It's surprising that there are so many people who have no interest in the political arena, yet they are the first to complain about government action or inaction. Recently I 've run into people who say they are independents (which means that they have not taken the time to evaluate the party platforms), and astonishing enough, some people who say that in their estimation both parties are to blame for the poor state of the economy and that is the reason they refuse to vote.
Meanwhile the hate goes on. The sheriff of Arizona's Maricopa County, 79 year old, Joe Arpiao, who is under investigation as a result of a federal grand jury finding of abuse of power for racial profiling, last week held a press conference with a copy of President Obama's birth certificate, questioning it's authenticity, stating that in his opinion it is a computer-generated forgery.
Imagine all this time and the birthers keep up their claims about the President's birth place and citizenship. It's the old gamesmanship of using an offense for his defense of the federal charges. They believe that if you repeat a lie enough times it will be accepted as gospel.
Another act of hate and racism, this time in an unlikely place, a federal court in Montana by an unlikely individual, a Federal Court Judge ,Richard Cebull, Montana's chief federal judge on Wednesday, February 29,2012 acknowledged forwarding an email to friends about President Obama that appears to equate African Americans with dogs and raises questions about the president's mixed ancestry, saying "normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, hope it touches your heart like it did mine.
The Montana Human Rights Network's Travis McAdams said the email, "flies in the face of honor and dignity." The judge, when interviewed by The Great Falls Tribune which obtained the email, conceded that it was racist but not that he was racist. Say what!
Rush Limbaugh was recently the big winner of the spew hatred and venom contest, by calling a 30 year old, Georgetown Law student, Sandra Fluke, one of a group of "feminnazis"who effectively wanted government to subsidize their sexual activity. He addressed her as a slut and prostitute after she testified before congress about the need for health care insurance to provide birth control medication and contraception information. If he disagreed with her position and statements he could have certainly have said so but this would not have caught the attention of his loyal following.. She did not say that she personally needed this to prevent pregnancies, instead she was testifying in behalf of a friend who as a result of cancer had lost an ovary and needed the birth control pills to help stabilize her menstrual cycle. She never mentioned that she needed to be paid to have sex or that she had so much sex that she couldn't;t afford to buy her own pills. Yet this is the tact that Limbaugh took when he called her a slut and a prostitute and to add insult to injury then added, that if she wanted to get paid to have sex,that she should post the videos on the Internet so he and other voyeurs could watch . When his sponsors started to withdraw advertising from his syndicated programs, Rush quickly apologized, actually 3 times within an hour saying that his choice of words were not appropriate. Soon there after however he and his cohorts began to back tract, saying that the liberal left and NPR had previously used language equally provocative against right wing personalities. That it was the leftist who had instigated the ugly tone on the contraception debate.
This is a childish response, admit your inartful use of the English language, (if that's what you want to call it ) and leave it at that. It's like saying "they started it". Rush therefore feels vindicated, and has no guilt about targeting a virtually private citizen with sexual slander and will continue with his trash talk and his millions of listeners will cling to every word and idea he espouses.
This would have been a great opportunity for the Republican presidential contenders to step forward in the defense of the law student because certainly they would agree that Limbaugh's statements were indefensible however none of the candidates wanted to alienate "El Rushbo" as he calls himself and of course his conservative supporters and chose to tread lightly.
Mitt Romney said it was not the language that he would have used.
Rick Santorum alibied for Limbaugh by saying "he's an entertainer who should be given some latitude to be absurd.
Newt Gingrich's Super PAC, "Winning our Future: demonstrated whose side they were on when they increased their ads on the Limbaugh show.
Only John McCain had the cajones to speak up, stating "Those statements were unacceptable in every way and should be condemned by everyone, no matter what their political leanings are".
A close friend described Limbaugh as a, "closet Democrat", because he may have caused more damage to the brand of the Republican party than any Democrat has done so far this election year.
Let's hope that El Rushbo can keep it up.
Fist Bump Time!
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