Rush Is Sorry And So Am I

Rush Limbaugh is sorry for his deplorable langauge:

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone's bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.

And I am sorry he illustrated his point with running shoes - is he positioning his "Hit The Road, Jack (and Jill) Act" to take votes from my "Wake Up And Smell The (Free!) Coffee Act"?

Comments

[clarice feldman]

Go to Legal Insurrection to see the hypocrisy in Carbonite's action and then if you are so inclined go to their facebook page and let them have it.

[clarice feldman]

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/03/carbonite-drops-rush/

MsMagazine is mounting an effort to get Cklear Channel to drop Rush. Perhaps Ms Magazine should hear from you, too.

[Extraneus]

Considering the stock chart at LI, any options that Carbonite officers are holding are worthless right now, so I can see them thinking they might be able to get a boost out of something like this. It might turn out to be a good move for them.

[clarice feldman]

I think that this was an act of desperation but I don't think it will prove any better for the company's bottom line than their obviously bad decisions that preceded it.

[Extraneus]

Based on past history, it's a good bet that Rush has the last laugh, though. I know I'll try to tune in tomorrow.

[pagar]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/the_apology-gotcha_game_comments.html#disqus_thread

The current last comment by Maddox says it best IMO.

"Maddox
Defeating the evil that exists in our media and government will require strong tactics. Apologizing for fighting hard against those with no moral compass every time they pretend to be victimized is retreat. How long are conservatives going to back down for popularity? I am disappointed...again."

IMO, the biggest mistake conservatives make is believing they are dealing with some kind of media. Actually, they are only dealing with leftist propaganda promoters.

[rse]

I am going to add to what pagar is saying.

The amount of calculating I have seen going into communication as a hive that must be controlled and manipulated is truly astonishing. No wonder Fox and the Internet drive them crazy and I am documenting a myriad of officially sanctioned means to limit reading.

There is an all out assault on access to information without that being readily apparent.

clarice-Thanks for picking up the Tricare story. It is my understanding from looking at that story this week that this Admin also is prorating the boost from being in a danger zone. If you were in Afghanistan for half of February you no longer get the pay for the full month. Only the days until you started back home.

[marlene]

Clarice,I read the excellent "Pieces" every Sunday. Carbonite has a call center in Lewiston,ME and local TV news reported on the Rush "controversy." Did you all know that Hank the Cat (running for Senate in VA) is a moderate? Of course! He's a MAINE coon cat. Happy Sunday to all!

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice,

Just sent an email to Carbonite as you suggested. Its actually another buggy-whip producer considering the proliferation of cloud systems.

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice's Pieces.

Critical thinking, unlike what the teach at Georgetown. Hard to believe that institution is run by Jesuits.

[narciso]

Functionally, it's not anymore, Prince Talal and whatever Soros apparatchik set the agenda
now,

[narciso]

Great pieces, meanwhile, our own less worthy
regional potentate, is in a spot of trouble.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/03/2674173/miami-bribery-probe-zeroes-in.html

[clarice feldman]

Thanks. I'll be traveling until later today. Behave.

[Chubby]

((I am documenting a myriad of officially sanctioned means to limit reading.))

the beginnings of a new book?

(hope hope hope)

[scott]

Fluke is nothing more than Pelosi's giant clown gavel v.2. Obama called, as her Field Marshall, to give a commendation.

[rse]

Thanks chubby but that's a story I am nailing down well in #1. Truly fascinating. And explaining the why.

Am about to go reread the conclusion and add a little something from that UN report dot mentioned. I had already built case up but that report gave me a nice bow.

When I think about all the things that had to fall into place for me to get so many breakthroughs, it is hard not to believe I am supposed to be telling this tale. Thanks for everyone's support.

[Jack is Back!]

I noticed on the other thread a discussion broke out regarding Pelham Grenville Wodehouse. He was a very good friend of my grandfather. After WW2 he moved to the States and lived in Remsenberg, Long Island near Southampton and would visit my grandfather's sports shop on many occassions.

Golf was a subject on which Wodehouse wrote prolifically. His "The Golf Omnibus" is my favorite of his many books. If you love golf you have to read these 31 stories that take place during the 20's and 30's an the use of hickory shafted clubs. Usually narrated by The Oldest Member from his perch on the back porch of the club overlooking the first tee and 18th green.

I think all Wodehouse fans know the story of his life in Le Touquet, France as Germany invaded France and how he made radio broadcasts that many considered treasonous. It was why he couldn't return to England after the war and came here. A minor detail of his life that meshed with my grandfather's hobby was Wodehouse was a very successfull lyricist on a number of Broadway musicals. My grandfather also wrote sheet music (tin pan alley stuff).

[jimmyk]

Carbonite continues to support Ed Schultz after he called Laura Ingraham a slut.

Not a defense of Carbonite, just an explanation: I suspect they respond to pressure, and the left geared up with a massive PR campaign with the advertisers, while the right's response to Schultz was, "Ed who?"

Great "Pieces" as always, Clarice.

[MarkO]

JiB, how cool is that!

[Jane]

Great Pieces Clarice!

[narciso]

Newt did a good job, taking Gregory's memes
apart,

[sbw]

Carbonite is expensive. There are less expensive ways to preserve your data. I don't mind them cancelling their advertising especially if they are the wrong answer.

[Captain Hate]

Can we stop talking about Fluke and Rush and concentrate on the absolute failure of Government Motors and the Volt? We've gotten snookered into having the narrative skewed badly into discussing meaningless garbage instead of looking at where massive tax dollars got squandered.

[Captain Hate]

FNS is worthless today. Discussing Iran featured Goober Graham and Richard Blumenthal (wasn't he the one who lied about being in Vietnam or was that somebody else?).

Thanks again Ailes.

[narciso]

Herb Simpson's automobile line, did great didn't it,

[narciso]

I had heard Wallace fils was playing Cardinal Fang, with Santorum, I but I needed Confirmation,

[Captain Hate]

The questions by Wallace to Santorum were pretty bad and I'm no fan of Howdy Doody in a sweater vest. Maybe Ailes can brag about that when he has Sunday dinner with the Kennedys.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 15 at Raz today.

[narciso]

Really with all the kultursmog, well reality does get in the way.

[Captain Hate]

Chris Wallace just pointed out that Fox covers contraceptives in response to a common sense comment by Strassel. Can this clown please be removed?

[narciso]

'I'm not as sanguine as I was three years ago, since the settlement freeze and the Hamas
prisoner exchange;

http://weaselzippers.us/2012/03/03/report-obama-to-warn-netanyahu-not-to-strike-iran-trying-to-make-israels-decision-to-attack-as-hard-as-possible/

[Danube of Thought]

Blumenthal...Blumenthal...say, wasn't he the one that had that wife-beating thing?

[narciso]

No, that's the other one, this is the Walter Mitty Marine reservist, and govt shake down artist.

[narciso]

Somehow I think this fits the thread better;

http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=A2KLqILFg1NPx0sAoxD7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBrOTlpOGs3BHNlYwNzZWFyY2gEdnRpZ

[Extraneus]

Does anyone know yet who's funding Sandra Fluke's "public interest scholarship"? Is it Georgetown directly?

(That link is to her statement to Congress, btw, under her Law Students for Reproductive Justice logo.)

I think Rush is going to be on her tomorrow. He'll re-apologize for the prostitute comment, but then explain to the listeners a few more details on who this lady really is.

[MarkO]

Right now, the argument is framed that she wants a health care plan that covers contraception and the GOP is opposed to women's health.

Compulsion is assumed to be fine. Loss of First Amendment freedom is dismissed. I've come to believe that the loss of freedom I notice is not much of a problem to a great portion of America.

[Jane]

Blumenthal is the one who lied about being in Viet Nam.

[OldTimer]

Rush needs to invite Ms. Fluke to appear on his program and explain her 'position'. All this could be done from the premise that perhaps Rush has "missed something" from her interpretation of Georgetown's contraceptive policies, and to give her a wider audience to 'enlighten' the rest of us.

Heh. I'd PAY to hear this conversation!

[Jane]

Mark,

I'm starting to believe this whole race should be about freedom as Obama continues to whittle away at it.

[OldTimer]

And I should add, would give Rush an excellent opportunity to talk about our 1st amendment and FREEDOM. Something Ms. Fluke apparently knows nothing about, or she doesn't seem to mind being played by the Left like a fiddle in order to snatch that religious freedom away from the rest of us..

[Jane]

After watching the morning shows, it's hard not to say Thomas Sowell is right.

[narciso]

This publication has squandered a lot of it's credibility, but they do have their good points

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-deceits-of-seymour-hersh/

[AliceH]

Belated lulz to Dave (in MA) for this comment way back on the Global Warming thread:

A new paper airplane record has been set... 226 feet, 10 inches.

Wow. It would take an army just to fold it.

[Threadkiller]

--"I think Rush is going to be on her tomorrow."--

Who is supplying protection?

[Ignatz]

Kirsten Powers reminds us there are a few honest liberals left by asking when the left is going to go after Chris Matthews, Bill Maher et al for their misogyny.

[Dave (in MA)]

CH, you gotta admit that the manufactured uproar over what a guy on the radio called a "reproductive rights activist" at a Jesuit school made for a handy distraction over the Friday afternoon bad news dump about Obama's pet car company suspending production of the Obamawagen.

[matt]

Clarice, great job!

OT;

It's all kabuki. Pelosi knew who and what the slut was, and the slut knew exactly how to play a pliant, allied media. It gave them 3-4 days in which they could bash those right wing nasty conservatives and get headlines the Oprah crowd would just gobble up.

In the meantime, Obama is running further to the left on energy, and offered not a single viable plan in his energy speech. The man is a freakin joke and the media is all in.

It's going to take people like Clarice and Pajamas Media and others to put a real dent in the Left's statist agenda.

Yesterday there was a full page front page obit in the LA Times about some piece of shit druggie who offed himself with an OD who had found his mission in life as an OWS protester. That is how bad the rot is.

The Left doesn't mind just making things up because they know their allies will propagandize it.

[Ignatz]

Since we were talking about Ike not too long ago here is the indispensable Andrew Ferguson on the horrifying proposed Ike "memorial" that threatens to be placed next to the National Mall.

[narciso]

They only destroy, they cannot build;

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/04/its-not-because-breitbart-was-combative/

[Ignatz]

Third and last link for now; one third of UK crumpets would trade their intelligence for larger breasts.
Which raises the question; what are the other two thirds thinking?

[Threadkiller]

Mainstream fell hooker, line and sinker for Madame Fluke.

Meanwhile the Sheriff of the fourth largest county(by population) launches a criminal investigation into forged documents belonging to a sitting president, making claims that go unreported.

The BC is highly likely a forgery.

The selective service card is definitely a forgery.

The records, at the National Archive, for inbound international flights, is missing everything for the week Obama was born.

A witness says he knew Bill Ayers parents and they told him about the kenyan student they are putting thru college.

Etc.

[Captain Hate]

Exactly Dave; that's been my point all along.

[Threadkiller]

"Which raises the question; what are the other two thirds thinking?"

They have nothing to trade?

[Chubby]

((I've come to believe that the loss of freedom I notice is not much of a problem to a great portion of America.))

that's because the left has successfully fragmented the definitions of words like "freedom" into meaning things other than what they traditionally have meant.

[narciso]

Now I thought Harman was relatively sensible;

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/03/04/cheney-dont-count-on-u-s-intel-assessments-on-iran/#comments

[Chubby]

on changing meanings of words and ideas: to leftists, "freedom" means having the state protect the individual's free sex life by having the financial consequences of said sex life paid for by taxpapers, and "freedom" of religion is a far much lesser freedom. At the time of the founding the left's current definition would have been unheard of and unthought of.

[OldTimer]

Well, TK, if Rush, Levin, Hannity and all the other Big's won't talk about it, how does the rest of the country become curious enough to ask for some answers? I have family around the country who have no idea there's even a dispute or question about the records and documents of their president, and being Democrats, they really aren't too interested in Barack's failings.

If someone would give me the most likely reason for the disparities in these documents, maybe it wouldn't be so troublesome. Otherwise, the deception apparently is not important enough for talk radio to care about, even though if the doc's are indeed fraudulent the entire country has been contemptuously deceived.

[jimmyk]

Kirsten Powers reminds us there are a few honest liberals left by asking when the left is going to go after Chris Matthews, Bill Maher et al for their misogyny.

Or, another way to put it: Why does the left get all hysterical over these things while the right (correctly in my view) just ridicules them and moves on?

[matt]

for daddy. LUN

[Chubby]

TK, I understand your frustration. But there is also the point that if this lefty president were found to be guilty of fraud, another one would pop up in his place, either now or a few years down the line. The IDEAS of the left are what have to be defeated to the point where the only place where such ideas pop up are on the fringes. Rush and Levin are into knocking down the left's wacky and un-Constitutional ideas.

[MarkO]

Over the past 20 years the Feds have intruded into so many parts of life that many people are accustomed to it. It seems familiar, not unusual, not illegal. But, perhaps more to the point, the freedom lost is replaced by things such as pills, money, free time, even a sense of security. Freedom is intangible and, unless one has known it or desires it, freedom can seem like an antiquated notion, best left to the Old West.
I’m with Jane. Make this election about freedom, economic freedom, educational freedom, healthcare freedom, religious freedom, but in concrete examples. It can be done, or we can watch the natural tendencies of mankind to want material goods overcome a fading concept of freedom. That’s the bet this time, isn’t it?

[Chubby]

make it about "freedom" and the people who define "freedom" (50% of the population)in a totally apposite way, will shout, yeah, freedom! but they will mean something else altogether.

[Ignatz]

--Why does the left get all hysterical over these things while the right (correctly in my view) just ridicules them and moves on?--

Because to the true believer leftism is a pathology, best illustrated by their sick insistence that "the personal is political."
When you disagree with them you are not just disagreeing with their opinion but their very essence and you must not therefore be merely persuaded you're wrong but destroyed.

[Danube of Thought]

Thanks, Narc and Jane. (Atually, I already knew that. It's just that I like to bring up Sid Vicious--the one who was reprimanded by the grand jury for publicly lying about the questions he had been asked--whenever possible.

Believe he had a DUI, too.

[Chubby]

oops, not "apposite" but "opposite"

[Chubby]

to the 50%, freedom means *from* personal responsibility, not freedom of personal responsiblity, on everything from charitable giving to birth control

[Gmax]

Zero steady for a second day at 46% approval. Again, recall that RAS has found in a huge sample that that electorate is +3.6% margin of Republicans over Democrats but he is not using that margin, he is using a margin that is likely closer to equal. Just FYI for those prone to get their panties in a twist. And gasoline continues to rise, plus when the warehouses are full, most of GDP growth goes away unless we start consuming.

Barack, you're fired.

[Danube of Thought]

I sure wouldn't like to be the guy who is banging Ms. Fluke. I wonder if anyone really is.

[MarkO]

"I sure wouldn't like to be the guy who is banging Ms. Fluke." Not now, not ever. What if it's a chick? Whoa.

[MarkO]

Gmax, tell me how to believe Duke won last night.

[Jane]

Ms Fluke made it sound like everyone is banging her. At some point more about her sex life will leak out, from a bed of her own making.

[Danube of Thought]

It appears thatmany Bay Staters find Ms. Warren as repellent as I do:

"SPRINGFIELD – In the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, Republican Sen. Scott Brown is leading chief Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren by a margin of eight percentage points according to the first poll conducted by Western New England University's Polling Institute for The Republican, MassLive.com and El Pueblo Latino this election season.

"The statewide survey of 527 registered voters was conducted between Feb 23 and March 1, and bears a 4.3 percent margin of error.
The poll revealed that Brown remains popular in the Bay State, with 49 percent of those surveyed saying they would vote for him if the election was held today. Warren, a consumer advocate and Harvard Law School professor vying for the Democratic nomination to take on Brown in November's general election, pulled 41 percent of the projected vote."

[Ben Franklin]

What I wanna know is; If Rush caved over losing sponsors, what is he,
a slut?

[Gmax]

For MarkO

The Luciferians in Durham got exorcized last evening. I thought for awhile it might be a struggle to get to 10 points by halftime.

Since my daughter played for 5 years and earned two degrees in Chapel Thrill, I would be a poor one to encourage you, having chanted Go To Hell, Duke more time than you could ever imagine. Winning in Cameron and seeing that look on Coach K's face was indeed, priceless.

[Porchlight]

MarkO, if it's a woman then presumably there'd be no need for the $3K worth of birth control.

[Ignatz]

--What I wanna know is; If Rush caved over losing sponsors, what is he,
a slut?--

Did Rush owe Ms. Fluke an apology?

[Gmax]

When Anson Dorrance took Jmax and I on the tour of campus before she committed to play there, he took her up to the top floor of the library. This good, I was thinking he is going to emphasize the research facilities here. Nope.

He points out in the distance and says "see that point sticking up on that building out there. That is Duke University. You are now looking down on Duke. It wont be the last time." LOL

[Chubby]

((Make this election about freedom, economic freedom, educational freedom, healthcare freedom, religious freedom, but in concrete examples. It can be done, or we can watch the natural tendencies of mankind to want material goods overcome a fading concept of freedom. That’s the bet this time, isn’t it?))

I don't see the desire for material goods and the expression of God-given freedom as competing or mutually exclusive ideas. I do however see as competing ideas freedom and free social "free" amorality. But even there the left has had great success in that it has given us many new definitions of morality that toss out the old ones.

[peter]

I've been offline for a few weeks, and largely missed this whole controversy, but Clarice's excellent pieces presented an excellent summary of the whole sordid affair.

[Ben Franklin]

"Did Rush owe Ms. Fluke an apology?"

Well, he was asking a question; that's all. I asked the same question about Rush and his epochal cave-in.

Do I owe him an apology?

[narciso]

Time to laugh at Mr, creased banks again;

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/04/bromance-on-david-brooks-revels-in-obamas-intelligence-sophistication/

[Army of Davids]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-02/if-stockton-is-broke-then-why-isn-t-san-diego-steven-greenhut.html>ugliness in California

[narciso]

In the most 'unexpected' headline, Putin has won the presidential election,

[rse]

Freedom to the left means that the government makes personal decisions. That's the freedom. The state provides the direction. Believe me I have seen this enough. Itis the individual who has the obligation to serve the state, not the other way around.

IIRC most of the law clinics were financed by the For Foundation with the express purpose of radicalizing the law school.

These foundations are killing us.

[Ignatz]

--Do I owe him an apology?--

That was my implicit question to you.

[Threadkiller]

Chubby, the problem is thinking the BC forgery story is the only way to oust Obama. Everyone treats it like one or the other is all we have. If the radio loudmouths really believed in "all of the above", like they claim with energy, they would have no problem reporting this along side of the economic stories.

This isn't some no name sheriff from Fingerhole, Tennessee. This is one of the most well respected law enforcement officers of the entire conservative movement.

[Ben Franklin]

"That was my implicit question to you."

Since both circumstances obtain, I must say I owe Rush an apology the same way he owes one to the student.

[Danube of Thought]

Kirsten Powers:

But if Limbaugh’s actions demand a boycott—and they do—then what about the army of swine on the left?

During the 2008 election Ed Schultz said on his radio show that Sarah Palin set off a “bimbo alert.” He called Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut.” (He later apologized.) He once even took to his blog to call yours truly a “bimbo” for the offense of quoting him accurately in a New York Post column.

Keith Olbermann has said that conservative commentator S.E. Cupp should have been aborted by her parents, apparently because he finds her having opinions offensive. He called Michelle Malkin a “mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick.” He found it newsworthy to discuss Carrie Prejean’s breasts on his MSNBC show. His solution for dealing with Hillary Clinton, who he thought should drop out of the presidential race, was to find “somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out.” Olbermann now works for über-leftist and former Democratic vice president Al Gore at Current TV.

Left-wing darling Matt Taibbi wrote on his blog in 2009, “When I read [Malkin’s] stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of balls in her mouth.” In a Rolling Stone article about Secretary of State Clinton, he referred to her “flabby arms.” When feminist writer Erica Jong criticized him for it, he responded by referring to Jong as an “800-year old sex novelist.” (Jong is almost 70, which apparently makes her an irrelevant human being.) In Taibbi’s profile of Congresswoman and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann he labeled her “batshit crazy.” (Oh, those “crazy” women with their hormones and all.)

Chris Matthews’s sickening misogyny was made famous in 2008, when he obsessively tore down Hillary Clinton for standing between Barack Obama and the presidency, something that Matthews could not abide. Over the years he has referred to the former first lady, senator and presidential candidate and current secretary of state as a “she-devil,” “Nurse Ratched,” and “Madame Defarge.” Matthews has also called Clinton “witchy,” “anti-male,” and “uppity” and once claimed she won her Senate seat only because her “husband messed around.” He asked a guest if “being surrounded by women” makes “a case for commander in chief—or does it make a case against it?” At some point Matthews was shamed into sort of half apologizing to Clinton, but then just picked up again with his sexist ramblings.

[MarkO]

Porch, I just don't believe everything I hear from her. It was partly a joke, however.

Gmax, I think Anson Dorrance is one of the great college coaches of all time. My daughter played at BU, but I would have wished her to play for him. UNC's women's soccer is my exception to the GTHC chant.

[Ignatz]

--Since both circumstances obtain, I must say I owe Rush an apology the same way he owes one to the student.--

Which he gave.

[Jane]

Go Kirsten! An honest lefty, good for her.

Dot the Brown poll is of registered voters not likely voters - that is the caveat.

[Jack is Back!]

DoT,

Kirsten Powers is a big time Bill and Hill promoter and apologist. Interesting that she is bringing up the crimes and misdemeanors of the leftist media corps - using it to provide some sympathy more for Hillary than for Fluke.

[Ben Franklin]

"Which he gave."

I apologize, Rush, for suggesting you are a whore, who only cares about ratings, and ad revenue.

Rush has his sponsors back. Where does Fluke go to retrieve her reputation?

[Danube of Thought]

This is one of the most well respected law enforcement officers of the entire conservative movement."

Then how come conservative media aren't all over this?

What happened at the Feb. 21 Missouri hearing?

[Frau Kostenlose Pariser Über Alles!]

Since Clarice is en route, here we go from IOW --

Click for entire image if necessary

[RichatUF]

CH-

We've gotten snookered into having the narrative skewed badly into discussing meaningless garbage instead of looking at where massive tax dollars got squandered.

And why would the administration want that? All the other green shoots-high unemployment, high gas prices, an Arab Sewer, and a not terribily popular Obamaville Wall Street movement-don't leave much else to talk about.

I'm surprised though that this story has lasted as long as it has.

[Frau Kostenlose Pariser Über Alles!]

Ms.Fluke sold her reputation and right to privacy for political advantage. Her future is guaranteed, and all she had to do was *fluke* herself. Where does her family go to regain their reputation?

[Chubby]

TK, I have to agree that if the left had something like this on a Republican president we'd never hear the end of it. They let questions about Bush's NG service go as high as Dan Rather, (gotta thank God for that, seeing as how it turned out), and it sure looks like the questions about Obama's paperwork provide more grist for the mill than the lefties had re Bush.

btw, I have heard Rush mention it in passing from time to time, and he wasn't totally discounting it.

[Ignatz]

--Where does Fluke go to retrieve her reputation?--

Well, seems a little late to cancel her congressional testimony.

[AliceH]

Re: You'll not be surprised to know that polls that are biased at this point will shift to more objective wording of survey questions and more solid samples sometime between 2-6 weeks before an election. That's their 'sweeps week' in effect, i.e. when they need to build a record for accurate predictions vs. participating in framing a narrative. No matter how egregious their methodology is this far out, they will always need to point to how accurate they were RIGHT BEFORE the last election, as a way of making some claim to reputation as a way of legitimizing the current poll.