An Open Invitation

On Tuesday, May 11, Chris Matthews issued a challenge to professional Republicans (repeated two days later, video below):

And, going forward, HARDBALL invites any and all current, former and aspiring elected Republicans—by the way, you staffers on Capitol Hill, take note—who want to denounce El Rushbo‘s radical rhetoric. Just go ahead. You got an open invitation on HARDBALL. Come on the show and say you disagree with Rush Limbaugh on anything. “Mother Jones” Washington bureau chief David Corn is here to talk about Rush‘s rule. I think it is a Rush Limbaugh regime, in fact.

As of Friday, May 21st- Day 8 of the challenge, not including weekends- no one had stepped up to appear on Hardball, hari-kari having gone out of fashion decades ago. Yet, one must ask: why not? It’s not as if a Republican has to renounce conservatism, even in its extreme form, in order to denounce Rush Limbaugh’s rhetoric. Just in the last week, Rush made these startling (if from almost anyone else) remarks:

Monday, on New York City’s decision to trim a budget gap by closing numerous parks and historic sites:

No, we’re going to close the parks. We’re going to tell people how bad it is and next it’s going to be the cops, and next it’s going to be the teachers, and next it’s going to be the firemen.

It’s delightful to hear a conservative complain daily about huge deficits and the need to cut spending and government, and then shudder at the possibility of police officers, teachers, and firemen being laid off. If only Rush weren’t a critic of the economic stimulus and cheerleader for tax cuts for the wealthy, he might have noticed that closing city-owned facilities and laying off municipal workers is all the rage these days, prompted by those breaks for the rich he applauds. (And by the way, an allusion to Nazi Germany is always helpful.)

Tuesday, on Elena Kagan:

This is what they want. This is what happened in the old Soviet Union. People went to their bathrooms where they were pretty sure they weren't bugged, they went to their bathrooms to tell each other what they really thought. They were afraid to speak out anywhere else. So once again, this administration nominates people to high positions and, in doing so, acknowledges that it is much closer to oppressive totalitarian regimes in our past than to great American traditions and institutions, which have defined our greatness.

A political party aiming to bring the President down, a communications arm of that party masquerading as a 24-hour news channel, and a talk show host from Missouri, transplanted to southern Florida, who has accused that President of being a “racist”- yep, exactly like the old Soviet Union.

Wednesday, on the “disconnect between Americanism and liberalism:”

Now, we’ve been told here that the hearings for the Socialist Elena Kagan for the U.S. Supreme Court….

Rush, remarkably, has discerned what others haven’t,- that Elena Kagan is a supporter of nationalization of the financial services industry, the oil industry, the insurance, pharmaceutical and patient care industries, and of industrial production.

Thursday, on the federal government’s response to British Petroleum’s torrential release of oil into the Gulf of Mexico:

They are willing to destroy (or stand by and watch) the private sector of this country be destroyed if it will lead to more further power for themselves.

If being destroyed means making $6.1 billion (BP) in the first quarter of 2010 , more than twice that of a year earlier; $3.5 billion (Goldman Sachs) in profits in the first quarter of 2010, a 90% jump from the previous quarter; or $4.53 billion (Johnson and Johnson) in the first quarter of 2010, up 29%, I’ll gladly be destroyed.

Friday, on “Obama governing against the will of the people:”

If I were Obama and I was looking at this, "In a year and a half I've caused this much damage and I've still got two and a half years to go. In four years I could bring this country down to size after it took 200-plus years to build it into the greatest superpower in history, and I can tear it down and make sure it doesn't recover for decades." In four years? I'd be very happy with myself.

Yes, because Barack Obama ran for President with a secret plan to destroy the nation he leads and in which he and his friends live and in which he’s raising his two children. Because surely that would be in the best interest of his legacy and reserve for himself a spot on Mount Rushmore.

Big cities face no financial dilemma, a Supreme Court nominee is a secret Socialist, and President Obama is trying to destroy the private sector, eliminate First Amendment freedoms, turn this country into the Soviet Union. That’s only in one week. And only a few among his “greatest hits.” And still no Republican has had the courage to go on national television and say the guy is wrong- about many things, a few things, or even one thing. Not even to question Rush’s apparent support, expressed Monday, for big government and avoiding the tough decisions facing the nation’s mayors. Nor for calling the President of their country an egomaniac, a Socialist, or a racist. Or for openly wishing that the leader of the free world fails. Or for ridiculing unemployed Americans who have to rely on unemployment compensation.

A media not tilted toward the GOP would be asking a simple question: why not?

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