RedState, Sort of Slams, and Recession Mockery

Conservatives are such weird people. I needed a post, so I go to RedState knowing that they'd give me something stupid to mock, and they never disappoint. Second post from the top and I see the title Lefties Slam Soros, Barack & Michelle Obama by Brian Faughnan, and expected to see some sort of post celebrating one of the many far-lefties who don't like Obama. And that alone would be surprising, as I've yet to see far-righties acknowledge the existence of far-lefties who don't like Obama. After all, in their minds, Obama is the far-left.

But no, no such logical thinking here. This is RedState, which means you're going to see weirdo mental connections that only a full-on schizo could truly understand. So instead, Faughnan writes about how ThinkProgress attacked Rush Limbaugh for doing something similar to what Soros and the Obamas did. Therefore, by attacking Limbaugh, they must have been secretly attacking Soros and the Obamas. And while I'm hoping that this was meant as a joke, my desperate search for a clue on the satirical nature of this came up empty.

Here's the opening paragraph:

They sort of slammed them — by implication, that is. They don’t have the guts to actually criticize their leaders. The best they can do is pick some conservative who might be guilty of the same offense, and criticize him. Then they leave it to you to connect the dots. As long as you do your homework, you can see they’re biting the hand that feeds… subtly.

And here's the final paragraph:

I’m sure ThinkProgress isn’t going easy on Soros because he bankrolls them. There’s probably some good reason. I wonder if he recognizes the vicious hit they’re taking at him — extremely obliquely.

And I've got to believe that this was meant as a joke. But...I'm just not getting it. Because I'm guessing that he's not being serious that TP is intentionally trying to attack Soros and the O's, yet there still seems to be some attack on TP for intentionally covering-up for them. Or...something. And the weirdest part is that because righties do think that Soros and the O's were bad people for what they did, therefore he's agreeing that Limbaugh was also bad. And I don't see how that really helps them at all, as RedStaters generally love Limbaugh.

(Note: I had a section on a commenter who noticed this attack on Limbaugh, but I'm saving it for a separate post.)

Weird Equivalencies

And of course, the punchline is that Soros and the Obamas didn't commit the same offense Limbaugh was attacked for. ThinkProgress attacked Limbaugh for openly mocking the recession during a prepared speech to a Heritage Foundation fundraiser.

Here's the money quote from Limbaugh:

But during all this growth I haven’t lost any audience. I’ve never had financially a down year. There’s supposedly a recession, but we’ve got - what is this May? Back in February we already had 102% of 2008 overbooked for 2009. [applause] So I always believed that if we’re going to have a recession, just don’t participate. [laughter]

And so Rush's offense was that he's doing a comedy routine mocking the recession we're "supposedly" in, which we can simply refuse to participate in. And that's a pretty damn fair target to hit. As TP noted, even Limbaugh's owner, Clear Channel, is having a horrible year with massive layoffs, yet Limbaugh is acting as if he's above it all.

Soros, on the other hand, was quoted in an article about the success of many hedge funds during the economic crisis, including his own. He wasn't mocking the recession or pretending it didn't apply to him. Rather, he's saying that he saw it coming and prepared for it, and did well. And when asked about his success for an article on his success, is he supposed to pretend it didn't happen? Of course not. In fact, it'd have been mockery had he pretended he wasn't benefiting from his work.

And this isn't the same as making jokes about your success during fancy dinner parties, and that's the point. And I'm sure that, of the twenty-five successful hedge fund managers mentioned in the article, Soros was the only "hypocrite" in the batch; at least as far as RedState is concerned. The rest of them are hardworking capitalists who deserve tax breaks, I'm sure.

And as for the Obamas, their horrible offense was clearly the worst of all.

ThinkProgress also didn’t raise a stink about Michelle Obama hypocritically parading around in $540 sneakers. Nor did they criticize Barack Obama for the costliest inauguration in American history.

Oh, the horror! Yes, wearing expensive shoes is shameless mockery. As is having an inauguration which costs in the same ballpark as previous inaugurations (not that many RedStaters are likely to have been told this). And that's surely the same as Limbaugh bragging that he's "never had financially a bad year" or that he simply doesn't participate in recessions.

And I've really got to believe that the supposed attack on Soros and the Obamas was meant as a joke, as even a RedStater couldn't really believe that. Yet...it's such a non-obvious bit of humor that I find that alone to be an oddity. And the idea that Limbaugh's offense was the same as whatever it is we're supposed to hate Soros and the Obama's far, that's just braindead stupid. It's like an emotionless alien was told of the concepts of satire and hypocrisy and this is the best they could muster. Very weird people.