By Carter Clews
“You show me a good loser, and I’ll show you an idiot.”—Leo “The Lip” Durocher
Maybe I’m just a little too old school, but to me, there is something decidedly offsetting about hearing one wish his adversary well.
It sounds a bit contrived, a little too milquetoast; pusillanimous, if you will. Oh, let’s just cut to the quick: the well-wisher sounds like a repugnant little sissy. And that’s why it makes me cringe when I hear RNC Chairman Michael Steele getting on his high horse because Rush Limbaugh had the gall not to cheer on his own (and our) demise.
Now, the joust is at full tilt. Rush is standing his ground. Michael continues digging a hole in his. And, frankly, he sounds like what my young Jewish buddies at Baltimore City College used to call a putz.
The mainstream media, as expected, is cheering Michael on; they having long-since decided that, indeed, Rush was an “ugly incendiary,” to put it mildly. They used to like to describe him as “fat,” but he trimmed down and robbed them of that pleasure. He stopped pilfering drugs, so there went “drug attack.” He’s almost Pecksniffian in his smoking routine, so “cigar-chomping” is out.
And now, they have Michael Steele!
But, the fact is, Rush Limbaugh is neither “ugly,” of “incendiary” for wishing Barack Obama the worst. And what he actually said was rather tepid when you get down to it. Here it is in full. So, you can judge for yourself whether you think it’s really too far beyond the pale:
“Woe to you, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
Well, okay … that really wasn’t Rush; it was Jesus. Part of His ongoing feud with the Scribes and Pharisees. He also called them “snakes” and “vipers.” Fairly ugly and incendiary to say the least. And, as history records, they (like Mr. Steele and the mainstream media) took a decidedly dim view of it.
But, enough fun and games. Here’s what Rush really did say, way back in mid-January, even before Obama took office and started dragging in tax cheats, union hacks, and hemp-hawking drug czars:
“I hope he fails. Here’s the point. Everybody thinks it’s outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, ‘Oh, you can’t do that.’ Why not? Why is it any different, what’s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don’t care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: ‘Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.’ Somebody’s gotta say it.”
Well, of course, the “Drive-By Media” has headlined Rush all day long, as well as all week long and all month long ever since he said it. They are horribly offended that anyone would dare say such a thing – though they, themselves, tried to produce such a thing all day long, all week long, and all month long for eight full years while George Bush was in the White House.
They hoped our economy would fail – and portrayed it as doing so even when it didn’t. They hoped our allies would fail – and touted a civil war in Iraq even when none existed. And they even hoped our troops under fire would fail – chortling delightedly when dour Harry Reid declared the war “lost” and barely concealing their abject disappointment when the war was actually won (something by the way that happened well over two years ago; the following year, it became just a mop-up operation; and since then, it has merely been what my old friend Jerry Clower would call a “rat-killin’).
So, the media’s umbrage is absurd. They know it is, but it sells papers and fills air time, so they furrow their brows, purse their lips, and wonder what the world is coming to. It’s called posturing. It’s called preening. It’s what the talking heads do best. And it pays their exorbitant salaries. So, let them wax falsely indignant.
Michael Steele, on the other hand, is a different story. One gets the feeling that, perhaps, he is not posturing and preening. That he really believes all of his effluvia about Rush being “ugly” and “incendiary.” And worst of all, that he really does wish Barack Obama and his airy band of scofflaws well. And that is downright frightening.
So, allow me to close by addressing Michael directly. I’ve met him often and know him somewhat, though not well. In fact, I was his constituent when he had the misfortune of being the Lieutenant Governor of the Peoples Republic of Maryland. And I, therefore, hope my words help him mend his ways. That said, here goes:
“Michael, you’re making a fool of yourself. And, frankly, you’re looking a little sissified. Real men don’t wish their opponents well. Have you ever heard Ray Lewis tell the opposing quarterback he hopes he has a great game? Hardly. Did you ever see Roger Clemens warmly offer the opposing batter the fat part of the plate? Not in this lifetime. In your entire reading of the Scriptures, did you ever hear Jesus make nice with the Pharisees? Don’t even bother looking.
“No, Michael, wishing your adversaries well is something akin to a death wish. In this case, you’re taking all of the rest of us down with you. We don’t care for that. So, I leave you with the immortal words of Leo ‘The Lip’ Durocher as a well-intended admonition: ‘You show me a good loser, and I’ll show you an idiot.’
“In short, Michael, stop digging, you look like a putz.
“Thank you. And good night.”
Carter Clews is the Executive Editor of ALG News Bureau.
