In a desperate plea to find more applealing radio content than daytime soaps, I've recently taken to listening to Rush Limbaugh on the Big Talker 1210.
One thing that you have to understand is that Rush is all about entertainment. I mean, he's a radio personality. He doesn't really exist as a political pundit. He makes commentary on how he sees things from a decidedly conservative viewpoint. In this vein, I can't help but think his naive views are vocalized to elicit a reaction from his audience.
I think there are two types of people that must listen to Rush. First, there are the conservative sympathizers. I think this group is much smaller in number than one might initially believe. I mean, wouldn't listening to someone with your own views be like listening your yourself talk? I guess some conservatives need their egos stroked or need to have their opinions broadcast to feel validated.
The second group, probably in greater number, is the leftist Democrat group. I think these guys listen just to hear what flaky right-wing crap Rush has to say next. But ok, that's my theory on his audience.
During the part of the show I caught today, Rush was blabbering about how he doesn't really believe that half of america hates Bush. That if the election was today, Bush would win in a landslide against Kerry. Well, duh.
Before I get onto the Bush/Kerry election thing, let me attack Rush for a minute, because it's fun. Rush is an odd dude. He'll read the polls out of various organizations all talking about how americans generally, by half, don't like Bush, and those people would simply vote for any reasonable Democratic candidate set in front of them. And then he'll say, "I don't believe it." Well, Rush, your disbelief isn't a fantastic counter-argument to the many well-respected polls that you quote.
He gets some guy to come on as a guest and say exactly what would strengthen his position the most. This guest is a democrat that is going to vote for Bush because, as he says, the American people don't have all of teh information needed to make a good decision in their voting. Um. Ok. What information do you have that we don't? Please tell us. Or you can just let Rush agree with you and begin his rant, completely skirting the facts.
Of course Bush would win against Kerry if the election was today. Nobody knows who Kerry is. Kerry is trying hard right now (as any Democratic candidate should) to get himself nominated as the supported Democratic candidate. He's not out talking to Republican voters about his agenda, because that's not currently his goal. With the support of the DNC, Kerry can put good money toward swaying those Republican votes his way.
Besides that, Bush is the sitting president. He has a huge advantage in the election, because most people abhor change. Unless Democrats can convince voters that change is good for our country, they'll have a hard time overcoming the well-funded Bush machine.
Here are some things that I don't like about Bush:
- His education plans don't look like they work. Look at Texas, where a student who graduated with honors from a "no child left behind" high school doesn't even make a passing grade on a basic college entry exam. The system seems flawed.
- Do I have to mention the economy? Bush may have created a huge workforce by forming the DHS, which should amount to a lot of tax money spent domestically, but even with the tax cuts (which sucked, by the way) we aren't very well off.
- Adding religious proclamations to a governmental document that primarily guarantees rights, in a government that was primarily forged to exscape religious persecution is wrong, and reveals the lack of political knowledge that we should require of a president. I don't care what you think about gay marriage, you may not take away someone else's right to it because of your (primarily) religious beliefs.
- I would say that Bush's policies on the environment sucked, but he doesn't have any. That's pretty bad, though, huh?
- He likes war. He won't admit it, but he does. He likes the idea of two US bases in Iraq. He likes the idea of hostilities in Israel. And the whole time he has little concern over the hundreds of US soldiers that have died fighting a war that America, as far as I can tell, didn't need to fight.
- Jobs. Jobs will win this election. The candidate that offers the most appropriate way to close the cheap foreign labor market will win this election. Guaranteed.
It's intersting comparing Rush and Bush on the whole Iraq issue. Bush would have us attack Iraq, a country with nothing to offer us, of no threat to us, in spite of plenty of UN-provided evidence of being no threat. Rush would have us re-elect Bush in spite of the numbers of people in polls proclaiming their hate for the war, and their disappointment with the economy, and their need for a change. Weird, those Republicans.
Man, I hate going off on political ideas here. I'm just irritated by Rush. But like I said, that's kind of his point.
