http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-derych/rushs-entertaining-apopl_b_42807.htmlJim Derych
Rush's Entertaining Apoplexy Over Libby Verdict (1 comments )
Rush was full of hope this morning. He'd read AP reports that jurors on the 10th day were asking questions like "What is this guy accused of again?," and he had to be thinking Libby was going to walk. Suddenly, tragedy (or for the rest of us "justice") struck just as the first chords of Chrissie Hynde's "My City Was Gone" announced the start to another 3 hours of "broadcast excellence." You've got to hand it to Rush.
The Libby verdict was barely 60 seconds old before Rush was out there saying the jurors were D.C. residents with an axe to grind, that they were hopelessly confused as to the charges, and last but not least, Clinton did it. Ah, sweet, sweet Clinton did it. The rich glass of Balvine at the conservative feast of disinformation.
As a public service, I offer Rush's insightful analysis of the Libby verdict. These are the questions you'll have to be prepared to answer after lunch today, at work tomorrow, or with your family this weekend if you, like me, have dittoheads in your lives.Rush Defense #1: Blame the liberal bias of the judiciary.
This fits pretty nicely with Rush's judicial worldview. The focus of most of the last 20-odd years of the conservative movement has been the "unchecked power of the 'selected not elected' runaway liberal federal judiciary." It creates in Rush's audience the idea that there's something out there beyond your control that could destroy your life forever! That's a powerful trump card in the face of the conservative notion that 'personal responsibility' can overcome any obstacle in one's path. Since the judicial branch is already held in the lowest esteem in the eyes of conservatives, it's not hard to blame the judge for the verdict. Specifically Rush charges that the judge wouldn't allow defense attorneys tell jurors that Plame was outed by Armitage, not Libby. Rush actually goes a step further and attributes motive to Armitage, saying that he was acting as a surrogate for Colin Powell. In Rush's narrative Powell was pissed at Bush for wanting to go to war in the first place, and that the outing of Plame was done to make Bush look bad. It was, to borrow a phrase from South Park's Eric Cartman, a "Serbian double-Jew Bluff." This was interesting to hear. I don't listen to Rush as regularly as I used to, and it marked the first time I've heard Rush throw Powell under the bus. He always used to speak so highly of Powell. Strange days.
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