The Democrats' "Kiss My Ass Moment"
Well, I don’t know. Maybe he was just high on his drugs again. I don’t know whether he was or not. If so, he ought to let us know. But that shouldn’t be an excuse.
In any sufficiently prolonged heated argument there comes a moment when one protagonist or the other takes a swing below the belt. Not out of substance, provocation, or to distract or otherwise knock their foe off-balance, but just for the sheer visceral satisfaction of venting their sheer hatred.
The nutroots, of course, have made a cottage industry out of cheap shots and character assassination; it's one area in which they and their Clintonoid rivals are still simpatico. But it never fails to be astonishing to witness ostensibly "responsible" Donk officeholders serving as their detestable mouthpieces. Can you believe that a U.S. Senator actually said such a thing - not in private, or at a birthday party, or in an airport men's room stall, but on the floor of the United States Senate?
In times long past, lethal honor duels were fought over lesser insults. In times not so long past, punches have been thrown. At the very least, the patented Ron White debate rebuttal ("Yeah, well [BLEEP] you!!!"] technique usually gets employed. In this case, Rush was constrained by FCC limitations from borrowing Vice President Cheney's copy, though that really isn't his style in any case. Instead, he said:
Do you realize that what Senator Harkin said about me on the floor of the Senate is something he couldn't say about any other senator, nor could I say it to a senator were I a witness or a participant in a Senate committee hearing? Yet he can say it about a private citizen on the floor of the Senate and just did - and desecrated it, I might add.
He also apologized to Senator Harkin's family - on Senator Harkin's behalf - for Senator Harkin's reprehensible, juvenile rhetoric.
But let's not forget what's really going on here. Michelle Malkin certainly hasn't. She points to the latest, not so subtle signs of where the neoBolsheviks are trying to take this "crush Rush" campaign:
It’s time to put real pressure on Rush Limbaugh. His show is broadcast on Armed Forces Radio, and this time we are going to go straight to the lifeblood of Rush’s show — Congress. Congress has the power to remove Rush Limbaugh from Armed Forces Radio, and it won’t be as easy for elected officials to ignore our call.
~ ~ ~
Today, I am asking you to join 13,793 other Americans and email Congress urging them to take Rush Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio.
Last week, Rush Limbaugh labeled American servicemembers who support an end to the war in Iraq “phony soldiers.”
We’re going directly to Congress to take him off the Armed Forces Radio airwaves. Elected officials in Congress have the power to prevent Limbaugh from using taxpayers’ money to disrespect and censure the voices of our soldiers.
Join us and hold Rush Limbaugh accountable for his offensive and outrageous comments — tell your member of Congress to Dump Rush From Armed Forces Radio today!
Or, IOW, holding Rush Limbaugh accountable for the Clinton Machine's words that they're trying to shove down his gullet. Which is offensive and outrageous in and of itself. Too bad nobody is going to hold Limbaugh's enemies accountable and bulldoze them into personal, professional, and political oblivion.
This, BTW, is Wesley Clark's agitating (one of Bill Clinton's poodle generals, the one who couldn't even bomb Slobodan Milosovic into submission, who nearly got us into a war with Russia over his boss' post-impeachment military masturbation, and the 2004 Donk presidential candidate that a lib on the old Republican Forum insisted up and down to my virtual face was going to be the next president of the United States). He follows orders quite well, don't you think?
Double-M sees this as another attempt at blustering the "Fairness" Doctrine past a distracted public. Republicans, for a change, aren't going gentle into that good night, but are trying to rage against the dying of the light:
House Republicans are threatening to launch a discharge petition on legislation that would ensure the future prosperity of conservative radio talk-show hosts but is expected to face opposition from Democratic leaders. On Monday evening, Republicans filed a rule with the House Rules Committee laying the groundwork for a petition that would force action on protecting radio from government regulation later this fall.
The move comes at a time when Democrats have launched a coordinated attack on conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, accusing him of disparaging American troops critical of the Iraq war as “phony soldiers.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) has said broadcasters should be required to give listeners both sides of political issues so voters can make informed decisions.
Conservatives fear that forcing stations to make equal time for liberal talk radio would cut into profits so severely that radio executives would choose to scale back on conservative programming to avoid rising costs and interference from the government.
Republicans’ concern has grown as Democrats have waged a battle against Limbaugh in recent days. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) sent a letter to the chief executive of Clear Channel Communications, Mark Mays, calling on him to denounce Limbaugh’s remarks.
Which he, to his credit, did not. Mays would have deserved more credit if he'd told Dirty Harry to do something anatomically impossible, but Clear Channel's ass is still in play on this issue.
Have no fear though, because somebody did, along with the forty other Donk senators that signed his offensive, outrageous letter (including You Know Who) - and it couldn't have come from a better source:
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has just posted the following statement on his website. It says:
"Statement from Fred Thompson Regarding Harry Reid's Attacks on Rush Limbaugh
Congressional Democrats are trying to divert attention from insulting our military leader in Iraq and pandering to the loony left by attacking Rush Limbaugh. He is one of the strongest supporters of our troops. Yet Democrats claim he's not being strong enough. I wonder who General Petraeus and his troops think is most supportive?"
I didn't talk about this last week, but Mitt Romney issued a statement much like he issued against - who did he throw under the bus? Oh. Larry Craig. He issued a statement: That's reprehensible what Limbaugh said, horrible, whatever it was he said - and then later in the day somebody from his office called the office called our office. "We just found out that this is a smear, and Mitt will say this if he's asked about it." He hasn't been asked about it, so his statement still stands. McCain sort of halfway threw me under the bus by saying "if" what Limbaugh said as reported is correct, blah, blah, blah, then it's disgusting and horrible and so forth and so on. So I want to thank Senator Thompson for issuing this statement. It's a rare act of courage.
That lack of Republican courage, even in the face of an obvious and blatant smear, is a third thing that is offensive and outrageous. That Fred Thompson took a stand that should have been a no-brainer for every Pachyderm speaks volumes to me about which 'Pubbie deserves the GOP nomination next year. You know what they say about the guy you want in the next foxhole.
Hugh Hewitt thinks this latest attack on El Rushbo will backfire on the Left even worse than the "Betray-Us" ad did by calling attention to their attempts to divert attention from it via this despicable trumped-up nonsense. But then Double-H is always an irrational optimist who forever overestimates the reach, scope, and power of the "new" media. For my part, I think that "crush Rush" will succeed in direct proportion to the degree to which Republicans and the rest of the Right don't resist it with their last collective ounce of strength.
Or, as Michelle put it:
These people are fighting dirty. They are focused. They are unhinged. Watch from the sidelines or get your head in the game.
They're also radicals and Stalinists who, with almost seven years of pent-up rage behind them, have a reign of terror in store for their enemies - and I don't mean bin Laden and Ahmadinejad.
As much of an uphill struggle as the 2008 campaign is going to be, Patrick Henry's words about "summer soldiers" and "sunshine patriots" do seem to apply. That's why the Republican base may long remember what each of their presidential aspirants did when one of their icons was gang-raped - and that only one of them told the Democrats to kiss his ass.
UPDATE: Looks like it didn't take Romney long to figure out which way the prevailing wind was blowing.
posted by JASmius at 8:17 AM
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