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ctembreull · 08-01-2003, 05:30 PM

Rush has had an impact on American politics, of that there can be no doubt. The problem is that his impact has been almost entirely negative.

He has used his status as the 800-pound gorilla of talk radio to keep competing voices off the air, such as Randi Rhodes, whose syndicator has refused to play her show nationally because Limbaugh threatened to jump ship if it were. He has pioneered the use of strawman arguments, nonfacts, argumenta ad hominem, and the mute button as debate tools, proving again and again his willingness to lie, misdirect, change the subject, insult, and even forcibly silence a caller if it will allow him to win an argument or squelch a dissenting viewpoint. He has raised hypocrisy to an art form. For example, he spent years pillorying Bill Clinton repeatedly over Clinton's activities during Vietnam, but was himself granted a medical dispensation because he had... (wait for it)... a cyst on his ass. He has spawned hordes of mindless fanatics called "dittoheads" whose sole aim in life is apparently to call into the show, get on the air, and tell Rush that he's right. He has created imitators by the score, including Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, who taken as a whole are nothing more than a pack of screeching weasels flooding the talk-radio space with the Republican spin-point du jour. He's singlehandedly managed to lower the tenor and tone of the national dialogue to something more resembling what you'd likely overhear in the alley behind a dive bar in the slums.

Personally, I hold Rush Limbaugh personally accountable for a large percentage of the ugliness, intolerance, bigotry, homophobia, smugness, and outright hate that's swept America in recent years. Al Franken was right about one thing, at least: Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot.

You want my opinion? Rush is a festering cyst on the ass of America, and needs to be surgically removed, posthaste.

08-01-2003, 05:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
ctembreull Crazy Location: Silicon Valley, CA, USA, Earth	Rush has had an impact on American politics, of that there can be no doubt. The problem is that his impact has been almost entirely negative. He has used his status as the 800-pound gorilla of talk radio to keep competing voices off the air, such as Randi Rhodes, whose syndicator has refused to play her show nationally because Limbaugh threatened to jump ship if it were. He has pioneered the use of strawman arguments, nonfacts, argumenta ad hominem, and the mute button as debate tools, proving again and again his willingness to lie, misdirect, change the subject, insult, and even forcibly silence a caller if it will allow him to win an argument or squelch a dissenting viewpoint. He has raised hypocrisy to an art form. For example, he spent years pillorying Bill Clinton repeatedly over Clinton's activities during Vietnam, but was himself granted a medical dispensation because he had... (wait for it)... a cyst on his ass. He has spawned hordes of mindless fanatics called "dittoheads" whose sole aim in life is apparently to call into the show, get on the air, and tell Rush that he's right. He has created imitators by the score, including Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, who taken as a whole are nothing more than a pack of screeching weasels flooding the talk-radio space with the Republican spin-point du jour. He's singlehandedly managed to lower the tenor and tone of the national dialogue to something more resembling what you'd likely overhear in the alley behind a dive bar in the slums. Personally, I hold Rush Limbaugh personally accountable for a large percentage of the ugliness, intolerance, bigotry, homophobia, smugness, and outright hate that's swept America in recent years. Al Franken was right about one thing, at least: Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot. You want my opinion? Rush is a festering cyst on the ass of America, and needs to be surgically removed, posthaste. __________________ Mac "If it's nae Scottish, it's crap! Last edited by ctembreull; 08-01-2003 at 05:33 PM..