Just Sad

The whole Rush Limbaugh situation has made me really angry. But it goes beyond how disgusting and offensive his comments over three days were. What gets me is how clearly politics is really team sports and point scoring. What gets me is the continued realization that there isn't much objectivity and reason out there.

I don't see any way of justifying how disgusting Limbaugh's remarks were. But the right won't fully acknowledge that because he is on their team. Instead they downplay his remarks (The NY Post called it a gaffe instead of the repeated and deliberate attack that it was) or even attack the media for showing appropriate appall (as Newt Gingrich did) or accept his untruthful apology (as Newt Gingrich did) or say it doesn't matter since he is an entertainer (as Santorum did). Mitt Romney apparently ducked reporters initially - which makes sense since it would have required him to show some spine one way or the other. Sarah Palin called the media hypocrites - this is the person by the way who said it was appropriate for Gingrich to call liberals "retards" but not appropriate for Rham Emmanuel to do so.

The few decent responses came from George Will and David Frum.

What I wish we could agree on is a set of standards of decency and stick to it no matter what. Why can't we all be appalled at the gross mysogeny of calling someone a slut, whether it is Rush Limbaugh or Bill Maher? And why if some Democrats aren't sufficiently appalled at Maher does that mean Republicans are free to be as despicable and not be appalled at Limbaugh? Won't someone take the high road and be consistent?

Of course, I can't talk about Limbaugh without also talking about Andrew Breibart's passing. I don't think the two things are the same. But we can in this situation as well seek common standards of decency.

We should not celebrate anyone's death, even if that person in life didn't respect that standard. But there is some gray area here. I don't think that means we have to say only nice things. We can and should reflect on the person's life and the impact it had. Because of grieving family, we should air on the side of respectful, but not avoid all of the negative.

To be honest though, setting standards isn't so hard. I think we would all agree what they are if we thought about it with no context. The problem is living up to the standards and doing so objectively. After witnessing the last couple weeks, I don't think we'll ever get there.

Digusting Limbaugh

I try not to comment on all of the stupid and offensive things that Rush Limbaugh says. I tend to think that people as extreme as him should be mostly ignored instead of giving them publicity - which is what they want - every time they say something absurd.

And I was going to do the same thing after his most recent remarks, though I was conflicted. But seeing his horrible and lying apology, I can no longer ignore it. Here is a part of his apology:

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

That is a huge and disgusting lie. He did mean to personally attack Ms. Fluke. He called her a slut. He called her a prostitute. He said he is surprised she can walk considering how much sex she has. He said these things over the course of three days. These were all personal attacks and they were intended as such.

If Limbaugh was to offer a real and honest apology, he would have said something like this:

I am an offensive blowhard. I spent the past week making inappropriate comments about Ms. Fluke. They were personal and dishonest attacks and they were far out of line. I deeply regret making these attacks. In the future I will do my best to avoid making such personal and offensive comments.

I wish that this incident would end his horrible career. However, if Imus - someone less regularly offensive - still has a radio show, there is no hope. Instead, we can look forward to more of the same from Limbaugh.