It would be hard to find a media personality who is more experienced than Rush Limbaugh at carefully constructing a convincing argument, before quickly shattering any of its impact with over-the-top hyperbole. Case in point: today Rush was justifiably angry with the determination of elected officials to fulfill a non-existent mandate to pass as much legislation as possible before the end of the year. This, according to Rush, is the equivalent of Congress sexually violating every American and is also where many listeners might focus on the rape and forget what issue it was that originally upset Rush.
First Rush ran through the litany of huge pieces of legislation that this Congress is trying to pass in the next two weeks, including the tax compromise that contains additional government spending, new food regulations to govern school lunches and even bake sales, repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell allowing gays to serve openly in the military, the START Treaty controlling worldwide nuclear arms, and the massive omnibus spending bills to fund government programs and over 6,000 earmarks. This attempt by Democrats to strategically wait until now, after the election, to pass many potentially unpopular bills had Rush fuming:
Damage being done to this country by this Congress, including a number of Republicans, is disastrous. It is a finger in the eye of the public. . . . The election results were clear. If we were a woman, and the Congress were a man, we’re in the middle of being raped. . . . We said ‘no’ in November, i.e., the election. We have said no at every opportunity, and yet they continue.
Although oftentimes the only way to cut through the chatter is to make headline-grabbing statements like this, it is also unnecessarily over-the-top, because legitimate allegations of rape should always be taken seriously.
A few moments later, Rush returned to his normal Democrats are evil rhetoric, saying the Democrats don’t care about America. Also that this legislative push is a “last gasp opportunity they have to infect and poison this country with their ideology and their ideas [and that] they are destroying and hijacking this country right in front of our eyes.” See, doesn’t leaving rape out of it make Rush’s statements more impactful and entertaining?
Listen to the audio clip from The Rush Limbaugh Show below:
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