A lot of the time when looking through the news I have to do so with a filter—sometimes to look through news that is less-than-credible, sometimes to look past things that are generally irrelevant and sometimes to straight-up ignore the things that are.
On Wednesday’s Rush Limbaugh show, after a lengthy treatise on elitism that endorsed the already-tired NRA attack ad that claims that the President’s children are more important that yours by virtue of the armed guards that protect them, Limbaugh got into the topic of gun control with a caller. The call wandered over to the subject of abortion. I’ve excerpted a partial transcript of it below; click through for the full version:
CALLER: …It’s just terrible that 26 people died in Sandy Hook and 20 of them were children. Terrible. Very sad, coming up to Christmas. Hopes and dreams the young children had, their parents and weddings and congratulations that will never occur. However, on any given day in America, more than 3,000 children are killed from abortion, and we have no problems with that. We’re okay with that; it’s not an issue.
You can’t spend 40 years telling people and telling children that if I make a mistake — if something comes up and this child that I don’t want is in the way of my future and the way of me graduating high school, is in the way of me going to college, is the way of me being happy, is in the way of whatever I want out of life — then it’s okay for me to kill the baby. But later on when I become a disgruntled employee, when I become an unhappy student at school because children are bullying me, then I want to eliminate them to get them out of the way? It’s the same concept.
RUSH: Well, it’s a good point. You know how to stop abortion? Require that each one occur with a gun.
Sorry, what?
We can debate all day about the morality of abortions and not get anywhere, so at the very least, let’s agree the Supreme Court has established they’re legal medical procedures that a woman can choose to have by virtue of having ownership of her own body. There. Done.
Now that we have that out of the way, what Limbaugh and his caller have done is put the commission of abortions on equal footing with the killing of elementary school kids—claiming that you may as well put a gun in the hand of an abortion provider, because why the hell not? They’re snuffing a life out, may as well expedite the process, right?
Sure, makes sense; if you’re the kind of idiot that thinks that using a chainsaw to give a haircut makes sense because it cuts faster.
Listen: Those having voluntary abortions have decided that, for one reason or another, they didn’t feel that a child should be brought into the world. Making that choice, which isn’t always an easy one, is their right. The doctors performing those procedures are doing so because they agree with that right.
But it in no way compares with the deaths of living children, who were happily brought into the world and whose parents had grand dreams for them; dreams that were dashed by someone who decided that they needed a gun to solve whatever problems they think they had.
To say that those things are comparable isn’t just wrong, and isn’t just stupid — it’s irresponsible. It paints knowledgeable, trained individuals with the same brush as mentally-ill killers, oversimplifying multiple issues in the name of causing a scene—which is exactly what Limbaugh wants.
He’s the kind of man who never misses an opportunity to piss someone off; he’s little more than a message board troll with a microphone, and to be honest, I’m not sure he was ever much more than that. But somehow, this troll amassed an audience that hangs on his every self-important word, creating a legion of Dittoheads (his word, not mine) that somehow find him brilliant.
He’s not. Hell, in the days of 24/7 cable news and message boards, he’s barely relevant. His entertainment value is comparable to that of a slow-motion train wreck, and he damn sure isn’t worth any more time than it would take to scrape mud off of your shoes.
After this particularly outlandish bit of stupidity, I’m done paying attention to Limbaugh, in any way, shape or form. If you value your brain cells, hopefully you’re done, too.
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2013.
I”m telling you, it’s got to be the oxycontin..his brains are fried after the election, and he can’t handle reality any more.
thats alright the liberal media makes me sick….
I try not to take drug addicts seriously.
“We can debate all day about the morality of abortions and not get anywhere, so at the very least, let’s agree the Supreme Court has established they’re legal medical procedures that a woman can choose to have by virtue of having ownership of her own body. There. Done.”
The same can be said for my second amendment rights so the get off the gun control B.S. David!! Shall not be infringed! There. Done.
Let’s see, 4 comments vs. 20,000,000 weekly listeners. Left fails again.
to smithappens
the supreme court did not prohibit gun registration. And nobody is trying to take your guns away, no matter what the NRA says.
I’m taking a leap of faith here & hoping that most of Mr. Limbaugh’s listeners are tuning in to hear what kind of idiocy spews out of his mouth for comic entertainment. Only the most unintelligent sheeple could ever take this asshole seriously and actually hang on his “every self-important word.” I don’t blame you one iota for tuning out anything that relates to this lie pushing moron that I decided to tune out myself about 20 years ago. This is a great piece you’ve posted here Mr. Mendez.
To bruceb
Whatever gave you the idea that I thought anybody was going to take away any guns I may or may not own. I’ve never been worried.
David, you are such a racist in your flailing rants. You ignore the meaning of what the dude said because of your predisposition toward your own views and selfishness. Until you watch a baby being cut up with a knife in an abortion, please shut up. Also, please quit with the character assassinations of those with which you don’t believe in as your beliefs are probably wrong anyway.
Az Reader: 6% of people in this country will believe anything a misogynistic, drug-addled, bigot tells them? Gee, what a surprise.
Michael said:
“Az Reader: 6% of people in this country will believe anything a misogynistic, drug-addled, bigot tells them? Gee, what a surprise.”
Michael, considering the quality? of the leadership? the people of Arizona elect, I would have to say that the percentage of people who “will believe anything a misogynistic, drug-addled, bigot tells them” is closer to 60-70per cent in this state.
@ Mammey: lol
But really, compared to a guy who opined that Donovan McNabb got too much media attention because he was black, and who has said that football games look like fights between the Bloods and the Crips, I think I must be doing a decent job keeping my apparently racist impulses in check.
Speaking as an Independent voter that laughs at 90% of the stupid sh*t the left says, I don’t need blowhards like Limbaugh or Hannity to help form my opinion. Truth be told, these guys kinda irritate us too.
David , it would take brain cells and an actual heart to understand how abortion is equated to murder. That is the problem, our society isn’t equating it. Thus, life itself loses meaning with the living. If you become inconvenient or a threat to my ability to pursue my happiness of a good education and a good job why then could you not be aborted? Why is it okay at 7 weeks but not 37 years if the result of your life and impact on mine is the same? If the fetus is just a parasite at 6 weeks to the host, then may I abort a 40 year old parasite that gives nothing back to it’s host?
@jimnaz: Whether an abortion is a procedure or a murder is, again, a matter of semantics and an argument that we could have for days without coming to agreement.
The idea that I’m trying to raise here is that of the quality and intentions of the life (or potential life) that is lost in either case. With abortion, as I said, there is a reason that the mother decides to abort; in many cases, because she feels that she will not be able to adequately provide for the child. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t loss or emotional damage, or that there isn’t a gaping hole in the heart of the potential parent.
In the case of murder however, the mother chose to bear that child, to raise it, care for it, love it, then have it ripped from them.
The difference is choice and infringement of rights.