Rush Limbaugh Courthouse

Missouri Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent, and Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson are seeking to name the new federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau after Rush Limbaugh, the grandfather of the racist, fact-challenged, drug-abusing entertainer. Understandably, the thought of a Rush Limbaugh Federal Courthouse has some of my fellow liberals mildly upset.

I'm with the Republicans on this one. In an era when almost all federal capital improvements bear the name of someone, the Rush Limbaugh they are honoring is deserving of the honor. He practiced law with integrity until he was 104. I remember hearing him speak at bar meetings, and he was a link to a distinguished past, with a warm regard for the future, as well. He was generous with his time and advice.

It's true that his grandson has brought disgrace to what should be an honorable name. It may even be true that some supporting the new name are doing so in a deceptive attempt to associate the courthouse with the draft-dodging, dishonorable grandson. I look at it, though, as a way of rescuing a good man's name, and rebuking the grandson whose has sullied the name with the lack of all that his grandfather stood for.