Just when you think Rush Limbaugh can’t get even more divisive and politically obscene, he strikes again with THIS NEW LOW. In the past, GOPers picked up Limbaugh’s shock lines which in some cases seemingly became strategy for the party. This has been one they have not used when it comes to the Arizona shootings.
Will we now see that this is parroted by some wannabe Rush talk-show hosts and in Internet website comments sections? It’s hard to believe. Limbaugh’s stock in trade truly seems to be to try and arouse outright hatred in his audience of those who aren’t in his party or who are in his party and don’t share his ideology. Yet he is truly “untouchable” since he is, in fact, a talented broadcaster who knows how to get and keep an audience.
But if you look up “hate radio” and “vitriol” — an example of someone who paints a picture of his political opponents have the worst motives — it should have Limbaugh’s picture in it. And if you insist that isn’t the case then just reread the quote again and go to the links in the post in which the link appears. Even that won’t be enough for Rush fans, who always play defense lawyers. This comment of his is beneath contempt but, then, he’s gotten rich on making comments such as this, lowering the quality of American political discourse, setting a trend for demonizing talk radio often imitated not just by some on the right but by some on the left and fostering outright partisan hatred. But, hey, he gets ratings, has a huge following, so who cares about teeny things like that?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.