Rush Limbaugh just added as much toxic waste to the Tuscon debate as Paul Krugman — probably more.
Here’s the lowlight, as quoted by Ben Smith at Politico:
Limbaugh is doing the same thing here Krugman and other liberals have done: he’s simply making stuff up to smear the other side, and try to turn this atrocity into a political weapon.
What liberals are defending Loughner? What evidence is there Sheriff Dupnik wants to go light on the guy? And what about this guy would lead anyone to believe he wants to be the victim — I would guess the opposite.
As I said about Krugman, Limbaugh isn’t stating a viewpoint, he’s making stuff up, especially where he claims to get in Loughner’s mind.
Here’s the best I can do to explain Limbaugh: he seems stuck in the 1990s, where we on the Right were often battling a “blame-society” relativism. But Dupnik and Krugman aren’t blaming the Right in order to exculpate Loughner — they are most likely doing it in order to vent frustration or to delegitimize our arguments. Limbaugh’s fighting the wrong fight, and assigning the motive that’s least likely and most offensive.
I was just beginning to think tonight that things were clearing up and the Krugman-Kos drivel was fading away. Then Limbaugh throws this garbage into the mix.
—–
UPDATE, Wednesday Morning, 9 am: I’ve gotten a handful of emails, comments, and tweets defending Rush by saying he was mocking liberal arguments, doing a reductio ad absurdum, or “highlighting absurdity with absurdity.” So I went back and read the transcript on Limbaugh’s website. It still seems to me that Limbaugh is making these arguments seriously.
