Bombastic Versus

So the big faux story lately - Is Rush Limbaugh the head/face/torso/massive ass of the GOP?The verdict isn't in yet. But there's a similarity in Rush's populist power and that of another charismatic and immensely popular guy amongst social conservatives - the Ayatollah Khomeini.

A silly comparison that bears no consideration? Maybe not...

Khomeini was the face of social conservative, religious right Islam in the Western culture, and Limbaugh is the face of that same group here in America today.

More importantly, the Ayatollah didn't like apostates, and neither does Rush. If you are a Republican and you dare criticize his ideology, you can expect a fatwa. Rush may not call for your actual death (as Khomeini called for the death of Salman Rushdie after 'Satanic Verses'), but Limbaugh will call for your political demise.

Look out a little wider to see the resemblance between Dittoheads and Islam's Wahhabist movement.

Dittoheads/Wahhabists are fundamentalist believers in the ideology of strictly defined Christian/Islamic social conservatism. One says 'Jesus', the other says 'Allah', but both want to lead us backward in time to a place where they believe society was better - either the Reagan years of the 1980s, or the Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab years of the 1780s.

Those pesky Wahhabic/Dittohead movements want to purify Islam/GOP by returning Muslims/Republicans to what al-Wahhab/El Rushbo believed were the original principles of Islam/GOP, as typified by the Salaf/Social Conservatism (righteous ancestors, e.g., al-Wahhab/Reagan) and rejecting what they regard as corruptions introduced by Bid'ah/New Ideas (innovation) and Shirk/Solutions besides tax breaks (polytheism, or more than one method to solve our problems).

When I hear conservative drive-by diatribes on the radio, I hear echoes of other times, other places, and I wonder - What will the American Social Conservative burkha look like, and can I wear jeans under it on Casual Fridays?

You might say I'm just borrowing trouble. But just in case I think we should start practicing now the chant of the next Republican convention... Limbaugh Akbar!