Bipartisan Argumentation
This idea transcends party lines, so even though I start with Rush Limbaugh, don’t go jumping to any conclusions.
Limbaugh is angry (obviously) about the health care vote. Here is yesterday’s transcript from his radio program, which I found my way to reading via Roger Ebert’s liberal twitter stream. I think Ebert posted it because he is laughing at Rush, which is to be expected. In the days leading up to the health care reform vote in the House, Ebert posted plenty of pro- health care reform one-liners. And on that side of the debate, if you don’t slander Limbaugh, you laugh at him.
His comedic value aside, however, there was one point Rush made in that transcript which struck me as significant no matter what side one takes in any debate. It can be about health care reform, stem cell research, or the effects your morning cereal choice has on your daily fiber intake. He said,
“[...T]he urging to fight on must have some substance to it and not just be rhetoric and language and lingo.”
No matter what the argument is, it has to have substance or it is nothing more than empty words. People can rally behind instigative signs and slogans, but they have no power when the real debate calls for facts and sustainable solutions. This is a common indictment of the Republican party today. The real reason Republicans lost the debate on Sunday was not because they were outnumbered, but because they didn’t bring substance to the fight:
“Republicans offered nothing about preventing insurers from denying patients coverage based on pre-existing conditions and offered little about expanding access to health insurance. Rep. Ryan and others have put forth serious counterproposals, but Republican leadership and activists kept them at arm’s length.”
The irony in Limbaugh’s speech, of course, is that he subsists on “rhetoric and language and lingo.” It’s the wellspring of his popularity, and yesterday’s transcript proves it. He argues for substance and yet supplies none.
You may be right, Rush, at least in this context, but if your guys on the Hill keep following your example instead of listening to your advice, they’ve already lost the fight.