For those of us who live in Joplin, Missouri, the arrival of President Obama in our tornado-ravaged community May 29 was a godsend.
Even most of those who are in total disagreement with the president's policies (and in this corner of the state, the numbers are legion) received a moral and spiritual uplift from the words provided by the president, Gov. Jay Nixon, and Aaron Brown, minister of St. Paul's Methodist Church, a casualty of the fierce fury that nature wreaked upon our community, during the memorial service.
For some in this conservative area, the visitor who will arrive Monday, July 4, to appear at a celebration at a park in the tornado area is even bigger than the president.
At 8 p.m. on the 235th anniversary of our nation's birth, Rush Limbaugh, as part of an advertising promotion for one of his sponsors, will speak to city residents and the hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers, both from within the city and from across the nation who have banded to help Joplin recover.
I have no problem with Limbaugh arriving with a refrigerator truck filled with iced tea from his sponsor. I am grateful that people from all over the United States, and not just from within our city limits, asked Limbaugh to send his truck of tea to Joplin.
However, on the same Friday show in which he announced he would be in Joplin, Limbaugh said the following:
I'm gonna tell you something else is gonna happen at Landreth Park in Joplin on Monday night: We're gonna grow the Republican Party. It's a Fourth of July celebration. We have the Harvard survey from yesterday: Fourth of July parades breed Republicans. Young kids at Fourth of July parties tend to end up being Republican. Fourth of July celebrations do not have any patriotic impact on Democrats. This is from a Harvard survey. We had it yesterday. Now, you Democrats, you can try to throw cold water all you want on what we're doing Monday night in Joplin, but I just want to remind you what's actually happening Monday night in Joplin, Missouri. Not only the continuing rebirth of a great community, and not only the joining of people coming together for a singular purpose (well, actually multipurpose) but we're also growing the conservative movement. Try that!
During another segment of the program, Limbaugh repeated his earlier criticism that the president waited a week to come to Joplin while he was in Europe.
Limbaugh has a First Amendment right to criticize those whose opinions differ from his. No one questions that. But hopefully, he can see that a Fourth of July celebration at Landreth Park is not the time nor the place to do it.
The people who came to Joplin immediately after the tornado and in the days and weeks afterward were not just rock-ribbed Republicans, though undeniably they were here. Liberals by the thousands were also cleaning up debris, helping salvage treasured belongings, and offering moral support to people when they needed it the most.
These were people who care about their nation just as deeply as Limbaugh and his followers do.
When President Obama arrived seven days after the tornado, he offered support to people who were suffering and it did not matter that this community voted solidly against him three years ago. There was no hint of the divisiveness that has darkened so much of the day-to-day discourse in our nation.
Hopefully, when Rush Limbaugh makes his presence felt in our city July 4, it will be in the same spirit. A park in the middle of an area that has seen 158 people killed and thousands of homes and businesses wiped off the map does not need to be a site for growing the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or any other political organization.
The only thing we need to be growing is together.
When you come to Joplin, Rush, please bring the tea and leave the tea party behind.
Follow Randy Turner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rturner229
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the trickle-down theory, which is pretty much the basis of the republican economic philosophy is widely discredited, with proof being substantially offered in the fact that lower and lower capital gains taxes have produced (drum-roll) fewer and fewer new jobs over the last 30 years. what if taxes were raised on, say, those who make more than 500,000 a year? it does make sense, no, that one who is compelled to expand one's business would receive more incentive to do so if they simply are shifting money they'd pay in taxes to money they'd pay a new employee. and the added bonus is that with a resultingly lower tax burden, the vast majority of americans can afford to be better consumers, thus stimulating the economy.
(no, those deeds are not automatically military in nature.)
He hates you - HATES - if you disagree with him on anything. He would love to throw everyone who disagrees with him out of the country or into jail. (And he's said so many times.)
Limbaugh is as un-American as it gets.
BTW, interesting how far-right radical conservatives constantly demean Harvard because Obama graduated from there, constantly demean it as extremely liberal, constantly demean higher education in general, constantly demean the social sciences as tools of socialists and communists, yet Limbaugh embraces THIS study because it gives a result he likes...
Rush? He's nothing but a publicity opportunist. He wouldn't even be there if he didn't have a sponsor. Where was he in the immediate aftermath? Did I miss his help, perhaps?
This is nothing more than a Republican political campaign going on. I take that back, it's all about him and him alone. Because if he really cared about the citizens of Joplin, political figure or not, he would've been there from the jump, getting his hands dirty and helping the citizens in need.
Like Limbaugh ever cared about ANY person in need. His sorry behind was nowhere to be found in the Gulf region after Katrina. He was too busy on the radio attacking Black victims in New Orleans. No surprise seeing that he probably thinks that blacks in New Orleans are not "real Americans". The only thing he cares about is publicity + taking his fanbase for a ride = millions more in his pocket.
The study was silly, and that was Limbaugh's point.
I watched the video of his speech, and it wasn't the least bit partisan.
That's because, Rush, we Democrats don't need a parade to remind us of our patriotism; we live it every day of our lives. We don't drop it when another party is in office and pick it up again when we want to flash it for political gain.
You are right, Mr. Turner. Nobody should try to politicize an event such as this which is supposed to be about helping people who have lost not just homes and property, but family members. If you're going to help people, do so, but keep your political goals to yourself and for a more appropriate occasion.
Your faux outrage is funny though.
...he can come too...
And before someone points out that this is just Rush, and might not be indicative of true RW thought: I don't hear his fellow Repubs out there denying that's the reason for this showboating, or distancing themselves from his actions.
Maybe if they might just be loaned a wheelbarrow a shovel and told to have at it when they faced utter destruction they might come down off their high horses for a while.
...and it was a victory...
When people saw Obama and the dems handing out $278,000 for each job it created and mostly for union jobs, and then billing our children for it with deficits, lots of independents just cringed, and knew in November of last year, a change had to occur.
Liberals in blue states far outnumber conservatives in red states, but don't outnumber conservatives plus the independents. He'd better do something for them.
In the big scheme of things, it 's highly possible that Obama believes he doesn't need the independent vote since he'll have MOST of the votes from the: unions, minorities, gays, greenies, socialists, seniors, etc....So I guess we'll find out next year.