Limbaugh
by tristero
When he arrived in the White House for a sleepover many years ago, George Bush the Elder carried Limbaugh’s bags to his room. This man, who uses Republican presidents as porters, is the very same malicious yet pathetic creature we see here, shaking in what he thinks is a parody of a Parkinson’s sufferer off his medication, but isn’t. Unbeknownst to Limbaugh, involuntary shakes are a side-effect of taking the medication.
Limbaugh, you recall, once coined the odious term “feminazis.” To most of us, Limbaugh’s outrageous attack on Fox is all of a piece. But at least to some of those who thought “feminazis” was a clever, funny, and precise piece of sadistic mockery, Limbaugh’s latest inadvertently off-base display of his total ignorance may come as something of a shock, revealing how seriously his drug addiction has affected his enormous capacity to spew invective.
If you watch the segment, be sure to check out Sam Seder’s comments, that Limbaugh’s real job is to insulate his listeners from reality. He’s absolutely right. The only real issue is funding for stem cell research, which the Republican party – consistent with its mistrust of all things scientific, be they biological, physical, ecological, or statistical – opposes. But suddenly the airwaves are all atwitter with chirpy parrots concerned with whether Michael J. Fox was acting. As if that matters one whit.
What matters is that the United States under Republican rule is deliberately undermining its commitment to world-class scientific inquiry. But gee, science is hard.* Let’s speculate on whether Fox hyped his symptoms or not.
My god, what a waste of time given the seriousness of the real issue. But unfortunately, it’s important. As long as malignant fat like Limbaugh clogs the arteries of discourse (sorry, after two cups of strong java, I couldn’t resist), we have to confront it and resist. Meanwhile, the real subject – the real issues in stem cell research, its potential and limitations – are not being addressed by a public that needs to be, and deserves to be, informed. Ditto evolution, global warming, racism, poverty, war, nuclear proliferation – you name it. Perhaps, in living memory, there never were halcyon years for cultural discourse in the US, even when Murrow strode the earth. But I do seem to recall that once upon a time there was at least some concerted effort by the media to focus on real news instead of obsessing on the worthless, grotesque bloviations of lying, unscrupulous, ignorant pricks like Limbaugh.*
Jane Hamsher has some excellent comments on this weird story.
*Actually, science isn’t that hard, even the fuzzy math. Because as difficult as it may be, say, to wrap one’s mind around the details of stem cell biology, it can be comprehended, if you’re willing to spend the time to do so. What’s really hard is trying to grasp creationism or astrology, because there literally is nothing there that is capable of actual meaning. Nor are there legitimate ways of finding meaning in pseudo-science. To understand that crap – now, I’ve always found it well-nigh impossible.
* Special note to any lying, unscrupulous, ignorant pricks who may have chanced upon this blog post: I apologize in advance for lumping you in with Rush Limbaugh.