The rise and fall of Rush Limbaugh

[JohnnyRingo]

We've seen the rise, it's well documented how Limbaugh came to be where he is today. We've seen him stumble along the way in his endeavors at television, and surge during the Clinton years, riding the coat tails of Ken Starr to AM radio immortality.

It's this perceived immortality that will be his ultimate downfall however, as now he's stepped over the line from radio personality to party chairman. He made this transition without appointment or election, and moved himself neatly into position to call the shots for the minority party of congress. Tony Soprano could take lessons from the Don of Static on how to stage a coup among a whopping 177 other crime bosses.

This feat, while few may have seen it coming, began when he stopped telling his viewers "I'm not a republican, I'm a conservative" and "I don't even vote". Back then he pretended to not support one party or the other, his only concern was in ultra conservative issues, and he expressed disgust with all things government.

Then came the 2008 election in which he began pushing his favorite republican candidate, Romney or Rudy (I forget which one). When that didn't pan out with actual voters, the frustrated Limbaugh shifted his energy to sculpting the nominated candidate. He spent his days bloviating how McCain was a RINO and a liberal who consorted with the other side on election reform. He demanded McCain validate himself with Limbaugh's EIB network and received a positive response. McCain even shunned the religious right's scrutiny in favor of pleasing the DittoHeads.

It was sometime after his call for rioting at the Democratic Convention fell through that Rush realized that while he held little sway with the voting public at large, he got unwavering respect from the Republican lawmakers, and John McCain found himself jumping through one fiery qualifying hoop after another as Limbaugh kept raising the bar to meet his approval. Limbaugh could have had McCain balance on a beach ball while tooting a horn and flapping his hands together if it pleased the new republican president maker.

By then Limbaugh had sipped the nectar of power, and rose above the satisfying intoxication his vast wealth once brought, into a world that hung on his every word. A world where permission was asked and favors granted. He felt he could make 'em and break 'em at his will, and the line of Republicans seeking his endorsement formed at his feet.

The problem with this eventual scenario is ego. While Republicans are currently cringing in fear of The Golden Microphone, there is no bigger ego than that of a member of Congress. I'm sure the cowering required to stay on El Rushbo's good side is a price no elected official is happy to pay, and it's only a matter of time before they have to deal with it.

If you will, imagine the ridicule these pols could suffer at work when their Democratic colleagues ask if Rush told them to wear that jacket, or if they want to use their cell to ask permission to vote on a bill. This isn't the nature of those who feel they were elected fair and square to a position designated alongside the president within the wheels of national power.

Believe me, the Republicans know they have a problem, and they're putting their heads together to stop this hostile takeover of their party by a talk show host before it gets further out of hand. They know as I do, once a man like Limbaugh, who has everything he'll ever want materially, feels he holds the marionette strings of government policy, he's going to want more and more. I can't imagine John Boehner letting this ascension of power get any closer to his own job.

The question is, what can they do about it?

Knowing Limbaugh's vices, his weaknesses, and especially his dependence on sponsors, I see plenty of opportunity soon that Rush may have a series of bad luck, resulting in his sudden fall from grace.

There is no other alternative in the cutthroat world of organized crime or politics.

[x-g.o.p.er]

1. Limbaugh isn't going anywhere

He speaks for the conservative base, and when he tells them to call their congressman to complain about X, they do.

If a bad TV show, failed marraiges and a drug addiction that lay his hypocrisy bare don't bring him down, this won't either.

[4 t 4]

3. I wish he would just explode

literally his party means more to him than his fellow man. How inhuman-yes ? What happened to "Put Country First" his candidates motto ?

[Cha]

2. rush limpbaugh is a cancer on

America and it couldn't come too soon ..when he falls.

The bigger they are the harder they fall.

[monmouth]

4. Rush is the Father Coughlin of our times....LOL.