Sunday, August 21, 2005

It's one thing for somebody to say something and then to deny it later. It's quite another for a radio or TV host to say something on the air and then try to deny it later. Thanks to tape, either audio or video, documented proof exists -- there's no hope in trying to wiggle (lie) out of it.

But, that's exactly what we often get with the likes of O'Reilly and Limbaugh. The latest example: Limbaugh smears Cindy Sheehan by comparing her story to Bill Burkett (CBS forged documents debacle). He said on the air:
I mean, Cindy Sheehan is just Bill Burkett. Her story is nothing more than forged documents. There's nothing about it that's real, including the mainstream media's glomming onto it. It's not real. It's nothing more than an attempt. It's the latest effort made by the coordinated left.
After receiving more hate mail than he normally does, two days later he felt compelled to "clarify" his Sheehan comments. So what does he do? What he does best -- lies. He said on air:
Apparently, what's out there is that I said that Cindy Sheehan is no different than Bill Burkett, that Bill Burkett lied and Cindy Sheehan lied. They're actually out there, people saying that I am accusing Cindy Sheehan of making up the fact that she had a son and making up the fact that her son died in Iraq. And of course, I've never said this.
This guy simply has to be pathological -- how else to explain this stuff? If you've ever listened to his radio show, it's easy to see how the lies slip out so frequently. He blabbers on in that pretentious staccato, fooling most of his listeners into believing that with that authoritative tone, he just HAS to know of what he speaks. But he doesn't and instead just rambles, free form ranting, working himself up into a head of steam, and before you know it -- there goes another lie. It's not like he sits there and fumbles around for proper citing for the many sources of research. Nope, he just spouts on, offering 99% opinions backed by nothing but Rush's fantasy world. It's frightening and would actually be hilarious if he didn't have so many listeners that took him seriously -- making him that much more scary.

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