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Limbaugh: Daschle 'whining'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Charges by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle that Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk show hosts are inciting possible violence against public officials and their families with their on-air rhetoric are politically motivated "whining," Limbaugh said Thursday. "I can't believe that he actually chose to make a big deal about this, although I do think it was not spontaneous," Limbaugh said in an interview on CNN's Inside Politics. "Obviously, there was some strategy to this." "[Democrats] don't have reasons for people to vote for them. They're just trying to gin up anger and resentment for their opposition. And it's just not working anymore." At a news conference Wednesday, Daschle, D-South Dakota, said that rhetoric with a "very shrill edge" from Limbaugh and Limbaugh "wannabes" has caused an increase in the number of threats against him, other public officials and their families. (Full story) In an interview with CNN's Jonathan Karl Thursday, Daschle said he was not suggesting that Limbaugh was directly trying to incite violence against his political opponents.
"My point was simply this -- that sometimes the rhetoric turns to verbal abuse, and sometimes verbal abuse turns to physical abuse. And sometimes people who get so emotionally invested with what they're hearing want to react," he said. "That's in part what [talk show hosts] do -- they incite reaction, and that reaction can have consequences that I don't think most people fully appreciate when they may be saying the things they're saying." "I think people ought to be aware of the consequences of their actions. Actions are not just physical. Actions are sometimes verbal. And they have consequences in this country that I think are far more palpable, far more real, far more threatening than most people can fully appreciate." But Limbaugh said he is more than aware that his words on the air have consequences -- though not the kind Daschle criticized. "We won. Of course my words have consequences," he said, winking at the camera. Limbaugh also said he thinks Daschle's charges, while unfair from a political perspective, will be personally beneficial to him and his show. "They keep elevating me into areas that ... aren't good for them," he said. --CNN Correspondent Jonathan Karl and CNN Reliable Sources host Howard Kurtz contributed to this report.
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