I Call Bullplop! Why Al Franken and Rush Limbaugh Are the Same Person…Among Others
Posted by Ryan Latimer on 11.18.2006
Yup, color me confused...
I Call Bullplop! Why Al Franken and Rush Limbaugh Are the Same Person…Among Others
By: Ryan Latimer
I Call Bullplop is run by the fine readers of 411. Contact Ryan Latimer to suggest a topic
Everyone experiences the conversation at least once in their lives, the unintentional political meet-up with an individual bearing no clue to the world around them. The conversation more likely than not had absolutely nothing to do with politics or general current happenings in the first place; it just sort of manages to shift its way into the topic of talk. When it happens, you feel sorry for this person, simultaneously pitying them and wondering how he or she could possibly be so dense, especially in this day and age.
For the longest time I too pitied these people. Lately, I envy them. I'm coming to understand why so many want little-to-nothing to do with political matters, even in the least bit. Many of them aren't stupid, they're hiding. They refuse to join the circus. They've seen what it's done to other people, and they are not about to let it happen to them. Ignorance is bliss, and the more uninformed you are, the better.
There is a laundry list of different reasons for this, but one primary offender comes to mind: political pundits. If politics is a circus, these folks are the ringmasters. Some of them do their jobs well enough outside of the occasional mistake or two, presenting and/or analyzing the news the best way they can, serving the public good (or believing that they are). Some are more colorful and fail to fit into the traditional sense of "pundit," better described as partisan or non-partisan commentators. All serve a purpose, and all are not naturally "bad." Political leanings matter not, because we all have them. Fairness, accuracy and credibility most certainly do.
Since the mid-1980s, Rush Limbaugh is one of the most well known and established political commentators/pundits in the world. I would be lying if I called myself a fan. As I've mentioned in previous columns here on 411, I grew up in a Republican household, and my father was and is quite the Rush Limbaugh enthusiast. As a result I was a "fan" for years primarily because I was too young to form my own opinions and for the simple fact that I wanted to be like my old man. As I grew up and became more aware and responsible I moved further and further to the left until I found myself smack-dab in the Center of the circus. Due to my past and as a force of habit I still tune into Rush, but it usually isn't because I want to hear what he has to say. Limbaugh's show is the only one I can get in Battle Creek. Sorry, dad. I still love you.
Why the change? As I mentioned above, a ring-wing radio host or liberal TV journalist are not bad in and of themselves. Political leanings matter not because we all have them. Fairness, accuracy and credibility most certainly do. I care not that Fox News is Republican or The New York Times is liberal, just as long as they are fair, accurate and credible, and Lord knows that certainly has been quite the issue with those two establishments as of late among other news outlets. But in this world you are sometimes forced to take what you can get and be happy with it.
The problem I continuingly saw and still see with folks like Mr. Limbaugh is that they often lose grip on the fairness, accuracy and most importantly, the credibility aspects. Simply put, even when they are right they can't stop making themselves look foolish, and as a result they bring down the entire public perception of conservatives/liberals and the Republican/Democratic Party. When, for instance, Rush makes a crack about Chelsea Clinton's looks or mocking Michael J. Fox's Parkinsons Disease on his radio show webcam (and Rush even had a perfectly valid argument on that Fox/stem-cell issue and still chose to lower himself), people tune out. They are no longer interested in what you have to say, even if you do have something worth saying. Sooner than later the slippery slope sets in. Many individuals simply walk away entirely and watch Dancing with the Stars instead of voting in the mid-term elections when even their political candidates mimic the same behavior their former favorite commentators are now engaging in.
It's a circus. The number of performers is growing while the audience is leaving in droves. Look no further back then this year's mid-term elections, where it's quite arguable that many voters simply voted against one person rather than vote for a counterpart. I certainly did. With the exception of voting for Republican Dick DeVos for governor, the Libertarians received every vote I could give them for the state of Michigan. I didn't even like Dick DeVos, but I certainly wasn't voting for Democrat incumbent Jennifer Granholm. But in retrospect looking back, they did indeed feel like the same person. Their laughable and downright absurd (not to mention endless) attack ads against one another made our democratic political system feel more like a PT Barnum promotion, perhaps a night out at a comedy club. John Kerry has nothing on them. All it was missing were rimshots. I certainly laughed, and I know others did as well. While voting, I was tempted to write in Dennis Miller. I fought the temptation.
When a potential or experienced voter has difficulty distinguishing between commentators, journalists and candidates, there is a problem. The problem becomes far worse when not only can citizens not correctly recognize an individuals occupation, the circus acts sort of blend together into the same person entirely. They all look, sound and feel the same. You can imagine my amusement when Mr. Limbaugh came through for me again recently while making an appearance on "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central. When Steven Colbert asked him if and how he was going to celebrate the results of the mid-term elections, Limbaugh said this:
"Well, you know, it's interesting. Before the election Bush said that Democrats were dancing in the end zone before the results were in. And this is the guy who did the Mission Accomplished on the USS Lincoln. So, I'm going to do my victory dance, but you have to pretend that I am in his flight suit with a huge cod piece (pointing to his crotch). So this is our victory dance with the big cod piece…(gyrating his crotch in the air) ‘We took the house and senate!!! We took the house and senate!!!'"
Limbaugh would one-up this act when describing a certain political nemesis:
"I will not apologize to him until he thanks me for saving his life…he was very, very, very fat. Just huge. You know, like morbidly obese. Huge. Fat, fat, fat man with a huge, huge gut and a big fat ass. And then he lost all the weight because of the title of my book and did not thank me! I saved his life!"
Rush's Air America Radio is currently bankrupt and has an uncertain future. He is considering a run for Senator in Minnesota in 2008.
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