Profiles in douchebaggery

Rush Limbaugh is so, like, middle-school in the way he acts. In proving his point about Don Imus, Oxycotin Boy becomes that smug prick who would be an asshole just to prove the point that he could get away with it and there's nothing you can do about it:

The leading US shock jock Rush Limbaugh is taunting the liberal media by repeatedly airing a derogatory and racially charged song about the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Limbaugh, whose rightwing talk show is one of the most listened to in the US, has been running a song called Barack the Magic Negro, to the tune Puff the Magic Dragon.

On his show Limbaugh says he is an entertainer and the song is a parody. He justifies it by saying the first linkage of the term "magic negro" to Mr Obama was by a black commentator, David Ehrenstein, in the liberal Los Angeles Times.

Really, he's just like a twelve-year old. And Obama seems to understand that Rush is just an angry boy acting out, given his decision to pretty much roll his eyes and shrug, "What're ya gonna do?"

Rush is fishing for a controversy à la Imus to garner some free publicity, I'm sure, and he'll undoubtedly get some. Where Imus's remarks were seemingly off-the-cuff and aimed at a group of young women whose achievements and stature didn't warrant public ridicule, Rush has carefully constructed a parody aimed squarely at someone who expects to be the butt of many, many jokes over the course of a campaign. As an African-American who has run for office before, I'm sure Obama knows that there are those who will be hostile to any black person in a position of power. And the higher the authority, the more intense the hostility. I also love how Rush smugly clues his audience in to the clever historical references that he's made. Really cute.

Even though his actions resemble that of a pimple-faced seventh-grader, I'm still shocked by the cynicism with which he wields his racism. Rush knows his audience. He knows that Senator Obama has received threats. And while able to cover his ass with the claim of parody and distancing himself from more extreme and violent sentiments, there exists no other reason for his actions than to inflame a backwards put potent voting base.

What a douchebag.