Posted by
Karl Lembke on Monday, October 15, 2007 11:53:34 AM
Paul Greenberg has weighed in on the phony outrage over Rush Limbaugh's recent statement. Of course, anyone who has listened to Rush Limbaugh for any length of time knows he supports the troops. All of them.
And part of this support includes a certain disdain for those who lie about their service and steal the honor and credibility of those who actually did what these phony soldiers claim to have done. (Indeed, I heard an interview on KABC radio in which a US Attorney described these soldiers -- targets of "Operation Stolen Valor" as "phonies, liars, and thieves".)
General Wesley Clark has taken up battle against Rush, and mounted an online petiiton to have Rush's show pulled from the Armed Forces Radio.
Greenberg takes Clark to task for this as well as his other rhetorical fusilades:
The general's big mistake? Instead of proving a different kind of candidate, he became just another partisan of the louder, less enduring sort. Instead of remaining above the fray, he waded into the muddy thick of it. Instead of bringing us together, he seemed intent on driving us further apart. Soon his was just one more rasping voice in the off-key chorus of presidential also-rans.
Now he's down there among the Michael Moore/Bill O'Reilly bottom-feeders. Impervious to the lessons of his last failed campaign, General Clark is now fighting it out in a kind of two-falls-out-of-three exhibition match against Rush Limbaugh. That's right: El Rushbo himself, The Mouth, the idol of the dittoheads; in short, the very personification of high-decibel, low-fact talk radio.
Ah, yes. "High-decibel, low-fact". He takes his share of jabs at Rush. This has prompted a number of comments such as:
For every point Greenberg earns with a well-placed shot at Weasley Snark, he loses two by taking unfounded pot shots at Limbaugh. I used to be part of the "I'm a conservative, but I don't like Rush" crowd, until I actually started listening to his show. Good on Clark, but as for what he writes about Rush, he might as well be copying and pasting from Media Matters or MoveOn.Org. (Monday, October, 15, 2007 2:11 AM)
Hmmm. Let's look up Paul Greenberg. A quick Google search turns up:
Paul Greenberg
Pulitzer Prize winner
Greenberg, an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial page editor, doesn't repeat the familiar conservative mantra. Instead, he describes himself as ideologically unreliable. "I'm a conservative-but I try not to be a damn fool," he says. Greenberg offers a trusted perspective on national and world policy, the South, family, religion, literature, abortion, civil rights, character and virtue.
Maybe so, but he doesn't seem to have time to listen to talk radio.
One point in his favor, though. I have a friend who's convinced the Media Matters take on Rush is Gospel. When I cite Greenberg's article to him, his style will make it slightly harder for him to dismiss the man as "just a conservative hack".