Rush Limbaugh, Colin Powell and the GOP
He also took aim at Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, arguing that neither serves the party well. “I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without,” he said.
He criticized Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for being “a very polarizing figure,” something he attributes to her advisers. She is, otherwise, “a very accomplished person,” he said.
Powell insisted that he’s not trying to turn Republicans into Democrats, but to move the party to the middle and to make it stronger. The GOP’s getting “smaller and smaller” and “that’s not good for the nation,” he said.
Two observations here:
One is that Republicans do have a major problem in finding a way to sell the conservative message of personal responsibility, limited and less intrusive government, lower and more affordable taxes, and strong national security to a nation with large segments of the population demanding, as Powell said, more from government. The party’s need, however, is to stick to core principles and to do a better job of articulating why those are ultimately better for the country and for the individual and for families. Getting to socialism half as fast is not an attractive alternative.
The second observation is made largely in good humor. It is to chart how quickly Colin Powell rises in the esteem of liberal commentators who are determined to help the Republican Party become the one they want if they can’t have the brand of liberalism represented by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Sit back and watch. Let the count-down begin. Who will be the first commentator on the left to hoist Powell as the GOP’s savior? The first of many.
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264 comments Add your comment
sd
May 6th, 2009
8:43 am
Colin Powell has always been a sensible man. Had he never been involved with the disaster that was the Bush Iraq Strategy, he could’ve been President.
Peter
May 6th, 2009
9:02 am
Rush HA HA HA….. a drug user who got off !
clyde
May 6th, 2009
9:03 am
Ah,yes.Rush Limbaugh.The reason to not vote Republican.The former????drug user that berated the very type of person that he was.The King of Hypoctites.Listen to what he has to say and heed it.Be a dittohead.
Tyler Durden
May 6th, 2009
9:05 am
As a Democrat, I simply LOVE Limbaugh and Coulter! They’ll guarantee that the GOP stays a minority party long enough for the adults to undo the damage of the last 8-9 years, and maybe even get America back to it’s rightful perch as a legitimate WORLD leader. And am I confident that the Palin movement will only further this cause? Oh yeah! You Betcha!
Dear GOP: Please keep on chasing off moderates and betting everything on extreme right candidates. America’s future depends on it.
Mac
May 6th, 2009
9:09 am
I want fewer taxes and fewer services. With all due respect to Gen. Powell, I don’t know that Americans want more government in their lives. As far as Limbaugh goes, anyone who twists armed hijackers — aka pirates — into impoverished teenagers, executed on the orders of President Obama, is irresponsible and sick. And, he has other self-proclaimed conservatives parroting the lie. How can you be a fan of that?
Tyler Durden
May 6th, 2009
9:12 am
And Wooten: we’ll miss your delusional, myopic support of GOP ideals while ignoring anything contrary to your views, which were NEVER burdened by something as simple as overwhelming emperical evidence to the contrary. Historically, many leaders have appreciated that quality. Hitler and Stalin both loved having lackeys who drank the Kool-Aid in huge gulps, and your upper lip will forever be stained pink. Please be sure to send in occasional rants from wherever they send used-up idealogues!
DWinDec
May 6th, 2009
9:13 am
The Republican ideal is a good one–the problem is that just like Christianity, it is very difficult to find anyone that practices it. You can’t demand personal responsibility at the same time you are fighting the investigation of torture allegations. You can’t argue for less intrusive government and defend unchecked wiretapping. You cannot argue for strong national security without addressing the very real likelihood that Iraq was unnecessary and has made us less safe.
Taxes are a complicated issue, but the Grover Norquist Republican ideal oversimplifies it. Most people just got a cut under a Democrat. Corporations and the wealthy took a hit, but calling a return to the 1999 tax rate “socialism” is just silly, and costs the party credibility. Sometimes you have to raise taxes. Reagan did it, George Sr. did it. W didn’t, but he also turned a surplus into a massive deficit. And business was good under Clinton with all of his socialism level taxation. People understand that it’s not just one or the other.
Obama’s election showed that America understands and embraces nuance, but the Republican leadership, and Rush in particular, cannot do nuance. It is either black or white, with us or against us, capitalism or socialism. “Democrat-lite” is just another term for someone who doesn’t see the world that way. Good luck rebuilding a party that demands that level of orthodoxy, especially when the leadership continues to support policies that flew in the face of those ideals.
Mac
May 6th, 2009
9:14 am
The vast majority of what other people do is their business. It’s not mine, not government’s or that of “moral crusaders.” That sounds like real conservatism to me, but it’s not on the menu of the Limbaugh/Wooten/Pelosi franchise.
How to you like that? That grouping is pretty darned accurate — a trio of big-government advocates.
zeke
May 6th, 2009
9:21 am
Rush is dead on right in his appraisel of what is wrong with the Republican party. Did Reagan move to the center? Did he care what Russia’s opinion of his policys or pronouncements were? Did he care if socialist Europe approved of our policies and methods? NO-NO-NO! If Republicans want to regain their rightfull position as the dominant party, they must adhere to and promote CONSERVATIVE values. Those are. reducing all government, reducing taxes, removing government from our daily lives, personal responsibility for your own life, strict adhearance to the Constitution, no pay for not working, no government subsidies or welfare for those capable of working but refusing to do so, profound support of the Second Ammendment, revisit the misuse of the First Ammendment by the Court, drastic funding increases for the Defense Department including weapons and personnel, and, the celebration of our Country as a JUDEO CHRISTIAN nation including observing the true meaning of the establishment of religeon clause, that of not establishing a national religeon such as the Church of England, but, allowing God, the Ten Commandments, religeous objects and prayers in all aspects of public life including schools, governments and the like!
Mac
May 6th, 2009
9:22 am
Ditto DWinDec. That’s common sense conservatism as the pre-us vs. them GOP sometimes practiced it.
GayGrayGeek
May 6th, 2009
9:24 am
Yes, yes, yes! PLEASE keep Limbaugh and Coulter and Bachmann and your other rabid, vapid mouthpieces “speaking” for the Republican’t Party.
Keep up the G. NO!. P. antics, and we’ll see many, many years where the elctorate return the “NO!” favor to y’all…
Tom
May 6th, 2009
9:26 am
Keep it up, Wootie. If you agree with with the Vicodin-fueled analysis of Rush Limbaugh (i.e., that the key to electoral success for the GOP is to become much, much more conservative), then please keep writing these same columns. After all, surely some key thinker in the American Whig Party once argued forcefully that the only thing keeping the Whigs from continued success was that the party had abandoned its Whiggish principles and that, once returned to the path of True Whiggery, the future would be nothing but golden.
williebkind
May 6th, 2009
9:29 am
Rush has over 20 million listeners and I bet 99% of those who have negative comments have never heard him. Shucks! I believe those who support King Obama have never heard him speak either. Their information is gleaned over the blogs provided by the Sorros crew and the DNC. How shallow can one become? Just try to debate a liberals and listen to the name calling.
jt
May 6th, 2009
9:31 am
Limbaugh proves his false credentials by his reluctness to advocate for a tax code change.(FairTax). He is merely a tool of the political class for the simple-minded and easiley led.
Suuuuure there is TWO parties. He me dissent?
jt
May 6th, 2009
9:33 am
I meant HEAR me dissent?
K
May 6th, 2009
9:34 am
zeke, you’re a dinosaur. wake up!
Churchill's MOM
May 6th, 2009
9:36 am
Where was Rush when Bush & the Republican party was spending like drunking sailors? Here is a bit about our next President and FOX
Taking a break from her present Alaska First posture, Sarah Palin will appear at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night, according to — where else — US Magazine.
As US reports it:
Usmagazine.com has exclusively learned that Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford has been invited to be the guest of the Fox News Channel at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Crawford — who is currently filming the drama Twelve in New York City — will join former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and husband Todd, and actor Matthew Modine, as guests of the channel and their various anchors, including Greta Van Susteren, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Bret Baier and Chris Wallace.
***********Handel 2010**********PALIN MCCAIN 2012*********
ByteMe
May 6th, 2009
9:38 am
Kudos to DWinDec @ 9:13am. A well-written critique of exactly why the “Republican brand” has a problem that can’t be solved by following the lead of bombastic entertainers and lobbyists (which is what Norquist is and the people who organized the teabaggers).
retiredds
May 6th, 2009
9:38 am
Jim, the Repubs do need a person, or group of persons, that can lead the party away from the Rush-Hannity-Coulter-Palin crowd. For most people they represent nothing more than entertainers and doing what they do for money vs. the love of their party. At some point even you have to admit that your more conservative right-wingers have gone too far in a country that mostly likes the middle, left or right, but not the extremes. If you know your history, and I am not sure you do, the pendulum had swung too far left in the 60’s. It took until the early years of the 21st century for the pendulum to move too far to the right. Jim, history is your best guide here, if you’re willing to be objective, the pendulum began to more more toward the middle-left about six years ago. So I suggest you and your more right leaning buddies wake up to the fact that you have many more years of pain and agony to live through before your message will begin to take hold. But remember, when the pendulum moves back, if it goes to far it swings against you again. And, by the way, that is the beauty of the USA, no one group can be in control for too long. No one dogma fits all. A word to the wise is sufficient. As a footnote I am in my late 60’s. Here’s some of how I voted over time: Kennedy (my first presidential vote), Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, voted against Reagan both times, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton twice, voted for Gore and Kerry, Obama.
Reality Check
May 6th, 2009
9:38 am
Zeke @ 9:10
I understand that you want to twist all things American to fit in your warped little box, But please go back and read your post…. You can’t have it both ways! You can’t demand that Gov. get out of our personal lives, and then insist that the government intervens in gay issues and pro choice issues. You can’t insist on a strong defense and less taxes but call for the government to continue to spend 1.5 Billion dollars each on planes that despite two wars, have never flown a single mission. I have no intrest in how you live your life, but you seem to have all kinds of problems with how others choose to live thiers. GROW UP!!! This is not first grade. America is great because it allows for all people and their individual beliefs…. You should try it sometimes!!!
Bill
May 6th, 2009
9:41 am
Suppose you woke up one bright morning and you were no longer an American. You were a documented Georgian or Southerner, but no longer a citizen of the United States.
Suppose the legislature had cut a deal with the federal government to allow, say, Georgia, Alabama and Texas to declare their sovereignty and carve themselves outside the nation’s borders. The new maps would show the new United States, with a few rogue jurisdictions hanging to its soft underbelly.
If that sounds farfetched, it is. Nobody but a wacko would waste time on such an idea. However, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has mentioned it in public speeches in the Lone Star State. Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has a team of researchers working on schemes to declare our independence and bid adios to old D.C.
Did I hear you say Oxendine and Perry must be nuts? Maybe they are, but they’ve got plenty of company.
A Democratic blog, DailyKos, polled Georgians and discovered nearly a third of our residents are ready to forsake their precious U.S. citizenship. In the Republic of Texas, 38 percent were prepared to say bye to America, according to the polls.
Except for a couple of really authoritative blogs, I usually shrug off the missives from cyberspace. DailyKos is not on my daily reading list. Bogus poll organizations have popped up all over the country. One hardly can tell a genuine survey from moon dust these days. Still, we’ve got these anti-Union numbers, and we should deal with them.
The secession idea is crazy. Gov. Perry is trying to run a hard right-wing re-election primary to garner the huge Texas nut vote. He looks as if he’s got them. What could be more popular than an en masse divorce from the Democratic Obama administration?
Georgia’s man, Oxendine, is sharing a pallet with Perry. Oxendine’s brain trust thinks John could win the GOP gubernatorial primary easily, if he can get far enough to the political right. All his gab about Georgia’s sovereignty is a giant step in that direction.
The governor and the wannabe had better be careful. If some steely-eyed marshal decided Perry and Oxendine are serious and not just a couple of nitwit troublemakers, they might find themselves buried in a federal pen for a long, long time on a treason conviction. Or maybe traded to the Arabs for a couple of our guys who have remained loyal to Old Glory.
If I recall, the American South tried to leave the Union around 1861, causing a disaster the likes of which we have not seen since. We lost more than 600,000 soldiers. Private property was destroyed. The whole thing came to naught, except that the slaves were freed (no small deal) and most of Dixie was ruined economically for about a century (no small problem).
We know Republicans need some issues that appeal to people who proclaim themselves as the real conservatives. How about trotting out the same-sex marriage issue again? Conservatives rant and rave about that topic, as do the would-be gay brides and grooms. Plenty of heat to go around on that score. However, this issue is not as serious as abandoning the Union.
Or Johnny O. and Rick could take aim at illegal Mexicans again. Only problem there is that the issue is resolving itself. The United States has lost so many jobs that many Mexicans are headed back south to look for work.
In any event, leave the secession talk aside. Some folks will think you’re serious. Besides, I love being an American. Many of my buds and I gave up years of our lives a while back to keep America’s place in the world. Some of us never came back. The United States has problems now, but we’ll roll again. You can count on it. Don’t talk down your country, even if you didn’t serve it.
As soon as I finish this column, I think I’ll look up a federal judge to advise me on how to round up these America-haters. We ought to send most of them back where they or their forebears came from, but Ireland and Scotland probably don’t want them, either.
Ditto-not
May 6th, 2009
9:43 am
I too am a Rush Limbaugh fan… he is the living, wheezing epitome of what makes America great! When a poorly educated (one semester of college?), horribly unattractive, repulsively self-centered, former addict, and sexist, racist blowhard can make so much money that he says he wouldn’t run for President because he couldn’t take the pay cut … that’s free enterprise, baby! I listen (it makes me throw up in my mouth a little) to make sure I note which products he is shilling, in order to avoid them. If you despise this pompous windbag, don’t buy anything he endorses. It’s all about the money. (Oh yeah, it’s also fun to listen to his women callers … they sound like, if they were in the studio with him, they’d try to help him with his impotency problem!)
Colin Powell can suck my *** - INGunOwners
May 6th, 2009
9:46 am
[...] Powell can suck my *** Rush Limbaugh, Colin Powell and the GOP | Thinking Right with Jim Wooten [...]
Churchill's MOM
May 6th, 2009
9:48 am
Before Bristol goes on her speaking tur she needs to come see me. She needs to tell all girls to do like I did non’t give up the goodie without a wedding ring.
Out of Alaska, Bristol Palin to head teen pregnancy effort
The main danger to Sarah Palin — as she seems, at times, to realize — is that her national image becomes that of a celebrity without substance. That is, I assume, why her spokeswoman’s statement yesterday focused so heavily on her Alaska focus.
So it may not be entirely on message that her daughter, Bristol, was named today an ambassador for The Candie’s Foundation, which describes itself as running “a celebrity-driven public service announcement campaign that dramatically exposes the devastating consequences of teenage pregnancy, while educating and challenging America’s youth to make healthy decisions about sex.”
***********Handel 2010**********PALIN MCCAIN 2012*********
ByteMe
May 6th, 2009
9:49 am
Wow, that linked article right above says a lot about wingnuts, doesn’t it?
Ronnie
May 6th, 2009
9:52 am
With no republicans left there will be no one to support the negroes and Mexicans.
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
9:52 am
Mr. Wooten,
Just as I like my music adagio, so do I appreciate this rare effort of yours to delve into thinking of those who worry about the future of the minority party. Your depictions reveal yourself also, of course.
Your Rx for the Party is spot-on, IMHO. As to your lighter note, the one made “largely in good humor”, I would say that the somewhat surprisingly eloquent Colin Powell will go down as one of history’s most disgustingly political generals–the sort that an Abraham Lincoln, for example would have fired following the first engagement with the enemy.
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
9:53 am
I make no bones about the fact that I’m a died-in-the-wool California tree-hugging gun-control left-winger. I occasionally listen to Rush, Neal Boortz and others claiming to represent the Republican / Conservative / Right ideology, as I like to hear other opinions on the issues of the day.
However, I will listen (or read, as I do with Thinking Right) only so long as the “discussion” doesn’t get nasty. When thess folk start with the insults and name calling and such, I leave.
The point I’m trying to make here is if you want change my opinion, at least be polite about it. Hannity, etc. will never change my opinion on anything. There’s only one conservative commentator who has ever really reached me is Michael Medved.
Roger Hillmeyer
May 6th, 2009
9:55 am
Funny how Liberals can spout off and anybody else who doesn’t agree with them is an idiot or a terrorist..
I hope you like working for the Government.
Churchill's MOM
May 6th, 2009
9:55 am
Poultry = Dusty
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
9:56 am
sorry about the poor grammer, I typed that in way too fast.
Churchill's MOM
May 6th, 2009
9:59 am
that’s tour not tur, off to bridge you’ll have a great day
***********Handel 2010**********PALIN MCCAIN 2012*********
kcohen
May 6th, 2009
9:59 am
Oh come on, Roger! Where did I say that they’re idiots or terrorists? All I said was if you want to change my view, just talk to me with civility, don’t yell at me or insult me.
Is that so difficult to understand, or are you simply trying to prove me right?
Brad Steel
May 6th, 2009
10:00 am
“The party’s need, however, is to stick to core principles and to do a better job of articulating why those are ultimately better for the country and for the individual and for families. Getting to socialism half as fast is not an attractive alternative.”
THANKS WOOTIE!!! THIS IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF REPUBLICAN PARROTING AND THE COMPLETE LACK OF NEW IDEAS FROM THE gop.
Another insurance policy for democrats. How about some new ideas? A worthy GOP and opponent for the democrats would be good for the country. Now, the GOP offers crap.
Thinker
May 6th, 2009
10:02 am
It is the conservative mantra that “all we need to do is sell our core principles” that will keep the Republicans squarely in the minority for the foreseeable future.
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:02 am
The government has told Bank of America it needs $33.9 billion in
capital to withstand any worsening of the economic downturn, The New
York Times reported.
If the bank is unable to raise the capital cushion by selling assets or
stock, it could satisfy regulators’ demands simply by converting part
of the $45 billion in nonvoting preferred shares it sold the government
into common stock. But that would make the government one of Bank of
America’s largest shareholders.
With a lock-up agreement expiring this week, Reuters points out that
Bank of America could soon sell shares in China Construction Bank to
raise additional capital. But such a move might not sit well in
Beijing, and it’s still not clear how much, if any, of the stake BofA
would sell.
J. Steele Alphin, Bank of America’s chief administrative officer, said
his company would have plenty of options to raise the capital on its
own before it would have to convert any of the taxpayer money into
common stock.
“We’re not happy about it because it’s still a big number,” Mr. Alphin
told The Times. “We think it should be a bit less at the end of the
day.”
Ward
May 6th, 2009
10:03 am
The country doesn’t need two parties fighting to make government bigger. The Republicans need to be the party (and they aren’t right now) that represents smaller, more efficient government, a party that knows when it’s time for government to butt out and leave room for entrepreneurs and innovators to move the country forward. Government doesn’t do that.
And if that means the GOP is on the outside looking in for a few years, that’s okay; the Democrats will overreach, scandals will come… and “change” cuts both ways, y’know.
JR
May 6th, 2009
10:03 am
Enter your comments here
Jill Again
May 6th, 2009
10:04 am
The bad, the good, and the ugly!
Bennie
May 6th, 2009
10:04 am
Great article, Jim. I agree 100%. I love how you, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter make the libs squirm.
Keep up the good work!
JR
May 6th, 2009
10:05 am
I think Powell is right, we have become a nation of people that don’t have enough sense to move to high ground when their feet are getting wet. They will just stay and drown unless the government gets them!
retiredds
May 6th, 2009
10:06 am
Someone may need to correct or enlighten me but it is my understanding that when Texas joined the Union it could withdraw by dividing itself into five states. If that is the case I would recommend that the anti-USers such as the 33% of Georgians and 38% of Texans form one of those states (I will call it a territory from here on). Their price of admission is too long to note here, but let me cite just a few: no interstate commerce will be allowed into the seceded area, if goods are needed from a foreign country (the USA being one) the citizens of such seceded territory will pay the taxes and full cost of transportation to be able to receive such goods; the territory will not have at its service the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard, etc of the USA, it will have to form and pay for its own – it will provide for its own protection; anyone entering or leaving the said territories, even if family members, will pay an entrance tax if going from said territory to the USA or an exit tax if leaving such territory to visit the USA, no citizens of said territory will be entitled to Social Security (they give that up as a right to secede), medicare, federal disaster relief, etc. etc. As I said there are probably a thousand other goodies that these folks will be glad to surrender for their decision to secede from the USA. I wish them good luck.
Thinker
May 6th, 2009
10:07 am
The Republicans need to sell practical ideas that work … not ideological arguments.
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:08 am
Casino mogul Stephen Wynn’s Wynn Resorts reported a wider first-quarter
loss than Wall Street expected on Tuesday after opening a new casino
resort on the struggling Las Vegas Strip and seeing revenue slip at its
property in Macau.
Brad Steel
May 6th, 2009
10:08 am
“I love how you, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter make the libs squirm.”
Well, that’s a proud accomplishment if ever there was one. Too bad the entire GOP is otherwise completely impotent.
Big Bucks GOP
May 6th, 2009
10:10 am
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday announced its first
insider trading case to focus on the vast, murky market for
credit-default swaps, considered by some to be among the most dangerous
instruments of the financial crisis.
fearless fosdick
May 6th, 2009
10:11 am
“The Republican Party is in very deep trouble right now. They lack leadership. Democrats have a charismatic leader and they have party discipline. The GOP has none of that.”(authored by BOB BARR) But Bob, they have the guy who swings the big stick! You know the family values guy…El Pigbo (Rush) thrice married, drug addict billionaire who has to go to The Dominican Republic with a boat load of Viagra to get a date. Whether they’re boys or girls is open to interpretation. The republican party is steady as she goes…Just needs a few tweeks here and there! But, Rush will lead us into the promised land, just you wait and see!
Poultry
May 6th, 2009
10:12 am
@Churchill’s MOM,
Sorry, but I’m not Dusty. I like Dusty’s comments, though. She’s for real.
@kcohen,
You too? I’m like you in that I’ve grown tired of the stupid nastiness. Thing about this blog is that it represents an old phenomenon long identified with the Southern regions of both Italy and the United States: vendetta.
Hang in, please. All in all, this is as promising a place as any other for conservatives to make their case.
As you presumably have noticed, the elephant in the GOP’s room is the very question of whether the Party should continue to identify itself with Conservatism. The GOP has been through this before, as with the first Roosevelt and his progeny, the Republican Rockefellers. (One might say that the apogee of this line was reached in the presidency of one Richard Nixon.)
But the Party will repair itself nevertheless, and its reparation will make for interesting reading, I feel sure.
Good to have you aboard. Please stay.
recoveringrepublican
May 6th, 2009
10:13 am
Rush is like a sad old rooster, who can still crow, but can’t hear himself.
Ga Values
May 6th, 2009
10:14 am
Jim, I have read you for about 5 years and the only time I remember you saying anything about Bush & the Republican congress’s spending was a well written piece on Bush’s veto of Saxby’s pork filled farm bill. You turned around and worked for Saxby even though there was a conservative alternative. Have I missed something?