David Frum: Limbaugh at CPAC (And the Rush Republicans)

[Kittycat]

No, I do not make a point of Reading the New Majority. Rather it was an article linked over at Huffpo. I must admit though, it was a good article - and aims right at the heart of the problem with the Republican Party lifting up/supporting Rush.


http://newmajority.com/ShowScroll.aspx?ID=d22fe4c9-6f8c-4c0d-93af-aed79ad3b467

On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims. This president invokes the language of “responsibility,” and in his own life seems to epitomize that ideal: He is physically honed and disciplined, his worst vice an occasional cigarette. He is at the same time an apparently devoted husband and father. Unsurprisingly, women voters trust and admire him.

And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as “losers.” With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence – exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we’re cooperating! Those images of crowds of CPACers cheering Rush’s every rancorous word – we’ll be seeing them rebroadcast for a long time.

Rush knows what he is doing. The worse conservatives do, the more important Rush becomes as leader of the ardent remnant. The better conservatives succeed, the more we become a broad national governing coalition, the more Rush will be sidelined.

But do the rest of us understand what we are doing to ourselves by accepting this leadership?...

More at link.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Wow, what an amazing perspective, and it has the ring of truth to it!

Rush cannibalizing the Republican Party for his own aggrandizement. Psychopaths and suckers--wow.

[Kittycat]

2. I know - After clicking the link from huffpo, I had to double check...

where I was, and who wrote the column :rofl:

[Cha]

8. rush is power hungry and

will eat anything in his way. His big problem is being his own worst enemy.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Translation: The financial power brokers have had enough of Limbaugh's tomfoolery

Limbaugh is a useful idiot who has ceased to be particularly useful.

[Kittycat]

4. Apparently Steele hasn't - He's apologized to Rush.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19517.html

[Brother Buzz]

7. Steele is an animated programmed Potemkin village....

for a party with a foreign policy based upon brutal force, inequity, racism, and class warfare.

Having an afro-American RNC Chairman for a fascist junta imposed by sequential coups is the ultimate hypocrisy. He is the perfect disguise. How does one address a walking, talking, living, breathing lie?

He is nothing but an illusion of an icon. In substance his persona is completely impotent, delivering the PR message designed by his corporatist puppet masters.

He had to apologize to Rush to maintain the eleventh commandment and the illusion of solidarity; Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican..

[Cha]

9. "Not speak ill of any fellow

repukes" even if they are bringing down the party singlehandedly with the help of his friends, bobby jindal and michael steele, of course.

[laugle]

15. BB, great post, very insightful, I like the way you write! nt

[AllentownJake]

Dupe

I see state prison on drug charges in Rush's very near future.

[AllentownJake]

6. You know what the GOP does with useful idiots who stop being useful

I see state prison on drug charges in Rush's very near future.

[Dr Fate]

10. Not according to GOP "rising star" Bobby Jindal. Bobby sez Repubs should keep on apologizing to Rush

"I'm glad he apologized," said Jindal, appearing on CNN's Larry King Live. "I think the chairman is a breath of fresh air for the party. As I said before I think Rush is a leader for many conservatives and says things that people are concerned about."

Some guy online my be speaking out against Rush, but the GOP party big-wigs can't stop talking about his "leadership"- and are sending out the "don't mess with the boss" codes.

[Festusss]

11. Heh, Useful Idiot - reminds me of that Tool song. n/t

[AllentownJake]

5. I expect the GOP to take Rush out

The man has some serious skeletons in his closet. He's doing them real damage. Wouldn't be surprised if he's arrested on drug charges again sometime all that has to happen is the order is given to Crist.

They can turn him into a martyr by claiming President Obama took him out for political reasons at the same time silencing him in prison.

Rush can be replaced in 15 minutes by another college drop out blow hard disc jockey.

[opihimoimoi]

12. Rash ASS is an OVERPAID BUFFOON.....he didn't deliver last year and not this year.

so far...he is not looking good.....

He has lost his shit.....

Topped off and declining

The Pubs want to rescind his contract if they could....its wasted monies...

[laugle]

13. Good article! I think the era of Limbaugh/Hannity, et al, is over!

I watched some of Limbaugh's speech at CPAC, and was amazed at the fact that he didn't mention Bush or the last eight years. He kept mentioning Reagan, as though Bush never existed and the mess he created never happened. Absolutely incredible--but what else can they do! Everything they complain about, especially overspending, makes them look like the hypocrits they are and leaves them with very little credibility.

They are all about hate and division and most people are tired of it. They are trying to be relevant at a time when most people have moved on from that kind of politics.

As stupid as his listners are, they know that under Bush their lives are not better, in fact their lives are in terrible shape, like many others. Unfortunately, in many states, Limbaugh is all they have to listen to. Hopefully, we will change that.

My feeling is, that Limbaugh has as much power as people give him, there will always be a certain element that gravitates toward hate, but I think those numbers are shrinking..

[KansasVoter]

14. Kick