A very good post earlier today questioned the value of strident and loud-mouthed pontificating from pundits on both left and right, arguing that uncivility, emotionalism and name calling only leads to the different sides simply shouting over each other and overshadows real debate.

I don't completely disagree but think that too often valid criticism from the left is unfairly dismissed as the left version of Limbaugh just because it is blunt and doesn't pull its punches. When Al Franken writes a book entitled Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot (an excellent book with many criticisms that have been borne out) he is using Limbaugh's own m.o. to skewer him. The self-petarded Limbaugh is presented here in the form of satire. Satire is a tool as is Limbaugh who often attempts to use it himself. But it's a blunt instrument in Limbaugh's shaky pill-popping hand.  

Limbaugh is a large man who routinely says things like this (from today's radio show): "Barack Obama has one thing in common with God. Do you know what it is? God doesn't have a birth certificate either." Ergo, Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot. End of story. And then there are things like Limbaugh's travel to a known foreign haven that traffics in child prostitution with illegal prescriptions of Viagra!

Oops, have I gone too far? Yes, yes I have. Not because these things are not true and not because Rush Limbaugh isn't really a big fat idiot (he is a big fat idiot). But, the point is- who cares? 

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