A couple of notes this morning. First, a rant by Rush Limbaugh. You can listen to the rant here at Crooks and Liars (for some reason, I can't copy the embed code), if your stomach is up to it. Unfortunately, there's no transcript, but let's just take a few points:
He claims that Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whom he calls a "potential Democrat [sic] presidential candidate" (which anyone with two brain cells to rub together will find hysterically funny) is going to double property taxes for the state of Illinois. I think the governor and legislature might have something to say about that.
No, neither the State of Illinois nor the City of Chicago are facing bankruptcy because of pension liabilities. We're not facing bankruptcy at all.
But this is the cherry on top:
As Karoli points out at C&L, that's absolutely correct: retirees, by definition, are no longer working. Duh.
Now, I don't think for a minute that Limbaugh is stupid enough not to get it. But it's evident that his listeners -- and I'd guess a fair proportion of them are retirees -- are that stupid. Or at least, have never developed the habit of actually thinking.
There are five retirement pension systems in Illinois; employees of the state university system, public school system, police and firefighters, judges, and members of the General Assembly to not pay into Social Security. Their pension is it. Oh, and they do contribute to their pensions -- it's not a free ride.
Side Note: I've never actually listened to one of Limbaugh's rants before. I had no idea he's such an over-the-top, hysterical drama queen. I'm sort of surprised he didn't drag in the Third Reich, which seems to be the favored comparison by "conservatives" these days. I don't think I even need to link to examples -- well, maybe one or two -- like here, or here. Josh Marshall has a post that provides a good analysis of this phenomenon, featuring one of the right's latest high-visibility tokens, Dr. Ben Carson.
It's worth reading the whole thing.
It strikes me that these tactics -- high drama, Nazi comparisons, race baiting -- are the refuge of those who don't have a cogent argument to support their position. Those are all diversionary tactics, meant to obfuscate. It appears that's all the right has.
He claims that Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whom he calls a "potential Democrat [sic] presidential candidate" (which anyone with two brain cells to rub together will find hysterically funny) is going to double property taxes for the state of Illinois. I think the governor and legislature might have something to say about that.
No, neither the State of Illinois nor the City of Chicago are facing bankruptcy because of pension liabilities. We're not facing bankruptcy at all.
But this is the cherry on top:
"...and what are those pensions? Those are payments to people who are not working!"
As Karoli points out at C&L, that's absolutely correct: retirees, by definition, are no longer working. Duh.
Now, I don't think for a minute that Limbaugh is stupid enough not to get it. But it's evident that his listeners -- and I'd guess a fair proportion of them are retirees -- are that stupid. Or at least, have never developed the habit of actually thinking.
There are five retirement pension systems in Illinois; employees of the state university system, public school system, police and firefighters, judges, and members of the General Assembly to not pay into Social Security. Their pension is it. Oh, and they do contribute to their pensions -- it's not a free ride.
Side Note: I've never actually listened to one of Limbaugh's rants before. I had no idea he's such an over-the-top, hysterical drama queen. I'm sort of surprised he didn't drag in the Third Reich, which seems to be the favored comparison by "conservatives" these days. I don't think I even need to link to examples -- well, maybe one or two -- like here, or here. Josh Marshall has a post that provides a good analysis of this phenomenon, featuring one of the right's latest high-visibility tokens, Dr. Ben Carson.
People say lots of crazy stuff. Particularly right-wingers struggling to find analogies that might explain why their present day indignities, would-be oppressions or efforts to be understood place them in the descent of history's inconic victims - enslaved Africans in the Americas, gassed Jews in the Holocaust, to name only the most frequent examples.
I got to thinking about this more after I heard right wing star Dr. Ben Carson claim that 'political correctness' and its paramilitary enforcement arm, "the PC police", have made America "very much like Nazi Germany", so much in fact that we're living in a "Gestapo Age".
It's worth reading the whole thing.
It strikes me that these tactics -- high drama, Nazi comparisons, race baiting -- are the refuge of those who don't have a cogent argument to support their position. Those are all diversionary tactics, meant to obfuscate. It appears that's all the right has.
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