Profiles in Right-Wing Lunacy: Rush Limbaugh

Okay, so we all are aware of Rush Limbaugh, so I'll spare a full biography. The once fat, once relevant, once virile talk show personality and GOP lapdog has had his fair share of moronic moments. In fact, the media watchdog organization, Media Matters, online since 2004, currently has 465 entries on Limbaugh.

I compare the Rush Limbaugh Show to those old Chips-Ahoy ads, claiming "betcha bite a chip!" For those too young to recall, the commercials claimed, essentially, that there were so many chips in one cookie that you couldn't avoid eating one, no matter how small a bite you took. That's the way I feel about Rush. I'll tune into the show every so often, and it usually takes no more than 30 seconds for some idiotic statement to come spewing from his mouth. There is no increment of time short enough to avoid hearing Rush say something dumb, misleading, or just plain wrong. "Betcha say something stupid!"

I don't have the time today, or even this year to recount all of Rush's garbage, but here are some of the greatest hits:

• Claimed (without evidence) that the Virginia Tech shooter "had to be a liberal."



• Said that Parkinson's-stricken actor Michael J. Fox (appearing in a pro-stem cell campaign ad) "didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two."



• Regarding disgraced congressman Mark Foley, Limbaugh said "there's not even any real problem with what Foley did," and the Democrats "set Foley up" by possibly threatening or bribing underage congressional pages.



• Blamed food stamps for America's obesity epidemic, claiming the government is "killing the poor with too much food."



• Claimed that Cindy Sheehan (anti-war activist and mother of a soldier killed in Iraq) was a fraud. "Her story is...not real."

Recently, Limbaugh went on the attack again. Interestingly enough, he chose liberals as the target of his bilious nonsense.

On an August 21 broadcast of his radio program, Limbaugh claimed that the main reason Democrats feel compelled to combat the genocide in Darfur is to secure the black vote:

What color is the skin of the people in Darfur? It's black. And who do the Democrats really need to keep voting for them? If they lose a significant percentage of this voting bloc, they're in trouble.

Limbaugh went on to compare potential U.S. military involvement in the Darfur conflict to the Iraq War, claiming that involvement in Darfur was unnecessary because it did not constitute a "vital national interest."

The problems with Limbaugh's rationale are many. First, Limbaugh is taking the extreme conservative position that humanitarianism is not a worthwhile endeavor. If action by the U.S. does not serve a "vital national interest," then it serves no purpose in Limbaugh's eyes. This egoism permeates throughout all elements of neo-conservative ideology. Anything that aids your fellow man -whether it be public assistance, health care, low-income housing, minimum wage increases - should be vehemently opposed. Meanwhile, in claiming the the Iraq war qualifies as serving a national interest, Limbaugh seems unwilling to come to terms with the fact that the Iraq of 2002-2003 represented no real threat to the United States, or that all or most of the pre-war justifications have since been debunked.

Secondly, Limbaugh is attributing positions to liberals that are, in reality, overwhelmingly bi-partisan. In the same diatribe, he attacked "liberals," not only for their support of action in Darfur, but other "liberal" efforts like dismantling South Africa's Apartheid government and sending humanitarian aid to Tsunami victims. While President Reagan was certainly a staunch supporter of the Apartheid government, the U.S. Congress had enough bi-partisan clout to override Reagan's veto of a bill sanctioning South Africa. You may also recall that the humanitarian effort following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was lead by former Presidents Bush(R) and Clinton(D). Similarly, the Durfur situation is not a polarizing issue in America. In 2006, Congress passed the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, an effort to impose sanctions and aid in peacekeeping. The bill passed the House by a margin of 416 to 3.

I know it really doesn't take this much effort to expose the folly of Rush Limbaugh, but once you get going, it's hard to stop.