Will you ever win?

As a kid, I remember reading an old Mad Magazine feature called “You Can Never Win With a Bigot”. It illustrated the mentality of one who is prejudiced and how their opinion of someone they dislike is already “colored” (so to speak), so that regardless of anything the object of their disdain does, the bigot will spin it so as to “prove” that they were right about them all along.

For example, in that piece the bigot is sitting watching a baseball game and someone else says “The bases are loaded and Reggie Johnson is coming up” to which the bigot sneers “Ah, all them niggers choke in situations like this”. Then in the next scene the other guy shouts “Wow! He hit a homerun!”, to which the bigot smugly replies while downing a beer “What do you expect? All them coons are strong from livin’ in the jungle”.

Or in another scene two waiters are talking and one says “I hope that guy over there gives me a good tip”, to which the bigot scoffs “Forget it! Them Jews are way too cheap.” Then in the next panel the first guy comes back exclaiming “Wow! He gave me a $100 tip!”, to which the bigot says “Of course. Kikes have all the money in the world”.

Which, I think, helps to better understand how conservative voices like Rush Limbaugh can spin anything that President Obama does to make it sound negative. The perfect example of the “you can never win with a bigot” in this case is the President’s handling of aid to Haiti. According to Rush, Obama’s swift action to help a nation of people who were absolutely devastated by a massive earthquake amounts to nothing more than a way to appeal to blacks and score brownie points and photo ops. In the world of Rush, even being compassionate and human can be twisted into partisan politics.

As for the art of being “human”, I think Rush clearly pointed out where his own withered "I've got mine" soul stands on that with basically washing his hands of the Haitian people in saying “We’ve already donated to Haiti…it’s called the U.S. income tax”. So pretty much the message is “I gave at the office, so just go away now”. I wonder if he would still feel that way if Haiti was inhabited by blue-eyed Caucasians?

But the real “you can never win with a bigot” point here comes from if we consider what Rush would have said had Obama NOT acted in an opposite manner that Bush had for Katrina, and instead delayed or muted any assistance and aid to Haiti. I think we all know the answer to that one. Rush would have gleefully bounced up and down squealing “See? See? I told you the liberals are all a bunch of hypocrites!”

That is the reason no one should expect someone like Rush and his ilk to ever have a good word to say about the President, regardless of any path he may take at a whatever fork in the road he comes to, because Rush stands ready, like the bigots in the Mad Magazine, to twist and spin whichever direction Obama takes into “proving” himself right no matter what. Because in Limbaugh's world, that is all that matters, regardless of what may or may not be for the overall good of the American people, or humanity for that matter.

And that is why the President has to do what he feels is the right thing to do and not worry about pleasing his detractors who plan to find fault in EVERYTHING he does. Like someone once said, if Obama were to find the cure for cancer, blowhards like Rush would denounce him for taking away jobs from hard-working red-blooded American oncologists.

There's battle lines being drawn

Watching Wanda Sykes at the WH Correspondent's Dinner, I admit I cringed a bit when she called Rush Limbaugh "the 20th hikacker". But that's because I am aware of decency and have some morals.

But then I thought better of it, and decided she was within her rights, because Limbaugh has renounced all human decency a long time ago. Still, the right and its apologists were quick to jump on the bandwagon. From Media Matters:

At the WSJ, James Taranto is quite upset that liberals (including that "smug" Obama!) laughed at two jokes that Taranto and the rest of the GOP humor police have decided should not have been laughed at.

Taranto then unintentionally provides some comic relief himself as he patiently explains why the Limbaugh jokes were so awful:

Why do liberals find this joke funny when they should find it embarrassing? The answer, it seems clear, is that this is an example of shock humor: a genre that relies on the frisson of violating taboos. By our count, Sykes runs afoul of five taboos in her Limbaugh joke: She equates dissent with treason. She likens a domestic political opponent to a foreign enemy. She makes fun of the disabled (Limbaugh's past addiction to painkillers would entitle him to protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act). She makes light of a form of interrogation that some people consider torture. And she wishes somebody dead.

The comedy gold, of course, is that Taranto unwittingly describes, point-for-point, the Rush Limbaugh show as its been heard for nearly two decades. But over that 20 years time, how many times has Taranto taken to the Op-ed town hall to tsk-tsk Limbaugh's brand of hateful humor? This is just a guess, but I'm guessing it's a bullseye: ZERO.

When Limbaugh or the GOP Noise Machine equates dissent with treason, likens political opponents to a foreign arm, mocks the disabled (paging Michael J. Fox), makes fun of interrogation and wishes somebody dead, it's funny and insightful. But when a liberal comedian does it, guess what? It's the end of the world as we know it.

The real comedy gold is in the comments there:

She equates dissent with treason.
Limbaugh: disagreeing with Bush, "because the people that disagree with him want to lose." AND "It's about time we do challenge their patriotism. The far-left fringe in this country is actively seeking our defeat."

She likens a domestic political opponent to a foreign enemy.
Limbaugh: "every time I hear a tape from [Al Qaeda leader] Ayman al-Zawahiri or a so-called dispatch from bin Laden, whenever I hear from any of these Middle East Al Qaeda terrorists, I think I'm hearing Democrat [sic] Party talking points."

She makes fun of the disabled (Limbaugh's past addiction to painkillers would entitle him to protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act).
Limbaugh on Michael J Fox: "And it's purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has." Limbaugh later added that "this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two."

She makes light of a form of interrogation that some people consider torture.
Limbaugh: "I just slapped myself. I'm torturing myself right now. That's torture according to these people." AND "if somebody can be water-tortured six times a day, then it isn't torture."

And she wishes somebody dead.
Limbaugh fill in Mark Davis: On Feherety joke about Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid being killed by US troops, "his words speak enormous volumes" AND "He has nothing to apologize for." Limbaugh wishes a murder occurred at Fort Macy Park, and probably still believes one occurred.

The real sin Wanda Sykes committed was treating Rush Limbaugh, for 5 minutes, how he treats Democrats and Liberals daily for three hours.

So stop whining, right-wingers. Clean up your own house before you start complaining about ours.

Bastards.

'All hands on deck, we've run afloat!' I heard the captain cry

Everyone knows about the Somali Pirates that tried to capture an American ship, took the captain hostage, and were killed by Navy SEALS saving the captain's life.

An example of sensible use of US military power, to protect US citizens and property from foreign criminals?

Making sure the free market can safely export American-made goods?

Swatting down third-world thugs who haven't worked hard for their reward, as the American Dream demands?

No, it's racist cruelty and anti-Muslim oppression. Just ask Rush Limbaugh:

RUSH: You know what we have learned about the Somali pirates, the merchant marine organizers that were wiped out at the order of Barack Obama, you know what we learned about them? They were teenagers. The Somali pirates, the merchant marine organizers who took a US merchant captain hostage for five days were inexperienced youths, the defense secretary, Roberts Gates, said yesterday, adding that the hijackers were between 17 and 19 years old. Now, just imagine the hue and cry had a Republican president ordered the shooting of black teenagers on the high seas. Greetings and welcome back, Rush Limbaugh, the Excellence in Broadcasting Network and the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.

They were kids. The story is out, I don't know if it's true or not, but apparently the hijackers, these kids, the merchant marine organizers, Muslim kids, were upset, they wanted to just give the captain back and head home because they were running out of food, they were running out of fuel, they were surrounded by all these US Navy ships, big ships, and they just wanted out of there. That's the story, but then when one of them put a gun to the back of the captain, Mr. Phillips, then bam, bam, bam. There you have it, and three teenagers shot on the high seas at the order of President Obama.

Emphasis mine. Not really much more to say, the stupid speaks for itself. So anxious to hate on Obama, Rush "Jabba The Hutt" Limbaugh spins like Nureyev to twist the story to make the murderous thugs on the open seas look good.

And this is the guy all Conservative politicians must bow down before and swear fealty to.

Works for me. Keep it coming, Rush. You do my party good.

Going down

Never have so many bent over so far and been corn-holed so deeply. The latest is Jim Tedisco (R-Mouthful), candidate for Congress from NY-20 apologizing to Boss Limbaugh:

"Jim's comments were in response to a question about what voters are asking him about on the campaign trail," writes campaign spokesman Adam Kramer. "So far, the concerns he has been hearing from voters on the campaign trail have been local in nature, such as his support for lower property taxes, fiscal responsibility, and his opponent's appalling support for the AIG bonus loophole. That was his point and any effort to characterize it otherwise is a distortion of the facts."

Here's how the Republican brand is doing lately:



With numbers following this trend, why do these cowards follow a guy whose numbers are even lower:

Over the past few weeks, the White House has been casting right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the head of the Republican Party, and based on a new CBS News poll, it appears they may be onto something. According to the poll, Limbaugh’s favorable rating stands at just 19 percent, a full 43 points lower than President Barack Obama’s.

Limbaugh’s unfavorable rating, meanwhile, stands at 40 percent, while 41 percent say they don’t know or don’t have an opinion. Not surprisingly, the conservative commentator, who has said he hopes that the president’s economic policies fail, is far more popular with Republicans – 47 percent view him favorably – than with Democrats, just seven percent of whom view him favorably.

Can't even get a majority of his own party. Under normal circumstances that would be worse than weak. For Republicans, it's a mandate.

Idiots.

Now, if you're feeling kinda low 'bout the dues you've been paying

Actually, I love it when the Right gets it right. From Rod Dreher at BeliefNet, a crunchy con:

Verily, that's the way to bring the party back: blame the media. I talked to a conservative the other day who assured me that Obama's success is entirely a creation of the lying biased media, which tricked people into voting for him. The unpopularity of Republican policies has nothing to do with it. Why, we have that from the mouth of America's Top Conservative, who said at CPAC:

Rush Limbaugh, touted by many conservatives as the de facto head of the party in the interregnum, closed the conference with his own speech. "We can take this country back," the radio host told the assembly. "All we need is to nominate the right candidate. It's no more complicated than that."

Yep, it's just that easy. No need to return to first principles and recalibrate policies to account for new realities. Just find a better messenger for the same old same old. You begin to see why nobody inside that bubble could grasp what a flop Bobby Jindal's reheated Republican mush of a speech was going to be ahead of time. Here's a transcript of the entire Limbaugh CPAC speech. Take a look at this passage, and please tell me what is conservative about it?:

Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups. We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. What we see -- what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government.

This is a comforting lie. It is Rousseau conservatism: the idea that man is born innocent, but corrupted by society, or government. Remove the chains of government, and man will return to his natural, good state, which is one of limitless possibility. This denies two bedrock truths of philosophical conservatism, which are that 1) human nature is fallen, and 2) man must learn to live within limits. A conservatism that is not founded on a conscious recognition of those two truths is a false conservatism, and has a shaky foundation from which to criticize liberal utopianism.

There's more, the whole thing is a revelation in non-insane conservative thinking, somethine we don't get to hear too often. Rod adds this:

Anybody who challenges Limbavian orthodoxy is, ipso facto, the Enemy. If you suggest reform, even from the Right, you are a useful idiot for the Media, which are the Enemy, and can never be anything but the Enemy. Limbaughism sounds a lot like Leninism.

I loved it when the Soviet Union went down and the wall went down and the liberals in our country said you know they may not be ready for freedom over there. They've been oppressed -- yes, liberals will gladly tell you who can have freedom and who can't.

Um, what were the Nineties like in the former Soviet Union? That experiment proved that free markets and liberal democracy can't take hold without the cultural and social preconditions for same. Ditto Iraq. But the Limbavian ideologues, these Right-Wing Rousseauists, see human nature as essentially perfect, except for the corrupting hand of government.

Nicely done, sir.

Speak softly love and hold me warm against your heart

"Don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."

(graphic by Dancin' Dave)

You say, "How are you? Good luck", but you don't mean it

... and what's nice is Rush's message can apply to him with two different meanings.

(graphic by Dancin' Dave)