Here we go again:  Right-wing blowhard Glenn Beck (who I used to listen to back when he was a decent apolitical pop jock on a station in Connecticut), on his show on Monday, said that Dennis Kucinich looks like Gollum, the dude from Lord of the Rings, and then went on to say that Kucinich’s wife must be on some kind of “date rape drug.” From Media Matters, here’s the back and forth between Beck & his producer:
BECK: I’m wondering if it’s some sort of, some sort of, you know. What’s that date rape drug? What is—what’s the one? What’s --
STU: GHB?
BECK: Yeah, but it’s not powerful enough to actually knock you out, but it’s powerful enough to, like, make you think that you’re not standing next to Dennis Kucinich and making out with him.
STU: I, maybe it’s some other form of that.
BECK: What would be the—what would be the drug that would be just powerful enough to not—to make you not really realize that you’re making out with Dennis Kucinich?
STU: That’s called alcohol.
BECK: I was thinking cyanide. That would be the only thing that would really dull the senses enough. Even then, your dead body would be like, “Dennis Kucinich has his tongue in my mouth.” I—maybe it’s just me.

Okay, now what part of that isn’t as bad as the “nappy-headed hos” exchange between Don Imus and his producer?  If that’s all it takes to get tossed off a nationally syndicated radio show, then Beck definitely crossed the line.  What part of accusing a politician of drugging his wife isn’t insulting?  What part of insinuating that he’s illegally drugging anyone is funny?  And before you start complaining that “oh, it’s a joke, and liberals don’t have a sense of humor, blah blah blah,” then I’d like to know who was laughing when Imus dropped his Phrase That Pays because it didn’t seem that anyone was laughing on either side of the aisle — if anything, most liberals were being more lenient about it, saying he made a split-second error in judgment and should maybe be suspended but not banished from radio.  But I’m calling for parity:  If Imus gets booted on his ass for three words, then Beck definitely deserves to get thrown out for this one.  For our nameless friend who said, “You don’t go after amazing women” when referring to Imus’ slip-up, then what part of Beck’s attack was acceptable, considering she’s a woman who has volunteered in India at one of Mother Teresa’s poorest homes, spent over a year working in a village in Tanzania to help develop the region and has also volunteered for the British Red Cross?

I want anger.  I want outrage.  I want people to actually pick up the cause.  I’m sick of the Democrats and liberals just “taking the high road” and not making a stink about things the way right-wingers do.  Maybe if we did, our country wouldn’t be in this crappy situation we’re in.