"Shameless"

I readily admit to being a Rush Limbaugh fan back in my teenage years. When my folks were the primary influence on my political being, they introduced me to Rush at an early age, and he is undeniably an entertaining speaker and engaging personality. As a result, much of my teenage years were spent swallowing the Limbaugh canon whole and regurgitating it whenever I needed to reassure myself that I knew what I was talking about in political debate.

When I reached college, became exposed to other ideas and began to reevaluate just what the hell it is I really believed in (a process that is still ongoing), I began to discover how much of Limbaugh's act was smoke and mirrors...or, more accurately, bluster and lies. When you begin to allow yourself to hear outside perspectives, the foundation that the House of Rush is built on fast turns into quicksand, and this was well before any of the scandals came about. So, I began to view my Limbaugh phase in much the same way I viewed my Transformers phase...I thought as a child, acted as a child, but then I became a man and put away childish things.

But even as my personal political views came more solidly into focus (such as they are), I never felt the venom toward Limbaugh as I did many of his political bretheren; your Bill O'Reilly, your Pat Buchanan, your Ann Coulter. I would rather die than share a taxicab with any of these people. But because I had once liked Limbaugh, he just wasn't on the same level. He was a blubbering fool spewing nonsense and hipocracy to his huddled masses who wanted to know what to think, sure. But at least a small part of me still, at some level, liked him.

That part is gone now.

Oh, for a lot of reasons. Most recently, because of this.

Limbaugh came out and attacked Michael J. Fox for a campaign ad he did for a Democratic senatorial candidate in Missouri, Claire McCaskill, because of her stand on stem cell research. In the ad, Fox is visibly shaking, an effect caused by his Parkinson's disease.

Limbaugh accused him of acting or deliberately being off his meds in order to create sympathy. He called the display "shameless."

A few facts have come to light since then.

Now, Fox has, in the past (notably one appearance before Congress, which came and went apparently without comment from Rush), gone without his Parkinson's meds in order to demonstrate the effects of the illness to those who would otherwise prefer to be shielded from the pain it causes. But a.) he made a point of noting that he was off medication, even discussing it in his autobiography, “Lucky Man,” and b.) that was then, and the disease has progressed to the point where the medication's effects cannot be predicted or the shaking easily controlled. In a nationally televised appearance on the “CBS Evening News” about the issue, Fox's visible shaking was still very much evident, at one point even dislodging his microphone from his lapel.

Fox has done other political ads campaigning for candidates on the basis of their support of stem cell research, including Arlen Specter, a Republican. Limbaugh's venom did not seem to find any reason to spew at Fox then.

And oh yeah, the irony of Limbaugh making snide comments about someone else’s status with “meds” is laughable beyond words.

Fox’s reaction to Limbaugh’s venom was rather stunningly gracious…he denied that he was off his medication for the ad, noted that in fact he had been rather OVER-medicated during shooting. And he said that it can be rather hard for people who don’t have the disease to understand how unpredictable its effect can be even tempered with medication.

Limbaugh’s response to this frank and relatively classy response? He claimed that he would apologize…if he was proven wrong. (As if the facts that had come out in the interim 24 hours were not sufficient.) He then went on to AGAIN accuse Fox of somehow faking it, whether chemically or otherwise, and then specifically targeted Democrats for using “infallible victims” like Fox so that critics could not disagree.

Once again, this is the same Michael J. Fox who has said numerous times that “disease is not a partisan issue” and has campaigned for candidates from both parties. He speaks out for his issue, he doesn’t mindlessly spin his story for the good of a political ideology. Unlike someone I could mention.

For the record, I am 100% for funding stem cell research. Considering all the potential the research has for treating if not outright curing a wide range of diseases, and considering that the cells which are used in said research are already being destroyed because they’re unfertilized embryos leftover from (perfectly legal and uncontested) artificial insemination, it seems wholly logical.

Limbaugh does not agree with funding stem cell research, apparently primarily because of his religious beliefs. Many others feel the same way, for the same reason. That is wholly their right, just as it is wholly my right to disagree with them and vote accordingly.

It was also, of course, wholly Limbaugh’s right to say what he spewed about Fox, however ill-conceived and mean-spirited and flat-out wrong it may have been.

But when the truth comes to light, as it did, when Fox responds not with snide remarks and put-downs (like, uh, me) but with class, as he did, the proper response is one of similar class. An apology, followed by a retraction, or at least an admission that he didn’t have all the facts. THAT would have been appropriate.

Instead, Limbaugh did what he always does. He covered up any evidence which contradicted him, claimed he was still in the right, and used that claim to smear those who think differently than he does.

If you want to see “shameless,” Rush, you need only look in a mirror.