#882: David Limbaugh

David Limbaugh is the younger, dumber, and less charismatic brother of Rush Limbaugh, and he promotes pretty much the same bullshit with pretty the same level of sophistication – although David is more obviously a religious nutter. For instance, David wrote the foreword of Geisler & Turek’s “I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist” (as well as to a book by Matt Barber), where he used the following classic argument for the existence of God: “if Christ is not God, then he could not have been an exemplary prophet or a great moral teacher, because he claimed to be God. If he was not who he said he was, then he was either a liar or a lunatic, hardly a great moral teacher or prophet,” so therefore Jesus was the son of God and Christianity is true. The reason the argument is legendary is not because it is particularly rationally compelling. And if David is primarily a political commentator, it is important to note that he doesn’t see Old Testament apologetics and politics as separable: “Much of our Bill of Rights is biblically based, as well, and the Ten Commandments and further laws set out in the book of Exodus form the basis of our Western law,” which is incorrect, but nevertheless used to launch incoherent descriptions of how Christians are persecuted in the US today, as described e.g. in his book Persecution: How Liberals are Waging War Against Christians – they both disagree with him and fails to accept that his acceptance of Jesus gives him a special right to suppress the religious freedom of others. Here is a case he apparently thinks illustrates the persecution.

David is a regular columnist for WND and Newsmax, and has for the last couple of years been particularly concerned about Obama and the impending doom of America: his reelection would equal “national suicide”, David said prior to the 2012 elections, and he has described the  “Marxist” Obama and members of his Administration as “tyrannical, dictatorial Stalinists,” claiming that Obama is “systematically abusing his authority to contravene the rule of law and the Constitution to the detriment of our liberty.” Arguments? Yeah, right. Instead of arguments, David opted to go on to toy with birtherism. He has nevertheless written books about the issue, The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama’s War on the Republic, a title that flaunts his intellectual sophistication in so many ways, Crimes Against Liberty: An Indictment of President Barack Obama, and Bankrupt: The Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Today’s Democratic Party, which make arguments that are just as careful, fact-based, and rational as the titles would suggest. The books are, needless to say, filled with assertions; evidence and arguments matter neither to him nor his readership (and it sort of boggles the mind that some people actually read the books of David Limbaugh).

As part of his claim – “defended” at length in said books – that it is conservatives, not liberals, who are reality-based, Limbaugh rejects global warming, pointing out that “many of those counted as experts by the alarmists are scientists with no appreciable expertise in the field.” So instead of listening to them, Limbaugh refers to Tom Bethell as an authority who, surprisingly, shares his position on the matter. The fact that “leftist” doesn’t accept dissent about evolution is apparently another point in favor of calling the religious right the “reality-based” segment of the population (yes, Limbaugh is favorably inclined toward creationism, though he officially supports the Teach the Controversy strategy). He doesn’t like the gays either. The three topics just mentioned are apparently supposed to be related.

David is also quick to defend his brother. For instance, with regard to the infamous Sandra Fluke incident, David rushed in to assert that the criticism directed at Rush was “the most radical display of hate and intolerance” that he has “witnessed in years,” which pretty much means that he doesn’t watch his brother’s show.

Diagnosis: Imagine a stupider, more fundamentalist, more theocracy-sympathetic version of Rush Limbaugh. That should be diagnosis enough.