What a difference a week makes.
Last week, Roger Hedgecock, a frequent fill-in host for Rush Limbaugh was calling for a return to civility in discourse concerning the Iraq War and the policies of current White House occupant (AKA George of the Bungle) in general. It was time, Hedgecock said in a patronizing tone to "talk angry Democrat's down."
And now, with controversy still swirling around the parody "Barak the Magic Negro," the conservative right's favorite mouthpiece has done it again. During Wednesday's broadcast, Rush Limbaugh criticized the Rev. Al Sharpton for comments that could be construed as a slap in the face to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation," Sharpton said Monday during a debate with Hitchens at the New York Public Library's Beaux-Arts headquarters. (Source) Sharpton later attempted to explain that he was not attacking Mormons.
Limbaugh's take on the situation was that Sharpton is desperately seeking respect. Accordingly, he offered up a parody of the Aretha Franklin hit containing the following lyrics:
"R-E-S-P-E-C-K, Whatcha mean it's not spelled that way, R-E-S-P-E-K-T, I need a dictionary."
Even the Rev. Sharpton's most loyal defenders would have to concede that the pastor has an unfortunate tendency to begin running his mouth before his brain is fully engaged. The pastor's difficulty in producing temperate comments dates back to his involvement in the Tawana Brawley case. Sharpton and his legal team claimed that there was a cover up reaching all the way to Albany. Brawley's story was later found to be a hoax.
So there are a lot of legitimate criticisms to be made about the Rev. Sharpton. Limbaugh's song parody goes over the line however. It mocks the clergyman's diction and intimates that he is poorly educated.
Limbaugh spent some air time Wednesday bemoaning a lack of humor among politically correct liberals. But Limbaugh's parody is nothing less than an ad hominem attack with definite racist overtones.
Limbaugh's listeners are being led to believe that Sharpton's style of speaking and his alleged lack of education are shared by many, if not all, African Americans.
Why does Limbaugh get a pass when Don Imus went down in flames recently? Perhaps because he is an unalloyed conservative whose fan base expects him to conduct these sort of attacks on a regular basis.
Imus, however, is not always towing the administration line. His show featured interviews with people in the news, lending it a bit more gravitas than Limbaugh's show.
In short, its not that liberals don't have a sense of humor. It's just that racist, ad hominem attacks aren't that funny.