This was written in reply to some anti-Rush drivel in my local rag.
Dear Editor of Kentuckiana Fish-Wrapper
Rush Limbaugh has punked you again. [ Fans Should Say 'enough' to Rush, Robertson-Pam Platt -17 Jan 2010]. His show is a three-hour mixture of satire and hard news He insists that the media are in the tank for the Left, so he “illustrates absurdity by being absurd”. He's even courteous enough to announce his “Media Tweak of the Day” and you still fall for it.
It works this way: Rush makes a carefully crafted “outrageous” statement, (often an actual un-denounced quote of a prominent liberal ). This utterance touches off a storm of media indignation , thus demonstrating to the Limbaugh audience, who are in on the con, that journalists are every bit as biased, unprofessional and dense as Rush says they are. Days later, the other shoe drops, as Rush proves, by re-playing his remarks in context , that he neither said nor meant that which has been reported. Finally, he rolls out a series of audio clips of liberals saying the very things they have denounced him for. Result: they lose credibility with their audience and he gains credibility with his. Game, set, match. In this recent case, he was able to induce a bunch of liberals to decry the politicization of natural disasters and then air sound-bites of them doing just that in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.
A few media members have figured this out and are more careful about fact-checking , but obviously there are still a few of you who just don’t learn.
Pat Robertson, meanwhile, is simply a dolt. Like Danny Glover.
