I was listening to Rush Limbaugh today as he was knocking Prius owners. A caller who admitted she was a conservative and a Prius owner said she bought the Prius just because she liked it. Then Rush jumped in to say (based on no evidence as usual) that people buy Prius's because they want to "make a statement." I guess he was implying that we are all "tree-huggers" and are trying to save the environment. I bought my Prius because I liked the technology built in the car and I wanted to save on gas. I guess Rush Limbaugh is as knowledgeable about our current president as he is on why we buy our Prius's.
Folks like Rush and Sean actually know quite a bit about the president -- all they do day in and day out is keep up on current events, speeches, legislation and all that other boring stuff. Now, is he wrong on the Prius? Sure is -- I'm not trying to make a statement; I just want to save money and play with the cool computer crap inside of the car. When I realized I could get a loaded Mustang for the same price, I started to kick myself, being a red-blooded, fossil-fuel-burning conservative American. But at the end of the day, Rush is not a reporter who reports unbiased news, he's a commentator who's expressing his opinions and pushing his agenda... one of them being the use of fossil fuels. It's not a big issue, just something someone else in the world thinks.
I've listended to Rush for many years. I don't take some of the things he says seriously. Other things he says are fair observations of a current situation. Somebody needs to call in and remind him that Mac users are also "making a statement". He has been a Mac user since day one. So have I.
You know, we kind of are trying to make a statement. Not a "look at us, we care about the environment, so admire and praise us!" statement, but a "hey, car manufacturers, there is a market for cars that save gas and have low emissions" sort of message. One car is a fairly small statement, but it's voting with our dollars to the extent we can. Of course that's only a piece of it... we wouldn't buy the Prius just to make a statement if we didn't like it. And let me tell you, Rush's opinion on Priuses, or for that matter anything else, doesn't enter into it at all. Michelle p.s. er, just to clarify, "we" as used here is myself and bill/HeuristicsInc... not claiming to speak for Prius-types in general.
All Rush does from day to day is spread hate and discontent. Guess now he's telling people to hate Prius owners as well. Well, too late Rush -- you're getting on the bashing bandwagon a little late. Guess someone else told YOU what to think on this one...
Well, I find that comment, if true, kind of stupid...however, you must define HATE differently than I. I have never heard HATE, except for liberal ideas, coming out of Rush. Give me some hateful quotes.
I'm sure there are some who buy the Prius to make a statement. However, I would suggest that the majority of us are buying it because we're sick of filling up a gas hog and want to save some $. That's why I'm buying it. Ignore Rush Limbaugh. He's a propagandist for the Republicans. Ken
Even though you are not buying a Prius to make a statement, you still make a statement. Just like the SUV buyer, the minivan buyer, and the sports car buyer. We all have preconceived notions of the type of person someone is by the car they drive. I have seen it here numerous times concerning SUV drivers (not courteous, aggressive, not as smart because they are wasting fuel, etc.) You are right about these talk show hosts being very well informed about politics, but when they stray (Hugh Hewitt was jumping on the WSJ bandwagon yesterday), and sound like idiots, it does make me wonder about their other information.
That's like saying whenever I put on jeans in the morning instead of slacks, even though I don't mean to make a statement, I make a statement. You're saying in *existing* we make a statement. No crap. Let's not split semantics here -- unless I overtly state that "I'm buying a Prius because I'm a tree-hugging hippy", let's assume that, whatever anyone else thinks be damned, I'm not making a statement. Energy and fuel is a large part of politics; however, his statement was based on one single thing: His opinion. If you condeming someones right to express an opinion, you're making yourself no better than the person whom you condem.
When I listen to Rush, my pressure rises and my blood boils - but I also perceive the humor . . . when it is there. When I listen to Al Franken, my pressure rises and my blood boils - but I also perceive the humor . . . when it is there. When I listen to music stations, my pressure stays low and my blood flows - no need for tidbits of humor . . . shut-up and give me the music. Guess which one I do 99% of the time.
I just caught part of his comments, but wasn't he reading direct from a Toyota release about the Prius? He is correct about how it doesn't get the advertised mpg, but neither do most other cars in the real world. If you eliminate the computer gagetry of the Prius, it is priced about $7000 or more than an equivalent car that gets less mpg. @45 mpg vs 30 mpg it would take 285,000 miles to get back the $7000 without interest. Everyone is going to have different figures to compare, but the point I think he was trying to make is that from a mileage standpoint only, it will take a long, long time to pay for the difference. There are many other reasons why people buy the Prius and each buyer has their own. Personally, it is not the quality of ride I had expected nor want, so it is going down the road to someone else. I'm sure someone will think it is everything they ever wanted and will be happy with it. So will I. Doug
It doesn't matter what Rush says. While November 2005 auto sales for Ford, GM, and Chrylser are down - Toyota Prius sales are up 29.1%. Rush talks but Money walks (or drives in this case).
Were my wife and I intending to make a statement when we bought our Prius? Shure we were! Our "statement" - we are making an intelligent choice to purchase a quality built car, with advanced features, that allows us to spend less on filling the tank, and puts less pollutants in the air. Tree huggers? Perhaps, but these two conservative Texas republicans made a "statement" by (buy) voting with their wallets. As others on this forum have mentioned, Prius owners sometimes catch flak just because we made a smarter choice in our auto purchase. Must be a day for radio folks to bash the Prius. This morning, one of the CBS radio reporters spoke about how emergency workers were afraid a hybrid auto could electrocute emergency workers! Talk about old and innacurate news. Sigh. Love our Prius!
Rush is a dick. A hateful, hypocritical windbag with a microphone. Want Hate? Listen to Rush. This is what I found in only five minutes on the web. On Women: "Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream." "They vote with their vaginas" On homosexuals: "The difference between Los Angeles and yogurt is that yogurt comes with less fruit." "When a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult; it's an invitation" On liberals: "Enraging liberals is simply one of the more enjoyable side effects of my wisdom." On our Iraqi prisoner abuse: "What do we care what is the most humiliating thing in the world for them? There's also this business of them all wearing hoods and how that’s also very humiliating. You can see more guys wearing hoods at a [Sen.] Robert Byrd birthday party 40 years ago than we've seen in these prisoner photos." On Mexicans: "If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people - I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do - let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work On African-Americans: "The NAACP should have riot rehearsals"
Comment is true and not stupid. Feminazi's is a pretty hateful term, one he coined (as far as I know) and uses all the time.
how many times does Rush get it from his wife, once a year or am I being too liberal? He is one of the seriously perturbed provocateurs in the media. His popularity among some comes from angst via his own repressed sexuality. It only takes a few days of listening to his show to find out that he is a perverted sociopath.
How can you tell if someone is liberal? Express any non-liberal view and they will call it "Hate Speech". Engage in dialog? No.. Just yell HATE louder and louder until the rest of society is too annoyed with you to attempt a conversation. You go away thinking you won something when all that happened was for the rest of the world to decide you are too worthless to continue to attempt a conversation. The nice thing about being that way (liberal), is that you never have to worry about facts or truth. Neither ever enters the picture. Should be an interesting 20 years coming. Freedom of everything seems to be the liberal agenda. Freedom of religion is seemingly fairly solid principal in this country, but basic truths and teachings in the Bible are easily within the target of the liberal agenda as what they define to be hate speech. I'm conservative, I don't listen to Rush, and my Prius should be here in Jan/Feb. Until then, I'm burning $550 a month in fuel just to get to work.