# The monkey shoots a fish in a barrel thread: Rush Limbaugh claims oil is "as natural as seawater". **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 26, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873 "2010-05-26T20:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/41 "2010-05-27T04:44:46Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Great googly fucking moogly, Frank? Is that you? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/42 "2010-05-27T04:56:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Why am I suddenly thinking of singing assholes? Dunno. Do you have the _American Idol_ finale playing in the background? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/43 "2010-05-27T05:00:01Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > And **lissener** , you’re an idiot. Well, you win THAT round. :rolleyes: Oh, also? “Straw man” is not defined as “generic term to be applied to any argument I disagree with.” It has a specific, limited meaning. An argument is a straw man only if it’s an inaccurate representation of the position you’re attacking. And Tom Tomorrow’s pretty fucking accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/44 "2010-05-27T05:01:24Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Dunno. Do you have the _American Idol_ finale playing in the background? Just continuing the John Waters references. And Rush is an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/45 "2010-05-27T05:01:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Why am I suddenly thinking of singing assholes? Um, cuz you farted and it sounded like Eddie Vedder? ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/46 "2010-05-27T05:24:40Z")
For fuck’s sake: [Wikipedia for straw man:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man) > [@](#): > > A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position. Now from the _A Modern World_ link posted by **Brain Glutton** > [@strawman fallacy](#): > > Step 3 Conservatives Push Back: This is an **OUTRAGE**! Do you **REALIZE** how much it would cost to install safety switches on each device? BP is apolitical and therefore neither liberal nor conservative. There is no reason to believe that “conservatives” hate safety any more than the “liberals” want to break into our homes and steal our guns away. It’s a misrepresentation. It’s a strawman. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/47 "2010-05-27T05:51:13Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Screw Tom Tomorrow. He’s the mirror image of Mallard Fillmore. Equally unfunny and equally biased. The fact that you think that makes you an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/48 "2010-05-27T05:52:52Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > There is no reason to believe that “conservatives” hate safety any more than the “liberals” want to break into our homes and steal our guns away. It’s a misrepresentation. It’s a strawman. No, it’s not. Conservatives have historically consistently opposed any sort of safety devices or precautions, since safety costs money. And, you can’t realistically compare conservatives and liberals because they aren’t symmetrical; the liberals (such as they are) in this country are nowhere near as maniacal. Given how far to the right America in general already is, anyone who is a conservative by American standards is automatically in “lunatics and scum” territory. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/49 "2010-05-27T05:54:50Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > For fuck’s sake: [Wikipedia for straw man:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man) > > > [@](#): > > > > A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position. > > Now from the _A Modern World_ link posted by **Brain Glutton** > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by \*\*strawman fallacy \*\* > > Step 3 Conservatives Push Back: This is an OUTRAGE! Do you REALIZE how much it would cost to install safety switches on each device? > > BP is apolitical and therefore neither liberal nor conservative. There is no reason to believe that “conservatives” hate safety any more than the “liberals” want to break into our homes and steal our guns away. It’s a misrepresentation. It’s a strawman. 'Tis not. The representation of the position wasn’t about “hating” safety. It was about assigning it too low a priority _vis-à-vis_ profit. And for the purposes of the cartoon, the corporate apologists were a perfectly appropriate stand-in for conservative policy advocates. P.S. Shut up, **Trihs** , you’re not helping as much as you think you are. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/50 "2010-05-27T06:23:08Z")
Fucking Hell. How did I let this happen? I start a thread which I _think_ will be an easy fuck you to Rush (fish in a barrel) and now we are debating Tom Tomorrow. **mhendo** even called me an idiot for thinking the strip is “unfunny”. Screw it. Here’s something to chew on: Liberals and Conservatives **both** supported offshore drilling. BOTH! Did you idiots forget [this](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html)? Now, I’m certainly not blaming it on Obama, but you can’t blame it on [conservatives](http://media.photobucket.com/image/legion%20of%20doom%20super%20friends/upcrowd/superfriends-legion-of-doom.jpg) either. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/51 "2010-05-27T07:19:16Z")
Obama is not a liberal. Liberals, myself included, felt that when Obama announced the off shore drilling support that he was betraying us yet again and that the risk of spills would be increased. I remember the Santa Barbara spill of 69. The current spill would not have happened had so many safety procedures not been set aside. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/52 "2010-05-27T07:24:42Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Obama is not a liberal. This is why people get annoyed with the left leaning politics of this board. No matter how liberal you are, you are never liberal _enough_. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/53 "2010-05-27T08:15:13Z")
> [@Monkey](#): > > Fucking Hell. How did I let this happen? You neglected to install the runaway-thread-protection safety switch. 😉 > [@Monkey](#): > > This is why people get annoyed with the left leaning politics of this board. No matter how liberal you are, you are never liberal enough. While I agree it’s an exaggeration to claim that Obama’s not a liberal _tout court_, it’s definitely valid to point out that there are a lot of ways in which he’s not particularly liberal at all. I’d peg him as only slightly to the left of Bill Clinton on most economic issues. Nonetheless, your basic point that supporters of expanding offshore drilling included many politicians generally recognized as being in the “liberal” category stands. It’s not really legit to try to “True Scotsman” the liberals out of all responsibility for this situation by saying that the **genuine** liberals had nothing to do with it. (It is fair, though, to point out that liberals on average are more opposed to offshore drilling than conservatives.) ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/54 "2010-05-27T08:59:29Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > You neglected to install the runaway-thread-protection safety switch. 😉 Godamnit. I have got to start reading the user manuals. I should know better. You ever have to get a beagle out of an industrial wood shop vacuum? It’s a pain in the ass. Peanut butter covered bacon helps, but it took me half an hour to get the little guy out of there. I don’t blame myself too much, though. The user manual was written in French. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/55 "2010-05-27T12:46:44Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > For fuck’s sake: [Wikipedia for straw man:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man) > > Now from the _A Modern World_ link posted by **Brain Glutton** > BP is apolitical and therefore neither liberal nor conservative. There is no reason to believe that “conservatives” hate safety any more than the “liberals” want to break into our homes and steal our guns away. It’s a misrepresentation. It’s a strawman. I’ve always wanted to ask a real resident of Fantasyland: _Do_ the rivers really run with grape Nehi, and are the unicorn blow jobs really all they’re cracked up to be? ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/56 "2010-05-27T12:47:48Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > And **lissener** , you’re an idiot. But I can certainly get behind this sentiment! ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/57 "2010-05-27T12:54:54Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Screw Tom Tomorrow. He’s the mirror image of Mallard Fillmore. Equally unfunny and equally biased. I prefer an intelligent view that doesn’t use straw men. > > Ke-_rist_, my hatred of Tom Tomorrow should be a different thread, but if you can’t see that he uses the same type of otherside strawmen than Anne “man hands” Coulter does, then you’re an idiot. I am a conservative, and IMHO Tom Tomorrow rules. I love his strip and never miss it. And Rush is really out of it here. As usual, Jerry Pournelle has it right. Let’s get ready for next time: > [@](#): > > On the oil spill: > > Whose fault is it? Who can we blame? How can we blackguard Bush, or Obama, as the oil comes ashore? > > Which is all silly. In 1967 I proposed to Reagan that California create an oil spill recovery service, something like a fire department, to be financed by separation taxes from the oil industry. I later proposed it as a National Service, possibly a branch of the Coast Guard or Civil Defense. It would have a corps of professionals whose job was to learn all that was known about oil spill containment and cleanup, and others who would do research into what we don’t but ought to know: what chemical detergents will aid in dispersing the oil with the least damage to the environment? Under what circumstances are we better off simply setting fire to the sea – possibly by adding an accelerant to what’s floating? Burning it off in marshes (marshes do burn naturally and recover). > > What facilities and accessories are needed? What local resources can help? Is there an inventory of sea going vessels public and private in each region? What is the cost of commandeering them for an emergency? Do we need to stockpile booms and nets, and what other containment equipment would be useful? Does it exist and if so where is it? > > I could go on for a while, but surely the point is made? My original briefing which was prepared by Pepperdine art students on VuGraph (overhead projectors have pretty well vanished now that we have PowerPoint and computer screen projectors, but that used to be the format for all briefings). It has long since vanished, but it wouldn’t take a lot of work to create a better one: we know more now, having gone through the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 and the Exxon Valdez disaster twenty years later. We learned something from those: but we didn’t apparently learn enough. > > There will be oil spills, as there will be coal mine accidents. We need to deal with the current spill now, but we also need to prepare for the next one. Time enough to assess blame after the disaster is contained; but it’s more important to look past this spill to the next. What are we going to do next time? From [cite](http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/2010/Q2/view624.html) ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/58 "2010-05-27T12:59:59Z")
The way we got the beagle out of the vacuum is that we took a circular saw to the tube. This is about a ten _yard_ tube that spanned across the entire shop. Cut it loose and the dog was in the middle. I put the peanut butter covered bacon on one end and picked up this tailless stray cat that was always hanging around trying to get a piece of our sandwiches. I put the cat in the other end from the bacon and there you go, We named the cat “Bob”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/59 "2010-05-27T13:29:26Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > unicorn blow jobs You know, those sound \*incredibly \*dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873/60 "2010-05-27T13:44:48Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Fucking Hell. How did I let this happen? > > I start a thread which I _think_ will be an easy fuck you to Rush (fish in a barrel) and now we are debating Tom Tomorrow. **mhendo** even called me an idiot for thinking the strip is “unfunny”. Screw it. > > Here’s something to chew on: Liberals and Conservatives **both** supported offshore drilling. BOTH! Did you idiots forget [this](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html)? > > Now, I’m certainly not blaming it on Obama, but you can’t blame it on [conservatives](http://media.photobucket.com/image/legion%20of%20doom%20super%20friends/upcrowd/superfriends-legion-of-doom.jpg) either. Wow. Talk about straw man. That is a HUGE misrepresentation. No one, not even Tom Tomorrow, has suggested anything like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-monkey-shoots-a-fish-in-a-barrel-thread-rush-limbaugh-claims-oil-is-as-natural-as-seawater/540873.md?page=4)