The strangest thing about the latest round of public apologies after pointing out that Rush Limbaugh isn't the Messiah is that it's unclear to me who exactly is calling the shots. Can it really be the case that the Republican donor class, particularly the high-dollar, DC-centric class, is so wedded to Limbaugh that they can't have him hear a little honest criticism?
That said, while the Limbaugh strategy has a decent chance of working wonders in 2010 and 2012, I doubt it will be useful much longer than that. Just as George W. Bush duped us all with compassionate conservatism, a 2016 Republican candidate will be able to run on the same tired agenda simply by repeating the words "I am not like Rush Limbaugh" at every campaign stop.
3 comments:
If Rush still has a lot of fans at that point, is it possible that this would keep some of them from voting for the hypothetical GOPer in 2016? It's one thing to be heterodox in issue positions, it's another thing to call out a major figure with dedicated followers who likes being powerful and relevant within your party and is a total asshole.
Not that it couldn't work, but I don't have a good test case from the past.
Limbaugh is the angry white man who knows everything, think Jimmy Mcnulty in the wire, although not as cool as Mcnulty. that demographic is getting smaller especially as they lose their homes to foreclosure.
Rush himself is a high dollar man, and his show is on in everyone's district. I wouldn't be surprised if he soon suffers some sort of public embarrassment. This should be entertaining for a little while yet!
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