I am grateful to the diarist on the rec list for posting the video of the White House Correspondents dinner, and for many comments I agree with. I disagree with one aspect, and with several of the response postings.
I monitor the cesspool of freerepublic and I am appalled by much of what I see there. They cheer the idea of someone shooting Nancy Pelosi or Barack Obama. They want Senators hanged, gays to die of AIDS, etc. So why am I concerned when someone perceived to be "our side" gives them back some of the same and wishes for Limbaugh to have kidney failure?
For several reasons. Discuss it with me over the jump...
I liked several parts of Wanda Sykes' routine. I thought "Limbaugh as the 20th hijacker" was pushing the envelope, but it didn't set off any alarms. What I had trouble with was Sykes saying she hope his kidneys failed.
It bothered me on a few counts. Firstly, much as I think he's a pimple the ass of humanity, I've seen people die of kidney failure. I wouldn't wish it on someone who's not a mass murderer. I would rather see Limbaugh live and watch his party marginalized, his audience and income disappear, and his own opinions and words ignored. That's the torture I'd wish on him.
It bothered me because I like to think progressives are less interested in causing other people psychic or physical pain, and more interested in getting our programs through and improving the lives of Americans.
It bothered me because it's dumb from a media perspective. Anyone recall 2004 when Whoopi Goldberg did a routine at a Kerry fundraiser? She said
But someone's giving bush a bad name. Someone has tarnished name of bush. Someone has waged war, someone has deliberately misled the country, someone has attempted to amend the Constitution, all in the name of bush. The bush I know and cherish would never do such things. My bush is smarter than that. And if my bush is smarter than that, you can understand just how dumb I think that other bush is.
I thought this was funny, and not at all over the line. But the cable news stations love gossip and trivial stories, and had a field day. It dominated the news cycles and the Republicans made hay on it for days They are already starting to do the same here.
Understand, the issue isn't "whether I have a spine" as one poster questioned, it's whether this sort of thing is worthwhile. Step back from our understandable frustration with the rightwing and their rotten statements, and think instead of feel. For a brief gratification of seeing someone throw dirt at Limbaugh the way he throws dirt at others, several news cycles will be taken over discussing the Sykes routine, whether it was over the line, and Obama's reaction to it. And while the cable shows focus on this with glee, what is not getting discussed? Health care reform and the rightwing's efforts to sabotage it. The torture memos and who led our country into acting against every principle we have. DADT repeal. Controlling climate change. Many other worthy issues which are not as much fun for the cable shows to cover, but which they'd cover if they had nothing else.
If Obama or a surrogate is interviewed in the next day or two, there's a good chance the sound bite is going to be about Sykes, and not about the message Obama wants to convey, about the programs we want to see enacted.
Finally, it's dumb because it looks like playing to the worst instincts of the base, which is what has the repubs in trouble right now. Some of mainstream America may laugh, but some won't, and will be disgusted. Some who laugh will think twice later. One of the many things that influenced people before the November election was how low the repubs had sunk and the ugly things said at their rallies. Some repubs told me it bothered them so much they either didn't vote or voted Democrat. Some stopped being repubs.
We're not anywhere near that stage, but we can't afford to get complacent and let them paint us that way. Keep your eye on our goals, which are much more important than a few seconds of visualizing Rush Limbaugh with kidney failure.
We're better than that. And we have much better ways to make fun of Rush Limbaugh.