Satire, surely.

There is apparently a guy "out there" whose name is Phillip Warton (not my son Philip), and who has a tendency to mistype his email (which must be some variation of p?warton@a_famous_domain.com) to match one that I use when he's signing up for newsletters, marketing email, etc. And sometimes even when he's sharing his contact information. What I can piece together about my friend Phil so far: he lives in the Chicago area, is somehow involved in the business of tending bar (or maybe he owns a bar?), has an interest in the local music scene, has had at least one fee-for-service contract end unhappily, and, as I just learned, just might be a a "socially conservative" Republican.

I surmise this because I have been subscribed (as Phillip) to a conservative GOP mailing list (I guess the equivalent to MoveOn.org, but run by the "I got mine" crowd) called GOPUSA and whose newsletter is titled "The Eagle." I kid you not.

Now, what prompted this post was a newsletter I received a couple of weeks ago, just as Rush Limbaugh's vulgar, misogynistic, specious, and revolting comments on Sandra Fluke were coming back to haunt him (inasmuch as advertisers started pulling their ads from his radio network). It came just after he "apologized" for upsetting his advertisers (that's sarcasm BTW), and the headline was what got me.

Rush, At the Tip of Liberty's Spear

While it obviously was not meant as a joke, it caught me by such surprise that I laughed out loud, and I mean really laughed.  Who could possibly use such soaring imagery to describe Rush Limbaugh*, one of the most base of the polemic conservative "shout radio" hosts?! And what on earth does Rush have to do with liberty? He's a commercial entertainer whose primary job is to keep his listener base in a constant state of outrage (or just plain old rage), I guess so they'll buy stuff.  His comments indicate he knows his audience well, and what sells with them.

I found the whole thing so awesomely funny that I want to start a movement riffing on this kind of absurdity. How about:

Lady GaGa, Lifeblood of the National Endowment for the Arts

Let's hear yours!

Peter

*His brother apparently.