Rush

Running late to work, not feeling like Morning Becomes Eclectic, I turn the dial over to AM and find Rush Limbaugh. To be honest, I don't think I've really listened to the Rush show before. Rush was pissed off about the Gates incident, suggesting Obama acted unpresidential by calling the cops stupid and rushing to judgment...he argued we were seeing Obama-the-community-organizer/agitator.

I agree with this statement, despite being guilty of the same thing myself. Then again, I'm a blogging assistant and not the President, so maybe I get a little more leeway.

Ann Althouse has a round up on the incident. Especially given the Duke Lacrosse fiasco, we should all know not to rush to any conclusion based upon these hysterical media reports that curve themselves into a pre-established narrative about racial injustice.

In reading more about the story, it sounds like Gates was the one who acted stupid. In either case, someone acted stupid, I think that is safe to say.

Another irony, however, was Rush's quick defense of the cop. Isn't it more of a default conservative position to be suspicious of authority and be more protective of a private citizen's property rights? It'd be pretty annoying - to me - if a cop didn't believe I lived in my own house if I provided evidence for it. I guess the question is what type of evidence the guy showed and how obvious it was that Gates lived there. In my experience, cops can be pretty maddening and aggressive and vindictive. It seems to me the situation would have been easy to sort out without arresting the dude.

In any case, VDH writes a column on it. His last line sums it up: "There were no winners in this comic tragedy — but one clear loser: last night, the president of the United States."