Wil in the comments here has a damn good site of his own, having a far more eloquent voice than I. While I’ve avoided talking about Limbaugh’s incredibly tasteless comments about Michael J Fox because, frankly, it pisses me off, Wil provides with excellent analysis on the situation.
But rather than attacking Fox’s argument, Rush Limbaugh did what every good conservative does in a debate – attack the person. Limbaugh claimed that Fox was “acting” and making his Parkinson’s effects appear worse than they really are.
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In the end, Fox can get involved in politics if he wishes – and he will face the same scrutiny that any non-Parkinson’s sufferer would. But accusing him of “faking” a disease for political purposes is simply a personal attack that attempts to negate the message.
Indeed. Wil goes into a few examples, but one I’d like to point out also is the Coultergeist’s famous attack of 9/11 widows. Similar to Rush, after she complains that their situation means they can’t be debated, all she proceeds to do is attack them OVER that quality that supposedly immunizes them.
So while they complain that these people are “tools” of the DNC or liberals, they only play into it further. By attacking their disabilities and losses, they invalidate any other arguments they could make. The complaint is that they are there simply because of that one quality, so obviously the best way to shoot them down is expose how hollow the actual message is. Go after what they say, since that will prove that their only reason for being there is that loss or that disease.
Yet that seems too difficult for the redcoat attack dogs. Not that that’s anything new.
The right never fails to attack celebrities with whom they disagree. In the past, they have demonized Martin Sheen, Sean Penn, Rob Reiner, The Dixie Chicks, and Danny Glover, among others.
Of course, they never attack the issues. Rather, they make personal attacks. Martin Sheen is claimed to have delusions that he really is president instead of just an actor who played one. Sean Penn is hit with his Spiccoli character from over 20 years ago. Reiner is fat, The Dixie Chicks ignorant, and Glover a radical. Now Michael J. Fox is criticized for his illness.
Never much for consistency, the same people just love the Arnold Swarzeneggers, Charlton Hestons, Dennis Millers, and Jeff Suppans who agree with them. No righty criticized Fox when he did a pro-stem cell ad for Arlen Specter.
Why is a celebrity delusional when he/she speaks for liberal issues, but heroic when speaking for conservatives?