I am amused, like Pandora, at the whole “Republican Minority Leader Rush Limbaugh” episode. It occurs to me that it is a win-win for everyone involved.
Politico is reporting that longtime Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville polled public opinion concerning the Great Rotund Republican last fall, “and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters… 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.”
I am not so sure that this was all a great Democratic plan hatched in the mind of the Rajun Cajun. I think Carville et al. are just trying to play themselves back into the political game (as longtime Clinton operatives with no real role in Democratic politics since Hillary Clinton lost the nomination to Barack Obama last year). But, as the Politico story points out, there does seem to be some coordination because James Carville and Paul Begala began pounding on Limbaugh frequently in their appearances on CNN and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel elevated the strategy last weekend “by bringing up the conservative talker, unprompted, on CBS’s Face the Nation and calling him the ‘the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.'”
I say it is a win-win because 1) Democrats win when the deeply unpopular and fanatical Rush is portrayed as the voice of the opposition rather than a more reasonable and moderate Republican like Charlie Crist or some new rising conservative “star” like Sarah Palin or Bobby Jindal; 2) Rush wins because it gives him the validation he has really always sought, and with his name in the press everyday, it can only help his ratings; 3) Conservatives win because this is what they want: they want an unabashed conservative voicing conservative “principles” with no apology and no quarter to “RINOs.” The only possible losers are the moderate or establishment Republicans in Congress.
With the Republican plan for opposition and comeback appearing to be the Limbaugh plan, I expect to see some party switches in the coming months, much like RSmitty and John Brady have already done. Actual moderate Republicans, like perhaps Arlen Specter, who have long argued that the return to the center is the way to win elections are no doubt saddened at the permanent turn to the Right their Party has taken. Some Republicans who have pretended to be moderate all this time for their own local political reasons ::cough Mike Castle cough:: will either follow Limbaugh or leave the party.
Indeed, perhaps we should ask our “honorable” Congressman where he stands concerning Republican Minority Leader Limbaugh. Let’s see if he is man enough to stand up to the Great Oxycontin Bandit.