OK, I'm only blogging on this once, because I'm already worn out. It's clear that there has a been a susbstantial amount of heat about comments that Limbaugh made regarding soldiers in Iraq, and dissent, and "phony soldiers." The Left has piled on, and the right has piled on the pile on. Let me say this: I don't consider myself a Limbaugh fan by any means, but I think it's clear that his words were at least ambiguous, and most likely didn't mean to assert that troops who oppose the war are phony. That being said, whatever one thinks of his comments, the context of the comments, the justification of ignoring said context based on past statements Rush has made, or whatever, there was no reason whatsoever to bring this foolishness to the floor of Congress. What a spectacular waste of time that was.
Before anyone brings this up, let me say that as vicious and low-class as the MoveOn ad was, I still asserted that it was also something of a waste to bring a resolution condemning it to the Senate floor. Congress has more important things to deal with. It's clear why the Dems chose to do this, to distract from the MoveOn mess, and because Limbaugh is an easy target, being the combative partisan that he is. Keep in mind that there have been other worse instances of attacks on the troops, from the Left (William Arkin, anyone?), and the Right (Limbaugh and others have said worse things in the past), but nothing was done. When the Swiftboating of Kerry was on display, there were no resolutions on the Senate floor. This is going on right now because of politics, and the whole bit of business is silly.
And, I'm done with this.
2 comments:
Rafique,
I totally agree that it is a waste of time for Congress to address these non-threatening tabloid nonsense. There are more very important issues that need to be addressed, such as the fiscal budget, domestic policy issues, and bringing some kind of end to the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.
I have, long ago, stopped listening to talk radio, stopped watching MSM news TV, and stopped reading MSM newspapers. Most news coverage in these mediums are along the lines of a Jerry Springer Show episode.
IMO, when the baby boomer generation die out so will these mediums to a great extent.
I disagree that the "swiftboating" (and I'll bet that term means something different to me than it does to you) of Kerry is of the same nature as the deliberate and disingenuous cherry-picking of Limbaugh's comments, although I agree that it too had no business being talked about in congress.
Kerry was asking to be elected to the position of Commander-in-Chief, and those that served with him had direct experience with how well he would fill that position. They felt an obligation, and had a right as free citizens, to share those experiences.
Rush is a radio jock. He is not campaigning for anything. Bill Maher (sp?) is a TV talk show host. He is not running for anything. I would no more expect congress to spend one iota of attention on Mahar (who is, quite frankly, despicable) or Limbaugh. Both are private citizens and can say anything they damn well please, and congress needs a reminder of that.
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