Norman Lear, Huffington Post: "Dear Rush..."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Dear Rush...



Norman Lear
Founder, People for the American Way
Posted: January 29, 2010 04:00 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-lear/dear-rush_b_442446.html

Yesterday, driving to work I listened to Rush Limbaugh read a letter he'd written to President Obama. I listen to Limbaugh because he reminds me of the carnival barkers of my youth, men who were selling elixirs, snake oil, or inviting you for an extra 50 cents to check out the half man/half woman in the secreted tent. They were quaint and harmless compared to the barking Limbaugh who yesterday would have us believe -- he actually said this! -- the President was seeking to destroy the country so that he might then save it.

The rest of the day, last night, and this morning I couldn't stop thinking about the ugly, vindictive, dispiriting and reprehensible things barker Limbaugh had to say about our President. I ached to answer him but couldn't find the words. And then I remembered a scene in an episode of All In The Family when Maude, who later starred in her own series, came to visit Archie. Archie was sitting in his chair. Maude was standing beside him and they were fighting about the legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Finally, Archie who was rewriting history in this argument said something so misguided and distasteful that Maude could not find the words to respond with. All but choking with frustration, her entire body seemingly ready to burst, all she could say was: "You're Fat!"

After a lifetime of trying to reach the El Rushbos of my life, all I can say is: "You're FAT!"

[tridim]

1. Thanks for posting the good huffpo articles here..

I rarely visit the site because it's sooooo sloooooowwwww. It drives me up the wall.

[Berry Cool]

2. And you know what? That explains a lot of the namecalling done by other otherwise intelligent folk

who have the intellectual chops to rip these jerks limb from limb, but sometimes just get so damn TIRED...because it's as if nothing they say really gets absorbed, and these jerks keep going and going and going...

That's why you see Al Franken with book titles like "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot." That's why Keith Olbermann makes fun of Rush's bouncing, and calls Roger Ailes "fat." It's not because he himself has anything to brag about in the weight department, or measures people's merit by their weight. It's because when the spirit gets weak, the temptation to resort to cheap namecalling kicks in. And sometimes, you just need the relief of the cheap laugh you get by doing it. Then, rested, you can get back up and rejoin your battle of wits with opponents who fail to realize they are unarmed.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. It's that Pee Wee Herman "I know you are, but what am I" thing.

Sometimes things descend to the schoolyard level because one or more people in the intelligent adult conversation simply is not listening.

It's apt that Lear points out the fact that Maude's outburst was the result of Archie "rewriting history."

The Republicans love to do that, including (but not limited to) George W. Bush's famous mantra, "I inherited a recession."

[Berry Cool]

4. Yeah--"I inherited a recession, I inherited 9/11," repeat ad nauseam.

I guess little W figured that he inherited everything in his life, from his pedigree to his wealth to his troubles as president.

[sketchy]

6. Al Franken has said about that title, "It's Irony!"

I do agree with a lot of what you've pointed out, but just for the record :), I post this quote from a comment I found on Yelp:

"The Franken "Big Fat Idiot" book title was an obvious joking play on the fact that Limbaugh's favorite rhetorical device is the mean-spirited ad hominem attack."

[lpbk2713]

5. Par for the OxyRush course.

This is the assclown weasel who said he wanted Obama to fail even before he took the oath.

[hfojvt]

7. it is kinda interesting though

Back when Bush was President, most on DU did not trust him, and felt he always had some nefarious scheme going. Often these were legitimate fears, but not always. There were calls declaring that Bush was gonna invade Iran in the next week or two. There was a bunch of cries of "the sky is falling" about some executive order which supposedly said Bush could arrest people who protested the Iraq war. Some semi-famous writer on the left was making that claim and it was being repeated on DU. Many considered me to be a troll because I did not jump on that bandwagon. I didn't jump on the bandwagon because I read the executive order and it didn't say what people claimed it did.

Two things seem to have flipped. First, that people on the left were sure that fascism was either here, or coming very soon. Now people on the right are sure that communism is either here, or coming soon. In both cases there seem to be people who make a living stirring up those fears. One huge difference is that those pot-stirrers on the right are on the radio and TV, and our side only had a few writers and KeithO.

The second thing that has flipped is that the right used to call war protestors and Bush protestors anti-American and Bush-haters. Now some here want to call tea-baggers and other Obama protestors traitors and racists.

Norman Lear's response here does not seem very helpful. If one side is spewing hatred and paranoia it does not help to respond with more hatred. That gives power to the idea that 'there is hatred on both sides'. It's better to respond rationally, calmly with reason and facts. That way one side stands out as unbalanced and ridiculous.