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| WALSH: From back in his Congress days |
Remember
Joe Walsh? You ‘member.
He’s
not the guitar player from the Eagles; he’s the guy whom the people of the
northwest suburbs of Chicago got stuck with as their representation in
Congress.
THE
GUY WHO managed to get himself elected by Tea Party-type goofs in 2010 – only
to be dumped two years later when Barack Obama’s re-election bid created
momentum for his opponent?
Since
then, Walsh has sort of been able to keep up his persona as a public person by
hosting a radio talk show that would allow him to spout out whatever nonsense
he could get people to listen to.
But
it seems that Walsh is always in need of more attention – perhaps he doesn’t
gain enough listeners to attract advertisers who’d make his programs actually
worth paying attention to.
In
that context, Walsh’s behavior this week makes sense. He’s talking trash
because he needs the attention. He certainly isn’t making any sense.
WALSH,
WHO LIKES to think he speaks on behalf of those conservative ideologues who can’t
stand that anybody pays attention to anyone who isn’t exactly like them, took
up the issue of the shootings Thursday night in Dallas – the one that seems to
have resulted in the deaths of five city police officers.
Now
is it bad that he’s decided to take up the cause of the cops? Not particularly.
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| OBAMA: Didn't praise police enough to appease Walsh |
Although
it is his choice of rhetoric he used while posting his thoughts on Twitter (whose outrageous-ness have since caused them to be removed) that
make us wonder how desperate Walsh must be these days to gain attention for
himself.
“This
is now war. Watch out Obama,” wrote Walsh, in implying that the president’s
comments of support for the Dallas police weren’t supportive enough.
“WATCH
OUT BLACK lives matters punks. Real America is coming after you,” he wrote.
For
it seems that Walsh is one of those people who thinks all the incidents of
recent years where police committed racially-inspired violence against black
people was somehow justified.
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| Would Walsh have found this image subversive |
But
one act where a law enforcement type wound up getting hurt – that was the
moment of outrage. The one that will justify turning the police loose to defend
themselves against the barbarians who threaten to overrun our society unless we
deal with them first.
Just
writing that rant gave me a headache. It is so nonsensical. And from the
perspective of those people inclined to want to think of war, it is one that
was declared many generations ago by law enforcement itself. When it behaves in
ways that make us think they view themselves as our government’s thugs; the
muscle it uses to keep people in line.
WALSH’S
RANT MAKES me think he’s just the descendant of those kind of people whom some
50 years ago would have been complaining about the racist Black Panther Party
types who talked of the need for black people to defend themselves against law
enforcement types who occasionally turned out to be Klan members or other white
supremacists hiding behind the shields of the badges they wore.
If
one thinks about what it is that Walsh is saying, they’d have to realize he’s
speaking on behalf of the people who ARE the problem – particularly if they
think the solution somehow entails themselves “coming after” the people they
disagree with.
Which
is why it makes more sense to think of this rant as nothing more than a cheap
stunt meant to gain some attention to the aspiring radio host who perhaps hopes
his thoughts will attract more listeners.
Although
to tell you the truth, I think I have more respect for broadcasters like Mancow
Muller or Howard Stern and the nonsensical stunts they have engaged in
throughout the years to gain listener attention.
PARTICULARLY
THE TIME when Muller tried to claim that “waterboarding” as a form of torture
wasn’t really so bad. It kind of makes me wish we could do something similar to
Walsh.
Although
I suspect the biggest harm we could do to him would be to simply ignore his
broadcasts altogether.
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