Which is Better for Joplin, Rush Limbaugh or Barack Obama?: Rebuttal to Randy Turner's Huffington Post Piece

Randy Turner

Randy Turner is a Joplin blogger who writes for the Huffington Post. He's questioning Rush Limbaugh's decision to come to Joplin and the rhetoric that comes along with it. In doing so, he brings up Barack Obama's recent visit to Joplin.

However, on the same Friday show in which he announced he would be in Joplin, Limbaugh said the following:

I'm gonna tell you something else is gonna happen at Landreth Park in Joplin on Monday night: We're gonna grow the Republican Party. It's a Fourth of July celebration. We have the Harvard survey from yesterday: Fourth of July parades breed Republicans. Young kids at Fourth of July parties tend to end up being Republican. Fourth of July celebrations do not have any patriotic impact on Democrats. This is from a Harvard survey. We had it yesterday. Now, you Democrats, you can try to throw cold water all you want on what we're doing Monday night in Joplin, but I just want to remind you what's actually happening Monday night in Joplin, Missouri. Not only the continuing rebirth of a great community, and not only the joining of people coming together for a singular purpose (well, actually multipurpose) but we're also growing the conservative movement. Try that!
During another segment of the program, Limbaugh repeated his earlier criticism that the president waited a week to come to Joplin while he was in Europe.

Limbaugh has a First Amendment right to criticize those whose opinions differ from his. No one questions that. But hopefully, he can see that a Fourth of July celebration at Landreth Park is not the time nor the place to do it.

The people who came to Joplin immediately after the tornado and in the days and weeks afterward were not just rock-ribbed Republicans, though undeniably they were here. Liberals by the thousands were also cleaning up debris, helping salvage treasured belongings, and offering moral support to people when they needed it the most.
These were people who care about their nation just as deeply as Limbaugh and his followers do.

When President Obama arrived seven days after the tornado, he offered support to people who were suffering and it did not matter that this community voted solidly against him three years ago. There was no hint of the divisiveness that has darkened so much of the day-to-day discourse in our nation.

Hopefully, when Rush Limbaugh makes his presence felt in our city July 4, it will be in the same spirit. A park in the middle of an area that has seen 158 people killed and thousands of homes and businesses wiped off the map does not need to be a site for growing the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or any other political organization.

The only thing we need to be growing is together.

When you come to Joplin, Rush, please bring the tea and leave the tea party behind.

Looks like a federal version of Reservoir Dogs.

Mr Turner, with all due respect, wasn't Obama's visit to Joplin politically motivated too, stemming from Democrats who attacked George W. Bush shortly after Katrina for the federal government's response to the emergency? Seriously, what did Obama really hope to accomplish by bringing Air Force One to Joplin, standing around for a photo op in the tornado wreckage, and then delivering a speech. It was the American people who united to help Joplin, and it is the stories of the survivors and those lossed that brought the community and the country together. Obama or any other president doesn't have that power. This is the power of the American people. It's this American spirit that puts this divisiveness  aside, and it's politicians like Obama who use it to push their agenda the second they return to Washington. By the way, it happens on both sides of the argument.

Boots on the ground,
hand in his pocket,
tweeting.

It is Katrina that now sets the standard for the politicking that goes on after an emergency and both sides are guilty of using Joplin for the photo op whether it be "boots on the ground, hands in his pocket" Billy Long or Barack Obama. What good is it really that these representatives of the federal government come to see where these people once lived before mighty Mother Nature had the last say? Not one politician drove the pathos and ethos of Joplin and the American people. The hundreds of thousands of dollars spent for them to come and make their photo ops are hundreds of thousands that could be used to rebuild Joplin.

Politicians use natural disasters because there is a human interest there that people can relate too far more than quantitative easing, TARP bailouts, and forced mandates. It's pure political pathos that's good for the poll numbers, which is exactly why our own Congressman spends as much time getting in front of a Joplin camera or microphone when one is offered, but it's easy to see through.

You seem to forget that all week before Obama got to Joplin, he was drinking beers, playing ping pong, and enjoying a European break. Joplin seemed far from his mind. Other than delivering words and promises, what was really all that worthy about Obama's visit to Joplin or any other political official's visit?

As Joplin picks itself up off the ground...

Obama was there for political capital, and even though he wasn't as blatant obvious about it, we all know the politics of Katrina are behind Obama's response. So you can tell Rush to bring the Tea but leave the Tea Party at home, but you need to hold the other politicians to the same standard who chose to make Joplin a photo op guided by the politics of Katrina.

Honestly, Mr. Turner, considering the amount of money the federal government has spent flying official after official to Joplin to take the tour along side Congressman Long, I think Rush's caravan is well-welcomed when you consider the government is not subsidizing Rush's tea to keep the people of Joplin refreshed in humid Southwest Missouri in July. If it wasn't for the idiots at Harvard who try to divide this Republic will silly studies that attempt to discourage the Fourth of July celebration claiming it's one big rally to indoctrinate children to become Republicans, Rush wouldn't even have said what he said on Friday as he announced he was coming to Joplin.

So if you are looking for divide, look to Harvard and the liberals who tried to claim the Fourth of July is a Republican recruiting holiday. You left out that part as your Fourth of July celebration in Joplin along with celebrations across the fruited plain were suddenly centers of right-wing indoctrination. Talk about divisive!

Mr. Turner and Joplin residents, I do hope you enjoy your Fourth of July in Joplin without politicians making it about them. You and I both know politicians like Billy Long will scramble to get their photo op with El Rushbo, and worst of all, they won't wait in line like average people to meet Mr. Limbaugh.