I'm rarely surprised by the things media figures say, especially the nuttier ones like Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity or the ragin' homunculus Mark Levin. And certainly not the bloviator in chief Rush Limbaugh.
At least until yesterday.
In light of the natural and human disaster going on in Haiti, Limbaugh's political opportunism seemed far too repugnant for even him. But then, why should I be surprised, right? You can say he's tone deaf, but then, Rush has one of those hearing implants attached to his skull due to the hearing loss he suffered from his Oxycontin addiction--so I guess it's not fair to make fun of his differently-abled hearing. But the fact that his response to this tragedy in Haiti would be to automatically start calculating how this might help President Obama--not how he and his $400 million could possibly help the dying and devastated in Haiti--shows that, in Rush's mind, the most important and immediate concern is to figure out how he can possibly damage Obama. No matter the subject. No matter the human devastation we're watching. For Rush, the earthquake in Haiti is just another conspiracy concocted by the Caribbean shelf to make Obama look good--and it is Rush's sworn duty to make sure that innocent, god-fearing, patriotic, tax paying Americans don't get duped by the mainstream continental shelf's obvious assist to our current president.
Only sheer hate could warp a person's soul so thoroughly.
Contrary to popular myth (at least of the 24-hour kind), Limbaugh did not explicitly tell his listeners NOT to donate money to the relief effort in Haiti. He didn't urge them to help out in any way, either. But this media myth stems from a call to Limbaugh's show in which the caller and Rush wonder if one goes to www.whitehouse.gov to make a donation, will the money actually go to the relief effort. Rush suggests that maybe all that will happen is you'll get put on the Obama campaign email list and be asked to donate money to his reelection. Again, pure hate has clouded Limbaugh's mind, because if he was to take even the 10 seconds necessary to go to www.whitehouse.gov, he would see that the "Help for Haiti" links go to a page that lists non-governmental organizations such as the Red Cross and the Center for International Disaster Information. Guess 10 seconds is too long when you're hatin' . . .
Where Limbaugh's comments have been interpreted as being an overt plea NOT to donate money to help the Haiti earthquake efforts is when Rush decides to drop a little historical knowledge and perspective on Haiti as a country. He equates Haiti to Africa, contending that you can't just throw money at these poor countries to solve their problems because of the political mess that rules these nations. Of course, he doesn't say anything about the economic and military intervention of the United States in a place like Haiti, where we helped train and finance the militia that overthrew the democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the early 2000s, securing cheap labor in the western hemisphere and killing Haiti's primary crop (rice) exportation by forcing the new government to lift tariffs so U.S. rice could flood the Haiti market at dirt cheap prices. Does Rush mention any of that history when lamenting how much money we throw at these poor countries? Does he even know that kind of historic detail?
I'm guessing not. Hate doesn't trifle with such details . . .
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