Limbaugh's Bastard Child

It's a boy! Rush Limbaugh has a son!

My better half and I went to the boy's christening up at Lakes 10 Theaters. I was amused. My better half was not. She found the movie Fahrenheit 911 "despicable." I've been pondering her negative response to this act of creation and the more I've thought about it, I've come around to her way of thinking.

Rush's son, an imitator really, is Michael Moore the director of Fahrenheit 911. If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery then Mr. Moore and Mr. Limbaugh have developed an almost filial relationship. Mr. Moore has made a movie that he hopes will change the course of the 2004 election much as his Father, Rush, helped change the course of the 1994 election.  At least Rush took most of the credit for the remarkable outcome of that election which saw Newt Gingrich's Republicans take control of the House of Representatives for the first time in fifty years. Like a contrary son, however, Michael Moore wants just the opposite. He wants the Democrat Party to take over the White House.

I'm only the latest person to draw a connection between these two angry polemicists. Rush Limbaugh doesn't like the comparison. On his broadcast for June 28th Rush had this to say about himself: "Rush Limbaugh, talent on loan from God. More than I'll ever be able to use, ladies and gentlemen. Wish I could share some of it, but it just isn't possible. I mean if it were possible to do, I would do it. I just don't know quite how, to divvy up my brain and still use the half that I have. The other half tied behind my back just to make it fair."

Having established his brilliance Rush went on to diminish Michael Moore: "Folks, do you realize this program reaches more people in a 15 minute period than saw the Michael Moore movie over the weekend? That's one way of expressing it. Almost by double the number."

While I had listened to a few minutes of Limbaugh's radio broadcasts over the years and even bought one of his books (I think it was "See, I told you so") I'd never seen a Michael Moore movie. I wanted to see Fahrenheit 911 for the same reason I bought Limbaugh's book. I wanted to judge it for myself and see what Michael Moore's ditto heads were crowing about it.

While Moore's movie sped by too quickly for me to take note of all the dubious information in it I subsequently found a website purporting to disclose his movie's "deceits." I spent more time reading Dave Kopel's "Fifty-nine Deceits" than I spent watching Moore's movie. I was sufficiently impressed that I sent Mr. Kopel an email pointing out a couple of typos. Kopel's rebuttal can be found easily enough on Google by typing in "59 deceits" and "Fahrenheit."

Mr. Moore's movie wouldn't have raised any eyebrows if he'd just said what I'm inclined to believe: that the Bush Administration took a big gamble with the lives of American soldiers based on flawed intelligence, hurried planning, inaccurate presumptions and while keeping a partisan eye out for the 2004 elections. That story wouldn't have made any money or changed the outcome of an election. Such a movie would not have used outtakes, been very funny or wrung tears out of its viewers eyes.  No, to change the outcome of an election you have to light a fire under ditto heads, your own ditto heads. You have to get them out to vote. Michael Moore is Rush Limbaugh's bastard child. Like Rush, Moore believes that the ends justify his means - that truth is just an inconvenience. In fact, the truth is always easier to swallow when it's wrapped up in a little fiction.

And Rush can't really complain since he has been such a jolly truth perverter himself. He's still trying to convince his radio audience that President Clinton murdered his old friend Vince Foster while making the murder look like a suicide.

After giving it more thought I've come to this conclusion about Fahrenheit 911. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Welty is a small time politician who lets it all hang out at: www.snowbizz.com