Bull Rush

JK....since Fox News chose Alan Colmes to represent liberalism against the visigoth Hannity.
I know visigoths, some of my best friends are visigoths, stop giving visigoths a bad name!

QOTD in Frum's post: "Rush is to the Republicanism of the 2000s what Jesse Jackson was to the Democratic party in the 1980s."

David Frum is the voice of sanity! ROTFL

Joe-The only problem with the Rahm's anointment of Rush is the fact that the anointment had already occurred long before Rahm utter a word. It wasn't Rahm who sent the republicans seeking forgiveness from Rush weeks ago. It was the republicans who allowed Rush to seize control.

Joe, if you spend some time in freeper land, or check out comment threads at Patrick Ruffini's thenextright.com (It seems to be down right now), you'd see that Rush is right down the party's mainstream. Only the crazy people remain.

"The only problem with the Rahm's anointment of Rush is the fact that the anointment had already occurred long before Rahm utter a word."
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Being a pretty internet-savvy group, I think Rahms commentary might contain more than a bit of snark.

Joe-
Gingrey Begs Limbaugh For Forgiveness On-Air, Expresses ‘Very Sincere Regret' For ‘Foot-In-Mouth Disease'
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Yesterday, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, complained to Politico about how Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talkers are able to “stand back and throw bricks” instead of offering “real leadership” in the middle of high-profile public policy battles. Gingrey's brave remarks got him in hot water.
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This morning — because of what he called “high volume of phone calls and correspondence” in response to his comments — Gingrey issued a retraction, declaring his loyalty to hate radio. “I see eye-to-eye with Rush Limbaugh,” he said, later adding that he, Sean Hannity, and Newt Gingrich were “the voices of the conservative movement's conscience.”
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http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/28/gingrey-limbaugh-forgiveness/

Of course, I see that the words "fomenting racial hatred" never or similar, never appear in any discourse between any two or more Republicans debating about what to do to change their party.
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Just an observation...

David Frum is the voice of sanity! ROTFL
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always astounds me how easy it is for 'wingers to get an Official Clean Slate from the Village Elders. Frum still wrote teh "Axis of Evil" line, still wrote a book called "The Right Man". The fact that he recognizes that Rush Limbaugh is an even bigger lunatic than he is doesn't really impress me. Kinda like I can't forget, and the Village can't remember, Andy Sullivan's hysterical screeching about "decadent enclaves of Fifth Columnists."
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Joe, if you spend some time in freeper land, or check out comment threads at Patrick Ruffini's thenextright.com (It seems to be down right now), you'd see that Rush is right down the party's mainstream. Only the crazy people remain.
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Or just watch any of their elected Congressional leaders wheezing about "socialism" and "Stalinism" because we're going back to tax rates of the 'nineties. Oh noez!!

“The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics may be dead,” said Huckabee, “but a Union of American Socialist Republics is being born.” Democrats, according to Huckabee, were packing 40 years of pet projects like “health care rationing” into spending bills. “Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff.”
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h/t Yglesias
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http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/huckabee_making_strong_bid_to_lose_likeable_conservative_credentials.php

Not to paint with too broad a brush but the Republicans have always been an uncomfortable alliance between those who want to avoid taxes and regulation and those who just hate foreigners and gays. What Obama is accomplishing is decoupling the two by promising to give large chunks of money back to the haters.
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The business people have made their bed and now their disdain for their own supporters is coming back to bite them in the A$$.

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gysgt: Gingrey Begs Limbaugh...
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Gingrey isn't the only one...

On the same night he was offering the keynote address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Rush Limbaugh drew criticism from an unlikely source: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
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In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”
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Steele's criticism makes him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host.
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But the new RNC chairman's extraordinary comments won't sit well with the millions of conservative listeners Limbaugh draws each week, and Steele aides scrambled to limit the damage Monday morning by trying to change the subject.

So, yeah; the drug-addled gasbag named Rush Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the wingnuts, encompassing the GOP and all points further to the right. No wonder so many Repubs are afraid of offending him.
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What I think is happening with the very occasional criticism of Limbaugh is that the more sane members of the Repub party realize that they are out of step with the current mood of the public, and are desperately trying to bring the GOP out of its downward spiral...too bad that there's so many dittoheads in Limbaugh's cult of personality to let these few sane people succeed.

Ron Paul appeared on CNN's American Morning this morning and talked about Rush Limbaugh and the question of who really leads the Republican Party at this point:
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The Congressman's response to the question about what it means that Limbaugh, a talk show host, is considered a leader of the party is worthy of being a quote of the day — “It's sad.”
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http://belowthebeltway.com/2009/03/02/ron-paul-speaks-about-rush-limbaugh-and-who-leads-the-gop/

gcrush
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Don't forget this part of the article
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Limbaugh, asked to respond, said he'd save his counter-attack for his listeners.

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“I'll handle it on the radio,” he wrote in an e-mail.

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Oh and this is comedy
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http://townhall.com/blog/g/399d88a9-40f6-451a-bf05-c66ddfcc7bd0?comments=true#comments
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I say Steele issues an apology or "clarification" by 5pm today

Nature abhors a vacuum and your can't get any more vacuous than 'the addict from Cape Girardeau.'

gcrush
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Freeperville is already going after Steele and Cantor with a vengence.

I must say I am hoping the Right continues to marginalize Limbaugh. It's a win-win for me. Either the GOP erupts into civil war, or conservatives will be free from the most dividing force in American politics, and we will indeed move into a post-partisan era.

Imagine the points to be scored by Obama if, after months of baiting the might Rush, he suddenly decides to personally make nice with Limbaugh and offers him a public White House visit.

Talk about backing Rush into a corner...

http://www.political-buzz.com/

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sgwhiteinfla: Oh and this is comedy..
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Yes, and kinda pathetic too...They know something went wrong on the way to their Permanent Majority, but have little clue as to what it was and even less of an idea how to go about fixing it.

As a Democrat, I love this. I also remember the CW saying it was a mistake for Obama to say this in private:

'“You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,” he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.'

I remember the wailing and/or cackling after the Republicans leaked his comments. Pat Buchanan and Scarborough saying what a big mistake this was by Obama.

I think Obama knows what he is doing - and so does Rahm - even if Matthews and others don't get it yet.

The funny denouement in Frum's piece: "...of course he and his supporters have to be treated with respect."

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kristiia: I think Obama knows what he is doing..
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Shhh!...For God's sake, don't let Lukasiak hear you say that.

Mean while Rush and his supporters have nothing but contempt for everyone else.

It's somewhat entertaining watching the right claim to be something other than what they are. It is analogous to the way they take on a posture of competence, even in the face of overwhelming evidence pointing to the opposite.
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If there are any moderate Republicans left they ought to have learned by now they are no longer welcome in Rush's party. Frum's best bet is to move over to the dark side.

Howie Kurtz sees Rush as the equivalent of BHO and really I guess any president.-
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Honolulu, Hawaii: Fox and CNN gave Rush Limbaugh an uninterrupted hour plus to demonize President Obama and the new administration on Saturday. Can you name any other unelected person who has had such free access to two networks? I can see why he opposes the fairness doctrine.
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Howard Kurtz: Do you know how many hours of Obama speeches the cable networks carry (as they did Bush speeches and Clinton speeches before that)?