A RUSH To Judgment

Okay, so a couple of days ago AP releases a photo of Hillary Clinton looking, well, looking like I am sure Hillary would not want us to see her looking like (see right), and all of the sudden it’s an international incident. I have two things about this whole thing that bother me. First of all, would this even be an issue if they had released a photo of Romney, Guliani or Huckabee? I’m not even going to put Fred Thompson in that group, because he always looks like that. And what do those three have in common? Sure, they’re all Republicans, but today that doesn’t matter. Today, that group represents MEN.

Look, campaigning, especially in the last two weeks before the Caucus, is grueling work, and it takes it’s toll. But because Mrs. Clinton is a women, the rules need to change. Once again, we have pulled out the gender card. Look, Mitt, Rudy or Mike would rather not have an unflattering photo of them hit the newspapers (Maybe that’s why they stay out of tanks and don’t put on helmets – ah, nothing better than a twenty year old reference), but if it happened, they’d move on. Somehow we’re picking on Hillary.

The other issue with this whole photo business is the once again piling on Rush Limbaugh. In case you haven’t heard (and if you haven’t, you haven't been listening to the news), the MSM has been jumping all over Limbaugh because he said this: “So the question is this: Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?” Wow, what an evil, sexist bigoted homophobe. Okay, I know there is nothing homophobic about this remark, but I think it’s the law that you can’t call Limbaugh – or any conservative for that matter – any name without throwing “Homophobe” in the mix.

Now taken by itself, that comment does seem kind of mean spirited. However, if you read the entire transcript of what Limbaugh said – Available at: http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2007/12/rush-limbaugh-others-debate-hillary.html - You will see that Limbaugh was actually sticking up for her, and taking on American culture and it's obsession with looks. Limbaugh even goes so far as to preface his comments by saying that the left – Media Matters in particular – will misquote him, and misquote him they did.

This, from Huffington Post: "The comment that Rush made about Sen. Clinton's looks made him appear oafish. It seems that he can't attack her on her political positions, so he must revert to sexist remarks."

And at http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/2007/12/18/cold-old-and-tired-ii/ they go so far as to cherry-pick Limbaugh’s comments while then coming to the same conclusion Limbaugh came to – but they are too dumb to realize that their “enlightened” conclusion is the same one Limbaugh has already espoused. And this idiot headlined his article “Cold, Old & Tired II”.

This from “Radar Online”: “Spinning off a Drudge report on Hillary Clinton's haggard looks, E.D. pill-gulping tubby Rush Limbaugh sounds off on our appearance-obsessed culture. If it's any consolation, Rush sounds like a bloated windbag, too.”

And what’s worse is reading the comments attached to these stories. It shows the overall I.Q. of the readership of these sites and what there target market is. Let me give you a hint of what that I.Q. is: If it were the temperature in your house, you’d turn on the heater.

Remember when Bubba ran the first time. Remember how his weight ballooned on the campaign trail, and the press jumped all over him? Remember that great Saturday Night Live skit where Clinton is out jogging and runs into a McDonalds to schmooz with the normal folk, all the time finishing their meals as he talked to them. Classic. So why should it be any different with Hillary, or any women candidate.

Remember Katherine Harris, Florida Secretary of State during the 2000 elections? The press, as well as Lettermen, Leno and the like, slammed this women because of the amount of makeup she wore. Was she fair game? Well, it was mean-spirited, but as a public figure that comes with the territory. But the difference here is that Harris was a Republican, and we all know Republicans are fair game.

Look, I think I’ve been pretty above the board as far as Clinton (Hillary) is concerned. I have never tried to hide my distrust and dislike for this women, but I have kept my attacks on her policy and actions, not on her personality. Okay, one time I did say it looks like she shops at the Lane Bryant Outlet, but look at her …. she does. And to that I am going to add one last personal comment, which I consider to be a fact, not an attack: Since Hillary left the White House, I estimate that she has packed on at least 40 pounds. I state this, because if during that same period of time G.W. had packed on 40 lbs., we would have heard about it. It seems there is a double-standard at work here folks, and if we have to tip-toe around this issue, how many other formerly acceptable topics are going to be taboo in a Hillary White House?

And the thing I find most interesting of all is that all of these people bashing Rush for being insensitive to Hillary’s looks – even though he didn’t – had no problem whatsoever bashing Rush for HIS looks. Typical Liberal Double-Standard.