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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (38493)	10/14/2003 9:50:47 PM
From: sandintoes	Respond to of 59480

Don't jump on the 'Crush Rush' bandwagon yet I hate jumping on a bandwagon. First, I'm too fat and thus risk missing the moving object and falling flat on my face instead of my well-layered butt. The most worrisome aspect of any bandwagon, however — including the one rolling over Rush Limbaugh — is its speed. It's too easy to also stampede over truths. And there were some on the fringes of what Limbaugh was saying when he played the despicable race card in criticizing NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb. • The news media are liberal, and its members do have biases. But that's only human. And that does not make members of media bad people. They are motivated to do a lot of good in their communities. Yet they don't realize everything that's behind their thinking and actions because of same malady afflicting Limbaugh: isolationism — being around and listening to people who think like you. For a good explanation about it, read a column by Political Editor Bill Cotterrell of the Tallahassee Democrat at www.poynter.org. Once there, click on Romenesko's column bug on the right side of the web page. You'll then find Cotterrell's piece at the top left hand of the screen. Cotterell was responding to a piece by a colleague, who after attending a Poynter Institute seminar on ethics, wrote that all newspapers are obligated to be liberal. And for how the few conservatives in newsrooms fare, click on this column by Dallas Morning News editorial writer Rod Dreher at www.dallasnews.com/opinion/-columnists/rdreher/stories/10010-3dnedidreher.9be0.html. • Sports media in particular are even more of an isolated group. As the Rev. Jesse Jackson once found upon visiting a press box during a big football game, the lack of a minority presence among the assembled press corps there was shocking. Here was a bunch of white guys covering a bunch of mostly black guys below on the field. It was something out of the Roman and Christian days in the real Coliseum. So a little Howell Raines ''white guilt'' could be expected to make up for a lack of diversity in the press and even more among column writers. • Just as was said for the Dixie Chicks who had their many liberal defenders, Limbaugh has a right to say what he says. He should not be shouted down or silenced because we disagree with him, and even if what he said was very disagreeable. I tried to make my Friday column criticizing Limbaugh based solely on his playing of the race card, which has been dealt too many times of late in society. Unfortunately, too many columnists and media talking heads are going after Limbaugh's entire career. Their glee is telling. I've never really hated Limbaugh. And for someone who has said as much as he has on a daily radio show and a one-time syndicated TV show, it's remarkable that Limbaugh's comments about McNabb represent the only national furor he has ever caused. Yet you can see a lot of hate in some of the columns being written about him now. How can someone like Limbaugh be so hated? He employs a lot of pointed satire and put downs in his debunking of foes and extolling of his politics. But that makes him no different than Hollywood when it comes to putdowns and stereotyping of conservatives and even the South. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Jill Porter was so happy about Limbaugh and revelations about Arnold Schwarzenegger that she penned a poem for her column: ''Allow me to gloat, As feminazis will, At the potential demise Of two men who are swill. Let a liberal girl gloat It happens so rare In the future, I promise, No more poems. I swear!'' While further proving the point about the liberal media, Porter's column also highlighted the contradictions that befall both ideologies. How can liberals now condemn Schwarzenegger's abuse of women but defend Bill Clinton's episodes? They include allegations of exposing himself to Paula Jones, for which he settled a lawsuit, and rape, by Juanita Broaddrick? Those alleged abuses are just as outrageous as Arnold's. Yet how can conservatives who regularly condemned Clinton's conduct now vote for Arnold? Limbaugh provided a voice to a lot of Americans who felt unheard. Now a lot of copycats have jumped in. While critics may not have liked Limbaugh's tone or content of his message, the real blame belongs to those politicians and members of the media who left many Americans behind when it came to feeling heard. Has Limbaugh only peddled ignorance? Knowledge is based on experiences. That some are different from ours does not necessarily make us smarter. But first we must take time to listen to differentiate between the two. A lot of us have not shown a willingness to do that, particularly with conservatives. Limbaugh is accused of selling and seeding anger and division. Yet Howard Dean is now considered the angry man from the left. Democrats regularly play class politics on public policy. Both sides use the negative arts well. Limbaugh may get even more listeners now. And retreating to his radio show may be safest. But that only ensures he'll never be allowed into a general forum again. He played the race card, just as the Sharptons and Jacksons have done. Simply for that he should be ashamed, because he has been critical of both men for doing the same. The matter of race in this nation is one of perceptions. Ours alone cannot dictate right and wrong. Limbaugh needs to discuss his comments about McNabb and how many people viewed them negatively in regards to race. And he should do so outside of his set audience where his views are not normally challenged. He should make his argument and explanation in the open marketplace of ideas, to friend and foe alike. That's the challenge for us, too. The news media should water down its gleeful venom. Limbaugh will survive this outrage and probably any trouble from a prescription drug probe. His voice remains a necessary one, and until his critics do some listening to Americans who feel unheard, Rush and his like will continue to be around, and even preferred by some. Most importantly, media members criticizing Limbaugh's protected isolationism for his opinions should also look at their own. If it serves him poorly, the same also must be said for us.  cgi.tennessean.com