RNC Chairman Apologizes to Limbaugh

[Tricky]

All hail the new spokesman for the Republican Party: Rush Limbaugh.

Rush Limbaugh spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington Saturday, and he killed! Man, he had 'em on their feet and cheering with his message of "I want Obama to fail". Then man can play a crowd. And the Dem's know it.

Limbaugh's rollicking speech came the day after Obama supporters put out a political ad implying that the conservative radio host has become the de facto head of the Republican Party in the absence of a clear GOP leader.

Of course, not all Republicans are toeing the line on their new mouthpiece. Take for example the No. 2 Republican leader in the House, Rep. Eric Cantor.

"Nobody — no Republican, no Democrat — wants this president to fail, nor do they want this country to fail or the economy to fail," he said on ABC's "This Week."

And then there's Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele.

"I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party," Steele asserted. "Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it's incendiary. Yes, it's ugly."

There's not doubt that Limbaugh is a charismatic figure among conservative. He is a firebrand who gets them all excited. He's also a lightning rod for criticism who alienates moderates and bridge-builders. Will the GOP get in their Kamikaze planes with Limbaugh and Palin at the stick and dive bomb the Democrats into submission? Something tells me this is not exactly the course they should be plotting if they wish to retake national power.

 

[Alareth]

Rush used to market some very nice ties.

That's really the only nice thing I have to say about the guy right now.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Will the GOP get in their Kamikaze planes with Limbaugh and Palin at the stick and dive bomb the Democrats into submission? Something tells me this is not exactly the course they should be plotting if they wish to retake national power.

Can you imagine some of the attack ads against a Limbaugh-Palin ticket?

Just taking sound bites from Rush's radio shows could make him unelectable.

 

[Tricky]

Can you imagine some of the attack ads against a Limbaugh-Palin ticket?

Just taking sound bites from Rush's radio shows could make him unelectable.

Oh, Rush will never run for anything. His radio business is too lucrative, and besides, he doesn't have to make any tough decisions. Besides, being a draft dodger and a former drug addict might work against him too.

But he can be a spokesman. They don't have to do any real work.

 

[negativ]

Maybe, just maybe, the GOP's many fractures will finally deepen to the point where the pseudo-Maoist** faction forms its own party, leaving the less insane to rebuild it into something less appalling.


** according to this faction of the GOP, anyone from any party who doesn't follow lock-step with the ultra-conservative dogma is an Enemy of the People, etc.

 

[Andronicus]

This Republican history rewrite misses one important point. If Bush was such a liberal, why are the Republicans only now saying so? You'd be a lot more credible with this history rewrite had you complained about Bush 4 years ago.

Rewrite? I don't need no stinkin' rewrite.

1. Generally, a fiscal conservative believes in smaller and less expensive government. (There are much better definitions but this is a decently simple and short one.)

2. President Bush expanded government and greatly expanded the deficit. ("Greatly" from a pre-Obama viewpoint).

3. President Bush failed to act as a fiscal conservative.

4. Therefor President Bush is not a fiscal conservative.

The above proof also works if you exchange Republican Senate for President Bush.

"You'd be a lot more credible with this history rewrite had you complained about Bush 4 years ago." -- Mere ad hominem. Many A few conservatives did protest the spending spree with Ron Paul (unpresidential and arguably unhinged fringe candidate that he was) as the best example. And even if no one called Bush out on his lack of fiscal conservatism (and I agree to the extent that precious few did) it is irrelevant. An idiot is idiotic, a hero is heroic, and a fiscal conservative is fiscally conservative, whether the crowd timely issues the correct labels or not.

 

[dudalb]

Not even that long, He just got back from the woodshed apparently.

Yeah, Rush LImbaugh is now the most powerful voice in the GOP without a doubt.
I saw footage of his speech at CPAC. The gestures and tone were so over the top you could make Limbaugh the picture in the dicitionary for "Demogogue".
I agree with David Gergen that the Democrats are very happy over this tonight.
The GOP is not interested in expanding it's base, apparently. Looks as if they need a few more disasters at the polls to get the message.
I really now think they are going to a 1982 UK Labor Party crash and burn before they learn their lesson.

 

[dudalb]

I agree with David Gergan that Steele should have kept out of this . Politicians should NEVER get directly into a fight with somebody who has a endless supply of paper and ink or a microphone with hundreds of outlets.

 

[Tricky]

Merged my thread with the one I didn't notice.

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Tricky

 

[rdaneel]

I agree with David Gergan that Steele should have kept out of this . Politicians should NEVER get directly into a fight with somebody who has a endless supply of paper and ink or a microphone with hundreds of outlets.

Plus, even if he's trying to take the high road by apologizing, he and his party still end up looking weak.

 

[shecky]

Rewrite? I don't need no stinkin' rewrite.

1. Generally, a fiscal conservative believes in smaller and less expensive government. (There are much better definitions but this is a decently simple and short one.)

2. President Bush expanded government and greatly expanded the deficit. ("Greatly" from a pre-Obama viewpoint).

3. President Bush failed to act as a fiscal conservative.

4. Therefor President Bush is not a fiscal conservative.

The above proof also works if you exchange Republican Senate for President Bush.

The above proof demonstrates the most conservative president of at least the last forty years was Bill Clinton. Tell me again what conservatives stand for? God? Guns? Gays?

 

[quixotecoyote]

"fiscal" shecky, as opposed to "social"

 

[shecky]

"fiscal" shecky, as opposed to "social"

Sure. But certainly one can see the kind of problem this makes for Republicans and conservatives in general. The only party with actual conservative creds at all is the Dems. The Repubs are left fighting a (losing) culture war, having given up the pretense of fiscal conservatism. Even if they wanted, there's no fiscal credibility left for the Right to claim.

When you hear stuff like this from the guy who seems the de facto voice of the American Right:

One thing we can all do is stop assuming that the way to beat them is with better policy ideas right now.

~Rush Limbaugh

You have to wonder where the heck this is all going. Is it really as dire for the Right as it's looking right now? If the Right can't or won't compete on policy, all they have left is God, guns, and bashing gays, immigrants, and of course those filthy hippies. Ratchet up the "Obama is a socialist" meme, because it worked so well last November.

 

[Puppycow]

The new chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, apologized to Rush Limbaugh on Monday after describing him in a television interview over the weekend as an “entertainer” who made incendiary and sometimes ugly remarks, party officials said.

Mr. Steele called Mr. Limbaugh after the radio host belittled Mr. Steele on his show, questioning his authority and saying the new Republican leader was off “to a shaky start.”

“It’s time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking head media star, which you’re having a tough time pulling off,” Mr. Limbaugh said, in a transcript of his remarks he posted on his Web site.

“Mr. Steele: You are head of the R.N.C.,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “You are not head of the Republican Party. Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the R.N.C. and right now they want nothing to do with it.”

The fight broke out at a time when Democrats have sought to portray Mr. Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a line that has been pushed in television advertisements financed by labor, as well as by the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Steele bristled after a questioner on CNN referred to Mr. Limbaugh as the de facto leader of the Republican Party on Saturday.

“No he’s not – I’m the de facto leader of the Republican Party,” Mr. Steele responded.

“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer,” he said. “Rush Limbaugh, the whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary, yes, it’s ugly.”

Mr. Steele told Politico on Monday that he had called Mr. Limbaugh to apologize.

“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Mr. Steele told The Politico. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”

Democrats reacted with glee to the exchange. “Michael Steele has denounced himself for renouncing Rush,” said Paul Begala, an ally of Mr. Emanuel and one of the Democrats presenting Mr. Limbaugh as the face of the G.O.P. “Can anyone seriously argue now that Rush is not the unchallenged leader of the Republican Party?”

ETA: here's the linky

 

[Policenaut]

Lame.

 

[Puppycow]

Lame.

I agree. They are both quite lame.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Rewrite? I don't need no stinkin' rewrite.

1. Generally, a fiscal conservative believes in smaller and less expensive government. (There are much better definitions but this is a decently simple and short one.)

2. President Bush expanded government and greatly expanded the deficit. ("Greatly" from a pre-Obama viewpoint).

3. President Bush failed to act as a fiscal conservative.

4. Therefor President Bush is not a fiscal conservative.

The above proof also works if you exchange Republican Senate for President Bush.

"You'd be a lot more credible with this history rewrite had you complained about Bush 4 years ago." -- Mere ad hominem. Many A few conservatives did protest the spending spree with Ron Paul (unpresidential and arguably unhinged fringe candidate that he was) as the best example. And even if no one called Bush out on his lack of fiscal conservatism (and I agree to the extent that precious few did) it is irrelevant. An idiot is idiotic, a hero is heroic, and a fiscal conservative is fiscally conservative, whether the crowd timely issues the correct labels or not.

It's not an ad hom to point out hypocrisy related to the discussion. Reagan wasn't a fiscal conservative either. Reagan and GW just spent government money on different priorities. If it was military, then spend away.

Fiscally conservative also means pay with cash, not credit. But in order to get elected, both Bush and Reagan lowered taxes without decreasing spending.

Clinton, OTOH, was fiscally responsible with the federal budget. Yet Republicans were loathe to admit it.


It is not just rewriting history to claim Republicans practice what they preach, it also demonstrates how sheep-like the far right can be when it comes to believing the fantasy they actually support fiscally conservative leaders. In the last few decades, it seems the majority of Republicans vote for slogans and the ideals which they identify with rather than candidates who actually act on those principles.

Actually, Rush proves it. People cheer and follow him as if he represents fiscal conservative ideals. It's all slogan and perceived image. It is not factual.

What he actually represents is hypocrisy. Of course he wants lower taxes, he benefits. He ranted about slimy drug addicts all the while he was one. Then he claimed his addiction was different. He became addicted because he suffered real pain. Those of us who have worked with prescription drug abusers know there is little difference between that scenario and other addicts. Denial is part of the disease.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

In all fairness, Democrats should probably be voting for Kucinich if we followed our ideals. But we are afraid he couldn't win the election if nominated in the primary.

 

[Denver]

The more I see Rush in the news, the more I expect him to break into that speech from a Few Good Men:

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? ... my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.

You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall -- you need me on that wall.

We use words like "honor," "code," "loyalty." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it.

I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think you're entitled to!

 

[Upchurch]

The more I see Rush in the news, the more I expect him to break into that speech from a Few Good Men:

Which would be terribly ironic.