Limbaugh: Our "National Treasure"

A good piece over at hullaballoo on the Rush Limbaugh minstrel show:
Digby

Just as Don Imus faced the consequences of his ongoing, long-term offensiveness, it is high time for Rush Limbaugh to do so as well. In fact, how Imus got booted before Limbaugh is a bit of a mystery. Unless you notice that most of Rush's truly offensive statements and "parodies" are available only on the ($55 membership) members-only portion of his website.

If we are going to be consistent and say that Imus crossed a line (even if, as his on air cohort Bernie says something like, "It's hard to know if you're crossing a line when you don't know where the line is..." Hello, Bernie?! A rich white dude calling young, successful female college athletes who did nothing but live their lives 'nappy headed hos' pretty much draws the line itself with its disdain, however "comically" delivered), then we need to make sure Rush feels the same pain for his minstrelsy.

Of course, Limbaugh has done a fantastic job of setting himself up to be a martyr for the cause. Those who take offense are seen as liberal panty-waists who can't take a joke; the thought police; political correctness run amok. Meanwhile his dittoheads will be outraged that such a fine man, such a paragon of intelligence, morality and patriotism (illegal viagra on questionable trip to the Dominican Republic?) is being attacked by Hillary Clinton-lovers, who are of course the scum of the earth to his listeners.

Like Imus, Limbaugh has some guests who need to account for their support of the show's rhetoric. The President of the United States called him "a national treasure." He recently appeared on his show, as did Dick Cheney and other elevated Republican officials. We need to ask them if they support this kind of "parody." We need to ask the President where he sees the line between parody and racism being crossed. Does Laura Bush listen to Rush? Is it something they listen to in the home, or is it simply a way to have a surrogate mouthpiece rally the bottom-dwelling elements of your political party?

Either way, I think it's something the American people should ask their national leaders, especially the two at the top. In the meantime, don't feel like we need to involve Sharpton in this to effect some change, because you know any effort in that regard will only feed the prejudice that already exists in the minds of those who want to say that Rush is just being funny and that Sharpton being a boob somehow ought to constitute a defense of Limbaugh. Feel free to contact the following companies who, according to the Limbaugh website (and via comment at Digby), support the show:

AutoZone (901) 495-6500
Bose Wave Radio 508-766-7781
Mission Pharmacal
(makers of Citracal) (800) 531-3333
General Steel Metal Buildings 1-888-98-STEEL
Hotwire Discount Travel 415-343-8444
Lending Tree (704) 541-5351
Life Quotes 1-800-670-5433
Select Comfort 763-551-7460
Overstock.com (801) 947-3100

Rush is entitled to his free speech, but these advertisers are not entitled to our business. If we can't make them care about doing the right thing, at least we can make them do the math.