Clarence Page: Do Rush fans get the joke?
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Angry Rush Limbaugh fans have their shorts in a knot because Wanda Sykes ridiculed the conservative talk show host’s kidneys. A low blow, to be sure. But where are they, I wonder, when Limbaugh is accusing liberals of treason?
With President Obama sitting nearby at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, actor-comedian Sykes took a shot at Limbaugh’s repeatedly espoused hope that Obama’s policies fail. Sounds like treason to her, she said. “I hope his kidneys fail,” she snapped. “How about that?”
Amid gasps, laughs and wary groans from the audience, she further speculated that “maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was just so strung out on OxyContin, he missed his flight.”
Obama flashed what appeared to be a pained smile, then quickly suppressed it. On Monday, his press secretary Robert Gibbs was quick to distance Obama from the drama. “I think there are a lot of topics that are better left for serious reflection rather than comedy,” Gibbs said. “I think there’s no doubt that 9/11 is part of that.”
So is kidney failure. Wanda’s kidney punch was less funny than wince-inducing. But her jab at Rush as the “20th hijacker” wasn’t a half-bad recovery, considering its context. In fact, it sounds a lot like the nasty things Limbaugh has said about liberals, Democrats and “drive-by media” folks playing footsy with terrorist thugs — and he doesn’t always sound like he’s kidding.
Among the ample examples collected by the liberal watchdog Web site Media Matters for America, for example, is this prediction from last June: “I will guaran-damn-tee you there will not be a terrorist attack before the election. And you know why there won’t be one? Because they want Obama elected.”
Then came this blatantly false claim: “Hamas has endorsed Obama. Hamas has endorsed Obama.”
And there’s this smear from April of last year: “ . . . Islamofascists are actually campaigning for the election of Democrats. Islamofascists from (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad to (al-Qaida leader Ayman) al-Zawahiri . . . Osama bin Laden, whoever, are constantly issuing Democrat talking points.”
But does anybody really take Rush seriously? Limbaugh “mega-ditto” fans write to me regularly, especially when I write about Limbaugh, with mixed messages: He’s just an entertainer, ha, ha, they insist, so don’t take him seriously—except when he really wants you to. But with the regular Republican Party’s leadership in disarray these days, a strong conservative voice like Limbaugh’s gets taken seriously, like it or not.
All of which reminds me of a recent probe by The Ohio State University into perceptions of the deep satire of Stephen Colbert. The host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” never breaks character from his stuffy conservative “Stee-phen!,” even when he interviews guests. But how many of his viewers miss the joke? Conservatives, the study found, were more likely to report that Colbert “only pretends to be joking and genuinely means what he said,” including his dislike for liberals. Liberals, the study found, were more likely to report that Colbert was just being satirical, ha, ha. Don’t take him seriously.
Nation, as Colbert might say, I would not read too much into that report. I will not charge conservatives with irony deficiency. That calls for further study.
For now, I will only observe that Stephen Colbert has stumbled onto a gold mine. He has managed to persuade both sides of our vast political divide that beneath his shenanigans he’s really, wink, wink, on your side! Brilliant. With people skills like that, he could follow Obama to the White House.
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