This is good -- the Washington Post has decided that Limbaugh's shocking and cruel attack on Michael J. Fox is actually
newsworthy. If other news organizations pick this up, it will be great for our fight in controlling today's news cycle -- and could actually have a profound impact beyond this.
I can't imagine anything better for the Democratic campaign right now than the mainstream media actually confronting Limbaugh on this. Demanding answers. And calling his bluff.
Limbaugh's attack on a victim of Parkinson's disease actually is newsworthy, but it was still somewhat surpsrising to see this front-page story. It crosses a redline about what the mainstream media is willing to accept from far-right media outlets.
If other papers and key news outlets pick up on this story it will benefit the Democrats in a number of ways. First of all, on its face this is incredibly nasty and inexcusable. It will obviously garner much more attention for the ad, and, through this, remind people of the very real stakes of the stem-cell issue. It will viscerally foreground -- in a simple and easy to understand way -- what it means to ignore science and medical advances. The cruel words of Limbaugh -- if they are actually confronted by the mainstream press -- are so palpably wrong that it can be understood much like the Mark Foley scandal.
I can't see how Limbaugh won't have to give some kind of apology. In the meantime, every Republican leader should be pressured to comment on this -- on Limbaugh's cruel remarks, on the legitimacy of the ad, and, ultimately, on their own votes on stem-cell research. Michael J Fox is an incredibly well-known, well-liked and iconic voice for this -- as brilliant and powerful as the original ads, coverage of Limbaugh's comments will be even more effective. Limbaugh's comment can actually transform this issue. It's like a bully who is finally just caught red-handed.
Finally, Limbaugh's bullying is merely a stand-in for the cruel and unfair tactics of Rovean smear-campaigns in general. I don't think the Washington Post would even have run this story so prominently if the fortunes of the Republican party weren't sinking. The very confrontation with Rush implicitly signals to voters that the Republicans are on the run. In addition, coverage of this will put on notice every Republican campaign that is starting to go dirty and ultra-negative. If this gets covered, the risk of other negative ads goes up.
UPDATE: The Washington Post article has been updated since the original post, with damning comments in reaction to Limbaugh: "'It's a shameless statement,' John Rogers said yesterday. Rogers, Fox's political advisor who also serves on the board of the Parkinson's Action Network in Washington, added: 'It's insulting. It's appallingly sad, at best.'" AND: "'"Anyone who knows the disease well would regard his movement as classic severe Parkinson's disease,' said Elaine Richman, a neuroscientist in Baltimore who co-authored Parkinson's Disease and the Family. 'Any other interpretation is misinformed.'" The article also quotes the most important line in the ad itself: "Stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans with diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's."