Family is not Legal

Rush Limbaugh is a cancer. Since he came on to the airwaves, he has become the template for the kind of destructive rhetoric that he demonstrated so eloquently last week. That’s right, eloquently. If you want a perfect example of what’s been wrong with Rush and Talk Radio in general for the last 20 years, it was that Rush thought attacking a regular person, who was testifying about their opinion on a matter of national discussion, was a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

Ms. Fluke is not a politician, although she might turn into one after this, she wasn’t when she testified. Politicians are fair game for this now, not that they should be, no one should be subjected to the kind of gutter-attacks that are so common place now. But, regular people, who dare to enter into the political debate; they have to be safe. Our democracy depends on it. Rush is a symbol, and we can all go along way towards lowering the temperature of our political debates by saying that what he did was wrong and that half measures are not going to do.

This is what he said, in his apology:

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.

Let’s break this down. In my words.

I have been doing this a long time. I say this crap all the time, all day, everyday (So don’t think you can shut me up easily). I chose to say what I was really thinking, in the words that I normally use. I didn’t mean it to be personal, I hate all liberals the same. The fact that this one liberal was singled out was just collateral damage (and she had it coming).

Now I am going to confuse the issue and spin it around to what I want to talk about instead of apologizing. I am going to go on for several lines about issues that are not even tangentially related to the actual policy issue at hand, but that people who already like me will agree with enough that they will forget that I said some other stuff they agree with too, but they wouldn’t say in public (like I did). Mostly, I am saying that I was right, even when I was kinda out of line (not wrong mind you, I’m never wrong).

I didn’t use the worst words, nor was I wrong. I just didn’t use the “best” words. And, now people are mad, including my sponsors, and for that, I really am sorry (Of course, people hadn’t been talking about me much lately, so that part is kind of cool.) I guess I have to say this last part, I apologize for my word choices (but not for attacking you personally through mass media for simply participating in the debate of the day).

I am pretty sure that’s what he meant, and why it’s not enough. If Rush can’t be made to figure out what enough really looks like, then maybe it’s time that his brand of vile is finally exorcised from our national debate.