I see I wasn't the first person (by a longshot) to point out Rush's disturbing mixed metaphor. If Rush's anus is in his mouth (or rather, mouth in his anus), just think what an amazing follow-up movie to "Deep Throat" could be made! (I suppose it would be called "Deep Butt" or "Deep Poopchute" or something.)

Anyway, a few other things about this subject.

To me, Rush Limbaugh is quite a curiosity, in that I have made it a habit to completely ignore every radio station or other media outlet where he appears. Weeks, months and years go by and the only things I hear about Limbaugh are whatever turns up on Media Matters or gets reported by Jon Stewart, critiqued by Salon, or parroted with the Thesaurus treatment by Camille Paglia. Quite honestly, I can't believe anybody purposely listens to him. It seems like a form of self-degradation to let his thoughts travel through one's ears and into one's mind. I can understand some things, like watching The Real Housewives of Flint Michigan, or even pausing longer than one would care to admit while flipping channels past Fox-News. But Limbaugh's not even entertaining, to me. His methods are transparent and always self-serving: He won't let opposing viewpoints on the show, he won't allow that some issues are complicated, and he dresses up his ugly ideology by claiming to be a Voice Of The People, calling everybody "folks" and whatnot. It's a mind-numbing shtick, and the only reason I can imagine that people would subject themselves to it is that it flatters them by playing into their biases, prejudices, anger, bigotry, fear and resentment.

What really repulses me is how much power Rush has. He's the opposite of an iconoclast -- he doesn't speak truth to power; he speaks on behalf of an entrenched power. He's thousands of times wealthier than his average listener. I don't know if this is still the case (I imagine not), but during the Bush Administration his show was the only talkshow allowed on the radio programs that U.S. military were listening to in Iraq. Rush Limbaugh isn't a polemicist, he's not an editorialist. Both positions at least require some adherence to facts. Limbaugh is a one-man propagandist. I don't think he's ever contributed anything unique or useful to the national debate -- he's never made points that have actually stuck. Instead it's more of a low-level juvenilia dressed up as patriotic populism; a verbal extension of the logic of schoolyard bullies.

Obviously people lap it up, and it's a money-maker for radio stations. Just think of the Return on Investment! One man, one microphone, one studio -- thousands of radio stations and advertisements. Very profitable. Very powerful. Very pitiful. Rush is integral to the dumbing-down of the national political debate. He's the equivalent of an obesity diet: Lots of fat and sugar, no vitamins or minerals. Listeners do not walk away smarter, they walk away easily appeased.

Liberals have never quite figured out how to combat Rush: Point out his inaccuracies, beat him at his own game? Nobody wants to stifle freedom of speech. But liberals can't beat somebody at a game that no thinking liberal wants to play: You don't defeat a popular bully by becoming a better bully. That's not "winning." And for some reason, Rush seems to be immune to factuality. His listeners don't care if Rush's facts are off. If they considered facts a high priority, they wouldn't be listening in the first place.

I just hope the man becomes gradually marginalized. I hope people start waking up a little bit and realize that Rush's way -- the manner of thinking he subscribes to, and that he encourages in his listeners -- is what got us into this mess, not what will get us out of it.

It amazes me that people have such short memories that they think Obama is the reason for the current economy. It amazes me that people will discuss "death panels," rationing and such while missing the immediate, obvious logic that such egregious situations already exist under the current system. Rush's example doesn't teach people to think or to be skeptical. It doesn't teach people to hash through issues. There's no Socratic method, no Platonic ideals, no Aristotelean analysis -- no philosophy whatsoever. Only a shrewdness in which every issue starts with the premise of self-righteousness and then builds outward from there. People hear Rush's self-righteousness and they long to identify with it. He's a Maypole for them to dance around till they're dizzy and unified at the center.

Rush Limbaugh: "We get tarred and feathered as Nazis because we don't just bend over and grab the ankles and let you guys ram whatever down our throats that you want."

I knew it! Rush Limbaugh's mouth and asshole are the same thing!

(Didn't William S. Burroughs write a story about that?)

The loony tunes have turned into a cacophany.

I saw the Chris Matthews interview. Matthews pointedly asked whether Kostric believed in the Birther claims. Kostric first said he'd examined the materials and believed Obama was a citizen. Then he distanced himself and said he hadn't read the related materials. He really waffled over the whole thing. Matthews made him look like an ass. Bravo to Matthews.

Now hopefully this guy will fade into the mass of misguided dillweeds.