Rush Limbaugh and the mortality of a movement
In his speech at the Conservative Political Action Convention, Rush Limbaugh referred repeatedly to what he called “the conservative movement.” It’s an accurate description. The conservatives do have a movement, and the liberals do not. If you Google the two terms — “conservative movement” and “liberal movement” — you get far more hits for “conservative movement”, while the top responses to “liberal movement” refer to a minor South Australian political party of the ’70s or a movement within Judaism.
In 21st century America, liberals have a party; conservatives have a movement. (While the Republican Party exists, it does so largely as a vehicle for the conservative movement.)
So what does all that mean? A party can be defined as a collection of groups and interests motivated by many different goals but loosely committed to working together. A movement, by contrast, is motivated by an ideology, a central goal or collection of goals to which its members pledge loyalty. In Limbaugh’s words, “Conservatism is what it is and it is forever. It’s not something you can bend and shape and flake and form.”
Now, each form has its advantages. A movement, by definition, has a passion and energy and a direction that are useful in politics. It inspires, and requires, deep loyalty and discipline from its members; deviation from the approved path is frowned upon. Limbaugh, the enforcer of party discipline, again puts it well:
“Conservatism is a universal set of core principles. You don’t check principles at the door.”
A party, on the other hand, lacks a powerful internal energy and cohesion, and at times that lack of defining cause can leave it wandering aimlessly through the political landscape. However, its amorphous nature also makes it more flexible, more adaptable to changing times. It is less concerned about issues such as disloyalty and more open to experimentation.
Today, the American conservative movement faces two problems, one large but temporary, the other existential.
As we saw over the last eight years, a movement tends to lose its discipline and sense of mission once it achieves power. It quickly becomes what it was trying to change, a phenomenon that has repeated time and again through history. It happened to Republicans, it happened in the French Revolution, it happens always.
The process is captured perfectly in that scene from Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” The animals, motivated by a core set of principles such as “four legs good, two legs bad,” have driven away their human bosses. Victory is theirs; their movement has succeeded. Then one day the animals peer through the farmhouse window and are shocked to see the leaders of their movement, the pigs, walking about on two legs and acting just like the human enemy they had ousted.
“Four legs good, two legs better,” the pigs tell them.
Today, the rank and file of the conservative movement feel they have been similarly betrayed by their leaders, and for good reason. And their leaders — now that they have been banished from the luxuries of the farmhouse — are trying to learn to walk on four legs again, and are once again joining in the chants of “four legs good, two legs bad.”
That’s what the unanimous House GOP vote against the stimulus package was all about — a gesture of contrition by leadership to their followers, and a sign of renewed devotion to movement ideology. That kind of behavior has already begun to repair the rift within the movement.
The second problem is more difficult to resolve. Limbaugh aside, movements are not eternal. They have an organic lifespan. They rise out of a particular time and place, they make their impact, and then one of two things happen. Either they find within themselves the ability to change with changing times, or they wither.
That is challenge facing the conservative movement. Times have changed and have changed dramatically. Economically, politically, socially, demographically, this is a very different America from the country that gave birth to the conservative movement. The Cold War is over and forgotten; the ’60s are over and forgotten. The Baby Boom generation is beginning to pass from the stage, and we have our first post-Boom president.
Movements cannot survive such change without changing themselves. Those conservatives who understand that reality are trying to find new applications and meaning in their core principles, but that reinvention is difficult and takes time. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, for example, told the CPAC convention that while it is important to “continue to honor and respect and remember Ronald Reagan,” it’s also time to move on.
“We need to develop new Ronald Reagans and new reference points,” Pawlenty said in an interview after addressing CPAC. “It would be as if Barack Obama was going around and constantly talking about Truman or LBJ. It’s just become a reference point that isn’t as relevant for young people.”
Somehow, I doubt the conservative movement has the flexibility to accept that message in all its complex meanings. Neither does Limbaugh, because he addressed it head on at CPAC:
“The era of Reagan is over? When the hell do you hear a Democrat say the era of FDR is over? You never hear it. Not only that, the President of the United States today thinks he’s FDR, thinks he’s Abraham Lincoln, and sometimes, Tuesday night, thinks he’s Ronald Reagan. Our own movement has members trying to throw Reagan out while the Democrats know they can’t accomplish what they want unless they appeal to Reagan voters. We have got to stamp this out within this movement, because it will tear us apart.”
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222 comments Add your comment
mike
March 4th, 2009
9:31 am
Further evidence that this whole Rush Limbaugh storyline is a transparent political tactic from Democrats and their supporters in the partisan liberal media:
“Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.
The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with praise.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19596.html
Looks like Jay got the memo.
I Report/ You Whine
March 4th, 2009
9:34 am
Look at the lib projecting his problems on us-
As we saw over the last eight years, a movement tends to lose its discipline and sense of mission once it achieves power. It quickly becomes what it was trying to change, a phenomenon that has repeated time and again through history. It happened to Republicans, it happened in the French Revolution, it happens always.
Here you go Bookman, name one campaign promise that Oblahma has kept.
You can’t, because he campaigned as Rush Limbaugh Junior, a Conservative.
But that ain’t the way he is governing, and Limbaugh is right, as is Evan Bayh and all the other democrats surprised by the extreme left wing agenda they knew nothing about.
“The administration is enabling me,” he wrote in an e-mail to POLITICO. “They are expanding my profile, expanding my audience and expanding my influence. An ever larger number of people are now being exposed to the antidote to Obamaism: conservatism, as articulated by me. An ever larger number of people are now exposed to substantive warnings, analysis and criticism of Obama’s policies and intentions, a ‘story’ I own because the [mainstream media] is largely the Obama Press Office.”
Thanks for helping us get the message out, by the way.
RW-(the original)
March 4th, 2009
9:38 am
Wow! An attack on Limbaugh and conservatism. Who saw that coming?
Yawn
I’m still amazed that a failing business pays somebody to write the very same thing day after day after day and can’t figure out why it’s failing.
mm
March 4th, 2009
9:40 am
It’s a movement alright. A bowel movement.
mike
March 4th, 2009
9:42 am
Anyone wonder why our “news” media have all decided that the “Rush Limbaugh is the head of the GOP” story is the most important news story at a time when there are so many more important things to discuss?
It’s because Rahm Emmanuel and a bunch of Democratic strategists have determined that it is the best method to attack Republicans as a group. The liberal media is just doing its part to pitch in.
So much for “speaking truth to power” and “dissent is patriotic”, right? All the media is demonstrating is its slavish devotion to the partisan cause.
CommunistAJC
March 4th, 2009
9:43 am
Bookman, you really do suck.
EIB/RNC Management
March 4th, 2009
9:45 am
Jay, this topic is so old. So over.
la la la I can’t hear you.
CommunistAJC
March 4th, 2009
9:45 am
The Tired War on Rush Limbaugh
by Jonah Goldberg
Here we go again. Rush Limbaugh is public enemy No. 1.
Liberal bloggers and media chin-strokers are aghast at Limbaugh’s statement that he hopes Barack Obama fails.
Well, given what Obama wants to do, I hope he fails too. Of course I want the financial crisis to end — who doesn’t? But Obama’s agenda is much more audacious. Pretty much every major news outlet in the country has said as a matter of objective analysis that Obama wants to repeal the legacy of Ronald Reagan and remake the country as a European welfare state. And yet people are shocked that conservatives, Limbaugh included, want Obama to fail in this effort?
What movie have they been watching? Because I could swear that opposing the expansion of big government is what conservatives do. It’s Aesopian. The scorpion must sting the frog. The conservative must object to socialized medicine.
Besides, since when did hoping for the failure of ideological agendas you disagree with become unpatriotic? Liberals were hardly treasonous when they hoped for the failure of George W. Bush’s Social Security privatization scheme.
http://townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2009/03/04/the_tired_war_on_rush_limbaugh
mike
March 4th, 2009
9:46 am
RW –
“I’m still amazed that a failing business pays somebody to write the very same thing day after day after day and can’t figure out why it’s failing.”
Well in this case, the failing business is owned by one of the largest Democrat donors in the country, so it makes sense that they pay Jay to regurgitate Democratic talking points.
I Report/ You Whine
March 4th, 2009
9:49 am
AmVet March 4th, 2009 9:37 am Andy, per your amspec piece – yet yesterday I alone, must have provided dozens of individual, discrete simple facts that no one in the “right-wing” could either intelligently refute or disprove. And, of course, virtually NONE were provided in return, excepting ones that proved my point or were ridiculously off mark.
AmVet: You were provided indisputable proof that NASA had incorrectly interpolated their own temperature readings and that they had even admitted to their own mistake. It is not my problem when you offhandedly reject the facts.
Three of the five leading scientists contend that recent climate change is driven by natural cycles, not human industrial activity, as political activists argue.
Kanya Kusano is Program Director and Group Leader for the Earth Simulator at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology (JAMSTEC). He focuses on the immaturity of simulation work cited in support of the theory of anthropogenic climate change. Using undiplomatic language, Kusano compares them to ancient astrology. After listing many faults, and the IPCC’s own conclusion that natural causes of climate are poorly understood, Kusano concludes:
“[The IPCC's] conclusion that from now on atmospheric temperatures are likely to show a continuous, monotonic increase, should be perceived as an unprovable hypothesis,” he writes.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/25/jstor_climate_report_translation/
Read and weep.
fed up
March 4th, 2009
9:50 am
Come on Jay, can’t you write about something else. How about what’s going on in Washington and all these bail outs. There’s plenty there to blog about. Rush must really be happy about all this free publicity.
Rage Against The Machine
March 4th, 2009
9:50 am
F U Jay!
Redneck Convert
March 4th, 2009
9:50 am
Well, I couldn’t figure out Bookman’s point so I got in touch with my buddy Jim Earl and read him Bookman’s piece over the phone. Jim Earl said it sounded like Conservatives can’t be real Conservatives no more and have to act more like libruls of the 1970s if they’re going to survive. Well, I like to spilt my grits all over my coveralls. I thought to myself, You mean we have to do protest marches and use all kinds of drugs and go for this free You Know What just to be able to fight the libruls of today? The more I thought about it the more I got down. By the time I was ready to leave for work I would of needed a stepladder to touch a snake’s belly.
Anyhow, it sure sounds like Bookman is saying we can’t talk about going back to the 1800s no more if we’re going to get people to vote for us. What’s happening to us? We’re out in the wilderness and can’t even get back to some kind of civilazation unless we’re ready to be old-timey libruls. Was that why they elected one of Those People to head up the Republican party? And it sure sounds like Bookman is saying old Rush ain’t got the chance of a dodo bird of making it too much longer.
Anyhow, this sure will be news to Raghead, RW the Original, Sister Dusty, and the whole bunch of Conservatives that flock to this blog. They will need to buy some sandals and grow scraggly beards and say things like pot is groovy. Except for Sister Dusty. All she’ll need is some beads and maybe throw away her bra. Even then the kids won’t vote for a Conservative. They’ll see them as old-fashioned and way out of date.
Anyway, I sure am bumfuzzled today. Have a good day everybody.
RW-(the original)
March 4th, 2009
9:53 am
mike,
They could post links to thousands of blogs that say the same thing Jay B does every single day for free and still get the same message out, but I’m not trying to give them any ideas. Frankly Jay B is becoming something of a hero to me in a Maynard G Krebbs sort of way.
mike
March 4th, 2009
9:53 am
Redneck Convert -
How long does it take you to peck out so many words in order to say absolutely nothing?
Mrs. Godzilla
March 4th, 2009
9:55 am
From: I Report/You Whine
Here you go Bookman, name one campaign promise that Oblahma has kept.
To: I Report/ You whine
Here’s 16 (Thanks Politifact!)
No. 15: Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. “The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes.”
>>More
No. 40: Extend and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch
Extend and index the temporary fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax that was passed in 2007
>>More
No. 58: Expand eligibility for State Children’s Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP)
“Expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve their critical safety net function.”
>>More
No. 125: Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq
On “my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war”.
>>More
No. 134: Send two additional brigades to Afghanistan
“As Obama removes our combat brigades from Iraq, he will send at least two additional brigades to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent. He will also provide our armed forces with the reset capability that they need. He will replace essential equipment, and he will ensure that our men and women in uniform get the care and support they have earned.”
>>More
No. 239: Release presidential records
“Will nullify the Bush attempts to make the timely release of presidential records more difficult.”
>>More
No. 241: Require new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
“Will issue an executive order asking all new hires at the agencies to sign a form affirming that no political appointee offered them the job solely on the basis of political affiliation or contribution.”
>>More
No. 278: Remove more brush, small trees and vegetation that fuel wildfires
“Will place a high priority on implementing cooperative projects to remove brush, small trees and other overgrown vegetation that serve as fuel for wildfires. Barack Obama will focus the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management’s efforts on working with local communities on hazardous fuels projects to make communities safer and forests healthier.”
>>More
No. 307: Create a White House Office on Urban Policy
“Will create a White House Office of Urban Policy to develop a strategy for metropolitan America and to ensure that all federal dollars targeted to urban areas are effectively spent on the highest-impact programs. The Director of Urban Policy will report directly to the president and coordinate all federal urban programs.”
>>More
No. 327: Support increased funding for the NEA
Will “support increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the support of which enriches schools and neighborhoods all across the nation and helps to promote the economic development of countless communities.”
>>More
No. 411: Work to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear
“Obama will work to overturn the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that curtails racial minorities’ and women’s ability to challenge pay discrimination.”
>>More
No. 427: Ban lobbyist gifts to executive employees
“Barack Obama will issue an executive order banning registered lobbyists or lobbying firms from giving gifts in any amount or any form to executive branch employees.”
>>More
No. 452: Weatherize 1 million homes per year
“Will make a national commitment to weatherize at least 1 million low-income homes each year for the next decade, which can reduce energy usage across the economy and help moderate energy prices for all.”
>>More
No. 458: Invest in all types of alternative energy
“We’ll invest in research in every form of alternative energy – solar, wind, biofuels.”
>>More
No. 503: Appoint at least one Republican to the cabinet
Interview with Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes”: Question: “Will there be Republicans in the Cabinet?” Obama: “Yes.” Question: “More than one?” Obama: “You’re not getting any more out of me.”
>>More
No. 507: Extend unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits
“Obama and Biden believe Congress should immediately extend unemployment insurance for an additional 13 weeks to help families that are being hit hardest by this downturn. In addition, they believe we should temporarily suspend taxes on unemployment insurance benefits as a way of giving more relief to families.”
>>More
For the promises broken, compromises, stalled and in the works
check here:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
Hugs for you newly monikered same old guy.
mike
March 4th, 2009
9:56 am
RW –
I actually wish they would. The AJC actually does serve a role in providing local news coverage. Unfortunately they are stuck with Bookman, Tucker and a hyper-partisan newsroom as dead weight.
I’d love to see the AJC wake up and realize that they need to focus on what they offer that is unique to the market and dispense with the undifferentiated twaddle provided by Bookman et al.
nowhereman
March 4th, 2009
9:57 am
Modern conservatism goes back to Edmund Burke in the 1700’s. That may not be ‘eternal’, Jay. But don’t you think it goes back far enough to shoot your whole premise out of the water? Of course you don’t.
Wynn
March 4th, 2009
10:01 am
Here’s a wedgie for you Bookman.
Reagan Democrats supported Reagan for much more ordinary reasons: they disapproved of the performance of President Carter, especially with regard to the economy. This kind of behavior — retrospective voting based on the performance of the national economy — is well-documented and, well, a lot more pedestrian than prevailing theories either then and now.
Obama is Carter II.
Read it and weep!
Paul
March 4th, 2009
10:02 am
[[In 21st century America, liberals have a party;]]
Really? What party would that be? I went to the DNC web site and searched in vain for the word “liberal.” Took a look at the Democratic Party’s Charter – ‘liberal’ wasn’t mentioned. I read what they say they’re for – in many instances, it sounds a lot like what Republicans say they’re for. Even conservatives.
But if the point is people who think of themselves as conservative or moderate don’t have a place in the Democratic Party (sorry, Blue Dogs)and liberals don’t have a place in the Republican Party (sorry, McCain) well, we’re the poorer for it.
From the statement “A movement, by contrast, is motivated by an ideology, a central goal or collection of goals to which its members pledge loyalty” some would say there is a liberal movement. Time-worn example – look at any Democrat who bucked the liberal money powerhouse organizations over Iraq. That was an ideological battle – illustrated no better than the fact that when circumstances changed, the ideological message didn’t. Just this last week we saw news reports of Republicans praising Pres Obama’s Iraq withdrawal plan and Democrats/Liberals highly critical. Liberal Ideology, applied to specific actions within the framework of a rigid doctrine, in motion.
Mrs. Godzilla
March 4th, 2009
10:03 am
Secret Republican Apology Machine here:
http://www.dccc.org/content/sorry
Joey
March 4th, 2009
10:05 am
Jay; This is an excellent article. This is exactly why the AJC should keep you and let Cynthia Tucker go. She could never hope to write something like this.
Almost all of it is prapaganda crap from a Leftwing Attack Artist, but clever and a good read none the less. Yes, almost all crap, but because you are good enough to include a few truths and a marginal amount of accuracy, some unsure readers will be convinced that the total article is truth. It will win a few people over to your side for a while. And your choir will rejoice in these, in your, words. Hail, Bookman!
If only your audience was even 1/1000th the size of Limbaugh’s, you just might have made a difference. Alas, that is not to be. But, really, it is a very good article.
TnGelding
March 4th, 2009
10:07 am
Good analysis, Jay. They just don’t get it. They can’t govern once elected. That said, I’m disappointed in O! up to this point myself. The appointees with the tax problems should have been jettisoned posthaste, especially Geithner. The federal budget is so huge the wealthy can’t fund it alone without continuing to borrow mind-boggling amounts. Increasing military spending is totally unacceptable.
getalife
March 4th, 2009
10:07 am
Libs do have a movement. It is called the progressive movement to elect better dems. CNN said it gives the dems a headache. They donate and volunteer to run better dems in the primary.
If the cons did this, they would challenge some gop in the primary. Except those that cower to their entertainer .
Bosch
March 4th, 2009
10:08 am
I’ve always found it laughable that so many people here try to put themselves into some kind of political “faction.” The truth is, both parties have become so meshed within one another that they are neither differentiated.
There hasn’t been a fiscally responsible politician in years, and the old adage of GOP=tax cuts and less spending while the Dems=tax and spending is just non-existant today. Both parties have turned a blind eye to corporate America and let them rape and pilage our prosperity, while we as consumers have demanded less quality and more quanity as we think it is a measure of our success and worth.
The word “liberal” in its most basic form means “change” while “conservative” in its most basic form means “stay the same.”
That’s why in some ways I’m very conservative while others I’m very liberal.
I’m guilty of blame just like most here on the blog, but I try to blame both parties, and put most blame of what is wrong with this country on consumerism and corporatism – in other words it’s everyone’s fault.
Gordon Plumber
March 4th, 2009
10:08 am
Rush Limbaugh has *no idea* what a “Conservative” is. Certainly the GOP has exhibited exactly *zero* evidence of actual conservatism. Under Reagan and both Bush regimes, the government *grew* enormously, the debt soared, and the government also allowed the Church to interfere, stifling science.
Actual Conservatives abandoned the Repubs in disgust during the election. Buckley, Frum, etc — and were summarily vilified. You idiots are willing to let a college drop out millionaire dope addict, thrice divorced bigot with a single digit IQ define what a “Conservative” is?
LOL! Go Rush!
MikeB
March 4th, 2009
10:08 am
Here……. Let me be the bad guy and put this on the table………
The Democrats want to position Rush as the leader, because he fits the ethnic profile. While the newly installed leader of the Republican party does not………
Michael Steele is an intelligent leader who is looking for traditional and nontraditional ways to rejuvinate the Republican Party. Much like the process Obama undertook to kick start his presidential campaign.
Nothing wrong with that.
The dems in congress would have you focus on Rush tho because it helps avoid the fact that their are 2 intelligent men of color in key positions leading both partys. It goes counter to how the Liberal Dems think the game should be played, so they make new rules to play with, just like every administration.
BTW: Anyone believe that stories circulating about friction between Obama and Pelosi?
Not for a second……… This is just a tactic to make Obama look bipartisan to the uninformed. In order to get the benefit of the doubt from some of the fence sitters, he has to appear to be “rolling up his sleeves” within his own party……Must be out of the trick bag of Rahm Emmanuel.
If he comes off as having fun with Earth Wind and Fire and Stevie Wonder while the avg. American’s 401k tanks to nothing it will be fireworks for sure….. Just blame it all on Rush tho. Who’s Michael Steele BTW????
Bosch
March 4th, 2009
10:12 am
Oh, and Jay, if you see Luckovich in the hallway today – tell him
“Great job” from Bosch.
That cartoon really got me going this morning.
Daedalus
March 4th, 2009
10:14 am
Wow. Criticizing Rush really brings the dittoheads out in full hysteria. When the head of the RNC and Georgia’s own GOP Congressmen have to get on bended knee and apologize for hurting Rush’s feelings for speaking their minds — its news and its clear that dissent is no longer an option on the right. Either you follow Rush blindly or you are not a true Republican.
Its amazing that all the dittoheads on this post can swoon over a guy who has been divorced three times (family values); abuses drugs (and then blames the media for it); takes advantage of an illegal immigrant to force her to buy drugs for him (oh, the irony); and uses name calling and insults instead of reason or anything like civility.
Its not the democrats who are making Rush look like the head of the GOP –its the GOP Congressmen and Chairman who’ve done that.
How about a Rush/Newt ticket in 2012? That will appeal to moderates and be a sure thing for the GOP. Not.
G
March 4th, 2009
10:14 am
It’s interesting watching the GOP implode. To annoint Pillboy as their leader shows not only how crazy Rushpublicants are, but how incredibly far out of touch they are with the rest of America.
This man is morally bankrupt and symbolizes everything that is wrong with conservatives. RE: his recent interview with Barbara Walters in which she asked him doesn’t he feel a tinge of guilt over signing a new multi-million radio contract when the rest of the country is suffering through a recession, including many of his listeners. He replied, “What recession? There’s no recession for me.”
That speaks volumes about his character and is a reflection of the GOP at large.
Bosch
March 4th, 2009
10:16 am
And BTW, I hate Microsoft 2007!
Earl
March 4th, 2009
10:17 am
I saw my first anti-Obama bumper sticker yesterday that said ” I am sorry I voted Democratic”. Get use to buyers remorse, it’s coming. I couldn’t beleive Obama actually stood in front of a camera and told Americans not to worry about the stock market. Huh? Mr. Obama, do you realize what our 401’s are predicated on, it’s called the stock market. Perhaps if this man would use the say calming tone he uses toward Iran and Russia to Wall Street things may get better. He doesn’t have to continue to use the same doom and gloom scare tactics now that he used to get himself elected. The election is over. God save us from thsi man and his Congress, we’re tanking faster than anyone expected, he is less qualified to lead this nation than I thought. God save us until 2012 !!!
I Report/ You Whine
March 4th, 2009
10:18 am
Mrs. Godzilla March 4th, 2009 9:55 am No. 15: Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes.
Duhzilla: The very first item on your list ahs grown to be 90 Billion dollars.
Try again.
Red
March 4th, 2009
10:18 am
Such big words and convoluted concepts to consider dear learned newsman. However will the conservatives who are reading this board ever understand? Let me assist and further the point ‘mm’ made earlier: I had a big conservative movement this morning before leaving the house and it felt good to finally get rid of it. We’ll be waiting for your apology to the great pill addled One before the end of the day, sir.
I Report/ You Whine
March 4th, 2009
10:23 am
Did George Bush go after Bill Maher or Air American or Keith Olbermann when almost daily they slandered his character? Did he serially evoke Michael Moore? To have done so by name, would have demeaned his office. Worry about refuting conservative ideas, and governing the country, rather than dueling over the airways with those who get paid for only that. The country wanted a Lincoln, not another Nixon going after Dan Rather at a press conference. So far your administration resembles the latter, not the former.-VictorDavisHanson
Ditto.
CommunistAJC
March 4th, 2009
10:25 am
Daedalus,
go back and look at how many blogs Jays written about Rush in the past couple of days. After you do so please come back with a more thought out analysis.
Citizen of the World
March 4th, 2009
10:26 am
Limbaugh’s statement that conservatism “is what it is” and is not something you can “bend and shape and flake and form” recalls a line from Gone With The Wind, where one of the characters, an old lady, says “. . . We’re not wheat, we’re buckwheat! When a storm comes along it flattens ripe wheat because it’s dry and can’t bend with the wind. But ripe buckwheat’s got sap in it and it bends . . . . We’re mighty limber when a hard wind’s blowing, because we know it pays to be limber . . . That’s the secret of survival.”
The rigidity of the so-called conservative movement will eventually do it in.
CommunistAJC
March 4th, 2009
10:27 am
Bosch,
I concur. Microsoft sucks, period. Macs are 100% better. Oh, an Auburn grad is supposed to take over when Steve Jobs passes away. WAR EAGLE!
CommunistAJC
March 4th, 2009
10:32 am
Bookman does the bidding of Bacrock Osama.
Rush Job: Inside Dems’ Limbaugh plan
By JONATHAN MARTIN | 3/4/09 4:04 AM EST
Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.
The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with praise.
Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s.
Limbaugh is embracing the line of attack, suggesting a certain symbiosis between him and his political adversaries.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19596.html
AmVet
March 4th, 2009
10:33 am
Lordy, lordy, lordy…
The final score of the past two national elections?
Non Neo-cons – 61; Republiconneds – 4.
Stupid is as stupid does…
Solution Seeker
March 4th, 2009
10:33 am
Rush is a very successful talk radio personality. He is not the voice of the republican party or spokes person for conservatism except though self appointment. He has never been elected to office and does not speak for any political group. He has a large, narrowly focused audience who generally represent a fraction of the republican part. It is a mistake and a distraction to treat him as more. Yet Rush has captured the attention and energy of the Republican party. He has hijacked national attention and is using it to further his own ambition.
Is there such a vacuum in the Republican Party that we believe Rush will lead us back into power?
danjonglee
March 4th, 2009
10:33 am
Our Dear Leader targets private citizen. Thank you anti revolutionary Drudge Report.
I Report/ You Whine
March 4th, 2009
10:34 am
Limbaugh democrats, Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha-
Moderate and conservative Democrats in the Senate are starting to choke over the massive spending and tax increases in President Barack Obama’s budget plans and have begun plotting to increase their influence over the agenda of a president who is turning out to be much more liberal than they are.-Politico
demwit
March 4th, 2009
10:35 am
It’s all Rush’s fault!!
CommunistAJC
March 4th, 2009
10:36 am
More liberal stupidity.
Should hunters switch to ‘green’ bullets?
(CNN) — Three years ago, Phillip Loughlin made a choice he knew would brand him as an outsider with many of his fellow hunters:
Non-lead bullets are gaining visibility, but hunting and gun groups oppose banning lead from ammo.
He decided to shoot “green” bullets.
“It made sense,” Loughlin said of his switch to more environmentally friendly ammo, which doesn’t contain lead. “I believe that we need to do a little bit to take care of the rest of the habitat and the environment — not just what we want to shoot out of it.”
Lead, a toxic metal that can lower the IQs of children, is the essential element in most ammunition on the market today.
But greener alternatives are gaining visibility — and stirring controversy — as some hunters, scientists, environmentalists and public health officials worry about lead ammunition’s threat to the environment and public health.
Hunting groups oppose limits on lead ammunition, saying there’s no risk and alternatives are too expensive.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/03/04/green.bullets/index.html
demwit
March 4th, 2009
10:37 am
Kill the Capitalists..
zeke
March 4th, 2009
10:39 am
The point from Rush is this, conservative values are still the values of a large majority of Americans. Personal responsibility for your self and your family are the backbone of the USA! When those elected according to these principles abandon those principles they will be voted out! The problem here is that over the last 7 or 8 decades democrat liberals from FDR to Obama have been able to install programs and voting rights to those that constantly receive handouts from them, which is only vote buying to keep them in office! When they try to enshrine voting as a Constitutional guaranteed right, they are lieing to us and in turn assuring their continued election by those least qualified to make an intelligent decision with their vote! They have allowed welfare recipients to vote on programs increasing their take from the fed and in turn from those of us who contribute and become successful! There is a constant banter of class warfare from the liberals, democrats, media and radical activists groups that those of us who are successful are evil and criminal because we work hard, risk money, persevere and in turn become successful! WE ARE NOT EVIL! WE ARE THE AMERICAN DREAM! However, democrat liberals continue to try to transform us into the failed USSR, Cuba, Venezuela or CHina! China only appears to be a success because THEY HAVE ALLOWED CAPITALISM TO FLOURISH OVER THE LAST 15 TO 20 YEARS GIVING A FALSE IMPRESSION THAT THEIR SOCIALIST COMMUNISM IS WORKING! IT IS NOT! My only fear is that Obama and his democrat minions will put in place so much entitlement and socialist absurdity that we may not be able to correct it with our next CONSERVATIVE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS! IF THAT HAPPENS, AMERICA AS A GREAT NATION IS LOST!
Mrs. Godzilla
March 4th, 2009
10:43 am
IR/YW
Your response does not make your earlier post acccurate.
But hugs to ya’.
WhoCares
March 4th, 2009
10:45 am
Now if Rush could just find an intern to act as his own personal “humidor” he would be the darling of the Democrats. If Rush is so bad for the Republican party why are the Democrats so scared of him?
RW-(the original)
March 4th, 2009
10:46 am
Mrs G,
Last I heard the mortgage bailout was about 275 billion, but even if we use Andy’s 90 billion it’s not keeping a campaign promise when you grotesquely exceed your campaign promise anymore than it is if you just abandon the promise.