White House Takes It to Limbaugh
More of my current obsession...The White House takes the right tack on this whole GOP-Limbaugh dustup, which is to keep it in the news.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs is now calling Rush Limbaugh out by name from the podium. That not only gives him the opportunity to refute the most recognized voice of the conservative opposition to President Obama's agenda, it solidifies in the public's mind exactly WHO represents this opposition.
"Do they want to see the president's economic agenda fail? You know, I bet there are a number of guests on television throughout the day and maybe into tomorrow who could let America know whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend."
Limbaugh claims 20 million listeners (which is horse shit and a conflation of what is most commonly cited as 3 million listeners a day x five days a week, and then inflated for under reporting) and is certainly the most vocal, but even assuming Limbaugh's numbers that represents only a portion of the 100 million+ voters in America. Rush's audience may be the last remaining voters for the GOP and that's a numbers game they lose.
Comments
Have you noticed the latest dust-up between Limpbaugh and Michael Steele?
Posted by: Jude | March 2, 2009 5:59 PM
Oh yes. Steele caved today.
Don't you follow POLJUNK on Twitter?
Posted by: Derek Phillips | March 2, 2009 6:09 PM
Steele to Politico today:
“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Steele said in a telephone interview. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.” […]
“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking,” Steele said. “It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people … want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he’s not.”
These dudes are scared shitless of Limbaugh. Be careful of the monster you create, yo.
Posted by: Derek Phillips | March 2, 2009 6:31 PM
give limbaugh enough rope and he will hang himself. when the spot light gets firmly on him, he will implode.
Posted by: vitas | March 2, 2009 9:33 PM
I hope so, vitas. I do tend to question the sanity of dignifying Rush Limbaugh through the White House. So far so good. I know a lot of people who can't believe Rush is saying he hopes Obama will fail. As long as he stays on that tack, we're good.
A lot of people said Obama should go on the attack this summer for his campaign. He didn't: he took the high road. He was right; they were wrong. I guess there's nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade, and Limbaugh IS the de facto leader of the party.
Posted by: barabajagal | March 3, 2009 1:21 PM
It's all about defining and choosing your enemies. Rush is an easy fight for Obama. Rush's reach is very, very limited and to an ever shrinking audience. His personality turns 90% of sane people off. That's good to position the GOP with such a turn off. Make them ALL look like assholes.
Posted by: Derek Phillips | March 3, 2009 2:48 PM
i like what james carvile said, and i'm parphrasing of course - the whole thing with rush i good for the white house, good for dems, good for rush and the only one really hurt by it is the republican party.
look, rush is an entertainer. he's more interested being in the limelight and hearing the applause. he wants to make money, bottom line. he's not a policy wonk. he could give a care less about the general public. if he can draw the vitriol of the administration, it will strengthen his position with the wingnuts that listen to him and maybe even grow a little more of an audience. though, he's generally unpopular with teh majority of americans, so he's the perfect pony boy to ride for this administration.
with the stage large enough and the spotlight bright enough he will go off the deep end and continue to marginalize the republican party. there's no doubt about that.
i'm really interested to see what comes up after this whole mess. there's got to be a rebirth to the conservative party that looks more like the classic conservatives that almost seem like libertarians now. once that bubbles up, we'll see a real challenge in ideology with the progressives. one that would be healthy and help push the country forward. hopefully.
though, it's not through steele, it's not through jindal, it's not through palin, and it's definitely not through rush.
Posted by: vitas | March 4, 2009 9:44 AM
You know what I love about the whole Limbaugh thing? Sensible Republicans can't even come out and "distance" themselves from the blowhard, because if they do, they face the wrath of the dittohead base. Hilarious. This is 100% awesome.
Posted by: Jake | March 4, 2009 11:42 AM