Smacking down Rush Limbaugh

This column by Leonard Pitts, Jr. appeared in the Miami Herald last Sunday so, naturally, it's taken me almost a week to post it. But if you missed it, it's worth the wait -- trust me.

Here's the first part of it:

"I hope he fails." -- Limbaugh

It is, of course, a calculated outrage.

Meaning, it was spewed by a clown in the media circus to kick a familiar sequence into motion: angry denunciation by bloggers, pundits and supporters of President Barack Obama (the "he" whose failure is hoped), followed by Rush Limbaugh refusing to retract a word, a courageous truth teller who will not be moved. And, trailing behind, like the folks with brooms trail the elephants in the circus parade, Limbaugh's devotees, complaining that their hero has been misquoted, misunderstood or otherwise mistreated. "What Rush meant was . . . yadda yadda yadda."

A calculated outrage.

And knowing this, knowing how frequently and adroitly media are manipulated by self-promoting media clowns who defame conservatism by calling themselves conservative, one is tempted to let the statement pass, to make its way unimpeded to the dustbin like so many other manufactured controversies. But occasionally, it's necessary to intercept one of them and hold it up to the light.

This is one of those times. Not because what Limbaugh said on his radio program a few days before the inauguration was an outrage -- outrage is the point, remember? -- but rather, because of what the thing he said says about him and his fellow clowns.

"I hope he fails."

Do you ever say that about your president if you are an American who loves your country? Would you say it about George W. Bush, who was disastrous; about Bill Clinton, who was slimy; about Jimmy Carter, who was inept; about Richard Nixon, who was crooked? You may think he's going to fail, yes. You may warn he's going to fail, yes.

But do you ever hope he fails? Knowing his failure is the country's failure? Isn't that, well . . . disloyal?

Yep ... Rush, the clown, the fat, addled drug addict, said that he hopes President Obama fails. In my heart of hearts, I hope he's just saying that to get attention. But, no, I think for folks like him and the odious Ann Coulter, it's more than attention-seeking -- no, these people truly despise anyone and anything not in line with their twisted, totalitarian worldview.

Thankfully, there are still reality-based people like Pitts to give assholes like Rush a well-deserved fuck you. You may hate America, Limbaugh, but more and more every day, America hates you. Your days of relevance are dwindling, pal ... get over it.