Limbaugh’s Talks vs. Powell’s Deeds

 

 

Who is the best hope for Republican rebirth, Colin Powell or Rush Limbaugh?

 

Rush Limbaugh thinks Colin Powell should “close the loop and become a Democrat.”

 

Colin Powell wonders about Limbaugh, “Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"

 

With the finely honed instincts that only decades of journalism can supply, I’ll say they don’t much like each other, and resist the ingrained impulse to find someone in authority – say a sheriff, somewhere – to say the same thing so I can avoid the appearance of opinion.

 

Firm in the belief that an informed electorate ignores facts about as often as an ignorant one, I nonetheless offer some simple biographical facts on both men to help readers buttress the opinions they’ve already formed.

 

Rush Limbaugh was born January 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. His dad was a lawyer.

 

Colin Powell was born April 5, 1937 in New York City’s Harlem. His parents were Jamaican immigrants.

 

Powell has a bachelor’s degree in geology from City College of New York and an MBA from The George Washington University.

 

Limbaugh is a graduate of Cape Central High School and dropped out of Southeast Missouri State University after two semesters and a summer.

 

Limbaugh’s radio career started at WIXZ in the Pittsburgh area and over the years he went on to become the savior of AM radio and a voice heard on well over 600 stations nationwide.

 

Colin Powell joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps at City College, and became a second Lieutenant in the United State Army in June, 1958. He became a brigadier general in 1979 and rose to become a four-star general in 1989. He also served as Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Security Adviser.

 

Biographical comparisons of any two men over 50 could go on for pages. Let’s just say both Limbaugh and Powell are self-made men who made it to success. Both have their admirers and their detractors.

 

But if you are found out to be a Republican, and asked which man might deserve anointment --- or perhaps condemnation – as the voice of Republicanism, consider this:

 

Colin Powell has done a lot.

 

Rush Limbaugh has talked a lot.

 

For a drowning Republican party to choose between a lecture on traditional swimming techniques or a guy jumping in to hand them a flotation device ought not to be difficult.

 

Let’s see if they make it so anyway.

 

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