Rush: "Clarence Thomas 2008"

Rush Limbaugh today vented on behalf of thousands of Republicans, rallying the troops:

"It's even worse than what I predicted it would be. It is ten times worse than what I predicted it would be. I told you I predicted that they would get all over Sarah Palin for giving birth to a Down syndrome baby. It's worse. They're getting on her for flying on an airplane when she was pregnant. This is the greatest example of Drive-By Media I could give you, short of the definition. The Drive-By Media, running around wildly ruining people's lives while we have to come along at the tail end of it and clean up the mess...

"Sarah Palin is Clarence Thomas 2008... What is happening to Sarah Palin is no different, and it is no less, and it is going to take all of our support and vigilance constantly to beat this back because she represents a bigger threat to a broader coalition of the Democrat Party and the media than Clarence Thomas does. This woman proves that feminism is not about women. This woman proves that feminism is nothing more than sheer, ultra-liberalism and that feminism is simply a mask for yet one of the many tentacles of liberalism out there.

"This woman is eminently qualified. She is far more qualified than Barack Obama. If Joe Biden's plagiarism and other knocks against him disqualify him to be president in 1988, and again in 2008, then why all of a sudden is he qualified to be vice president in 2008? This attempt to destroy Sarah Palin's family, this attempt to destroy Sarah Palin's daughter has gone beyond the pale... As far as experience is concerned, this woman runs a state, Sarah Palin, that produces 20% of America's energy. She is the steward of that state's production of energy..."

And Rush was just getting warmed up.

The reactions of the Democrats and the coverage of the media over the last few days has been stupefying. As I wrote to a relative earlier today, "There are so many angles that are so wrong in the coverage, and so many double standards, I'm ready to pound my head on the wall in despair."

Here's just one of the double standards in coverage, from the pro-Obama publisher of US Weekly.

It's almost impossible to know what issues to address regarding the attacks and the coverage, but I'll throw one out there: as Rush mentioned today, no one questioned whether Joe Biden could function as a Senator when he had two grieving little boys at home. And no one questions Michelle Obama being a full-time working mother, who in recent months has been leaving her children at home while she's on the campaign trail.

Yet the media are all fired up about Governor Palin, raising questions about whether she'll be up to the job. And we all know this double standard is simply because she's on the Republican ticket.

One of the most pathetic double standards: the New York Times averted its eyes from John Edwards' affair and his likely out-of-wedlock fatherhood, stating in so many words it wasn't a Times kind of story and that they had limited resources during the campaign. This despite the fact that Edwards was a candidate who may have illegally used campaign funds to cover up his personal life, that he would have been vulnerable to the possibility of blackmail while serving as President, and despite that he was a strong possibility to serve in an Obama Cabinet.

Meanwhile, non-candidate Bristol Palin rated not one, not two, but three front-page stories on the cover of the Times today.

The next few weeks are going to be an interesting ride for conservatives, but if every conservative does what they can to push back against the bias, I believe the McCain-Palin ticket can win in November.

It's a sad thing that if those in the press have their way, serious issues -- anyone read about Anbar today? -- may not be discussed until after the election.

Wednesday Update: See today's posts on Palin Derangement Syndrome and Patterico: Spoiled Children of the Media Throwing Tantrum.