Posted on 12/06/2010 8:44:38 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
BRISTOL — America’s most popular radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, blasted Bristol the other day for supposedly making off with some of the $3.3 trillion in loans given to businesses by the Federal Reserve during the recession.
While the charge is false – even absurd given the city’s paltry place in the financial arena – Limbaugh didn’t stop there.
He described Bristol to his millions of listeners as nothing more than ESPN.
“That’s all that’s there: ESPN and a couple of cheap hotels,” Limbaugh said on his nationally syndicated show Thursday.
That was more than enough to stir Bristol’s mayor, Art Ward.
Ward fired off a note Friday demanding an apology from Limbaugh to the people of the city he slurred with his “erroneous venom.”
“I insist that you render us all an apology for your characterization of the city as only having ESPN and a few cheap hotels,” Ward said.
“We are extremely proud of our community, being the home of ESPN, being hard working, patriotic people, with the fifth largest veterans population in the state of Connecticut,” Ward said, then mentioned that Money Magazine recently cited the city as one of its Top 100 in which to live.
“We have a national, state and city pride which is second to none and take exception to your callous, irresponsible characterization of our home,” Ward said.
Limbaugh could not be reached for comment late Friday or Saturday.
On the show, Limbaugh talked extensively about stories in a variety of newspapers about companies that got federal loans during the credit crunch at the start of the recession, most of them big players on Wall Street or the world of commerce.
After Limbaugh pointed out that General Electric got about $116 million in loans, he added that “even the California State Teachers Retirement System got some of this money.
The city of Bristol, Connecticut, General City Retirement Fund got some of this money.”
The talk show giant said that both retirement funds were “going to the Federal Reserve and borrowing money.”
That simply isn’t true.
“The city of Bristol did not receive any of the monies which you were alluding to us receiving along with General Electric,” Ward told Limbaugh
What the city’s retirement fund actually did was something quite different.
The head of the city’s Retirement Board, T.J. Barnes, who also heads Bristol’s Republican Party, said the city took advantage of the chance to invest some of its surplus pension money in a new federal program aimed at making more credit available to business.
The city put money into the program, he said, in the hope of making a profit for its already flush pension accounts.
Barnes said that Bristol didn’t get one penny from the government as a loan or a grant. It merely made some money by investing in the program – and could have come up short had things worked out differently.
Barnes said that Limbaugh was wrong in including Bristol among loan recipients, though he blamed confusing news stories for misleading the radio guru.
It isn’t clear whether Limbaugh has ever been in Bristol.
For a brief time, he was a commentator for ESPN, but resigned in 2003 after many people thought one of his remarks about NFL quarterback Donovann McNabb was racist.
his remarks about DM were right on the button....witness DM’s career since then....
Fed ID's companies that used crisis aid programs
Two other recipients were the California State Teachers Retirement System and the City of Bristol (Connecticut) General City Retirement Fund.
3.3 trillion??
“barnes said that Limbaugh was wrong in including Bristol among loan recipients, though he blamed confusing news stories for misleading the radio guru.”
then blame the folks who did the reports, not rush for running with the story that should have been checked out before it was released.
Then why not demad an appology for whatever media outlet published the misleading stories that misled the "radio guru?" Well, we can't have the actual source of the information held to account - not when we can attack a conservative radio host!
5th largest veteran’s population isn’t saying much considering the size of Connecticut. Cheap motels in the home of espn,imagine that.
Yes, I’d say that if the facts are wrong, then Bloomberg is to blame. The City of Bristol is the only example they give of fed funds going to municipal retirement accounts, although I’m sure there were many worse examples.
Many people? Love those lib weasel words. How many? Twenty million people watching the game and 34 thought that his remarks were racist?
I recall what Rush said--That the media was bending over backwards to favor McNabb because they badly wanted a Black quarterback to succeed. Which was totally true and totally not a racist remark. By the way, substitute "Obama" for "McNabb" and "president" for "quarterback" and you have the exact same phenomenon in 2008.
Such surveys typically include "proximity to NYC" as one of the criteria.
Sometimes bragging just proves how small time you really are. Fifth largest in Conneticut. Isn't that like bragging you came in 5th in a 5 person race?
And money’s fungible. It’d be interesting to see if the retirement fund received a sudden influx after a grant to some other city entity was received.
Oh, okay...I'm SORRY that your city only has ESPN and a few cheap hotels.
Hows that???
Rush was right then and it's still true today. Watched the post game show on Comcast after mcnabb's stunningly bad performance in NY...even bad for mcnabb and that's BAD and Chick Hernadez, Brian Mitchell and Trevor Madidge just absolutely refused to blame him for the 2 INT's he threw and his fumble. i don't know why this Philadelphia reject gets the kid glove treatment other than affirmative action. It's the only reason I can think of because the guys is a steaming pile of crap as a QB.
I suspect that the Mayor of Bristol, Conneticut saw an opportunity to bolster the city's tourism by taking offense and thus garner some free publicity off of Limbaugh.
I wouldn’t want to offend anyone who resides there, or takes pride in that town..
... But I’m in Bristol CT at this very moment. This place is a total pit.
It’s got a nice look to it - but the gangs that rove the streets are violent and plentiful. Check out the movie “Bristol Boys” sometime. It’s accurate.
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