Some Guys Are Normal

Why I'm Independent

For some reason I spend a lot of my time in the car listening to right-wing radio. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and even a couple of local guys take up my car radio airwaves whenever I'm driving alone.

It's not that I agree with them (I disagree far more often than I agree). My brother likes to say that I listen to them because I like getting myself worked up. Maybe, but I like to see what the extreme people are saying, and there just aren't any far-left talk shows here in Houston.

Today I realized pretty clearly why I like being indpendent. Rush Limbaugh was commenting about Bill Clinton's appearance at the Rosa Parks funeral where Clinton recalled being a 9 year old boy that was so affected by Parks' stand that he decided to move from the front of the bus to the back as a show of support.

Rush Limbaugh, and many of the subsequent callers, immediately called Clinton a liar. And, they really did use that term. There was no sugar-coating on the names they called him. The insults flew.

So, here is the epiphany I had. Rush Limbaugh never gives Clinton or any Democrat at all the benefit of the doubt in any situation. Whatever a Democrat does, he is always lying, deceiving, etc. in the eyes of Rush. On the flip side, he never questions the claims or integrity of a Conservative. No matter how guilty, wrong, mistaken a Conservative looks, Rush always takes him at his word, without second guessing him.

Shouldn't we look at people for who they are and situations for what they are rather than assuming someone is wrong or right just based on the political affiliation he has? Is it in the best interest of our country to always assume one group is wrong and the other is right? Rush would think so, but it's pretty clear to me how dangerous that really is.

posted by Brady @ 7:12 PM