Multi Medium

How To Respond To Conservative Lunatics

2 comments January 28th, 2009at 07:57pm Posted by Eli

The recent back-and-forth between Rush Limbaugh and Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey (a surname which presumably means “Gingrich-like”) is very instructive.  First, the background:

Responding to President Obama’s recommendation to Republican congressional leaders last week that they not follow Limbaugh’s lead, the conservative talkmeister said on his show that Obama is “obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He’s more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn’t say much about our party.”

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., did not take kindly to this assessment in an interview with Politico Tuesday.

“I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach,” Gingrey said. “I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell.”

Apparently Limbaugh’s army of Dittoheads didn’t take kindly to Gingrey’s not taking kindly and pitched a fuss.  What next?

WRONG WAY:

This afternoon, on the nationally broadcast “Rush Limbaugh Show,” Gingrey said:

“I clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth on some of those comments, and I just wanted to tell you, Rush — and all our conservative giants, who help us so much to maintain our base and grow it to get back this majority — that I regret those stupid comments.”

(…)

The congressman also published an extended statement of regret on his congressional web site:

“I regret and apologize for the fact that my comments have offended and upset my fellow conservatives—that was not my intent. I am also sorry to see that my comments in defense of our Republican Leadership read much harsher than they actually were intended, but I recognize it is my responsibility to clarify my own comments….

“Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, and other conservative giants are the voices of the conservative movement’s conscience. Everyday, millions and millions of Americans—myself included—turn on their radios and televisions to listen to what they have to say, and we are inspired by their words and by their determination.”

RIGHT WAY:

Alan Grayson, the outspoken member from Orlando, as usual, wasn’t mincing words: “Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention.  His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism.  Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we’d all need pain killers.”

My God, do we ever need more Alan Graysons.

Isn’t it funny how you never see Democratic politicians offering abject, grovelling apologies to progressives that they’ve insulted?  Come to think of it, it seems like we only ever see politicians of either party apologizing rightward, never leftward.

Did I say “funny”?  I meant “terribly depressing.”

Entry Filed under: Democrats,Politics,Republicans