At an event called CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) Rush Limbaugh spoke and said the following:
“Let me tell you who we conservatives are. We love people. (big applause) When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere—We see Americans. We see human beings. We don’t see groups. We don’t see victims. We don’t see people we want to exploit. What we see…what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work, we do not see that person with contempt. We don’t think that person doesn’t have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government.“
He went on to say:
“We love and revere the founding documents—the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. (big applause) We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, (big applause) liberty, freedom, (big applause) and the pursuit of happiness. (big applause) Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault.“
Well Rush thank you for those great words. It’s a pity that none of them add up to a hill of beans when you consider that all of your own actions and those of the people that follow you betray everything you spoke about.
You love people? You have no love for Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, home owners who received a mortgage they couldn’t afford, welfare recipients, illegal aliens and on and on and on. You love only people who follow your mantra to the letter. Simply listening to your program for any short period exposes this hypocrisy.
You don’t see victims? Well, that’s one thing we can agree on and I think it should be underlined. It’s part of human compassion and understanding to see victims when they’re before you. That you can’t see them speaks volumes as to why I’m not a conservative. However, that’s also a nice bit of rhetoric because you do see victims but only when it’s in your best interest to see them—like victims of 911 but yet you can’t see victims of Katrina. Why is that Rush? This selective inability to see victims explains why civil rights, for one example, took more than 100 years to take root after the abolition of slavery.
You don’t see people you want to exploit? Are you kidding with this one? When your bottom line is all about the almighty dollar then it pretty much goes without saying that you’d be best to keep an eye on your wallet. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a conservative that coined the phrase, “Buyer beware.” The world was the way you wanted it (without regulations) for far longer than it’s been regulated and all that gave us was masses of exploited people. When left without regulation we’ve seen from history that exploitation is all too often the outcome. Frankly this one goes hand-in-hand with the inability to see victims if you ask me.
I also agree that what you see is potential. Potential to exploit and brainwash more people by telling them one thing and doing the exact opposite. As far as people being the best they can be if only the obstacles are removed from their path—good luck with that. Go explain that one to the slaves of the past. Go explain that to those who were held down by racism, sexism, ageism, socialism. Without those checks and guidelines we’d be stuck in the world of the 1950’s. I’m guessing a large contingent of your listeners would just love that vision—and that too goes a long way towards explaining why most of the country doesn’t agree with you. The rest of us have no interest in returning to a black-and-white world where only whites excel, where women are seen primarily as birthing vessels and maids, where ignorance and blind compliance dominate the masses.
You claim a love of the founding documents but this too is nothing more than a blustery boast without anything to support your contention. You didn’t believe that all people were created equal at any point previously. You also just spent the last eight years under President Bush supporting an administration that did everything they could to ignore and break down the very documents they swore to protect and that you claim you love.
Conservatives, all too often, love the IDEA of what you speak to. It all sounds great in a speech and in concept but yet the actions never seem to follow the words. Why is that?
I’m sorry Rush but none of what you said stands on its own merits and until you come to the reality that the rest of the country has figured this out you’re going to continue to sound like the crazy fanatic from the fringe that the rest of us see. Rest assured we don’t see you as a victim—with the possible exception of bad parenting.
