The Limbaugh Strategy Seems to be Working
Want to know why Democrats picked a fight with Rush Limbaugh? Just look at the polling:
A new Democratic poll suggests that conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh is an anchor around the ankles of the national Republican Party, eroding its ability to reach out to moderate and independent voters who sided heavily with President Barack Obama last fall.The survey -- conducted by Democracy Corps, a group that includes longtime Democratic strategists James Carville and Stan Greenberg -- shows that voters believe two fundamental things about Limbaugh: he is one of the most prominent leaders of the Republican Party and he is not in step with their values.
Now, like a good joke, you don't want to go too far with this tactic. It loses its appeal after a while and can quickly become an annoying parody of partisan politics and personal destruction. But in the short-term, this is an easy win for Democrats. Limbaugh is highly influential with a small and shrinking audience and is a MAJOR turn-off to everyone else, especially minorities whose voting numbers are on the rise. So it only makes political sense to align the GOP with someone as disliked as Rush Limbaugh. Plus, it's funny.
Comments
Is Rush's audience actually shrinking or is it just an ever smaller proportion of the general population? I'll take it either way.
Posted by: Jude | March 11, 2009 4:08 PM
I think it's the latter, Jude. I haven't seen any reports that his audience is shrinking, but the percentage of that audience versus the number of voters is certainly smaller. And when you compare that to Democratic efforts to expand their base (versus nursing a dwindling base) then the difference is stark.
The GOP, for whatever reason, seems content to focus on what they have at the cost of what they could be. They harp on the same themes from the same voices and are losing voters in every election.
Posted by: Derek Phillips | March 11, 2009 5:50 PM
That's my primary problem with the entire idea of conservatism, such as it is today - the idea that a specific set of ideas must be maintained, no matter their valitidy or effectiveness, because they may have worked once (never mind that the world is a constatnly changing landscape...).
Conservatism, by its nature, cannot adapt to new challenges.
Posted by: Jude | March 11, 2009 11:37 PM
The thing to remember is that the idea is to hurt the GOP. You can't hurt Rush. He's been literally wrong about so many things in the past, yet keeps his audience and his power.
Posted by: barabajagal | March 13, 2009 10:57 AM