From the Houston Chronicle

Andrea

listening to: classical and jazz

registered: 2004.04.03

posts: 3869
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(a left wing rag, eh wot Pat?)

Oct. 26, 2006, 8:37PM
Mr. Showmanship
Attack on actor Michael J. Fox reveals Rush Limbaugh's single priority: showbiz.

Talk about ad hominem attacks.

Many viewers were shocked by Michael J. Fox's new TV ad. The still-boyish actor swayed and shook, revealing the symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease. Fox's pitch: that embryonic stem cell research could produce a treatment or cure for his illness. His ad supported a U.S. Senate candidate who backs the research.

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Clearly troubled by the ad, radio host Rush Limbaugh lashed out. Not at the cruelty of Parkinson's. Not at the concept of stem cell research. Instead, Limbaugh attacked the man.

"He is moving all around and shaking," the radio host scoffed on his show. "And it's purely an act ... he is acting like his disease is deteriorating because (candidate) Jim Talant opposes research that would help him, Michael J. Fox, get cured."

Later, Limbaugh changed the script a bit, proposing that Fox intentionally triggered his symptoms by not taking medication. (In fact, Fox told Katie Couric of CBS News on Thursday that his symptoms were a side effect of medication and that without his pills he cannot talk). Only on Tuesday, several news cycles after his tirade, did Limbaugh give a hypothetical apology. "I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong," he said, "and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act, especially since people are telling me they have seen him this way on other interviews and in other television appearances."

Certainly, Fox must have calculated that the imagery in his ad would be unsettling. Some viewers, he must have guessed, would object to such an emotionally charged take on a campaign commercial. But others, he probably surmised, would be persuaded that diseases such as Parkinson's urgently demand research, including experiments using embryonic stem cells.

Then there was Rush Limbaugh. First and foremost a showman, Limbaugh couldn't see beyond the man onscreen. Limbaugh seemed incapable of considering that Fox has little reason to show his symptoms to the public, beyond advocating for a cure.

Only a compulsive showman would fixate not on the disease, the ad or even the issue — but on the fellow entertainer getting some attention. For Limbaugh, the instinctive response was to stage an even more disturbing show.

bold by moi

Andrea (view)