These candidates have spent months on the campaign trail, making speech after speech pontificating about their “courage”, their “leadership”. Yet their actual responses to Limbaugh’s venomous attack illustrate just the opposite.

Eugene Robinson, who wrote the article, points out that the Republican candidates, or at least the ones who think they have a chance at winning the nomination, cower before Limbaugh. The candidates are afraid of speaking out in defense of Sandra Fluke and certainly afraid of speaking out to condemn Limbaugh for fear of being labeled ‘insufficiently conservative’. In fact, the GOP candidates hardly even pointed out the insincerity of Limbaugh's "apology". Instead, Robinson contends, they have chosen to collectively ignore or excuse an “eruption of venom that some of Limbaugh’s advertisers — nine, at last count, have said they would no longer sponsor the show — find inexcusable”.

Ultimately I think that this manifestation of ‘politician as empty vessel’ illustrates clearly that political emptiness is really just synonymous with political cowardice. I found it interesting to reflect on these politicians' actions (or lack thereof) and Sandra Fluke's comparative courage, which Eben touched on in class today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rush-limbaugh-too-fearsome-for-gop-candidates-to-cross/2012/03/05/gIQAb5JZtR_story.html

-- CourtneyDoak - 06 Mar 2012