Going to striaght to a rotary is not stupid, but how do I put this politely, you have to have a bit of common sense to use one straight away. I used my DA twice and then sold it, hated it and then bought a rotary but im a fairly sensible-ish person.
On the threads you start todd (and I mean no offence here

) i wouldn't recommend you getting a rotary, and certainly not the silverline. Sure its cheap but its heavy and I could see you posting a thread along the lines of "Just used my Rotary for the first time and sanded my wing off"
Get a DA first as your less likely to do damage, get used to the techniques used then if you feel comfortable aget a rotary, a rotary only gives you better results if you use it correctly. They have a lot more bite and kick hen a DA.