Fox vs. Rush: Why The Little Guy Won

By: Greg Kandra
Topics: CBS Stuff

After a Fox-free weekend, following a Fox-filled week, I was looking forward to a relatively quiet Monday. Imagine my surprise when I came in and found our C&C mailbox flooded with still more comments about the Michael J. Fox story.

People have seized on this story and just won't let it go.

I can appreciate that. It gnaws at you. When I pull the issues apart and hold them up to the light, I can't help but feel with utmost certainty that…both sides are right.

I know. That makes me a spineless twit. Living without a spine makes it harder to sit at my desk and type, but it does make airline travel easier.

Anyway: I've been spending some time chewing over this story, and how it all unfolded. And I think one thing is absolutely clear. This is a story about image and perception, more than fact and argument.

And in the war of images, Michael J. Fox is the winner.

This idea –- the power of pictures -- was something politicians have known for a while. The media have been slower to grasp it. Evidently, it still eludes Rush Limbaugh. Because, whatever the merits of his argument - and some viewers were eager to send us e-mails and let us know how right Rush was -- they dissipated into mere mist when you actually saw him on television.

There Rush was, flailing his arms, imitating a man with Parkinson's disease.

After that, anything he said was moot. Or mute. It didn't make any difference. What America saw on television was a big fat guy making fun of a little skinny guy -– a sick little skinny guy, at that. All that was missing was a beach, so that Rush could kick sand in the face of a 98-pound weakling.

What made matters worse for Limbaugh was that when the object of his derision finally appeared to tell his side of the story, Fox looked like a perfectly reasonable guy, without a trace of anger or bitterness or righteous indignation. He didn't mind being mocked by someone twice his size. If someone wanted to pick a fight with him, he'd just let them kick sand in his teeth.

People have commented that what Michael J. Fox displayed was courage, or dignity, or character. I'm tempted to call it something else: grace. He showed us the best that we can be, and called out to the better angels of our nature.

And Rush? He showed us how to bully people suffering from chronic debilitating illness.

There are a lot of clear-headed, passionate people who argue against everything Michael J. Fox is trying to do, for reasons that are ethical, or political, or religious. They are persuasive. But whether they realize it or not, they've already lost this battle, because they've lost the war of images. No matter what they say, or what they argue, this moment in political history will be remembered as the day a big fat guy made fun of a little sick guy.

When Katie and I were talking about this after her interview, she noted: "Rush Limbaugh may be the best thing that ever happened to Michael J. Fox and his foundation."

She had a point. Limbaugh could learn from it. Be careful who you pick on. You might look worse than you think.

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by n7uvh November 1, 2006 11:51 PM EST: sound like Fox does not know what he was talking about... get the facts before you speak.; Reply to this comment


by get2djnow November 1, 2006 11:27 PM EST: Fox didn't even read the proposition that he made a commercial to defend. Rush had it just right, the Left is vacant of ideas, but big on venom and hatred.

Maybe Fox could take the time to do some research: stem cell research is providing cures TODAY, not embryonic stem cells, but ADULT stem cells.

You Kos nutroots people, when the Senate confirms Bush's next Supreme Court appointment, maybe you'll move to Quebec, where you belong.

Good luck on those ratings Katie.; Reply to this comment


by pprims October 31, 2006 6:39 PM EST: Rush Limbaugh is a complete moron. This is a man who was fired from ESPN because he tried to start a race discussion about black NFL QBs when there was nothing to discuss. Add in the fact that he almost went totally deaf and yet he has the audacity to make fun of Michael J. Fox's illness. He forgets to be grateful he can still hear. My take is this, at least Fox has made a contribution to society. Through his character on "Family Ties" he has made millions of us laugh out loud. Rush has done nothing for society except blow hot air into his microphone. Maybe if people just ignored people like this, the right wingers in America would just crawl back into their caves forever instead of trying to tell us what is good for us. I don't remember America ever asking for their advice.; Reply to this comment


by adventurepa October 31, 2006 6:37 PM EST: Rush is the distraction the republican's throw at stem cells so you stop thinking about the real issue.
They know what an idiot bush was to use his only veto to deny further research.
Hello?!
These cells will be destroyed anyway!!
Do something that might help others live at the very least.
For all against the use and research, when it is your life, that will benefit from this research, I hope you and your loved ones are denied access and your life wastes away.
Because you don't deserve them.
Because you are ignorent.

You support war and are pro life, yet you indirectly cause the deaths of so many, because of your ignorence.; Reply to this comment


by one_american October 31, 2006 6:32 PM EST: huskerarmy:

Nice try. A D- for your weak effort to defend the traitor Kerry.; Reply to this comment


by huskerarmy October 31, 2006 5:04 PM EST: "The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night."

You would have a point if as usual, for you and the neo-cons, you weren't arguing against a fabricated postion. Those who are poor and less educated are more likely to serve on the front lines. That is a well documented fact. And Kerry makes no suggestion that "only" the least educated serve. You'll have to go back to the drawing board on this one.

Nevertheless, I served in Viet Nam partly because my family was poor and the G.I. bill was a way for me to get a college education. In the meantime, Dic "arm chair hero" Chaney got five deferments to avoid service. That is the reality of who fights for this country. It's disingenuous to fain indignation in order to detract from that reality. However, i'ts not clear if you consider it an insult because they "choose" to fight or because he's calling them "poor." I suspect a bit of both.; Reply to this comment


by one_american October 31, 2006 4:59 PM EST: John Kerry's response to John McCaine:

Washington %u2013 Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, assorted right wing nut-jobs, and right wing talk show hosts desperately distorting Kerry%u2019s comments about President Bush to divert attention from their disastrous record:

%u201CIf anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they%u2019re crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I%u2019m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I%u2019m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit
White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox%u2019s Parkinson%u2019s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.%u201D

THE LIBERALS ARE JUMPING OFF OF A CLIFF!; Reply to this comment


by one_american October 31, 2006 4:54 PM EST: Yah, Katie. Harry-Kerry should be careful who he picks on...; Reply to this comment


by one_american October 31, 2006 3:58 PM EST: Report on something worthwhile, Katie.

From www.drudgereport.com:

McCain Calls On Kerry To Apologize
Tue Oct 31 2006 11:43:14 ET

"Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education. Americans from all backgrounds, well off and less fortunate, with high school diplomas and graduate degrees, take seriously their duty to our country, and risk their lives today to defend the rest of us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

They all deserve our respect and deepest gratitude for their service. The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night. Without them, we wouldn't live in a country where people securely possess all their God-given rights, including the right to express insensitive, ill-considered and uninformed remarks."; Reply to this comment


by chip-post October 31, 2006 2:22 PM EST: Rush Limbaugh is plain wrong on this issue of mocking Mr.Fox's symptoms. However I am not surprised at the mocking. Mr.Limbaugh is in the minority. Most good people know that helping one another and not mocking or hurting each other is what separates the men from the boys so to speak; Reply to this comment