Rushed in

I hate discovering a post that covered almost the same ground I just did. Peter Fegen posted Rush Job two days ago. This is why I am a lousy blogger, just can't keep up. My posts are far too long and don't always link to hundreds of other sites. Fegen does not take the chastisement of rush as far, concentrating on the l'il players. Where I argued that the alter is being prepared for the pig and the fire stoked, Fegen thinks it is a smokescreen, rush might lose out on earning equivalent to a few median annual incomes but will be back once the heat dies down.
The advantage to studying history is knowing in advance how the story ends. In a case like this, the ending is all conjecture. But I stand by my prediction for a simple reason, the zeitguist has turned. Fegen compares rush's chauvanism to don imus and notes that imus is back on the air. What he doesn't note however is that imus' episode was televised, and outrage barely extended beyond the chattering classes. Does the fact that the victim was a white law student testifying about necessary and popular womens' rights' issues matter? I hope it is not crass to note the distinction, but rush stoked the fury of normally non-political women. These regular ladies have many more outlets to express their anger, social-networking is even bigger today than in '07.
The inside (ruling elite) monitors popular opinion closely, they have to in order to maintain control. Rush was simply a method of control, his final act therefore would appropriately be as a sacrifice to defuse popular anger. Even if it was simply to make him a zombie sunk cost.