There is little point in condemning what Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson had to say about the Haitian earthquake.  But a quick refresher:

Rush said that the Haitian earthquake is a situation that plays right into Barack Obama’s hands, one that affords our President an opportunity to swoop in and be the Knight in Shining Armor for a nation full of brown people, something that could only help his standing among America’s minority groups.  To Rush, it is as though our current President were a practitioner of the dark arts who thought, “You know what? I need to beef-up my credibility within both the dark-skinned and light-skinned African-American communities in this country…I’ve got it! I’ll destroy Haiti, and then send boats and rescue workers and food and medical supplies! That should do it!”

It is amazingly cynical to say such a thing, not to mention ghastly insane. As a mean-spirited joke, that’s one thing. Not the sort of thing I condone, but a thing all the same. However, when a caller went after Rush for saying this nonsense, Rush said the caller had “tampons in his ears” and accused the caller of being close-minded. Rush is becoming a caricature of himself. Let him fall back on cynicism when discussing a thing that in no way whatsoever demands a cynical take. Let him shout into the void that surrounds him.

As for the out-of-touch, possibly senile Pat Robertson, the not-quite-right reverend ran his mouth about how Haiti is being punished for making a deal with the devil during its war for independence around the turn of the 19^th century. He “legitimized” his claim by declaring, “Look it up. It’s all there.”

What he’s probably referring to (and, really, there’s no way to know for sure) is that the initial salvos of the Haitian Revolution were fired during a massive slave revolt in 1791 led by a voodoo high priest following a religious ceremony.

It remains unclear whether or not Robertson meant to tacitly support the slave trade in the Caribbean, a brutal practice that led to the death and often murder of millions of Africans over hundreds of years by the time of the Haitian Rebellion; unclear his stance on how the same Declaration of the Rights of Man that started the bloody French Revolution applied to the slaves in bondage on what was then a French colony called Saint-Domingue; and unclear whether or not he has any idea that once Haiti gained its independence in 1804, it was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black nation in the world, the only nation whose independence was gained by virtue of a successful slave rebellion, a hopeful example of and model for achieving emancipation for slaves in the United States and oppressed people throughout the western hemisphere, or that Haiti remains a desperately poor country the roots of whose desperation extend back to reparations the fledgling Haitian government was forced to make all those years ago to the French in the wake of their independence for lost revenues related to sugarcane, payments that bankrupted the young Haitian treasury and permanently affected Haiti’s ability to be prosperous.

What is known is that Robertson’s statements were wildly insensitive and based in a mythology that he seems to only partially understand.

We can, therefore, discredit Limbaugh and Robertson as the pieces of shit we thought they were. But did we need to discuss their insensitive remarks in the first place?

Limbaugh and Robertson are two old white men who preach to their respective choir boxes. The inflammatory nature of their messages and their deep, deep pockets make the idea that they are converting anybody with their words tough to fathom. Robertson’s 700 Club features a few devoted followers and Pat sitting in a semicircle talking about God with that peculiar mixture of condescension and willful ignorance common to the evangelical set. Limbaugh’s show features the rotund rabble-rouser proselytizing into a microphone for millions of worshippers with his peculiar mixture of rage, ideological fervor, and sarcastic dismissiveness of those that disagree with his “gospel.”

Occasionally, one of these men says something that generates headlines beyond their covens, and these instances usually go to show why people fancying themselves reasonable and mild-mannered citizens of discerning, discriminating tastes do not watch or listen to their shows. The nature of these two men’s game leads many a casual viewer or listener to throw hands up in disgust, reach for the remote, turn the dial, anything but listen to this hateful and oftentimes illogical rhetoric.

Will Robertson’s ratings go up as a result of his comments? Remains to be seen. But has he injected himself into the public conversation in a way he hasn’t been since the end of his 1988 campaign for President? Unquestionably. Little short of The Rapture would make him any happier.

Limbaugh is often the lightning rod for liberal ire, and so his comments, while reprehensible to the point that George W. Bush helped Obama dispel them, were not surprising. Limbaugh’s true believers aren’t going anywhere, and resoundingly panned comments like these, replete with Limbaugh’s standing behind them, aren’t converting any on-the-fence types. That said, he’s in the midst of the conversation, and the only place he’d rather be is an all-you-can-eat Oxycontin buffet with a defibrillator nearby.

Or anyway these guys were in the conversation. Focus appears, blessedly, to have shifted back to where it never should have left, on the Haitians, their ravaged country, and what looks to be the mammoth, borderline impossible sustained relief effort to come. 200,000 people died, and another 1.5 million are homeless, this in a nation somewhat void of infrastructure, basic goods and services, or much reason for hope in general, and these before the earthquake.

Let the pieces of shit shout into their vacuums of devotion. Rush and Pat? They should both go fuck themselves. With the nature of the devastation in Haiti so obvious, why care what these two think? The people that matter now are the ones so desperately in need and those capable of providing help, in whatever ways they can.