Mar 02 2009
GOP Still Imploding As Limbaugh Attacks Lesser Conservatives
You don’t have to be foaming at the mouth mad to be a solid conservative willing to fight. I fight the knuckleheads left and right every day. I am sick with overly simplistic rhetoric supported by fear mongering and demagoguery. For some reason conservatives have decided vapid emotion is better than rallying strategy.
Up until recently Rush Limbaugh was staying away from the fringes, keeping away from the civil war that has plagued the GOP for 4 years now. Either because he got sucked into the debate, or because he is finally exposing his inner purist, his speech at CPAC has clove the Conservative movement into pieces with far right purists on one side ranting about the impure (like me) who are on the other side. Just because the far right fails to make cogent policy arguments is not my fault and I fail to see why me rejection of knee-jerk ideas for more thoughtful solutions that can bring a few democrats on board makes me a traitor or a lesser conservative. But that is the battle that rages.
Let me use an obvious example of what is wrong throughout this mess. Joe Lieberman was as much a defender of the Iraq war as John McCain and George Bush. The purists in his party purged him from the democrats because he dared to be bipartisan on the war. A war that was imperative in our crushing al Qaeda’s popularity and support in the Arab Muslim Street. Yet Lieberman and McCain are evil men if you listen to the raging purists on the far right! Make sense? Hell no. Impressive, only in it self destructiveness.
Let’s go with a current example of this foolishness. Â Here is one John Hawkins, who I can relate to at times, illustrating the power of Rush Limbaugh to GENERALLY describe the positives of conservatism and the negatives of liberalism:
Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don’t see groups. We don’t see victims. We don’t see people we want to exploit. What we see — what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don’t think that person doesn’t have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations, and too much government. …
We don’t want to tell anybody how to live. That’s up to you. If you want to make the best of yourself, feel free. If you want to ruin your life, we’ll try to stop it, but it’s a waste. We look over the country as it is today, we see so much waste, human potential that’s been destroyed by 50 years of a welfare state.â€
…
Take a look at all the constituency groups that for 50 years have been depending on the Democrat Party to improve their lives. And you tell me if you find any. They’re still complaining, still griping about the same problems. Their problems don’t get fixed by government.
What’s the longest war in American history? Did somebody say the war on poverty? Smart group. War on poverty. The war on poverty essentially started in the ’30s as part of the New Deal, but it really ramped up in the ’60s with Lyndon Johnson, part of the Great Society war on poverty. We have transferred something like 10 trillion, maybe close to 11 trillion, from producers and earners to nonproducers and nonearners since 1965. Yet, as I listen to the Democratic Party campaign, why, America is still a soup kitchen, the poor is still poor and they have no hope and they’re poor for what reason? They’re poor because of us, because we don’t care, and because we’ve gotten rich by taking from them, that’s what kids in school are taught today.
Generally these are fine discriminators. But when you get into tactical policies these general differences can fall aside. Deportation of immigrants while diverting our national security from looking for terrorists threats does not fit the Limbaugh generalities. A free market prescription drug benefit in Medicare/Medicaid which is reducing costs, forcing those who can afford to pay their way, and covering those who cannot pay, is not fitting the Limbaugh generalities.
See, when you get into specifics the far right is just as rigid and preachy and demeaning as the far left is. We have the Birthers on the right and the truthers on the left. And the serious adults in the center getting pilloried by both fringes for not being convinced by radical concepts.
Here is John Hawkins jumping off the purity cliff to permanent minority status:
But if Rush actually does believe that our policies are fine and that we just need the right candidate, there are two big problems with his position.
First off, it abandons the whole field of “new ideas†to people who are not conservatives. Liberals are always coming up with new ways to spend our money and grow government.
So if all the prominent “idea men†on “our side†are people who hate social conservatives and love big government, then the conservative movement will have to choose between being forever frozen — or moving farther away from its roots with the adoption of each new idea. That path will lead to a long, slow slide into oblivion.
See, only good ideas come from pure conservatives. McCain’s and Leiberman’s support for Iraq (which were pivotal in allowing The Surge to go forward and turn the country around) is just an aberration. They just happened to have good ideas because conservatives had them??
Ugh. And now the devastation is complete, as Limbaugh locks horns with new RNC chairman Steele:
Whoa. Rush Limbaugh’s bid to cement his own role as head of the Republican Party just took a wild new turn, with Limbaugh launching a brutal hit on RNC chair Michael Steele, mocking the GOP for being in a “sad sack†state and suggesting that until Steele showed “respect†for conservatives, he’ll have “a tough time†rebuilding the party.
There is no rebuilding possible if purity is all the far right wants. To ‘build’ you need resources, new material. But to add voices requires diluting the purists, which they cannot abide. Cementing the GOP into minority status seems the best they can do.
“I’m not in charge of the Republican Party, and I don’t want to be,†Rush said. “I would be embarrassed to say that I’m in charge of the Republican Party in a sad-sack state that it’s in. If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it’s in, I would quit.â€
Please, go into exile with the other ‘true conservatives’. This ego-maniacal bashing of the right by the right is only propping Obama up, allowing him and Pelosi and Reid more opportunities to tear the country apart.
What geniuses we have these days. Instead of building progress, they are building scrap heaps from once fine ideals. Limbaugh, you’re no Ronald Reagan (or George W Bush).
AJ
I’m not sure where Eric Cantor and Michael Steele have been for the last few days. Every talking head on the cable channels(Chris Matthews, etc.) have been trying to trip up GOP guests by having them denounce Rush. Why would they be so willing to play into this trap? As Rush pointed out today, he gets flooded with e-mails from GOP reps, senators, etc. whenever they want to get news out to the people because they know he is one of their best sources for this. This is kind of like biting the hand that feeds you. Both of these guys should have been better prepared for this before they went on any of these shows. If there is a disagreement in the party it should have been settled off the air not in front of the whole country.
Yes Rush has a tender ego. But for goodness sake he is a radio guy. Everybody who listens to Rush knows he is sometimes outrageous, mostly factual, and wants people to think. Does he go too far sometimes, yes, but he is a radio guy, not a politician. He is not a leader of a nation, though those on the left would like to make believe he was, so they can demonize everything he says. It is no different then demonizing the PERSON of George W. Bush. The left doesn’t care who they discredit and long as they are on the other side. If the left turns the outrageous Rush into the leader they can demonize all Republicans. What Rush did was set himself up to the treatment that left is going to take as far as they can. It is their play book, now they have Rush in their sights, just as the had Bush. They ruined everything Bush thought, did and was and then spit him out like so much garbage. Rush put his name up for them to try it on him, and you know what, it worked. Every MSM supporter of Obama took the bait and ran with it.
There comes a time when a person does more damage than they do good. A little humility goes a heck of a long way and Rush needs to learn what humility is. He is a radio host, NOT the Chairman of the RNC who is the “leader” of the Republican Party.
Oh the other hand, at least Rush is saying he is Republican. I calculate we have one election cycle – the mid-terms coming up, to win back the House and Senate and try and stop as much of this out of control spending as possible.
If these people cannot get their act together and act like grown-ups, we’re in very bad trouble.
I think they need to step aside and let the adults run things.
SJR
The Pink Flamingo
Sorry, AJ. Rush is right…and after the last 48 hours, Steele needs to resign by the end of the week.
The Republican party has always been divided. Generally between a populist conservative faction and a patrician plutocrat faction. The former have the votes, the latter had the money. The patricians usually controlled the party…but the truly successful Republican leaders all came from the populist faction.
Factor in another long-standing Republican tradition…betrayal. The Republican party is notorious for trying to curry favor with their opponents by betraying their friends.
Do this long enough, and you run out of friends. Politics is about coalitions…and you can’t build a coalition if you have a record of breaking your word.
Which is exactly what Rush was pointing out.
Rush advocates conservatism not the GOP.
His speech said it at CPAC and his transcript today on Steel also talks to that point.
I don’t recall Rush pushing mass deportation. He was for deportation if a person was found to be illegal, but he wasn’t for a massive man hunt. Generally speaking conservatives are strongly for rule of law.
If I recall correctly he just talked about having good border security, enforcing current laws, and making sure non-Citizens are not getting perks (possibly low cost housing, etc.). I seem to recall him talking about a state that would suspend a business license for first offense of hiring an illegal, and revoking it for the second offense. Let the market take over from there. Once fed and states reduce the ease of a person to live here illegally, then amnesty becomes the exception and not the rule.
I don’t have a problem for H1-like visa program for “jobs that Americans don’t want to do” — if there is such a thing as a job an American doesn’t want.
Is any of this unreasonable?
Steele compared the GOP convention to a Nazi Party rally. That is not conservative in any manner. He is a RINO and an agent of the Democrats. What do you expect from an affirmative action baby.
I actually liked Rush’s speech and did not see him attacking the lesser conservatives. I thought he was promoting conservatism. He offered one solution, which was to warn us to be prepared.
Now we see the left-wings attacking both Rush and Steele.
So combat18, in your view anyone who is not a Conservative is an agent of the Democrats? This is precisely the reason I left the GOP in November… purist conservatives using the label of RINO against anyone who does not share their views. What gives you purists the right to define who can and who cannot be a Republican? As a moderate, I lean GOP, and I can’t stand the Democrats. They were the party of the slave-owner and the party of stabbing US troops in the back, and I consider that an insult to be labeled an agent of the Democrats simply I don’t share your views. Such paranoid thinking is the reason the GOP is imploding. Keep calling others RINOs-you’re only digging your hole deeper.
I’m sorry for the rantings and I usually don’t go off on other posters like that, but that post got to me.
One other observation: Many thought the Clintons played hard ball, Obama and his gang make the Clinton’s look like they’re playing tiddly winks.
I sometimes listen to Rush, and while I don’t agree with him 100%, I think he has a point in one matter: many times he has claimed the left and the media will use anything against him to try to bring back the “fairness” doctrine. Whether his comments are right or wrong is irrelevant. I do think the media is trying to drum this up in order to shut him up. Notice how this is suddenly big news after Obama said he wouldn’t support moves to reinstate the censorship doctrine?
AJ, I’ve been a daily (many times a day) reader of your blog for over a year. I became aware of your blog through Rush Limbaugh! If not for him, I wouldn’t know you exist. I do like reading your stuff – though I find myself disagreeing with you and getting frustrated more and more. First, you remind me of that guy that wants to be in the club (Republicans), yet wants everyone to know that you’re “different” than the the rest of the group. Second, I’m beginning to wonder how often you actually listen to Rush or read original pieces – as opposed to linking to someone else’s blog on the subject. Rush’s entire point was that he hopes Obama’s prescription for the country fails, because Obama’s prescription is naked socialism. The argument had NOTHING to do with conservative purity. You begrudge Rush, yet most of the following stories on your page are about how Obama’s policies are making the situation worse. My point is – you seem to have been reacting more and more emotionally since the election. It seems pointless – your rantings – because you and Rush essentially agree, and desire the same results for this country. So we yield! You’re not exactly like the rest of us. Can we move on?
What a strange discussion. I have listened to Rush and enjoyed it, but I haven’t listened in years, but unless he has changed, one thing he is, is a Proud American first, conservative second. according to what I’ve heard him say, and I listened to his CPAC speech, he only wants what is good for America. And there is not one single solitary item that I have heard Obama propose that is ‘good’ for America. In fact, exactly the opposite. This whole economic mess was engineered by the Democratic socialists for one single reason, to permanently make America a socialist ‘world’ society to be economically ravaged for the ‘ones’ that have engineered and are in control of all this. To ‘go along’ with anything Obama proposes is to be against the survival of America as we have known it. Do I want him to fail, absolutely. For his failure is the success of a free society. He’s filling his whole admin with a bunch of crooks that can’t figure out Turbo-tax, for God’s sake. Do we need those clowns trying to run something they’re not capable of? The Democrats are succeeding in many ways, all this discussion about the ‘purists’ in the conservatives is a key part of their game plan. Divide and conquer. and it’s working. Everyone to the right of the far left is so busy squabbling and calling each other names, they aren’t paying attention to the fact that Obama’s directors are busy carving up the spoils. Obama is doing all he can do to make the Democrats forget about the biggest socialist and one of the worst president’s, FDR, that the country has ever had. We were fortunate that he didn’t stay in office any longer than he did. He damn nearly single handedly wrecked the country, and would have if WWII hadn’t intervened. So we need to stop the name calling and unite to fight the common enemy. It’s more important to do the right thing than it is to be right. For if you are right and the conservatives remain divided, they will cease to have any ability to affect any outcome.
Tonite it sounds like Steele is trying to apologize to Rush as fast as he can. It doesn’t matter who you agree with on this issue – Steele has just publicly proven he’s a wimp who will cave in to anyone who puts pressure on him. First he caved in to the reporter who baited him into criticizing Rush (Hey, that’s Steele’s own description of what happened now) and now he’s caved in again. Wimp, wimp, wimp.
If a man wants to lead anything in this country, not least a political party, he ought to be ready to stand behind what he says publicly. And he ought to have the discipline not to say anything he can’t stand behind.
I enjoyed Rush’s CPAC speech. In fact, I think Rush is a much better speaker than Obama.
This is beyond stupid. Clearly the left are saying Rush is the head of the GOP just for this reason…..to play some politicians against conservatism.
Did the left ever criticize MoveOn.Org, Michael Moore, Rosie O’Donnell, Air America, Code Pink?????
Steele, and other politicians, better find a way to deal with this game the libs are playing and stay on message.
They may want to take Pelosi’s example:
When Pelosi was asked about a right wing talk show host the other day, Pelosi said: “I don’t speak to that. I’m the speaker of the House. I don’t get into the popular culture.â€
I think Steele should take advantage of this game the liberals are playing, stay on message (not become a tool in this game), and then he has a great opportunity to actually express the GOP ideas, agenda, etc. Right now the GOP seems to be rallying behind fiscal restraint. That won’t be enough. Steele has a lot of work yet to do.
I think the conservatives and the centrists better just admit they have differences; but are on the same side…..and, move forward on the things they agree on under the GOP banner…..and, quit playing the lib game. Conservatives can’t kick “Rino’s” out of the party; and Centrists can’t kick “Purists” out of the party. Elections are local.
So, let’s quit calling each other names.
The best advice came from that 13 year old speaker, Johnathan Krohn, at CPAC who said it is all about “principles over power”. I think that is what it has come down to for the conservative wing of the GOP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xOvNWEAtiM
You centrists are going to have your hands full with this kid in a few years! LOL
Principles over power sounds good to me. So, what are the principles that the centrists, liberal, and conservative wings of the GOP can agree on….and how far do you compromise those principles? Maybe we should start there.
The longer we play this lib game, the longer it will take to actually have a plan. Steele doesn’t need to agree, disagree, justify, apologize to, or explain Rush Limbaugh. He does, however, need to do that for the GOP. The sooner he approaches it that way, the better off we will all be.
*sigh*
Limbaugh is like one of those cartoons we watched back in the 70’s where there was something going on at two different levels at the same time. Rush appeals to a large number of people but there is also something going on at a different level that not everyone catches and you really do have to listen for a while to really “get it”. The same is true for Colter. There is stuff that makes sense in one fashion at a very literal level and there is also some interesting stuff in there through (sometimes very) obscure references to other stuff that you aren’t going to “get” if you aren’t well read or keep your fingers on the pulse of the latest Washington punditry.
Fundamentally, Steele was correct, Limbaugh is an entertainer whose function is to draw ears to advertising. He draws a lot of ears, is a very successful radio business, and his commentary *does* get a little “ugly” in the political sense in that he doesn’t need to be diplomatic as a politician who might want to some day run for public office might need to be.
Rush can be blunt and is sarcasm is sometimes *extremely* subtle. But you can’t read a sentence or paragraph of his and have what you read be in complete context because it often contains references to other things or is part of an even larger context that has been unfolding over the entire day or even several days, weeks, or months on his show.
That is part of the problem. People will cut out a fragment of one program of his and focus like a laser beam on that statement and turn it into something completely different from the real meaning when you put the entire context together … which could take quite a bit of time to do.
Basically, most people don’t fully “get” people like Limbaugh or Coulter fully. They get the more literal, lower level stuff but a lot of stuff goes right over their heads.
But Rush is not a politician, he is not running for public office, he is a mechanism for making radio stations attract listeners so they stations can sell advertising at a higher price.
Dang, I butchered that post. Where did that edit function go 🙂
I miss the edit key, also. But, Crosspatch, your post is actually pretty sound.
Now this is well said:
———
Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), said Gibbs was trying to create a distraction by responding to Limbaugh.
“What we are seeing is a desperate attempt by Democrats to distract attention away from a multi-trillion dollar spending spree taking place in Washington,” Ferrier said. “Creating a boogeyman to change the subject does nothing to alter the fact that there are 9,000 earmarks in the omnibus spending bill, that the economic stimulus bill contained no Republican input or that their budget would increase taxes on all Americans.”
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/white-house-fires-back-at-rush-limbaugh-2009-03-02.html
———————–
I don’t know what Obama’s obsession with Rush Limbaugh is; but, he certainly has one. I hope Rejpubs figure out a way to use this to their advantage.
Rush is right.
And, you, the mushy “moderates”, are to blame for the mess the GOP is in.
The “compasionate conservatism” and your illegals amnesty garbage!
Bush and his guys “blessed” this country with the marxist Obama.
‘Nough said.
Now the real conservatives need to clean up the mess.