Mary Shaw

It seems to be official: Rush Limbaugh is the new unofficial head of the floundering Republican Party.

The media have been all over it in the past few days.

The GOP leadership grovels.

And the dittoheads rejoice, even as they fail to realize that this could be their Waterloo.

This latest media-rich expose' of the GOP status quo underscores the desperation of today's Republican Party: When you fall short on policy, you try to make up for it in noise. And that's about all that Limbaugh is good for. Well, that and fear and hate.

This is quite the de-evolution of the party of Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, which once was much more concerned with issues of conscience.

How bad is it? Just check out these charming quotes from the GOP's new Dear Leader:

"[Abu Ghraib] is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation...I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of the need to blow some steam off?"

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

"We're not sexists, we're chauvinists -- we're male chauvinist pigs, and we're happy to be because we think that's what men were destined to be. We think that's what women want."

"She comes to me when she wants to be fed. And after I feed her -- guess what -- she's off to wherever she wants to be in the house, until the next time she gets hungry. She's smart enough to know she can't feed herself. She's actually a very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn't have to do anything for it, which is why I say this cat's taught me more about women, than anything my whole life."

"[Hillary Clinton] sounds like a screeching ex-wife."

"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

"Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."

And:

"Too many whites are getting away with drug use... Too many whites are getting away with drug sales... The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them, and send them up the river, too."

But then:

"I am addicted to prescription pain medication."

And just last week:

"So [Obama]'s moved on to health care. This is highly visible, it's news leading, gets a great focus, plus it has the great liberal lion Teddy Kennedy pushing it. Before it's all over it will be called the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill."

And all that, dear reader, is the tip of the iceberg.

God bless America.

Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views on politics, human rights, and social justice issues have appeared in numerous online forums and in newspapers and magazines worldwide. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated. E-mail: mary@maryshawonline.com