Wow. After watching 45 minutes of the Sean Hannity Show (with Alan Colmes), I'm ready to gauge both of my eyeballs out. Does Sean Hannity ever make an arguement using anything other then an ad hominem? All of this phony outrage in the media is eating me alive. The Republicans set the standard for phony outrage with their 24/7 outrage over the MoveOn.org ad. The right's phony outrage towards MoveOn.org has forced the Democrats to show their outrage over the idiot Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" comment. Damn you Republicans!
Normally I would just want the Democrats to shut up and worry about something else whenever the comedian Rush Limbaugh said something stupid. Limbaugh is now acting outraged at the condemnation that he is receiving for his "phony soldiers" remarks, but I'm sure he secretly is thrilled at the extra attention that he's getting. He's already a huge radio show, but he's basically a mail Anne Coulter; the more attention the better. Sadly, the Democrats needed to make a big stink out've Rush's stupid comments, to show the public whether or not Republicans will hold themselves to the stupid standard of outrage that they have set. The Democrats rightly responded to Rush's comments, and the precedent set by the Republicans, by trying to have a vote to condemn the ad. If the Republicans are going to resort to condemning something due to phony outrage, the Democrats now have to hold them up to that standard whenever someone on the right says something insulted troops or military leaders.
Unfortunately, Rush's comments were not as direct as the MoveOn ad or as intentional (since Rush is an idiot and probably never thinks about what he is saying), so Republicans can just claim that Rush was taken out've context. Personally, I couldn't care less what Rush said and what he meant. The guy's just an idiot. If Limbaugh says something that is horrendous, I don't care. I might find his comments to be disgusting, but i frankly don't feel like wasted my time thinking about something Rush said (which sadly is what I'm doing now).
What I really am trying to say is that I am really sick of all of the phony outrage in the media. It seems as if Americans feel obligated to be outraged and deeply offended whenever someone says something that they feel to be extreme and crude. The Democrats should continue on with their condemnation of Rush, but only because the Republicans basically did the same thing with the "Betray us" ad. Republicans aren't really saddened or hurt by the ad. Us Democrats probably aren't really saddened or harmed by Rush's idiotic comments. Maybe Petraeus was hurt by the ad, but I doubt it.
I wouldn't be surprised if he was mad at MoveOn. I'm sure that troops that are against the war aren't terribly saddened by Rush's "phony soldiers" comment. I'm sure tons are angered; maybe some are sad. Those that are sad have every right to be, since they might feel that many Americans don't appreciate their sacrifices in Iraq.
But the rest of us; why the hell should we pay attention to this (I'm writing about it, so I guess I'm a hypocrite). Why can't we just find their comments to be total off and crude, and just ignore them? Why do people like Sean Hannity feel the need to use "anti-troop comments" from the left (which he usually purposely takes out of context), or use straw man arguments, in every single debate on Iraq?
Fake Example:
Guest: "The Democrats need to stop funding the war".
Hannity: "So you saying that you don't want to give the troops the weapons and equipment that they need to? Do you support the troops?"
Guest: "Yes I support the troops. I'm saying that we need to get the troops out've harms way, which is why we should stop funding the war."
Hannity: "Well John Kerry said that the troops are stupid, Harry Reid said the war is lost, John Murtha said that he wants every single member of the military to go to jail. Will you condemn what they said".
It seems like on every single political show (especially the ones hosted by republicans), the issues are never really discussed. It's all "well he said this" or 'she said that 20 years ago." Can everyone just stop acting like we are totally outraged by things said in the media or things said by politicians, unless they are personally being smeared?
I'm not condemning people on this site. When I say "everyone" I am talking to everyone who is just totally obsessed with basing their political rhetoric on ad hominem attacks, straw man arguments, and phony outrage. I really hope that after this Rush Limbaugh fiasco is over with we can all just ignore idiots like Rush, Hannity, and Ann Coulter. I'm the biggest phony in the world right now. Maybe the reason I'm so passionate about this is because I can't totally stop doing it! I just sat through 45 minutes of watching Sean Hannity and I'm outraged at how stupid he is... Hopefully I will be able to ignore that idiot. Tonight he just got on my nerves. Usually I can get a good laugh out of watching his show, but he pushed me over the edge tonight. That would be an example of genuine outrage. Not really at what his political beliefs are, but how he goes about discussing them. Basically, I hate how he dumb down every single debate on his show. If he said "I hate atheists" (I'm an atheist), I would say to my self "this guy's an idiot", and I wouldn't go around telling people how outraged I was by his comments. I might tell them how stupid and uneducated he is, but that's it.
Anyways I'll just try and make a short list of people that come to mind that have caused the most phony outrage:
Ann Coulter, Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Moveon.org, John Murtha, John Kerry, Harry Reid....
If you think these people or organizations are terrible, just ignore them (personally I hate MoveOn because they allowed the Iraq War debate to be out shined by their ad, I like Murtha, and I'm neutral when it comes to Kerry And Reid).
Why are Americans so sensitive? Why do we feel the need to be outraged at everything stupid comment that we don't like? Anyways, let's all just hope that Sean Hannity, George W. Bush, Rush Limabugh, and John McCain have recovered from that horrifying MoveOn ad. I don't know how any of them got over it! There courageous moves to protect Petraeus were almost as passionate as the "leave Britney alone" guy was in defending Britney. I cannot imagine the pain and outrage that they felt towards the ad.
The rest of us, well let's get over Rush's stupid phony soldiers comment after we hammer the Republicans on their hypocrisy. Should we really let idiots like Rush Limbaugh (or in my case Sean Hannity) mess with our emotions?