Oxy Rush II

[shooga]

March 16, 2004
MAUREEN FARRELL ARCHIVES
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Rush Limbaugh Attacks Widows and Children

by Maureen Farrell

"Most of us here in the media are what I consider infotainers.... Rush Limbaugh is what I call a disinfotainer. He entertains by spreading disinformation." --Al Franken at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, April 23, 1994

Given his history, people expect Rush Limbaugh to skew a few facts. After all, in Limbaugh Land, Democrats and liberals are the boogiemen in America's closet, even when a mountain of evidence suggests otherwise. When he recently defended Howard Stern, for example, he automatically tacked on the usual spin. "If the government is going to 'censor' what they think is right and wrong, what happens if a whole bunch of John Kerrys, or Terry McAuliffes start running this country?" he wondered. Never mind, of course, that the religious right is actively trying to turn America into a theocracy or that the FCC is headed by Colin Powell's son.

In a subsequent op-ed, Limbaugh challenged the notion that Stern was dropped from six Clear Channel stations because he criticized the president. "So are we now going to popularize loony conspiracy theories from the left-wing fringe to defend Howard Stern?" Limbaugh asked, overlooking the glaring fact that the "left-wing fringe" included conservative talk show host Charles Goyette, who openly admitted, on both NPR and in The American Conservative, that he was banished "to radio Outer Darkness" due to the "oil-and-water incompatibility of these two seemingly disconnected phrases: 'Criticizing Bush' and 'Clear Channel.'"

All that aside, Limbaugh's recent remarks directed at two Sept. 11 widows veer so far off his worn propaganda path that they bypass his "insensitive and inappropriate" statements concerning Donovan McNabb and venture into the realm of another shameful moment in broadcast history -- when he lit into 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton in 1993. "Everyone knows the Clintons have a cat. Socks is the White House cat. But did you know there is a White House dog?" Limbaugh said on TV, before holding up a picture of Chelsea.

What could be worse than that? Accusing 9/11 widows of being political shills comes crassly close ...