Rush to judgment

WERE I to call US shock-jock Rush Limbaugh a monstrous, egomaniacal, hypocritical, drug-addicted bigot, he could sue me. For fl attery.

This trumpeting buff oon is said to be the most powerful fi gure in the US Republican Party. It is a measure of the Grand Old Party's parlous state that the Ginger Rogers to this blimp-sized Astaire is the appalling Sarah Palin.

A Limbaugh sampler…

During the Bush years, actor Michael J. Fox campaigned for embryonic stem cell research. Parodying Fox's Parkinson's disease by jiggling grotesquely in his seat, Limbaugh said, "He's exaggerating the eff ects of the disease. He is moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act."

Dismissing the horror of Abu Ghraib, Limbaugh said, "This is no diff erent from what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation" - a reference to a secret university club that counts George W. Bush among its members.

And, "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."

In the aftermath of Barack Obama's election - something Limbaugh worked hard to avoid - he uttered a public prayer that the new president would fail. For Limbaugh devotees, this treasonable utterance was pure patriotism.

My book Emperors of the Air was an insider's view of local shock-jockery, its pages suppurating with transcripts of their transgressions - their fear and loathing of Aborigines, women, homosexuals and trade unionists. But the poisonous outpourings that pass as broad casting in our country are nothing to the intolerance America tolerates. It is common for shock-jocks there to encourage the idea of political assassinations, or the nuking of Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Even the "kill the niggers" rhetoric of the KKK is protected by the constitution.

Limbaugh's popularity is, in fact, unpopularity. Surveys show that the great majority of Limbaugh's 20 million listeners loathe him. Energised by hatred, he spreads it around, with comments like this: "We didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back. I'm saying it had its merits. For one thing the streets were safer after dark."

At best, at worst, Limbaugh's Australian imitators manage a mild Taser tingle whereas he's the full electric chair. Which, needless to say, is a piece of technology he greatly admires. And so thoroughly deserves.