Rush Limbaugh: Liberals Playing the "Violence Card"
Rush Limbaugh is accusing liberals and the media of playing the "violence card" and mischaracterizing conservative protests as dangerous, violent events.
The controversial radio host penned an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal which argues that "conservative protest is motivated by a love of what America stands for."
Limbaugh criticized those who he said blame right-wing talk radio for inciting disorder, and blasted the left for what he characterized as hypocritically equating all opposition to the Obama administration with violence.
His op-ed responds to claims by former President Bill Clinton and others that the current political climate and the heated rhetoric demonizing the government could potentially incite domestic terrorism akin to the Oklahoma City bombing fifteen years ago. Joe Klein from Time Magazine suggested that the rhetoric of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin bordered on sedition."What self-serving nonsense," Limbaugh writes. "Liberals are perfectly comfortable with antigovernment protest when they're not in power."
Limbaugh provides examples of what he casts as the left's penchant for taking their discontent to the streets, and for "breaking shop windows with bricks and throwing rocks at police." He points, among other topics, to the protests against the war in Vietnam.
Limbaugh adds: "Not all leftists are violent, of course. But most are angry. It's in their DNA. They view the culture as corrupt and capitalism as unjust."
Conservatives who peacefully protest or attend Tea Party movement rallies, on the other hand, are motivated primarily by love, he writes.
"They love their country and want to save it from those who do not," argues the talk show host.
"I do not hate the government, as the left does when it is not running it. I love this country," Limbaugh adds.
Limbaugh says that he has no problem with the government as an institution, but he clearly takes issue with the people currently occupying high political office.
He describes the Obama administration as implementing a transformational "radical agenda," including the nationalization of the health-care system and "amnesty for illegal aliens."
Limbaugh also takes the opportunity to take a shot at what many on the right have recently deemed the "lamestream media."
"The Obama/Clinton/media left" are taking advantage of violence and social unrest while also perpetuating it, Limbaugh claims.
"It allows them to blame and demonize their opponents (doctors, insurance companies, Wall Street, talk radio, Fox News) in order to portray their regime as the great healer of all our ills, thus expanding their power and control over our society," he says.