Not Laughing At GOP Leader Limbaugh

Filed in National by on May 31, 2009

I got to thinking today that maybe pointing and laughing is not a great liberal policy after all.

The corprate media plays along with Limbaugh and Hannity as if their ideas deserve consideration and good soldier Republicans like Protack and FSP take a lot of the craze-baggery at face value and parrot it dutifully. (Critical thinking is not a priority, let’s face it.)

The top down messaging gives other (saner) Republicans like Tom Carper a lot of room on the right to operate by moving the overton window on every public policy question that comes up.

As a result we have people walking around (even members of Congress) who think that there is a conservative consensus in this country when, in fact, the country favors liberal positions on public policy questions such as healthcare.

About the Author ()

Jason330 is a deep cover double agent working for the GOP. Don't tell anybody.

Comments (29)

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  1. Hasn’t that been the story of our politics like, for as long as I can remember? There certainly are people on the left arguing from a left perspective, but they didn’t get covered by the media at all.

    I remember bitterly the run-up to the Iraq War. There were a lot of people arguing “attack Iraq now, we don’t need allies,” so the “sensible” centrist position became to get cover from the U.N. and then attack. The people on the left (the DFHs) who argued that attacking Iraq was a bad idea were completely ignored.

    I think there are certainly more people on the left with media platforms now and the conservatives are going so nuts that it’s kind of hard to ignore their craziness. In the past, the bloviatings of Rush were rationalized away by the media as “he’s a comedian.” Hopefully they’re now seeing that he isn’t very funny and he’s serious about what he’s saying.

  2. Your infatuation with Limbaugh needs some medical attention. Limbaugh has a very successful show to the tune of 20 million listeners. You guys should put up your own national show but in the end it won’t work. A show based on higher taxes, more ineffective government and reduced national security isn’t a good sell.

    Your focus on Limbaugh strays from the sad facts of the FUBAR Obama economy and the sad state of Delaware. Reading today about the obscene pay at Del Tech while state workers suffer is proof.

    I support the GOP when they are right and say so when they are wrong.

    More people consider themselves conservative than liberal.

    Mike Protack

  3. nemski says:

    Jason330, I think FSP has been pretty strong about his distaste for the unelected Republican leaders.

    That said Delaware Politics is just filled with the stench-full regurgitation of Rushbeckitty talking points.

    Now in 3-2-1 RSmitty is going to come on and say, “Wait a minute, I write there.” Well, as my mommy you to say, “You are the company you keep.” 😉

  4. We’re not the ones fascinated with GOP leader Limbaugh. We’re not the ones who have to apologize to him when we get out of line.

  5. FSP says:

    “We’re not the ones fascinated with GOP leader Limbaugh.”

    A quick reading of this blog proves otherwise.

  6. We’re fascinated with the GOP meltdown, I’ll give you that.

  7. The GOP meltdown is self adjudication from liberals who throw out their theatrics to disguise reality.

    http://delawarerepublican.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/conservative-liberal-or/

    The GOP has challenges but the Democrats have to deal with a very left leaning President in a center right nation. He is popular for now, but his policies are not.

    Mike Protack

  8. pandora says:

    Okay, I’ll admit I’m fascinated. I can’t believe how quickly the Republican Party has lost control of… well… everything. And, I’m not sure how the moderates – despite their intentions – will regain control. I think they waited too long to speak up, and now that they are they’re discovering that most like-minded Rs have left the Party.

  9. Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly are just pundits on the right; just as Olbermann, Maddoow, Anderson, Cooper, are on the left.

    According to a May 18 Rasmussen poll, only 42% favor universal health care. That means 58% (majority do NOT):

    http://tinyurl.com/r5dzw9

    This is still a center-right country and the GOP will be just fine.

  10. cassandra_m says:

    And CNN has the numbers at 69% – 29%

    Fascination or no — Rush Limbaugh as the defacto head of the repubs means that he gets to be in the news. And, frankly, it is news when GOP legislators (and Michael Steele) insist on Rush being an entertainer not a leader and then have to walk that back when Rush screams at them.

    Laughing at Limbaugh is fine — lots of people are. The only people who like him are the deadenders who find his show to be gospel. Laughing at him continues to remind folks of how marginal the entire GOP enterprise is right now. This is a party that embraces Limbaugh and wants to purge Colin Powell.

  11. FSP says:

    “We’re fascinated with the GOP meltdown, I’ll give you that.”

    I have to admit to being fascinated with it, too, UI.

  12. Geezer says:

    I think the crash of the GOP is more related to their penchant for cherry-picking their statistics and talking points.

    Let’s consider Flyboy’s point: “More people consider themselves conservative than liberal.”

    Yes, and more people consider themselves nice people than assholes, which doesn’t make them right. The problem is that as soon as you ask them about specific issues and their positions on them, they prefer liberal positions. They’re simply confused about the labels because those 20 million people who agree with your leader — and sorry, fellas, but when your elected officials crawl to him begging forgiveness, there’s not much doubt in the minds of regular humans who holds the power in your party — have learned, from him, that liberals are to be reviled.

    Meanwhile Jason O’Neill — a fool without excuse for it — links to a Rasmussen poll that, naturally, is far more nuanced than Delaware’s Stupidest Acolyte can process. By all means follow the link — particularly if you want to study Polling With an Agenda. The questions are pretty much loaded, as you’d expect, and are poorly worded besides — who in his right mind thinks universal health care would be “free”?

    You Republicans who can’t stop posting here should give it up — all that thinking you do, and all you prove is that you’re the smartest people at Liberty University, home of the Closed Minds.

  13. FSP,

    You and I probably agree on very little, but I do wish you luck in rebuilding your party.

  14. Limbaugh is not the defacto head of the Republican party. He is a conservative pundit, nothing less, nothing more.

    Michael Steele is the Chairman of the Republican Party.

    You hate Limbaugh et al for the fact they speak the truth. And the truth hurts.

    Rasmussen does polling for a living. I trust their polls over any TV network. Polls put forth by TV networks are not scientific, and are biased.

  15. pandora says:

    Limbaugh speaks the truth? The truth of the Republican Party. In one comment Jason O. attempts to marginalize Rush and then ends up elevating him. You guys have big problems.

  16. FSP says:

    Rasmussen is a very accurate pollster, and so are the pollsters that the networks use. The NBC News/WSJ poll, for instance is conducted with a GOP polling firm (Public Opinion) and a D firm (Garin Hart).

    The problem as it relates to health care is this: unless the question is about 15 minutes long, or unless there are about 100 questions you can’t possibly get an accurate poll on what is a very complicated issue.

  17. pandora says:

    Complicated, or not, (and, yes, I agree it’s complicated) the main point is that most people recognize that there’s a problem with Health Care. They may not know exactly how to “fix” it, but they know it’s broken.

    And, while I don’t completely dismiss Rasmussen… there’s no denying that they are a right leaning pollster.

  18. jason330 says:

    Nemski,

    This is rare, but you missed the point. Limbaugh provides a context for FSP rigid wingnuttery to seem like moderation.

    So he might disown Limbaugh, but,he is part of a corrupt media machine that runs off Rush’s gas.

  19. anonone says:

    UI wrote:

    You and I probably agree on very little, but I do wish you luck in rebuilding your party.

    Yes, lets all hope that they can rebuild their pro-war, anti-human rights, anti-health, dollars over people party so that we can all have another 8 years of another wingnut like Bush, if we’re lucky.

    Maybe we can even have torturing again! Won’t that be fun?

    UI, it is ridiculous sentiments like yours that lend credence to the saying that the definition of a liberal is somebody who won’t take their own side in an argument.

    When o when are all liberals going to learn how to fight to win?

  20. A1,

    As long as we have an incumbent protection racket, we need two parties. I don’t want my choices to be between an out-of-touch Democrat and an insane Republican.

  21. Geezer says:

    “Polls put forth by TV networks are not scientific, and are biased.”

    You’re a bit confused, JO. What you should have said was “any ‘facts’ put forth by Jason O’Neill are not scientific, and are biased.” There. Now your sentence is accurate.

  22. A Delaware Patriot says:

    Wrong, Limbaugh resigned as the titular head of the GOP. You have to give it up. Not that there is something horrible about him, he is very successful and says a lot of important things. He challenges conventional wisdom and keeps the powers that be on their toes.

    The reason you have to paint him as leader of the GOP seems to me Rahm’s talking points. You want to use him in NJ Governor’s race.

  23. Geezer says:

    “When o when are all liberals going to learn how to fight to win?”

    By your measurement, they haven’t won anything yet, unless you’re going to claim, most evidence to the contrary, that Democrats are liberals.

    Lonnie George, for example, was a Democrat.

  24. Geezer says:

    “Limbaugh resigned as the titular head of the GOP. You have to give it up.”

    Man, are you pathetic losers heirarchy- based to a fault! You don’t “resign” as “titular head” of anything. Who cares what he, or you, say? We watch what you do. When Rush criticizes a Republican, that Republican crawls back and begs for forgiveness.

    You people have a cozy little Salem witch trial purge going on, and it couldn’t happen to a viler bunch of people.

    Tell ya what, Patriot — maybe if you’re lucky, when your turn comes to burn at the stake, some liberals will piss on you to put the fire out.

  25. nemski says:

    Two childish things:

    One: Jason330 said that FSP runs on Rush’s gas — my guess is that pun IS intended

    Two: We’re saying titular a lot in this thread

    Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

  26. anonone says:

    As long as we have an incumbent protection racket, we need two parties.

    As long as those two parties are the repubs and dems, we will have the incumbent protection racket. See Chinese definition of insanity…

    We need the republican party to become a minor party to make room for new political parties to emerge. As the repub party dies, watch for the Dems to move to the right. This will hopefully cause the emergence of viable new political parties from the left to challenge the already too conservative dems.

    A dem cheering for the repubs to come back is like a mouse cheering for the cat.

  27. anonone says:

    Geezer-

    You got it – we shouldn’t confuse being a democrat with being a liberal. They aren’t synonymous.

    Just because the dems are in the majority doesn’t mean that liberals are.

  28. Geezer says:

    “Just because the dems are in the majority doesn’t mean that liberals are.”

    I never thought they were.

  29. jason330 says:

    A!,

    Props for not going with the Jews/Hitler metaphor. However, the rest of your comment (26) reads a little L. Ron Hubbardy.