Posted by
Andrews on Thursday, July 10, 2008 8:54:16 PM
I have to start this by saying I haven't listened to Rush Limbaugh in years. When WCBM lost his syndicated show, they switched to G. Gordon Liddy, and I didn't listen to Rush for a number of years. Only recently I listened to him a few times, and I have to say I noticed a strong shift in tone. Where before Rush was a confident, cheerful guy, strong in his beliefs, but willing to explain and argue with the other side, he now seems a bit overconfident, and more interested in preaching than in explaining. In short, he sounds a bit like the caricature the liberals always made of him.
And that is a shame. The conservative movement has more than enough loud, argumentative, obnoxious souls. What we need are more like what Rush once was.
All you need to do is look at Townhall to see the lack. We have a huge number of people mocking liberals, making fun of them and calling them names. There are endless people convinced the liberals are wrong, but unwilling to spend the time to explain why. We have an abundance of ideologues and rabble rousers.
What we need are people like Reagan, or the old Rush, men who knew what they believed, were confident and cheerful, and were willing to explain why their beliefs were right. Men who could engage in reasoned discussions about it. Who could face down the other side with debate rather than invective.
And that is one thing we lack.
It doesn't really make sense. The conservative argument is the better side for reasoned debate. The left relies so strongly on emotion and misleading arguments that the right should win every debate. So why do we have so few temperate debaters and so many name callers? What happened?
I can't explain it, but I know we need a change. We need to once again present a reasonable, happy face. Just as Bush hatred has made the left unpopular, we will find our anger with the left will not win us any friends among the independents either. We need to make our way back to the image of the reasonable, confident, happy conservatives, rather than the angry men we are slowly becoming.
POSTSCRIPT
I know some will disagree with my description of Rush's transformation, or my description of the right, but I can't help what I see. Where Rush used to toss out terms like "feminazi" with a chuckle, he now does it with a bit of a sneer, or even a snarl. It is not so much a change of content as of tone.
The change in the right is more noticeable. Could anyone imagine all the hatred being spewed at McCain being directed at the first Bush? Yet how does he really differ from McCain? We were different then, the conservative movement was more composed, more calm, more confident, and certainly less filled with the angry, bitter types who now sneer at "Juan McShame".
We need to return to that old attitude. Anger does not appeal to many outside of the base.