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April 20, 2004

Perspective

If there's a true live-wire in modern political discussion, it seems that it's Rush Limbaugh, as Gary Farber is discovering. Gary noted a comment by Limbaugh in a recent show that was in pretty poor taste. Gary sent this along to Glenn Reynolds, who provided a traditional Instalanche that has hordes of commenters explaining to Gary that Limbaugh was just joking, so it's no big deal and Gary needs to just get a sense of humor.

I listened to the clip myself and I disagree with those who claim that 'it's obvious' Rush is joking. He does joke at the end of the paragraph, but his tone for the offending phrase doesn't sound humorous. That's not to say that Limbaugh wasn't simply joking; on the rare occasions I've heard his show, he does keep things entertaining and humorous. But I think Gary's larger point is being lost in the question of whether or not Rush was joking.

As blogosphere regulars will recall, a lefty blogger running the site Daily Kos received a great deal of flak a few weeks back (including from this site) regarding his comments about the contractors killed and mutilated in Fallujah. His comments were seen as so vile, in fact, that John Kerry's presidential blog officially and publicly delinked Kos. Even though Kos backed away from his initial comments very quickly, it wasn't enough to prevent him from garnering a great deal of negative publicity. And Kos, while well-known in the blogosphere, is by no means a true public figure, unlike Limbaugh.

Don't get me wrong; I don't think Limbaugh's comments were as egregious as Kos's. But I think Gary does have a valid point: why is it OK for Limbaugh to joke about a United States Senator and former First Lady murdering people? I'm reasonably confident that many of the same people stepping up to excuse Limbaugh's comments as a joke (which they certainly may have been) wouldn't be laughing nearly as hard if a lefty pundit had joked about President Bush having his political enemies assassinated. I guess it all depends of whose ox is gored, eh?

For myself, I'm not particularly outraged about Limbaugh's comment; I think he probably was joking. Politics tends to suck away everyone's sense of humor, especially in an election year, when we need it most. But I hope that I can remember this the next time someone from the left makes a questionable comment, and give them the same benefit of the doubt.