Right Wing vs. Right Thinking

At what point does political attack change from fair or at least acceptable behavior in the cut throat world of politics and opinion? When do we as human beings stop for a moment, brief or otherwise, and think about the commentary and the motivation. I have to ask myself why this type of bad taste is allowed to go on in the world of public media when other things much less toxic are decried and punished.

Today ladies and gentlemen I am talking about the right wing talk show hosts, and in particular one Rush Limbaugh. Ayup, he is at it again. While I have no proof that this man kicks puppies and steals toys from little kids, I would be surprised to find out that he doesn’t. It was bad enough when he made fun of Michael J. Fox at the time of his testifying in front of Congress on Parkinson’s which Mr. Fox has. Not only did he attack him in rhetoric but he imitated the motions he claims Fox was faking for sympathy. He obviously spoke from the total lack of knowledge, decency, humanity, compassion … a position we are well used to hearing from Mr. Rush to Judgment.

We were all saddened, those of us on either side of the political spectrum who have hearts, to hear about the return of Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer, and hearing that it is stage 4. While it is treatable, it is not at this time considered curable. She has a tough road ahead, psychologically and physically. She and her husband John Edwards made what I consider a courageous decision to go on with his presidential bid while she undergoes treatment, stating that this is bigger than just the two of them. She firmly believes that he would be good for the country, and rather than selfishly ask him to stay with her, she committed to campaigning with him as her health permits, and to his commitment to continue seeking the Presidency. Talk about courage, positive attitude, and a certain selflessness.

But, we were then treated to Rush “Oxycontin/Viagra” Limbaugh trashing this announcement by indicating it was done for political reasons. Now folks, while you can say the desire of one party or another wanting to subpoena witnesses from the White House as being politically motivated, or that some people stating they want to bring our soldiers home is politically motivated, but I find it very hard to even contemplate someone announcing stage 4 cancer as politically motivated! He stated that this whole situation including the advance reporting on Politico.com (from an unnamed source) was to jump start Edwards’ campaign with the implication that if the campaign doesn’t get a poll boost he’ll have a set up reason to drop out. While I haven’t seen or heard Rushie state that implication it was left unspoken but fairly obvious from everything else he said.

Why do we as a population continue to support stations that play this kind of destructive programming? Janet Jackson had a “wardrobe malfunction” and whether it was purposeful or not is irrelevant – I do not see how exposing a breast is worse than the vituperative venom spouted by Rush and his ilk. Yet there was a major brouhaha over breast-gate, with fines and outrage, yet this type of attack is left out there, and sadly I bet there are a lot of right wing nuts who agree with him. They all make me nauseous – good thing they aren’t close by or I would probably be tempted to hurl – and then get sued by them for assault.

And while I am in trash Rush mode… why is it that he abused prescription drugs, obtained them illegally in some cases, and received a slap on the wrist and rehab, but a woman who is suffering from cancer, who is legally using marijuana according to the laws of the state in which she lives, is subject to Federal prosecution for trying to save her life!

Why do I feel that believing I live in what was once a free country that stood for equality is erroneous and that in reality I am a cock-eyed optimist to believe that state exists under the current regime. Why are We the People allowing this abhorrent behavior to continue and be supported? And what does that say about us?