Grasping at straws?

Feminazi. Wow. Does that term ever bring back memories! For those of you who live under a rock, one of our favorite wingnuts, Rush Limbaugh, coined that term about 10-15 years ago. His revival of the feminazi theme caught my eye for a couple of reasons: He's not the only right-wing bigmouth to revive distracting conversations, and it made me nostalgic for my college days (I have my ten year reunion coming up).

What rational person was not completely annoyed by O'Reilly's resurrection of the "war on Christmas?" He definitely talked about this "war" in 2004, and goodness knows he certainly didn't invent the idea. But he filled the airwaves and tv land with this details of this imaginary war while a real war with real consequences (not just someone was insulted by walking into Macy's and no store employee wished him a "Merry Christmas"). Annoying? Yes. Distracting? Yes. Hmmm...

Then I read about Rush. He's back on his feminazi trip after a few year's hiatus (started on his trip over the summer--got to Media Matters for America for more history and details). On Friday he again employed "feminazi" to describe a group of folks protesting the confirmation of Alito to the Supreme Court. Annoying? Yes. Distracting? Yes!

Rush's particular resurrecting or recycling of "feminazi," while awful and frustrating, may actually be a harbinger of something good to come. Think about it: when was this term so popular? Fifteen or ten years ago? Do you remember where you were ten years ago? I was finishing my BA at UC Santa Cruz and living it up in our democratic culture and looking forward to plunging into our healthy ecomony when I graduated. Democrats had the White House and the system of checks and balances worked pretty darn well (certainly in comparison to now). Could Rush simply be thinking: "well, this used to work!" when the neocons were simply plotting to get all the power, not in possession of it?

I know, perhaps it is I who is grasping at straws. But, I will be paying attention to the issues, and reissues, that come up in the next few months, and hold fast to the hope that the tide is changing, and even Rush can sense it.