By: The David:
He has his usual disheveled look, rather like a portly unmade bed. Looking at him one could be forgiven for thinking that the man is a loud mouthed buffoon. But no buffoon is he! Rather he is one of the best known and most manipulative men in the United States. He is the Republican Extraordinaire. This braggart has used the radio waves and (less successfully) television to spread his own brand of hate-speak against anyone who disagrees with his ultra-conservative views. In doing so, he manages to catch the attention of the main-stream media who seem only too eager to add fuel to whatever flame the man is able to generate at a given time.
Who is the man whose ranting reaches the same sound level as an empty barrel being pounded upon by a small boy with a baseball bat? He is the darling of “ditto heads” everywhere. It is of course, Rush Limbaugh.
The mouth’s latest bid for headlines came with the following statement “I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: ‘Limbaugh: I hope Obama fails.’ Somebody’s gotta say it.”
The ignorance of this statement begs the question: Why Mr. Limbaugh? Why does somebody have to say it? What does it profit this Republic in time of abject crises, most of which has been brought on by the Conservative Policies of those who consider your ranting to have merit? Where is the gain to the people of this country, including your ditto heads , if this new President should fail at the very threshold of his time in office? What a despicable wish .
But it seems to me you have built a career on despicable statements aimed at anyone who dares to have a political view that is different from your own. You have demonized the Clintons, the Gores, the Kerrys and finally, the Obamas. You have spewed verbal half-truths and twisted events to suit your own agenda. You have power Sir, and you misuse that power to intimidate. People fear you, and it seems to this writer that you enjoy using your influence in whatever way it can lead to the enhancement of your position within the Republican Party, no matter who gets hurt in the process.
Some members of the Republican party have, on occasion had enough of Limbaugh’s careless verbal posturing and have publicly made comments less than favorable about him. Michael Steele, the newly named head of the Republican National Committee (RNC) found himself up against Limbaugh when he quite mildly described him as an entertainer rather than a politician. He was quickly forced to apologize after apparently feeling the fear brought about by the power of the Limbaugh mouth and his fan base.
The question that has come out of this brouhaha is whether the Rush-Man is the real head of the Republican Party. Is his power among the Right Wingers strong enough to allow him to hijack the party as a whole from the more moderate RNC? In this time of turmoil within the country itself, as the sins of excess are being visited upon us , has Rush Limbaugh finally become the de facto head of the Republican Party? Has he done this by the simple repetition of his brand of truth on a radio program? There are others who might answer yes he is the unanointed head of the GOP, but he has arrived there through the use of fear and intimidation.
When I hear of anyone in the political arena using such tactics as fear and/or intimidation, I am brought up short as I think of what I have read about the politics of the early 1950s and Senator Joseph McCarthy who built his career on finding a Communist under every bed, instilling fear, and visiting character assassination upon anyone who dared to disputed him. This continued until one day the Senator began maligning the character of a young lawyer in the office of the firm the Army had hired to represent them in the McCarthy Hearings. Joseph Welch, a Boston Attorney, had the courage and the good sense to puncture the bilious balloon that was the Senator with the words, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” McCarthy attempted to go on, Welch, with voice rising interrupted him, “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”
Cruelty and recklessness……. does this sound at all familiar? Has Rush Limbaugh made himself the Joseph McCarthy of the early 21st century?
Before we scoff at the idea, I would put forth one more statement: In this time when trivia is worshipped and elevated in importance, would it be so far-fetched to think that a demagogue for our time should be what Mr. Steele called …… an entertainer?
About: The David
I am a 66 y. o. Registered Nurse.
I currently have my own business in which I work as a Consultant in Performance Improvement for Home Health and Hospice.
I have extensive background in health care.
I have worked in Banking, spending 15 years in that field, eventually becoming Assistant Treasurer for a multi-bank holding Company in the Northeast. I left to return to my first love, health care.
I am married (Ceremony in MA in the same week it was legalized.) Formerly from Ct., I now live in Florida with my husband. (We have been together for close to 37 years.)
I have been involved in various liberal organizations for change through the years and am currently actively involved in Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. (PFLAG)
Subversify Staff
When i go into my coffin, i want you to be the one who strikes the nails with your hammer. Then there will be no missed blows disrupting my eternal sleep. I especially appreciated your illustration of the McCarthy era. As someone who believes in the integrity of the press to conduct honest reporting, i became a fan of Ed Murrow who bravely challenged America with “good night and good luck”. It’s time to devote ourselves to conscious reasoning and throw aside the scare tactics of labeling. While the fall of the Iron curtain and trade agreements with China has dissolved most of the Communist fear label, other words have had their limits stretched to imply the tyranny of a totalitarian state. The irony is, the more we fear political diversity and its lenient applications, the more totalitarian we become. Each freedom we take from others, we chip away from ourselves. Would we finally then, be nothing more than spectators, neither thinking nor interacting, experiencing or growing, while we view synthetic life? Thank you very much for your article.
My thanks for bringing this up David, you inspired me….to pick on Rush some more.
Well Grainne, if that happens I’ve done my good deed for the day.
Though Canadian, I have always watched the dynamics of the American political showboating of both Democrat and Republican parties and their affiliated media groupies that pass themselves off as commentators with a certain percentage of disdain. It seems to me that the majority of these political pushers tend to espouse the sharper left or right side of their party lines in order to garner an audience that half listens in agreement whilst the other half listens in order to get become enraged with Rush Limbaugh being the ring leader in the media hype three ring circus. I have to admit to being more in the Rush camp in most of the opinions on ‘how things should be’ when it comes to fiscal policies though I have had issues with his social policy stances in the past. It is no surprise to me that he would make a comment that bodes to the main stream media of sensationalism; it’s a win win situation for both – the media gets higher readership and Rush gets more listeners waiting for him to say something more inflammatory.
I am still on the fence on Obama. Limbaugh is right, Obama is doomed to fail; he has already done so. We are in a global recession and the stimulus package that he’s delivered so far has been a dud (the company that I worked for until ten days ago when it was forced to close its doors for a few months is concrete proof of this; all the American orders, which would have kept us going for several months but were on hold were then cancelled) in building consumer and manufacturing confidence in the quick turnaround of the American economy. However I don’t see this as a presidency killing failure unless Obama doesn’t take off some of the JFK flash his handlers are glittering him up with. From what I’ve read in his books and inferred from his speeches, he has the sensibilities of Jimmy Carter. I always have thought that Carter got a bad rap; his policies were working at the end of his presidency yet the media credited Reagan with the upturn but Carter didn’t have the flash that Reagan had in order to make the illusion of invulnerability. Obama needs to tone down his glare and the easy outs in order to restore the American economy (thus stabilizing the world economy which in turn is a good thing for Canada). He’s just been elected; he should be using his machete and cutting the dead and decaying policies that are popular but detrimental. He has time to recoup his reputation before the American public goes to the polls by giving the American economy a cement pad rather than a rattan. So yes, Obama is doomed to fail but as Ashley Montagu said, “The deepest human defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become”. He is capable but there still lies the question of whether he wishes to be seen as such in historical accounts later or now as the digital cameras snap away in front of him.
On a personal note, I would like to congratulate you on your long relation and marriage; 37 years is a long time, you and your husband are a testament that there are relationships that can stand the test of time no matter the orientation. I am the opposite, I often have suspicions that my hand is cheating on me when I’m sleeping….
I am tickled pink that someone decided to speak out against Rush. I wish it would make a difference though. You know how we all tune into the radio and start cussing at the damn thing. We’ve listened to Limbaugh and his politically biased antics for way too long. In a sense he has lost, Obama’s victory proves it. Now the only thing that Limbaugh can do is ramble and instill hatred into the hearts of anyone willing to agree. They’re all zombies I say.
First of A.B., to agree with Rush means that you also “hopes that he fails.” I don’t see you saying that, so with all due respect, I think you don’t agree with Rush. (I know, just like a woman to tell you what you think, we’ll hash that out later)
What Rush said was plain showboating of which P.T. Barnum would be proud I’m sure. But he said a lot of other stupid stuff, not to mention misquoting the constitution in a highly ignorant manner to wild applause which scares me. His camp apparently didn’t finish High School because they can’t tell the difference between The Constitution and The Declaration of Independance.
I do agree Obama seems to have some of the same sensibilites of Pres. Carter, at least in his hopes and dreams. However he needs to lose the Camelot spin that has been built around him.
On another note, he has been doing some noteworthy things which are of great use like having Earth Wind and Fire and the Fabulous Stevie Wonder play at the White House in the same week! Bet no other President thought of something so cool. At least he’s not torturing us with his own musical ‘talent’ like Clinton did on that Saxaphone. Oh yeah….and he reversed the ban on stem cell research.
I think really it’s a little early to call him out. He’s got a buttload of shit to fix and it isn’t gonna happen in 2 months or even 2 years.
Rush is a troll extraordinaire. Observe him carefully in a crash course for how to manipulate people. He’s obviously a better “politician” than most of the GOP, since they lost big time.
I can’t see how anyone who calls themself an American, can hope for its country’s leader to fail. It’s really sickening.