Fear of Clowns

Yesterday, I tuned into Rush Limbaugh to get his take on Bill Clinton's keynote speech at the Democratic Convention. Apparently, it's all about "one tiny part". I agree with Rush that the section of the speech he spoke of was among the highlights. I've included here two paragraphs preceding the one Limbaugh read.

• We think the role of government is to give people the tools and conditions to make the most of their lives. Republicans believe in an America run by the right people, their people, in a world in which we act unilaterally when we can, and cooperate when we have to.

  They think the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who embrace their political, economic, and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves on matters like health care and retirement security. Since most Americans are not that far to the right, they have to portray us Democrats as unacceptable, lacking in strength and values. In other words, they need a divided America. But Americans long to be united.

  After 9/11, we all wanted to be one nation, strong in the fight against terror. The president had a great opportunity to bring us together under his slogan of compassionate conservatism and to unite the world in common cause against terror. Instead, he and his congressional allies made a very different choice: to use the moment of unity to push America too far to the right and to walk away from our allies, not only in attacking Iraq before the weapons inspectors finished their jobs, but in withdrawing American support for the Climate Change Treaty, the International Court for war criminals, the ABM treaty, and even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty."

Rush's response to Clinton'sa observations in the last paragraph? Lies. All lies. Rush's numbered Clinton's points, addressing each.

# 1:

Clinton: [Republicans used] "the moment of unity to push America too far to the right."

Rush's response: If Bush would have moved far to the right, he'd be "ahead by 60% in the polls."

My comment: Earlier in the show a caller asked "What? Are you believing the Democrat's polls?" to which Rush replied, quote "I don't believe any polls."

# 2:

Clinton: We "walk[ed] away from our allies."

Rush's response: We didn't walk away from our allies because Bush went to the UN and got a resolution.

My comment: and then we walked away from it, launching an invasion before the inspections mandated by the resolution we authored were complete.

# X:

Clinton: We "attack[ed] Iraq before the weapons inspectors finished their jobs."

Rush's response: Offered no response.

My comment: Of course Limbaugh offered no response because any response would have negated his response to Clinton's 2nd point.

# 3:

Clinton: We "withdrew American support for the Climate Change Treaty."

Rush's response: "Kyoto was killed four months before Bush took office."

My comment: Clinton didn't say we killed it, he said the US walked away from it. We're supposed to be the leaders of the World, so what's wrong with exhibiting leadership by accepting challenges, showing a willingness to take responsibility, building consensus ...

# 4:

Clinton: We withdrew American support for the International Court for war criminals.

Rush's response: We can't be having our soldiers being tried in a International Court for war criminals.

My comment: Of course not. Then all the effort put into fancy legal footwork rationalizing ignoring the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war would be wasted.

# 4:

Clinton: We walked away from the ABM treaty, and even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Rush's response: The ABM treaty was with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union doesn't exist, so there already was no treaty. "This is the shortest version I can give."

My comment: So we all can assume he could give a longer version that may have kinda sorta made a bit of sense. Such as one mentioning the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. And explain why Bush sent a letter to Russia, as required by the ABM treaty, informing them we were pulling out of the ABM Treaty.

But here's the funniest part. While Rush was presenting his take on #1, he veered off into an extended personal attack on Clinton. When he realized he was trying to "divide the electorate" as Clinton explained Republicans need to do, he abruptly stopped himself saying, quote, "I didn't mean to say any of that, it just came out."

Clinton's speech was a masterstroke. He explained why the Republicans have to divide the electorate clearer than I've ever heard it explained before. Yes, there are Republicans who would vote for Pol Pot if he was a Republican, but to everybody else that was paying attention, Each time Repubs try to frame an issue in terms of the personalities involved, it will come back to "The republicans need a divided electorate, we don't. We all want the same things, we just see different ways to get there." The same thought disarms "Kerry is an out of the mainstream liberal." I wonder how many millions of dollars the Republicans have wasted so far informing the electorate the only way they can win is by dividing us.

// posted by Erik @ 7/28/2004 12:30:00 AM
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