This is my first diary, though I have been reading this site for over three years now. I come here for the same reasons many of you do: to stay up on the races, to discuss issues of concern to progressives, and to see to it that Democrats are elected.
The last thing I want to discuss here is some overweight, under-educated blowhard radio host and his latest attention-seeking stunt. The last web site I would ever read is Rush Limbaugh's, and the last thing I want to do when logging in here is waste precious seconds of my life even thinking about him. I'd get more intellectual growth from a lobotomy.
I am prompted to change from lurker to contributor here after reading the site today.
I have had it with the Rush Limbaugh diaries and comments littering this site. Stop giving Rush Limbaugh attention. He is and should be nothing to us. And to make matters worse, I assume Rush is enjoying nothing more than being the most discussed topic on "The Daily Kos." Why are we enabling him and his listeners to enjoy that honor?
Please. Our economy is tanking, we are in two wars, Obama still has to get HHS and Commerce Secretaries and other appointments confirmed, and we are facing a herculean task in dealing with health care. The budget is shaping up to be an epic battle that defines Obama's first term and perhaps his Presidency. 100 days is nearly up. We have plenty of OUR agenda to discuss here. Enough with Rush Limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh is an insufferable pigheaded attention troll. I know of what I speak: when I was a windy boy and a bit, years ago, before I knew any better, I listened to Rush (this was in the early 1990s). I fancied myself a conservative at the time, and fell for all the bogus fallacies and appealing canards that have come to define "conservatism" in the post-Reagan era: "strong defense," tax cuts as the one-size-fits all panacea for our economy, deregulation as the magic solution for all problems, etc.
Then Clinton took office, and I grew up.
But one thing I still remember about Limbaugh that I am sure holds true today (though I have not listened to his show in years): the guy has an ego the size of Mars and there is nothing he loves more than attention--especially if it consists of attacks from "liberals."
Trust me. Rush Limbaugh would be tickled to log into Daily Kos and see the following (as of 5:15 pm PST on March 3, 2009) on the front page:
No fewer than four rec-listed diaries that discuss, reference, or mock Limbaugh for his recent comments;
Three separate posts from editor BarbinMD regarding Rush Limbaugh:
Rush Limbaugh: Voice of the Republican Party;
Coward Watch; and
Rush Limbaugh Says Eric Cantor is Gutless
Three posts from Jed L regarding Limbaugh: (
Bad Politics and
Wingnuts New Complaint: Media is Too Accurate
Rush Ain't Got Nothing on First Graders
This in addition to several other references in passing (such as Kos's post dreaming about a Limbaugh/Palin ticket.).
Here's the deal: ENOUGH.
Fact: Obama had a point, and it is a simple point that bears repeating.
To wit: WE WON.
Rush Limbaugh lost. Big time.
We're winners. Big, fat winners. Epic winners.
He's a big fat loser.
So please let's do ourselves a favor. Stop with the fixation on the guy. Stop wasting our space, our venue, and our time discussing him. Stop feeding his mega wingnut ego with the exact type of attention he seeks. This is our venue, not his.
He is nothing to us.
Granted, I can understand how the paradigm shift this community has gone through may be incomplete. By which I mean this: we are still in the process of changing over from the attitude that we were the opposition to those in power to an attitude of responsibly weilding our hard-fought power to govern. We are all accustomed to and good at lambasting conservative wingnuts. We relish mocking them. We get sick pleasure out of pointing out their hypocrisy, their logical fallacies, their sheer, incomprehensible, utter fatuousness. (And no, I am not amused that my first Daily Kos diary had to be wasted on the topic of Rush Limbaugh. The irony of this is not lost on me).
But it is now, in a general sense, time to move up and beyond this. We won. They lost. We are in charge, they are along for the ride--about to see concretely how the job of governing is done, after not seeing it done at all for over eight years. We have a huge mess to clean up and a lot of hard work to do. We need to shift to a general tone of affirmative governing instead of negative attacking. (Caveat: we have plenty to attack and be negative about in our our party with Reid running the Senate and with such guys as Geithner at Treasury, etc.)
But the larger point stands: one of the chief pleasures of a true victory is seeing the vanquished rendered irrelevant and moving on. Great champions know this: Muhammed Ali, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Lance Armstrong--the list could go on and on.
None wasted time after winning their various titles continuing to belittle their vanquished foes, or even to give a second thought. Winners move on, losers move out of the way. Politically, we are where they were in their respective sports: on top, in charge, and with phenomenal momentum.
So I have better things to write and read about right now than Rush Limbaugh.
So do you.