GOP Spitting Contest
As a non-Republican, I find amusing the recent rhubarb within the GOP party over Michael Steele.
Marylanders know Mr. Steele; he was lieutenant governor when Gov. Robert Ehrlich received a four-year sniff of power. Mr. Steele is an ex-seminarian who obviously loves politics. He struck me, in person, as a gentle man. Frankly, I'm glad he got the job to rebuild the Republican National Committee; his African American heritage didn't hurt.
Whatever possessed him, the ex-lieutenant governor called Rush Limbaugh "an entertainer." (I happen to agree with him.) A suggestion that he might be less than a profound thinker on the level with ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle rattles the broadcaster. This is the real reason for Mr. Steele's head on the Republican chopping block.
The GOP's very conservative faction just might help bounce the new chairman of the national committee. Anything's possible within the party, given its crippling loss at the polls. The big barrier to the "hardy souls" is Mr. Obama's race.
But the radio talker has been there before. He was bounced from a very lucrative ESPN contract because of racist words he said about Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb.
His "ditto heads" know that Mr. Limbaugh – all by himself – wrought the Republican "revolution" that gave the party control of Capitol Hill, in 1994. And to hell with Newt Gingrich!
Doesn't anyone in the GOP recognize the talk radio man may have been guilty of November's rout at the polls? Apparently, a man could be taken as a miracle worker that received nary a bruise over his very public taking of drugs. Mr. Gingrich said they were prescribed medicine. The FBI said not in the quantity their investigation revealed.
While denying he is the Republicans’ chief, Mr. Limbaugh issued a well-publicized challenge to the new president. If Barack Obama winds up the winner of the proposed debate, he will "own the United States of America." Did I miss something? Does Rush Limbaugh own the country? He goes on to promise Mr. Obama "will have no opposition."
Read the challenge:
"You're a very courageous man, Mr. President. I am, after all, just The Last Man Standing. If you take me out, if you can wipe me out in a debate and prove to the rest of America that what I say is senseless and wrong, do you realize you will own the United States of America? You will have no opposition."
What his Republican Party lost in November, Mr. Limbaugh proposes to win decisively back. Has the man never heard of the Constitution? Apparently he feels all alone in opposing the White House. He's not – not by a long shot here in Frederick. Isn't ego wonderful?
In contradiction to the overwhelming sentiment expressed by most voters, the radio talker publicly hopes Mr. Obama will fail. Ego triumphed over patriotism. If the new administration fails, the American people lose miserably. Incidentally, it should be noted the GOP received less than half the ballots in the Electoral College, in November.
My heartfelt advice to Rush Limbaugh? Sit down and shut up! He won't, of course. And, as long as someone else runs the country, he can rant and rave on our unfettered and uncensored airwaves.
That's what our Founding Fathers intended with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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