There are two problems with Rush Limbaugh’s surprise statement that he “can be convinced” to support Judge Sotomayor’s nomination: first, it’s not true, and second, who cares?
Limbaugh said his “support” for Sotomayor stems from the possibility that she’s somehow a stealth conservative, who’s even managed to conceal her intention to reverse Supreme Court precedent on abortion from Obama. She’s not, she hasn’t, and she won’t. Limbaugh simply hopes that, by discussing the possibility, he can scare liberal Democrats into questioning the nominee, and potentially upset her confirmation. Call it a reverse-Meiers, an attempt to trick the left into doing what the right is no longer strong enough to do. But don’t believe it.
First, though, we should ask ourselves why CNN cares enough to put Limbaugh’s latest machinations on the front page. The man only matters as long as we let him. It’s a sign of the right’s ideological bankruptcy that Limbaugh is still an opinion leader to them, but he needn’t matter to the rest of us.
Vociferous vaporware pundits like Limbaugh, et al., are simply products. They personally contribute nothing to the public good but rhetoric. Many of them have their ‘cause’, but all good celebrities do. They make a living inciting, propagandizing, and proselytizing to the masses. The more listeners, the higher the ratings, e.g., the higher the salaries for them, the more stations paying royalties to the business.
They do not make or pass no laws, make or establish no policy, affect taxes or revenue, affect employment, or do anything to better the wellbeing of the citizenry.
Listening to them is akin to running MS’s Flight Simulator. Regardless of how exciting you programmed the scenario, when it’s over you’re still in the same place, nothings changed in your life except some time has passed.
Posted by bob weakley | June 8, 2009, 8:53 am