a thing or two about balancing a sense of self with interdependence and love.
I guess Rush figures he’s an expert in love and women, having gone through three wives, plus a couple of high-profile girlfriends since his last divorce.**
Hmm. What if he’d stop putting “voices in their mouths” – be they women’s or cat’s – and just listen?
Bride-owning kitteh from ICHC?
** (In one of the great WTF moments in modern media history, Rush managed to attract my college classmate, Daryn Kagan, as one of his girlfriends. I didn’t know her, but it’s pretty evident she’s smarter, better-looking, and less politically retrograde than him.)
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
Did you see Limbaugh when he was on Letterman, when out of nowhere Dave turned to Rush and said, “Do you ever feel like you’re full of hot gas?” Rush spluttered and did not know what to say, it was pretty funny.
The thing about Rush is that…how do I say this…the way he presents things is so obviously distorted and I think he knows this, it’s his schtick. I think he knows his cat better than that but he distorts things to make a point. I think that he purposely misrepresents things.
So I would like to just ignore Limbaugh but the problem is that people listen to him and they take him seriously. Ugh
I haven’t seen Letterman in ages, and honestly I got pretty disgusted by his whole harvesting-interns-for-sex thing. But I will root for him against Rush any day!
I really do wonder how much of Rush is real and how much is just showmanship. My friend Hydraargyrum, who comments here sometimes, also listens to Rush semi-regularly, on the theory that you should know your enemy. So he would be better placed to judge. My thought is that yes, Rush knows he’s full of hot gas, but he also knows he can make big bucks while continuing to spew it. And if he really doesn’t believe what he’s saying, how can he sleep at night? I mean, you couldn’t get me to say that shit even if you paid me $100 million a year.
Hmm. That might not actually be true. Maybe I’d take the $100 million and use half of it the next year to promote my true beliefs. That would also set up a big media story: “Former critic of feminazis repents her ways – says feminazis are awesome!” Feminists and everyone else Rush mocks might just come out ahead in that scenario!
But you don’t see Rush rushing to repent. Year after year it’s the same garbage. Maybe that’s why he needed the oxycontin? Maybe on some level he does realize that he’s a human wrecking ball, destroying empathy and decency wherever his program is heard?
And I seriously think he’s clueless about both cats and women. We knew that about women. Now we know it about cats.
Yes you are right. He is obviously clueless about women (look at his track record) and it does sound like he ios clueless about cats as well. And yes, human wrecking ball is exactly what he is, how does he sleep at night? He is one creepy dude.
And oh I have not watched Letterman in a long time either (I just don’t do late night TV) and I forgot all about the intern thing, but I lost respect for him, too. Not because of the sex, but because he was having sex with people who worked for him. I really have a problem with that.