LIMBAUGH-ROBERTSON INDICATES?
Both right-wing evangelist Pat Robertson and equally right-wing radio squawker Rush Limbaugh have openly shared their similar opinion about the earthquake that ravaged Haiti. They both have been critical of the people of Haiti and in a real sense blame the people of that long-suffering nation themselves for much of their misery. Pat Robertson, receiving a backlash from the general American public, has tried to gloss over his insensitive statements, but remains critical of Haitians for their "deal with the devil," a total distortion of historical facts. Rush Limbaugh is proudly holding fast to his boasting and insensitivity.
These political bed partners share more than just their inhuman reaction to a catastrophe of monumental proportions. They are prototypes of the crude, cruel, inhuman, and unholy alliance that has been formed between the political right-wing and the fundamental religious pentecostals. Each group was out of power, on the fringe of American political and religious society. They parlayed their out-of-the-mainstream rants into a force to be reckoned with. In fact, they helped in forming a coalition of those two fringe groups and took control of the Republican Party. Not long ago, even the staunchest right-winger would have been embarrassed to be identified with either Limbaugh or Robertson. Today, their power-grab in American conservative politics has elevated them to center court.
Sure, Robertson's influence has waned since he ran for President of the United States on a right-wing ticket. Sure, his amazing charges and opinions have rendered him a somewhat old and out of touch hack. He has, for example, charged that the CIA should be used to "take out" the democratically-elected leader of Venezuela. That alone should have uncovered him as a wacko with no credibility. But he survives and still has quite a television ministry. And his ilk still holds power in the right wing of American politics.
Limbaugh, on the other hand, has used a different medium, radio, to garner a large following as he increases the craziness of the right-wing to new heights. His rants are never wacky enough to shake his ardent followers. Not even being caught at the Mexican border with illegal drugs lost him any of his legions. Limbaugh has a voice in both the Republican Party and the right-wing, and he struts it regularly.
As the craziness has grown, the rich tradition of conservative leadership has been turned on its head. Captured by this growing extremism, this power is growing, growing ominously. This is not the conservative party of Robert Taft or William F. Buckley. Those two gentlemen would find it an abomination if they were alive to watch this trashing of American politics.
The Democratic Party has chosen to react with too much of their own chicanery. In need of big money to run their political campaigns, Democrats have succumbed to some of the same craziness. Lacking moral and ethical backbone, Democrats have joined, rather than fought, the extreme right-wing game plans.
The result is that the two parties do not communicate with each other as conservatives and liberals did in the past. They see each other as enemies, void of any compromising value. They compete for too much of the same "protection money" of the extreme Mafia-like kingpins. They do their talking in private enclaves, in private rooms, away from scrutiny.
So, Limbaugh and Robertson, two wild and crazy guys, get way more attention than their immoral positions deserve. And you and I, liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, are forced to play our insignificant roles and try to remain faithful to some legitimate ideology we used to call American politics. Those days are over. We are in a new place, and it continues to look more and more like a moral sewer every single day. Watch Robertson, listen to Limbaugh, the stench is overwhelming.
