OK, so I walk into a shoe repair shop today looking for a fast couple of stitches to secure a loose piece of boot leather and a new pair of shoelaces.
At first, all I could hear was the angry whine of the grinding machine smoothing a shoe. Then I recognized another angry whine, louder and more annoying:
The blasting, bombastic bass voice of Rush Limbaugh, ranting and pontificating to the world through a radio dialed up to "11."
More below the squiggle about an anecdotal encounter.
I sidled up the window, and one of the folks took my boot and went back to repair it. The Limbaugh propaganda assault continued nonstop. Then a new guy appeared from the back and stood listening. He was obviously a Dittohead. I made my move.
"I can't believe they haven't taken that obnoxious asshole off the air," I shouted above the machine noise and Rush whining.
The Dittohead crossed his arms, taking instant umbrage at my insult. But I felt I had a right to comment, given that I was literally forced to listen to Limbaugh in order to conduct business at the window.
A sneer crossed his face, but he didn't know what to say. Maybe he was thinking that he didn't really hear what he heard, that a guy would come into his store and insult his hero to his face.
So I repeated the insult, and then I told him why I was disgusted with Limbaugh.
"Can you imagine anything more sickening than what he said to that innocent and defenseless woman?" I told him. "Calling her a 'slut,' and a 'prostitute' to milliions of anonymous listeners? He should be ashamed of himself. He should be off the air."
The Dittohead was completely defenseless. He stood there, slack-jawed, and shook his head in denial of my assertions, but he did not know what to say in response. So I piled on, talking over Limbaugh.
"Do you believe he wanted that woman to make to make a sex tape and send it to him? What kind of a man would say that to a lady, a couregous lady who was testifying before Congress? What could more disgusting, more bullying?"
The Dittohead could not defend Rush. He thought and thought and thought, and I painfully waited for his reply.
Finally, he said, "Well, Rush says what he thinks."
I answered, "Well, anyone who says that on the air about a defenseless woman ought to be off the air. And she ought to sue him, too."
The Dittohead just looked at me, speechless. Then the other fellow came back with my boot.
I paid and left.
It was nice to have the last word and, in my own way, stand up for the elegant and graceful Ms. Sandra Kay Fluke.