Demonizing American Citizens

I don't generally give radio personality and hate-monger, Rush Limbaugh, a platform, yet I wanted to post what he is saying about the protesters in Wisconsin - the nurses, custodians, firefighters, police officers, students, social workers, and other union employees - who agreed to the proposed pay cuts but are requesting to retain the right of collective bargaining.

Wisconsin’s Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman last night appeared on MSNBC and called protesters who stayed over night in the Capitol building “slobs.” Rush Limbaugh agreed with the description and was appalled by the “descent into barbarianism” going on amongst the “union thugs.”


Rush, not surprisingly, went a bit further in his description of the “bunch of slobs,” suggesting that despite Democrats and the media wanting the public to think that it is average, hard-working teachers and firefighters protesting, instead it is actually “long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-smoking, FM rock and roller types.” Now that’s a cruel insult, does anyone actually listen to FM radio anymore? Furthermore, Rush put his anger into a much broader context:

“It makes me sick to watch angry, militant, ungrateful state employees with jobs complain that they can’t receive extravagant benefit and pension contributions from people who have no money because they are out of work.” (source and audio)

This is what the GOP does best - demonizing other people. Interestingly, they have no way of knowing how many people in that group of protesters identify themselves as conservatives or Republicans.

The GOP decided to become the party of the top two percent and hold out culture war carrots to the extreme religious right to get votes. The other 98 percent of the country - the rest of us - do not appreciate the governor of Wisconsin or any other state governor addressing their budget deficits on the backs of  working people, ESPECIALLY when they have given millions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations. It is a losing move. It is a losing move to refer to citizens as "long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-smoking, FM rock and roller types".

The GOP approach: when you have no solutions, policies or personal decency, you demonize. Nobody does it better.