Cowardice

Republicans: you have officially been out-classed by Don Imus.

Don Imus, of "nappy-headed hos" infamy, has condemned, in no uncertain terms, Rush Limbaugh's attacks on Sandra Fluke last week.

Here's an excerpt from Don Imus's on-air denunciation of Rush Limbaugh:

[Rush Limbaugh is] an insincere pig. Pill-popping pinhead... It's disgraceful. He has no guts... Look what I did, and what I did was a lame attempt to be funny. And it was three words and I went and met with these people after I'd been fired. You know you got to look them in the eye, you've got to show guts... He's a punk... Enough of what he said. He's a coward. You can't attack somebody like that.

I love this. One jerk saying to another jerk, "Dude, I know I'm a jerk, but damn -- you're an even bigger jerk."

It's expected that decent people will hit the roof when jerks like Don and Rush start talking filth, but when even the jerks' sensibilities are offended, something is rotten in the state of Discourse.

Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker wrote, "Indeed, [Rush Limbaugh] has united decent people of all stripes and persuasions with his vile remarks about a Georgetown University law student." It's a rare issue that puts President Obama and Senator John McCain on the same page, not to mention Don Imus, but that's exactly what Limbaugh, "the uniter" as Ms. Parker writes, has done. (Please note: decent people, Don Imus, same paragraph -- who knew?)

So with all these people united by a sense of decency in the midst of the increasingly indecent political conversation in this country, why are so few of those people Republicans? There's been a lot of talk of cowardice on the part of Rush Limbaugh, but the real cowardice I see is coming from the GOP.

What if someone attacked your daughter, your mother, your friend, on the air in the most vile language possible to thousands and thousands of listeners? Somehow I don't think you'd comfort your loved one by saying the offender was being "absurd" (Santorum), or that it wasn't "the language I would have used" (Romney), or by saying nothing at all (Gingrich).

Come on! If someone calls your daughter/wife/mother a slut and a prostitute, the reasonable reaction is to hunt that person down and beat them senseless with a frying pan, not to dither over word choice. Everyone knows this.

"Tangled" is a great movie.

But instead of making a grab for the frying pan, the GOP is making a grab for votes. The base of Republican voters now requires GOP politicos to give in to Rush and similarly disgusting bullies in order to win their support. The bad guy wins and the GOP's war on women continues, because no one will stand up and say, "Enough."

I don't know whether I'm more disgusted with GOP legislators who give in to this cowardice or with their supporters who seem to demand it. I'll admit it, I've always said that Conservatives need to get their heads examined -- why else would they be Conservatives? -- but this round of ugliness seems to confirm that admittedly snarky liberal-left position. How else could anyone listen to the hate-speech of Rush Limbaugh and not recoil in disgust?

It really is a sad day when a former shock-jock is setting a standard for decency that a major political party can't live up to. Republicans, get it together: cowardice is not flattering on anyone.