Political Winds

Never assume that Rush Limbaugh couldn’t possibly sink to lower depths. And never assume he’ll pay a price for his destructive verbosity. The latest example:

LIMBAUGH: If this Virginia Tech shooter had an ideology, what do you think it was? This guy had to be a liberal. You start railing against the rich and all this other — this guy’s a liberal. He was turned into a liberal somewhere along the line. So it’s a liberal that committed this act.

The pundits will tell you that Imus crossed the line because he went after innocent and admirable young women rather than the usual big shots. True enough. But hasn’t Rush Limbaugh crossed a line - some kind of line - countless times? Yet Limbaugh’s poisonous rants don’t earn him anywhere near the outrage that was provoked by Imus. Far from it - just days after Limbaugh’s repugnant mimicry of Michael J. Fox, the president of the United States went on his program to exchange some friendly banter. And Vice President Cheney frequently appears on Limbaugh’s show.

At a speaking engagement once, I referred to Limbaugh as a modern-day Father Coughlin. The dittoheads in the audience jumped all over me, saying Limbaugh isn’t an anti-Semite, etc. That wasn’t my point, and I acknowledge that the comparison may not be apt in some ways. But like Father Coughlin, Limbaugh is a political propagandist who plays to people’s anger, fear and anxiety. No matter how many listeners he may have, political figures should stay away.

Like everyone I’m horrified and saddened by the shootings at Virginia Tech. I’m also profoundly depressed because nothing ever changes when it comes to guns in America. Last night I looked at some conservative sites to see what they were saying about the tragedy. I quickly discovered that among many right-wingers, there is a consensus that had Virginia Tech students been allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus, there wouldn’t be so much blood on the ground. “Virginia Tech. is a ‘gun free’ zone guaranteeing that the psychotic killer had the only gun,” said one handgun proponent. Another site bemoaned the defeat in the Virginia legislature of a bill it to allow students to pack a gun.

Isn’t that a fine idea? Let’s allow high-spirited post-adolescent young people who often are under the influence to carry deadly weapons at institutions of higher learning. Oh yeah, that will make campuses safer for everyone. What are these “gun rights advocates,” i.e. gun nuts, thinking? Are they thinking at all? This is what is so depressing - that millions of Americans’ distorted interpretation of the Second Amendment trumps every other societal value along with common sense.