Obvious, Finally


I come not to bury Rush Limbaugh, but to praise him.  He has now made clear what any objective observer (which, obviously, excludes most of his listeners) always knew about him.

Oh, we knew he is contemptuous of the American people- and not of a small portion, or only of liberals, but of most Americans.  On July 17, 2012 (as noted here two days later) Limbaugh stated

But how many people care about that?  I'm asking you a question.  How many people want to do what it takes to become prosperous?  They don't have to anymore.  How many people want to understand the role wealthy people play in a prosperous society?  How many people want to do what it takes to become one of those people, versus how many of them are content just to sit there and resent them and have the government take care of them to one agree or another?

He asks rhetorically "How many people want to do what it takes to become one of those people, versus how many of them are content just to sit there and resent them and have the government take care of them to one degree or another?"  Consumed with a sense of entitlement, those lazy Americans.

In September, 2007, Rush had characterized American service members who advocate withdrawal from Iraq as "phony soldiers."

Then there were the remarks last May made upon the announcement that Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin had renounced American citizenship, apparently in order to avoid paying $67-$100 million in post-IPO taxes.  (That 15% capital gains tax is a real killer.) Limbaugh compared that to his decision to move from one state (New York) to another (Florida) for a lower tax rate, a decision made yearly by millions of Americans who wouldn't think of moving out of the country, let alone renounce their citizenship.  But to Limbaugh, Saverin's decision was no different.

And now, confirmation of what Rush Limbaugh thinks of America.  Thursday, he minced no words when he stated

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my country. To be watching all of this, to be treated like this, to have our common sense and intelligence insulted the way it's being insulted? It just makes me ashamed. Seriously, man. Here we get worked up over $44 billion. That's the total amount of money that will not be spent that was scheduled to be spent this year.

In truth, we're gonna spend more this year than we spent last year. We're just not gonna spend as much as was projected. It's all baseline budgeting. There is no real cut below a baseline of zero. There just isn't. Yet here they come, sucking us in, roping us in. Panic here, fear there: Crisis, destruction, no meat inspection, no cops, no teachers, no firefighters, no air traffic control. 

Rush Limbaugh is ashamed of his country.  No liberal spin- he said so.  And he did not deny it even the following day when he maintained

Anyway, my point with all this is that for 25 years, folks, we've been dealing with the same premise: "Unless we spend another dime, the country is going to cease to exist." And for 25 years I have responded to each premise on what I call an intellectual, point-by-point basis refuting every claim. The purpose of this program has been to create as large a body of informed voting citizens as possible. While we've been largely and profoundly successful at that, the left has beaten us.

They have created far more low-information, unaware, uneducated people than we've been able to keep up with. We've had a profound impact in improving, increasing that universe of people -- citizens -- who are in the arena of ideas now, who are informed and educated. I've always had a Civics 101 view of the country: People get what they want, they vote what they want, and they get the way they vote.

And if a majority of people are educated and informed and know what's going on, liberalism -- and these powerful forces that have ill intent to the country -- can be defeated. Yet despite overwhelming success in creating more and more people who are informed and active and involved, the left has control of the education system -- control of the pop culture, movies, TVs, books, music. We've just been outnumbered.

One journalist/writer, who would put it no differently were he on Limbaugh's payroll, contended that on Friday "he began to clarify what he had meant, in order to fend off accusations that he’s 'ashamed' of himself. On the contrary, Limbaugh continued to insist that he’s 'ashamed' of the liberal direction in which the country has gone, despite his best efforts to “inform” the people."

Limbaugh (who claims he is right 99.5% of the time) would never be ashamed of himself, nor did he even say that he was ashamed of himself, instead explaining he is ashamed of his country.  On Thursday, he used the word ashamed twice:  "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my country. To be watching all of this, to be treated like this, to have our common sense and intelligence insulted the way it's being insulted? It just makes me ashamed."  For what it's worth, on his website  (which he does not personally maintain) the first segment was entitled "For the First Time in My Life, I Am Ashamed of My Country."  The following day's segment, which contained the near-explanation, was entitled "What Makes Me Ashamed of My Country."

Rush Limbaugh is ashamed of the United States of America.  Not only "ashamed" of its political leaders or of the direction of the nation, but ashamed of the country.  It won't stop him from routinely accusing Democrats, explicitly and implicitly, of being unpatriotic.  Nor is it likely to stop his dittoheads from listening to the guy, but it does provide a little useful context for evaluating his oft-bigoted, consistently hyperpartisan, rant.


Share |