Friday, March 6, 2009
Congress / Kotz / Politics Playing the Limbaugh Card is the Latest in Democratic Fashion
Posted by Pete Kotz on Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 5:35 AM
For the past few weeks, the White House has been steadfast in painting the drug-addled sociopath/Victim Radio star as the true voice of the Republican Party. It even managed to trick new GOP Chairman Micheal Steele into dismissing Limbaugh for the kook that he is. Which only brought a new round of crowing when Steele was forced to backpedal in apology.
Now the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has sent out a mass email framing Limbaugh as the GOP's puppet master. "When Rush says jump," it leads off, "congressional Republicans says how high?" Continuing: "That is why today I am asking you to join me in telling Senate Republicans to go on record and declare their independence from Rush Limbaugh."
In terms of party warfare, it's not exactly cunning. And it seems a lot like the guilt-by-association William Ayers slurs of last fall. Okay, so Limbaugh's a huge voice among the Crazed Shut-In/People Who Spend Too Much Time In Their Car faction of the conservative movement. But to most of the country he's irrelevant. All Democrats are doing is making us think about one of the nation's most irritating people, a bloated Paris Hilton who doesn't even leak home sex videos. Oooo noooo, please don't make us think of Rush Limbaugh again!
Is this a terrible move, or am I missing something here?
Comments (19)
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So, the editor of a publication with an audience of maybe 300,000 adults a month and that’s generous since most are there for the listings)is labeling a radio host with a weekly audience of 20 million as niche.
That’s rich. Maybe you should be worried about the White House going all Nixon on a private citizen radio talk show host. It’s a stupid strategy regardless of the target or the administration doing it. But then again, I guess that’s not as much fun as ridiculing perceived enemies.
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Rush is such a pill. Go Rush Go… Keep leading the Republicans over the cliff. The MAJORITY of the nation is weary of this kind of nonsense. Can you say dinosaur.
Rushasauras Limbaugh
Truth Teller, the Nashville Scene is an alternative publication in a mid-sized city. That is what alternative publications do, to investigate and criticize those in power. Phil Bredesen received far more votes than people who read the Scene. Does that mean they can't criticize him? And being popular among a very homogeneous group of people is nothing to brag about. In fact, it's quite embarrassing to the Republican party that he has so much clout. That's the equivalent of Michael Moore having that kind of clout with the Democrats (which he doesn't, by the way). The reason that the Obama people are doing this is because it hurts the Republicans for them to be so associated with this blowhard. I'm not sure they shouldn't just ignore him, but I can see why they're doing it. And it's not a stupid strategy. It just inflates Limberger's ego and makes him sound crazier. That can only hurt the Republican party.
Chris, old rule of PR, never get in a pissing match with someone who you perceive to have less clout. It only gives legitimacy to their charges.
So either the administration is scared of Limbaugh or they have given legitimacy to his claims. Either way, it is a stupid strategy unworthy of any administration. But most importantly, the administration should be worrying about bigger things than diverting attention to Limbaugh.
Also, I don’t think Peter’s post is really an investigative piece. It was a snarky blog post, not a Willy Stern four page piece. Get a grip dude.
this seems like the political equivalent of surfing the net on company time. washington needs to get to fucking work.
Truth Teller, I agree that getting in a pissing match with an adversary, especially one as ridiculous as Limbaugh, is generally not a good strategy. In this case though, I see what they're doing. They are working on cementing the view that Limbaugh is the face of the Republican party, which will be a negative for them. I personally think they should ignore him, but this strategy won't hurt Obama.
And I didn't mean that this particular posting was investigative. I was just trying to make the point that they shouldn't hold back just because 20 million wing-nuts listen to Limbaugh. Numbers don't mean superiority. No body listens to me, but that doesn't mean that I can't criticize.
Well, fellas, I'm not sure I'm right on this, but it seems Rush is a lot like Joan Rivers. Yeah, they both have big audiences, but they also really irritate a whole lot more people. Like when a band you hate comes on the radio and you can't move fast enough to change the channel.
So it seems goofy and kind of petty to keeping raising the issue of Rush Limbaugh when there's so many other things to talk about. It's kinda like when Republicans keep talking about William Ayers or socialism. I really believe the country's ripe to talk about real things. I dare say it may actually be yearning for it. All this seems to accomplish is to give people headaches and drive them away from the debate.
Pete, I agree there are more important things to talk about, and as to the question of whether focusing on the Rush/Republican equation is an effective strategy for Dems, I'm on the fence.
Still, to suggest that this is anything like the Ayers situation doesn't hold water. First, Rush gave a keynote address at CPAC, a clear sign that he's a mover and shaker on the right. Second, Republicans cower at his feet and beg for forgiveness anytime a confrontation develops. Can't say anything remotely similar about Ayers.
And I'm not sure he's as irrelevant to most of the country as you suggest. If by "most," you mean slightly more than 50 percent, OK. But even if 20 or 25 percent of the country pay him heed, that's huge.
And the fact that the Republican party on the one hand would like to distance itself from his image, yet on the other hand, cowers before him, shows its true colors, which I interpret this way: Republicans want to rebrand themselves as younger and more tolerant and diverse (thus, Bobby Jindal), yet they feel dependent on the same xenophobic, fear-mongering, faux-family-values crap that Rush represents.
And TruthTeller, 300,000 adults read the SCENE for the listings AND my pearls of wisdom. And to learn from the example of humility that I embody.
ok,..i am amused,...gotta tell ya kids...i hope all the religious right-gop-republican- "I" first folks get behind rush 'cause your right, it would be very bad for the republican party and i hope good for america as it will open the door for maybe a third or fourth political party to compete in our political arena,....as it should be.
It's not just Rush; it's Jim Cramer, it's that dude on CNBC, it's apparently anyone who criticizes the Messiah. Notice this morning that David Brooks was called to the woodshed after his column the other day. Now he's seen the light. Why don't the Dems just do the sensible thing: pass a new Sedition Act (as Alien and Sedition Acts)--whoops, that would be the purpose of the Fairness Doctrine, wouldn't it?
The Nashville Scene is worse than Gannett in inflating its readership. They may print 300,000 copies and give them away, but that doesn't 300,000 read it. If they're like me, I pick up the hard copy and use it for my birdcage. If there is something I want to read, I go online, though the Scene mobile site is so hard to navigate that I'm going to stop even that.
senor, I just got the 300,000 figure from TruthTeller, 'cuz I figure he must be telling the truth.
But we get endless satisfaction here at the Scene reading comments on our website from people who claim they don't like to read the Scene.
And how do you know your bird isn't reading the Scene?
I agree that Ayers and Limbaugh aren't the same guy, Jack. But don't you think the end game's the same? Calling on your enemies to denounce some guy they're loosely associated with just seems, well, dainty. It kinda falls into the same category as being "outraged" or "demanding an apology." It just seems like such a great time to actually accomplish something. I hate to see the Democrats get sidetracked by petty fights. It reminds me of Republicans in Tennessee. Everybody's struggling to put food on the table, but all they wanna do is pass gun bills and try to bag on pregnant ladies.
Pete, you ignorant slut.
But seriously, I don't think anyone's getting sidetracked. I don't think politicians are expending that much energy on it, and it's mostly the spinmeisters at the reins.
But I do agree that it might be better to just let Republicans' imbecility speak for itself than to constantly point it out.
How can you beat their one-note response -- tax cuts-- to everything right now? That stuff has become some fabulous unintentional comedy. No matter what the issue is, all they can say is tax cuts. "Hmmm, I see you have a urinary tract infection, ma'am. Might I suggest a reduction in the capital gains tax?" Democrats don't need Limbaugh or John Stewart to make 'em look weird. There's nothing funnier than self-important guys frozen in time.
"How can you beat their one-note response -- tax cuts-- to everything right now? That stuff has become some fabulous unintentional comedy"
As opposed to you one-note leftists who claim more government spending is the ticket - despite being completely incapable of ever proving it's worked at any time in the past.
I'm still waitng for you to explain how the government taking someone's money to spend on what Democrat politicians want to spend it on does anything more for the economy than refraining from doing so and letting the person who actually earned the money spend it on what he or she wants to.
Regarding Rush and Republicans vis-a-vis Democrats: To me, amusingly analogous to LBJ and J Edgar when Johnson lifted Hoover's required retirement saying, “I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in.” Seems to me to be alike-to Republican's position with brother Rush. As for the Democrats, Rush seems to be not only pissing on them, but pissing them off so much they feel compelled to talk about him—thus keeping the amusement level, and Rush's demographics at an equally compelling level.
As for the spending Gil: I'll just bet the Obama administration turns to LBJ's technique for funding his grandiose social schemes as well. Hell, they'll just print some more. That way they won't alienate their power base. No matter that the money value will erode. It'll be gradual. Nobody'll really notice.
" No matter that the money value will erode. It'll be gradual. Nobody'll really notice. "
The bond traders, currency traders and commodity traders will notice first.
And then so will everbody else when the prices at the gas pump, grocery store and everywhere else start shooting up again.
