The Paxton Pundit - by Stacey Youdin

Volume Nine?
"There are two very clear options: Option A) Get everybody out by midnight tonight.
Option B) Get everybody out by midnight tomorrow.
The fuel that keeps the war going is us."
Seymour Hersh in a Der Spiegel interview

The first thing a radical will do when caught exposing how he really thinks, if it sets back his agenda any because of its inherent ugliness, is say it didn't happen or that's not what he said, and cough up something more palatable.

Holy shades of Joe McCarthy, Batman! Can you believe the dust-up over "phony soldiers?"

Yes, there are cases where impostors have gotten a foot in the VA hospital door or blogged about made up events, but that was not Rush Limbaugh's intent as he castigated people in the know who have deserted from Bush's camp.

In lieu of a fascist dictator's firing squad he wields silver-tongued demonization, reserved for just such cases.

Finding a few examples of fraudulent storytelling by a few soldiers, after the fact, was only a face saving move to stay on the air. If the Imus principle had been invoked, just for consistency's sake, Clear Channel would have axed the show. But Limbaugh's sanctuary held firm.

Just as real Republicans can't oppose Bush, in Limbaugh's world, real soldiers may not turn contrarian.

How do you demonize those with every right to speak freely if they start making too much sense to fair-minded people? If you can't make a case for everything going really swimmingly (the position which has become emblematic of a Bush dementia) you have to go after the sources of antithetical words and ideas. Hence, "phony soldiers."

How many times have people who criticize become people who want us to fail? These high school worthy tricks should be as transparent as any Ari Fleischer, Scott McClellan, Tony Snow or Dana Perrino so-called answer.

The tub-thumper's techniques are in full regalia as this catastrophic misadventure of Bush's promises to be the backdrop to everyone's remaining days. Even the yet unborn will be caught up in both paying off America's debt and defending against residual hatred.

Those in the press who enabled it are still not publicly sorry, the Congress (which only a sense of generosity might lead one to say was duped) can't find the wherewithal to do the right thing, and it should only make one apprehensive that the only directions possible come from the blackest parts of our own and other nations' histories.

We seem to be mimicking the empire building of our former masters and their age's competitors. Those means were justified by the availability of natural resources in faraway lands, though subsequently repudiated.

We are, at the end of the day, the world's number one bully. But unlike earlier decades, when covert operations got that message across loud and clear to the few cognoscenti while keeping us plain folk in the dark until later, it is now out in the open for every citizen to take credit or blame. The demagogue knows which of these two to reinforce.

Retreating from pomposity not being on the Limbaugh playlist, he compounded his vile remarks with the image of returning soldiers, duped by the radical left to "strap on" and hurl their criticisms, as though they were just like rank and file "dittoheads."

We haven't seen such suppression of criticism of our nation's character and behavior since the red scare days of the 50's and 60's.

In our form of democracy, orthodoxy should only be sought in the principles and practices which make it so. They are the same to all who claim citizenship. When individuals borrow from that sacred allegiance to make political headway, we all need to become like Edward R. Morrow. (Okay, lose the cigarettes.)

It may be cliché, but Rush Limbaugh answered Joseph Welch's readily applicable query this week that, at long last, he has no sense of decency.

Lastly, on a personal note, I would like to thank those savvy readers who have stayed with The Paxton Pundit all these years. Some have corresponded directly, and that is nice, while others challenge me to check myself for unhealthy projection by saying virtually the same thing afterwards, in an original voice. That is also very satisfying.

Volume nine? Can it really be so? To me it remains as fresh as Sunday morning's coffee and just as stimulating, as it has been since 1999. Thank you, the Internets, very much.

Next week: Define Your Terms

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