A word about the whole Rush Limbaugh thing

Like many people I've been following this whole Rush Limbaugh/Republican Party infighting with quite a bit of interest. Along the way I've been shocked, humored, appalled, distressed and a million other things, but it's really hit home for me I suppose because in a past life, back when I was still living in Louisiana, I spent a good deal of time driving all over the state for work and I used to listen to Limbaugh quite a bit. I didn't always agree with what he had to say, but he was often entertaining, I don't recall him being as insufferable as he is now, I know this because I still listen to him from time to time, and I can only usually tolerate him now in small doses. He's filled with more anger than I ever remember him being. He's also more inclined to distort the truth, not to mention that he seems to have lost a firm grip on reality with the passage of time.

Limbaugh used to encourage people with opposing viewpoints to call in and debate him, and even though he didn't agree with those who did, he was usually courteous and respectful to people who didn't see things his way. One time I even called into his show and engaged him in a rather lively debate about a Senate race that was taking place in Louisiana at the time. When a commercial break interrupted our discussion, he asked me to hold on through it so that we could continue talking and he even chatted with me off the air while we waited for the commercials to finish running. I should say that he was extremely polite and engaging throughout our entire conversation. This was, as I recall it, sometime in the late 90s.

And then of course came all of the scandals involving Rush with prescription drugs. First there was the whole sordid Oxycontin addiction thing, the one where he was so hooked that he was forcing his staff to fake painful ailments so that they could get drugs for him. I think he may have also been paying off a doctor or something, but whatever. Then there was the time he was busted trying to smuggle Viagra prescribed to someone else into the Dominican Republic, while flying solo mind you, which led to all sorts of rumors, probably based in some truth, that he was regular of that country's sex tourism industry, the one where underage girls are often forced into having sex with middle-aged foreigners. As someone who'd listened to his show for a long time and heard his numerous tirades against druggies in this country and how they should be locked away forever in prison, these debacles pretty much destroyed any and all credibility I'd ever lent to him. Here's a sample of one of his many on-air rants against drug users...

The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too. We're becoming too tolerant, folks.

Something else I remember Limbaugh being fond of doing once upon a time was calling himself "the epitome of morality and virtue." The whole quote, as I remember it, that he often used when opening his show each day was this..."Rush Limbaugh, the epitome of morality and virtue, a man you could totally trust with your wife, your daughter, and even your son in a hotel room overnight."

Oh yeah, and then there were the three marriages and the affairs with the wives of other men and all, and he kinda stopped referring to himself in such a manner, which I suppose was wise.

My point is not to bash Limbaugh here, though I do believe that people need do need to be reminded of all of these things from time to time, but to simply ask...HOW THE FUCK DID THIS HAPPEN?

How is it that, after all the discrediting of Limbaugh that has taken place over the years, how the hell is it that people from the outer fringes of the Republican Party still take him seriously? How is it that he is allowed, by the fringe wing of the party who claim to be all about Jesus and family values and all that sort of horseshit mind you, to act as their spokesperson, as their leader? Do these wingnuts just compartmentalize all of the baggage this guy carries around with him, do they possess an ability to slam shut the little doors of reason inside their minds, or are they just not give a fuck?

I mean, when you really take a hard look at Limbaugh and compare who and what he is next to Barack Obama, the contrast is absolutely striking. On the one hand you have Limbaugh...loud, arrogant, bloated, hypocritical, born into an upper crust family of judges, living alone in a 44 million dollar spread in Palm Beach, smoking cigars, bragging constantly about his flying around in a private jet...fuck, Rush Limbaugh is the epitome of the ugly American as seen from people living abroad. He's the living, breathing symbol of everything wrong with the country.

Then you look at Barack Obama...an intellectual, calm, pragmatic, slim, reasonable, son of a single mother who rose to become president, arguably the ideal father and husband despite the demands on his time...seemingly the real epitome of morality and virtue AND someone looked upon as a great beacon of hope by people all over the world.

So again...how is it exactly that the right-wing retards have convinced themselves that Rush Limbaugh is a "great American" while Barack Obama was handpicked by Allah and Osama Bin Ladin and Satan and sent on a kamikaze mission to destroy the country? I mean, when you actually stop to think about it, when you actually remove all emotion and bias and whatever pre-judgments you may have and you look at it all on paper, it's absolutely mind-boggling, even downright maddening.

But then, just as you're about to throw yourself in front of a bus out of "oh God none of this makes any sense" confusion, you come to this simple realization...Some people are just fucking stupid.