Posted on 09/19/2009 4:38:49 AM PDT by iowamark
America, are you ready for Rush Limbaugh in an electric car?
The conservative talk show host has agreed to take Jay Leno's "Green Car Challenge."
In the segment airing next Thursday on NBC's "Jay Leno Show," Limbaugh will race an electric Ford Focus around a custom-built track beside Leno's studio, the show's representative confirmed.
The "Green Car Challenge" segment makes its debut on the primetime show tomorrow night. Celebrities who participate drive two times around the twisty track, which takes a little less than a minute to complete.
By the time Rush gets behind the wheel of the zero-emission vehicle, Bob Costas, Al Michaels and Drew Barrymore will have set times to beat.
Limbaugh is not a fan of hybrid and electric cars. Last March he criticized such vehicles -- including Ford's.
"Nobody's buying 'em. Nobody wants them. The manufacturers are making them in droves to satisfy Obama. ... People are going to buy [hybrids] because Obama's going to see to it the price [of gas] gets back up to four bucks, since that is the tipping point … Ford and Toyota are manufacturing all kinds of new hybrids to keep politicians happy. Politics. You want to know what killed the auto industry? Politics.”
Leno has been interested in getting more newsmakers on his new program than on "The Tonight Show." On his second night he welcomed Michael Moore into the studio.
The advertiser-friendly "Green Car Challenges" allows NBC to work product sponsorship into the program, though some critics have wondered whether the segment will also be entertaining.
Smokey Robinson will be the musical guest.
They must be buds.
I mean for Rush to help Jay's show. It is almost like Rush joining the 'other side'. It is almost as big as Dylan selling out...
Here’s my “Green Car Challenge” for Leno (and Gore and a whole bunch of other celebrities that like to tell the Little People what they should drive). Let’s see him drive 500 miles on a normal road full of normal cars in a little green econobox. When he’s done, let’s see what his gas mileage was.
Leno needs to create an audience and by having El Rushbo on will surely create that audience. I noticed that his ratings tanked when he had that fat POS Moore on last week. I suspect the track is completely round so the libs can stay on the track without fear of running into the left wall.
Smokey Robinson will be the musical guest.I love Smokey and his music, but they better make sure he's sober first.
A few years back my wife & an old GF from HS of hers went to his concert, he was smashed and talked more than he sang.
Top Gear does it better.
Sorry Rush, some of us do like gasoline-electric hybrids. I have one - a 2007 Honda Accord Hybrid. It’s the best car I’ve ever owned.
With all his 'Classic Cars' (major gas guzzlers) and Harleys his 'carbon footprint' is the size of Montana.
To be fair to Leno, is he pushing for everyone to drive these types of cars or is he just genuinely pushing this type of challenge?
To be fair to Leno, is he pushing for everyone to drive these types of cars or is he just genuinely pushing this type of challenge?Don't know, don't watch him and don't care. As long as he has that stable of cars & Harleys, he should STFU on 'green anything'.
The climate control (HVAC) required just for his 'garage' is enough for a cul-de-sac of houses (about 20).
Is Jay going to scrap the hundreds and hundreds of fuel guzzling classic cars and machinery he has amassed? The guy has a jet powered motorcycle for Gosh sakes!
On his first show, one of his monologue jokes was: “While we were off, the government started this program to give people money for their old cars..... I made 5 billion dollars. “
I was driving down I-696 here in the detroit area ( otherwise known as the autobahn) and pulled up next to a smart car, in the center lane, going about 60...the rest of the freeway is going between 75 and 90 mph...i was in my gas guzzlin, pollution spewin, ozone depletin suv...that thing would be no more than a speed bump..driving these little cars on major freeways during rush hour is an invitation to death
and Stevie Wonder taking the driving test on Monday's show.
Rush will boost Leno’s ratings but this appearance doesn’t do Rush any harm. He looks good on a TV screen and people who normally known nothing about him (except what Brooks and Gergen, et al tell them) will get to see Rush and hear Rush for themselves.
Rush says he wouldn’t buy one - has he ever driven one? It’s been a few years since I listened to Rush regularly - I prefer to listen to Dennis Prager who broadcasts at the same time.
“By the time Rush gets behind the wheel of the zero-emission vehicle...”
For the n-millionth time, it’s not a freakin “zero-emmision vehicle” (unless it’s emitting Obama’s) - you’re getting emissions, they’re just coming from whereever the hell you’re making the electricity.
If all the juice is coming from nukes or hydro, okay - you can make a case for zero emissions. But the way the electric grid works, most of that electricity is being generated by burning coal, and with the power losses on transmission, and the effeciency of motors that turn electricity to power, I’d really be curious how much (if any) emissions are even diminished.
I wouldn’t watch this show even if Rush Limbaugh was on as a guest. Now, I *might* watch it if he were a guest host.
Jay Leno seems like a nice guy, but he is a lib, and uses his guest selections and content to push liberalism. I don’t know if I have ever watched a whole show.
I'm sure Rush will make a great comedy bit out of it for Jay. I think his Family Guy stint(s) stunned many Lefties. They can't believe Der Fuhrer is an actual human being with a sense of humor.
What Rush doesn’t like is the government forcing you to buy them. He has repeatedly stated that others can buy them if they wish and that would be their own decision, but he doesn’t like the government mandating it.
Which is what it will slowly come to, if we continue down this socialist track.
On his first show, one of his monologue jokes was: “While we were off, the government started this program to give people money for their old cars..... I made 5 billion dollars. “That is funny because it has a ring of truth to it, Leno owns that many Classic Cars. And I don't begrudge him one bit, good for him. But then DON'T go peddling 'green energy'.
I'd wager few of his viewers (sheeple) know he collects cars and Harleys. They'll see this and think, 'Wow Jay really cares about the planet, he's for green energy'.
I know what you mean. I see one about three times a week crossing our 3 mile long I-295 bridge across the St Johns River. At least the driver is “Smart” enough to stay in the right lane.
Leno was interviewed by James May (Top Gear) in a segment about the Honda Clarity FCX. They concluded that hydrogen car will replace the gasoline for general use and that gasoline vehicles will be used only for recreational purposes; just as the automobile and truck replaced horses, carriages, and wagons for general use - horses now being used more for sport than as beasts of burden.
That is an interesting thought.
There are pollutants generated by oil and coal plants, some portion of the electricity is lost between the point of generation and the outlet in the garage. I have heard a quarter of electricity is lost in the process of transmission.
How does that compare to the cost of burning fuel directly in a vehicle if those factors above are taken into account? I am sure someone has done that...
I wouldn’t know if he’s driven one or not - that’s not the point - he doesn’t want one - you do - that’s fine - just allow the free market to dictate the hybrid sales - not the gov’t
And my point is that you shouldn’t dismiss new technology without trying it out.
Fathead Jay Leno and Fatazz Michael Moore on tee-vee at the same time must have exceeded the bandwidth available to NBC....too bad the whole dam network did not implode!
OK - You make an excellent pt.
What I would prefer is to use nuclear power plants to produce electricity. That would eliminate almost all of the production of excess carbon dioxide.
Rush will brag about the carbon he’ll use drive the 7mpg Maybach to the airport and fly EIB 1 to California to drive a “green car”.
At least Rush will be able to afford that car, most Americans can not afford the price tag of those cars, let alone any kind of car now.
I believe he also said it was quite hypocritical how many Celebs talk about saving the Earth and then jump into their private jets.
Then generating plant alone waste more than 50% of the coal/oil energy put in. Then add transmission losses. Then at electric losses in the charging and running of the vehicle.
I am much looking forward to electric cars. No pollution. Few moving parts. I don’t have to screw around with oil changes or leaks in the cooling system. No motor drone. You get a wonderfully quiet ride. TONS of torque and fast 0-60mph times and quarter mile ETs.
Bring it on! I can’t wait!
That said, we are going to need a hell of a lot more nuclear powerplants and a huge infrastructure for recharging these cars away from our homes, before electric cars have a snowball’s chance in hell of being practical.
I don’t fear a conversion to electric cars at all, but powering them with coal-fired powerplants is pure idiocy.
Beyond that, we have centuries of oil in our shale deposits yet to exploit, a mature infrastructure for delivering fuel for internal combustion engines. So I can’t see any mass movement to electric cars in the 25 or so years left in my expected lifetime.
But I don’t fear electric cars in the least. Bring them on. Instead of gorging the banks on public debt via Stimulus bills, we should have spent that money on 75 or 80 new nuclear powerplants and the construction of a network of electrical recharging stations nationwide.
WTH? Rush doesn’t drive. He makes a point of that, or did, anyway. Maybe I’m just not up to speed on this... Maybe it’s experience with golf carts that prompted him to do this?
I'll be happy to look at a hybrid when they save money as well as gas :)
Furthermore, I would buy an electric car in a minute if it was fast, sporty and fun. I have a 5 mile drive to work over city streets, averaging 30 miles per hour. Even a 50 miles range would let me commute all week without plugging in.
This won’t work for most people, who have much longer commutes. As I said above, we need nuclear power plants and a delivery infrastructure before this can be widespread. But my unique conditions mean I could use an electric vehicle to commute in and if it was affordable, fast, sporty and fun, I would have no problem giving up my Chevy pickup for a fast, quiet, reliable alternative. No motor. No tranny. No clutch. These cars have to be dirt reliable, long lasting, and cheap to maintain.
Bring it on, I say. Just don’t FORCE people to buy them. That is where the lunatic fringe liberals and the communists like Obama go wrong. They don’t offer a choice, they issue commands.
And keep in mind that coal is a lot “dirtier” than gasoline or diesel - it’s relatively easy to refine out sulfur-containing impurities from liquid fuels - you just boil them and do it by fractional distillation.
But cleaning up solids is a much bigger problem - so even the low-sulfur coals still contain a bunch more sulfur than gasoline (and that sulfur, after combustion, ends up a SO2 and SO3 which have to be scrubbed or emitted).
I would use new technology if I can afford it, but, for everyone to be forced to is not productive.
>>as they try merge into the right lane
Merging into traffic?? That’s sooooo 1970! Most people I see around here think that a cell phone in your hand gives you the right of way and that the cars going 20 mph faster will just find a way to go around or slow down.
Bingo! If electric cars are green, zero-emmission machines, then so are incandescent light bulbs and air conditioners.
“They concluded that hydrogen car will replace the gasoline for general use...”
Again, more fantasy until somebody comes up with a useful source of hydrogen. Right now, if you want levels of H2 sufficient to dent our transportation needs, you’ll get it from . . . petroleum. There’s a brilliant thought - convert oil to CO2 and H2, and burn the H2, instead of just burning the damn gasoline.
Hydrogen will become a major player, and solar will matter for things like transportation, when we learn to use the energy of sunlight to cleave water to hydrogen and oxygen (which could then be recombined to give water and electricity).
Photochemical (solar) cleavage of water is hypothetically possible, but it’s hellishly difficult to make the process practical. There are numerous researchers working on that technical problem - that’s where we need to put some serious funding.
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