I felt obliged to continue the "H" theme in headlines, so forgive my indulgence.
There are people who like to accuse anyone who disagrees with their dogma of drinking to excess, but that question sounds reasonable after reading Jeffrey Feldman's idiotic and paranoid screed about Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos.
For weeks, now, Rush Limbaugh has been trying to incite political violence by giving on-air military-sounding orders, effectively 'commanding' his listeners to wage war against the U.S. electoral system.
The right-wing pundit's 'orders' to his Republican listeners have been clear: vote in the Democratic primaries as a coordinated tactic for sewing division in the opposition party. The goal of such 'chaos,' Limbaugh has stated explicitly, is to foment hatred between different parts of the Democratic Party leading, ultimately, to street riots during the Denver convention.
The ongoing incident raises a serious question:
How does Limbaugh's bid to incite political violence with radio broadcasts differ from previous instances where radio has been used to that end (e.g., Rwanda)? (Emphasis his)
Most Americans would agree that using radio to incite political violence is not only wrong, but the attempt itself represents a massive failure in our democracy. How Limbaugh's broadcasts differ from, say, radio broadcasts that incited violence in Rwanda and Kenya, for example, can help us to understand exactly what Limbaugh was doing and the exact danger it poses.
Yes, the zombies have been commanded by their fearless leader to incite violence. This is the sort of idiocy one gets from people who never listen to Limbaugh's show and are so--dare I say it?--elitist as to think Republicans are the sorts of thugs Democrats have repeatedly revealed themselves to be (think 1968 Democratic National Convention).
Indeed, what has the MSM and lefty bloggers tied in knots is that they can't stop people from voting when, where, and how they want. There was plenty of talk during the election season of 2000 about Democrats crossing party lines and voting in the Republican primary.
What Feldman can't understand is that many Republicans were already crossing party lines before Limbaugh launched Operation Chaos. More to the point, there is no Limbaugh army, nor can he cause or create rioting at the Democrat National Convention. It is Democrats who will be doing the fighting if there is any. And that will be--dare I say this, too?--their choice to do so.
Unlike the left, conservatives don't riot and don't resort to violence to settle electoral differences. Any sane person listening to Limbaugh would know that the violence he's discussed isn't from conservatives. It's that liberals will eat their own.
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