The next step....
Okay, so now Rush Limbaugh's the "leader of the Republican party" as proved by all the apologies.
I think the next stage will be for the Dems to begin to use Limbaugh as a cudgel, a distractionary instrument, thrown at Republicans anytime they get too disagreeable with the Dem plans.
It will become an insult of its own forcing an awkward tight rope walk as Republicans try not to offend Limbaugh or his adherents and also try not to be cast too closely to him, alienating the moderates.
(I think the reason this is so effective and incendiary is because it cuts right to the heart of the Republican identity crisis or civil war which hasn't really resolved at all. And as yet, no Republican really seems to have the answer.)
It's not going to last forever, but in the interim (first hundred days?,) it's looking like it's going to be pretty effective.
Later: An example of sorts, Bobby Jindal goes on Larry King to try to rehab his own issues, but Limbaugh intrudes there, too (about halfway down,) forcing Jindal to thread some needles.
I think the next stage will be for the Dems to begin to use Limbaugh as a cudgel, a distractionary instrument, thrown at Republicans anytime they get too disagreeable with the Dem plans.
It will become an insult of its own forcing an awkward tight rope walk as Republicans try not to offend Limbaugh or his adherents and also try not to be cast too closely to him, alienating the moderates.
(I think the reason this is so effective and incendiary is because it cuts right to the heart of the Republican identity crisis or civil war which hasn't really resolved at all. And as yet, no Republican really seems to have the answer.)
It's not going to last forever, but in the interim (first hundred days?,) it's looking like it's going to be pretty effective.
Later: An example of sorts, Bobby Jindal goes on Larry King to try to rehab his own issues, but Limbaugh intrudes there, too (about halfway down,) forcing Jindal to thread some needles.
posted by mikevotes at
9:42 PM
3 Comments:
Republicans clung to GWB like cult members to their god. So the Dems tied every Republican candidate to Bush, to great affect (for the Dems). Now you can't find a Repub who voted for the man...
So, being cultists, they're now glomming on to a new God (who was just a lesser deity before, but seems to have filled the god-vacuum in conservatism). I think well see the Dems nail Rush to the back of every Republican candidate, again to great affect.
You'll see every personal failing of Rush's -- from drug use, to gluttony, to racism -- be spun as a "republican value" by dems. It'll be AWESOME!
By
-epm, at 8:44 AM
There is a good reason why Republicans have always been terrified of disunity among their ranks. The disparate elements that the Party has duct-taped together has cohered around power. Each of the disparate elements has been afforded disproportionate power to their size by joining the Party.
Being out of power, they now have little to offer internally, and centrifugal force will pull them apart if not countered. That's why we see the craziness. They are frantically trying to hold the Party together in a "crisis mentality" or "siege mentality"
By
Todd Dugdale , at 8:48 AM
EPM, I don't think alot of them are glomming onto Rush, I think they're just horribly afraid to say they're not with him.
...
Todd, That's an interesting point/theory. I'm not so sure they fly apart, but I could see that.
If you look at the coalition, you gotta figure the money/business folks are probably the most likely to be pried away by the Dems. The social conservcatives seem pretty well stuck.
I guess the question is where do the money people land? They've got to be donating to the Dems right now just for the legislative benefits, could they stay?
I don't know. They desperately need voters to match their money. Where do they find those? Do they abandon the social conservatives and try to get in with the centrist suburban vote?
But the reagan coalition of money and god does appear to be cracking.
By
mikevotes, at 1:46 PM
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