Dec. 22, 2006
 
COMMENTARY: Limbaugh Provides Humor in Days of Darkness
 
By Joseph J. Honick
 
Bainbridge Island, WA (HNN) -- Rush Limbaugh, famed druggie, college dropout and ex disc jockey, probably doesn’t know it, but he provides more humor for me than most of those standup comics who work so hard at it.
 
It is fun to listen to him in these days when so many terrible things are happening around the world, and he asserts that those bad guys in the terror business know full well we have a guy in the White House who will come after them if they do anything like 9/11 again. And he says it with his divinely inspired straight face. Actually the guy in the White House doesn’t come after anyone.
 
In the old days, when the bad guys knew the lawman was tough and could come at all and sundry fearlessly, they would either skulk into the background or plot to knock off the good guys from behind. Guess what those bad guys are doing now: why they are doing that stuff from the back, the side and elsewhere, apparently failing to fear the guy in the White House who has threatened them with victory.
 
But Limbaugh explains why those terrorists are happy with the Democratic victory in recent elections. Actually, he suggests these bad guys promoted that sea change in the Congress using things called media and other scary things for propaganda that only affects people who are not of the neoconservative inclination and are therefore immune to such efforts through special means of mental deflection.
 
If you look really closely, however, you may note those SOB’s in Iraq really don’t seem to fear that feller in the White House and keep on doing something called “insurgency.” That simply means some kind of revolt against folks those insurgents feel are in the insurgents’ back yard, and they don’t like it. But, for sure, they don’t seem to fear our lofty leader as defined by Limbaugh.
 
So who is this Rush Limbaugh of the courageous talk and collateral critical commentary? Whence cometh his deep and serious assessments of world affairs?
 
Has he spent years studying diplomacy and military affairs? Is his tough talk about military action the result of exposure to the dangers of combat or any kind of military service at all?
 
Well, the hard truth is he has done none of these, but he sure has talked a good game
 
about all of them with the authority as if he had done any of them and braved the dangers of all of them pretty much like a guy on a barstool declaiming about everything and anything political, religious, sports and, well, you know, world affairs of all kinds before downing the last brew at closing time, believing every word of course he has spoken.
 
So what is the Limbaugh phenomenon that provides him with an annual income in the many millions? No doubt he is clever and spins great yarns and speaks the language of people who know there is no one on the other side of the table available to defend against his assaults because he does not permit that sort of thing. A lot of people, it seems, love to get off their own aggressions by hearing someone attack others as most bullies do, in the certain knowledge there will be no comeback in real time from the targets. And it works. It works so well that his loyal fans are willing to accept the title of, are you ready, “Dittoheads,” hardly a tag that bespeaks original thought or individual thinking -- because Rush does their thinking for them. Wow!
 
It was the late and renowned legitimate journalist with a real pedigree for commentary who once noted that “nobody ever lost a dime underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” And, doggone it, why does Limbaugh keep proving the theory?
 
Limbaugh is part of a group of people who know how well assaults on people’s reputations, when they can’t defend themselves right there and then, sell very well to those who often lack the nerve, experience and background to express their anger. This little army of bullies at the top include Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Limbaugh of course, Laura Ingraham and a few others, none of whom has done a single thing in service to the United States except whine about anyone not from the far right. They are worshipped by the likes of the College Republicans for the War in Iraq) who beat their chests for military action but apparently have no stomach for real military involvement by signing up to fight in them.
 
There is indeed a place and a need for solid and honest conservative thought in America, but one would think that, when the people of the nation clearly express themselves as they did in this past November’s mid-term elections, the leadership would trust our citizens and make some adjustments. Sadly, and often humorously, even in the face of overwhelming American expressed thinking, people like Limbaugh and his colleagues say essentially, we just can’t trust our fellow citizens.
 
In the end, Limbaugh remains the star burlesque performer, qualified by no demonstrable experience or service to the nation who struts and declaims his allegedly divinely endowed commentary that gives us all a chance to laugh a little in these dark days of war. A wise man said: “If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.” -- Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th U.S. President (1861-65), who brought about the emancipation of the slaves.
 
Even a fool like Limbaugh eventually will learn this.