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Rush Is Having Fun
As you've probably heard, Rush Limbaugh today launched a challenge to President Obama, daring Obama to come on his show and debate him on economic policy. What should we make of this?
Rush's challenge is sure interesting, such as the part where he attacks Rahm Emanuel for his "effeminate nature and his ballerina past," but this section really stands out:
I want to thank you guys for elevating me beyond the stature I already earned and achieved, because now more and more Americans have the opportunity to learn who you really are, what your ideas will really accomplish, and what damage and harm I think your policies will bring for a very, very long time to them and to this country. So I want to thank you for the opportunity. Obviously, it's a threat targeting me. I've extended the invitation. I'm looking forward to hearing back from whoever in your cabal one way or the other on accepting my offer.
Here's the real takeaway: Rush is really enjoying this. It's hard to tell who is taking more pleasure from Rush being crowned as the leader of the Republican Party -- the Democrats who are launching the attacks, or Rush himself.
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That's been a key to the success of this whole strategy. The man is an egomaniac and can't help himself. That's how the cycle gets fueled. It really is a brilliant ploy. At the same time, it's quite funny to see certain Dems freaking out about elevating Rush to this status. Even after watching Obama and folks for two years now, the beautiful losers still can't get their heads around how strategically smart our team is.
March 4, 2009 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course Rush is enjoying this. You want to know the truth? I don't think he gives a rat's ass about conservative principles. He's a self-promoter. All this brouhaha is a big wet dream for him because it gets him attention. It gets him listeners. That's what he really cares about.
March 4, 2009 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
What!?! Next you'll be telling me that professional wrestling is staged too. I mean you just can't fake that amount of outrage for that long can you.
March 4, 2009 5:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
The hits just keep coming!
I read that piece in HuffPo by the guy (Raou?) who thinks we shouldn't paint the GOP with Windbag.
It was that type of timidity and "thinking" that kept us in the political wilderness all those years.
Full speed ahead Team Obama!
March 4, 2009 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, keep in mind that Peter Daou was an advisor to the Clinton campaign. Not exactly the person I would look to for advice when it comes to political strategy.
March 4, 2009 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I welcome the opportunity to add another dig at that cringing pantywaist Daou's Huffpo pearl clutching appeal for cautious avoidance of opportunities. "Oooohhh, ooooohhhh, don't poke Rush, he has magic Republican superpowers! Oh tremble, all the Republicans have dark magic superpowers and they could come roaring back from the abyss in the blink of an eye if arouse them!"
And then, being, in a minor way, one of the architects of Hillary's defeat, he has to throw the obligatory exculpatory whine about it wasn't that the people Hillary paid to run her campaign utterly failed her, but, rather it was the way that underhanded Obama fellow, who wasn't really such a big deal, ya know, just rode the wave of *snif* Hillary hate that the evil Republicans had created with their dark superpower magicks.
Everytime I hear someone from her campaign blame "Hillary hate" for her defeat, I want just grab 'em by their lapels and scream "just what the hell was it that you thought your job was then? Hillary's negatives were there in the polls for everyone to see going back a decade and your only strategy for dealing with that gigantic problem was to try to ignore it away? And, yet, its not your fault she lost? How does that work?"
Making mistakes happens. Refusing to man up and take responsibility for them while simultaneously acting like you still have a right to the public's ear because you have such great political insight? Yeah, that really pisses me off. (I point that out, because otherwise, y'all probably couldn't tell.)
March 4, 2009 10:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Frankly, I'm strarting to feel a little tired of this mindless episode.
March 4, 2009 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
There more going on then meets the eye. While the mindless dribble goes on, and republicans are castrating their own leadership, this administration is fundamentally restructuring how our country does business. Think trickle up.
March 4, 2009 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think this will lead to any dramatic restrucring of the political landscape. What will change the landscape is the success or failure of the Obama administration. The story I don't think the story in itself has enough legs to change the political landscape.
BTW I don't think it will dramatically help GOP either, it just to much waste of ink in the long run.
The story as no legs to reshape the political landscape.
March 4, 2009 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think he's saying that while there's all this attention focused on Mr. Limburger, the political situation is being restructured, beyond immediate attention.
March 4, 2009 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bingo. That is exactly what is going on. Smart observation as always. The administration would be much happier dueling with lush and all the attention being lavished on the lush psycho-drama than people constantly harping on other stuff.
March 4, 2009 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did you read the quote from David Frum about Obama vs. Limburger?
Josh had it on the front page. Link:Via Josh, via Ezra, David Frum gets something many Republicans seem to miss
Trust me: it's worth a look.
March 4, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the link. That nails it as well. The optics are perfect. Alot of this stuff is optics and perceptions and that one nails it.
March 4, 2009 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Frum baffles me. He's such an acute and honest observer of the politics of the moment--something almost unheard of in Republican circles. He sees with crystal clarity the need for a radical revision of what "conservatism" means if the party is going to survive, and yet, the only policy prescriptions he has in his bag the same moldy old Reaganisms that everyone else in the GOP is still pushing. Gingrich is the same way, except more evil.
March 4, 2009 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep. I really don't understand any of these guys. If I were them, I would shut steele up for a couple of weeks first of all and sit down and figure out a game plan and strategy. They really should start from scratch. The american people know the bankruptcy of their policies of the last 30 years have bankrupted the country. They need a new game plan or sayonara. Just spewing the same crap and kow towing to lush is not the way to go by any means.
Why are they trying to get on the news every day? I don't get that one, especially when you have nothing to offer. There isn't another election for two years. Just shut the f'k up and come up with a plan.
March 5, 2009 8:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great point. Brooks is that way sometimes as well, though he'll come up with a good idea now and then. We really need a more intellectually innovative and honest brand of conservative in this country. I think they exist, but have spent the last 30 years in the closet.
March 5, 2009 9:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
That right. While the republicans are fighting amongst themselves, the Obama administration is changing how government functions.
March 4, 2009 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, someone (I think maybe it was Jonze? or Mitty or whoever)pointed out that while this is going on the Republicans don't have enough oxygen to discuss more important things. What interviewer wants to spend their time asking Steele about the budget when they can ask him what type of jar Rush is keeping his huevos in?
March 4, 2009 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
What interviewer wants to spend their time asking Steele about the budget when they can ask him what type of jar Rush is keeping his huevos in?
LOFL!
Who would have guessed that the same people who asked seriously if Obama was "dissing Jessica" would be the same mob who wants to know where the family jewels are housed? No one could have anticipated that.
I think I haven't given the Obama Administration sufficient credit.
March 4, 2009 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
> BTW I don't think it will dramatically help GOP
> either, it just to much waste of ink in the
> long run.
You would rather the newspapers waste that ink attacking the administration?
March 4, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
"You would rather the newspapers waste that ink attacking the administration?"
Most of it republican talking points or stuff made up by the media itself to sell itself.
March 4, 2009 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder: Would Rush Hindenburg dare to take on Obama (or any decent Dem) in a setting where he did not have control of the microphones and board?
I suspect the results might be highly entertaining, especially when Hindenburg does his Hindenburg impersonation after being sliced and diced.
March 4, 2009 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course he wouldn't. Rush couldn't even come close to holding his own with David Letterman, and it was his last appearance I know of where he didn't completely control the setting.
Rush started going off on his schtick about the reason for feminism being so ugly women could get dates, and Dave hit him with "Oh, like you're God's gift to women!" the audience had a big laugh, and he never recovered until slunk off at the break.
He's just a bully, not a fighter.
March 4, 2009 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would love to see the clip of Rush on Letterman. It's not on youtube :( Rush is a big bully. I'd like to see him bully on over the top. Egomaniacs do that sometimes. Get him so excited he goes back on his drugs.
March 4, 2009 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't want to do it myself, but someone should see whether Rush's ego is bigger than his waist. And whether his conscience is smaller than the little appendage he hasn't seen for years.
March 4, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's what the Viagra's for.
March 4, 2009 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ugh, disgusting visual. Disgusting. Barf!
March 4, 2009 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
It needs to be on neutral ground. Rush can't be allowed to control the venue. And if he can't agree to that, then he's a coward.
If it happens, then Obama will clean his clock. All of Rush's vast knowledge comes directly from his rectum and if he actually had to try and hold his own in a formal debate, he'd be destroyed.
That said, I don't know that Obama needs to treat the Blimp as an equal. Limbaugh is the de facto head of a crumbling, discredited, and barely lucid political party in this country with no real power or responsibilities. I don't know that Obama really should be taking time out of his busy schedule to humor this brainless tub of goo.
March 4, 2009 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The fact that you're even remotely considering that Obama should go mano a blimpo with Flush is quite disturbing.
March 4, 2009 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm just trying to figure out where it goes from here. If they don't respond to Limbaugh at all, they should be ready to fill the vacuum with something. What's the jujutsu move here?
March 4, 2009 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let me add to that. Limbaugh made this challenge knowing that Obama wouldn't take him up on it. Maybe the worst that happens is that Limbaugh's fans get a thrill at the thought that Obama is afraid to debate him, which is the kind of stuff Rush would be pouring into their little dittoheads. Who knows.
March 4, 2009 8:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
What happens next is that Rush derides them for their cowardice and his listeners will get all quivery but everyone else will say "what a blowhard bully."
Or, better yet, Obama totally ignores Limbaugh and goes on O'Reilly again. Gawd, wouldn't you love to O'Reilly and Limbaugh in an ego driven hissy match?
March 4, 2009 10:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let him debate Big Eddie Schultz. I would love to see Ed tear him a new one lol!
March 4, 2009 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good idea!! Just like in the olden days of dueling, POTUS could send in a second like Big Eddie Schultz.
Think of the ratings!!
March 4, 2009 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
James Carville
March 4, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd pay to watch that. I really would.
March 4, 2009 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe they can televise it and Rush can bring back his hand picked, ditto-head audience from his old crashed and burned TV show. They could have illuminated "CHEER" and "BOO" signs so they will know what they are supposed to do. Do you think they'll play "Barack the Magic Negro" at the commercial breaks? Wouldn't that all be fun?
Actually I can't wait to see how Obama disses the cheesey punk. The man knows how to do put down and Rush has got it commin'.
March 4, 2009 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Silly folks think Obama is going to debate Rush. The Dem strategists behind this gambit love the fact this challenge was made because it keeps it in the news cycle for another day or two and will keep folks getting asked about it on both sides. The Dems will take that opportunity to put the screws to the GOP lack of real leadership, and the GOP will try to dodge the question because they don't want to anger El Rushbo.
Should Gibbs be asked this he could simply say "Given the deference toward and reverence shown by Republicans to Rush Limbaugh, the President looks forward to debating Mr. Limbaugh in 2012 as part of the Presidental debates".
March 4, 2009 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that is a great retort! I love it!
March 4, 2009 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or maybe he could just say, "The President doesn't debate entertainers."
March 4, 2009 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think that's counterproductive and condescending. The goal isn't to diminish Rush. It's to build him up.
March 4, 2009 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course he's loving it. It's all about HIM.
But all this attention will eventually result in something like this:
Took him approximately 4 weeks to implode as an NFL "analyst" on ESPN.
March 4, 2009 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's right. Limbaugh is on self destruct.
March 4, 2009 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have a better idea.
Why doesn't Rush Limbaugh run for president and debate Barack Obama three times on TV?
March 4, 2009 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Obama, Gibbs and team are loving this at least as much. Since they are able to see further and wider, maybe more.
This "nonsense" does have consequences, and if not legs, at least a comfortable place on Youtube, where it will re-emerge as necessary.
At least 3 major Republicans have criticized Limbaugh publicly, and then quickly recanted and kowtowed to his greatness.
The Limbaugh Litmus Test is going to be part of the Dem gains in the next election cycle.
1)Ask Republicans if they agree with Limbaugh.
2)Ask if they want Obama to fail.
3) Film response.
4) Play film over and over to voters who have lost their jobs or homes.
5) Repeat.
March 4, 2009 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rush is just one big, emphasis here, part of the redefining of the republican base.
He will be the wedge, and the republicans can choose to kiss his fat butt, or distance themselves.
Truth be told the Rush mindset is the same one that has brought this country to this economic meltdown. These greedy social darwinists succeeded for eight years in sucking up as much money as they could. Rush is not a social conservative hes an old school republican that makes amassing wealth at all costs (usually by exploiting others) the only objective.
March 4, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I will tell you who is enjoying it more. Those with the power. Rush Limbaugh has no power, if he did he would have won the last two elections for his dying party. Rush is one big joke, talk is cheap. What has Rush Limbaugh done for anybody lately.
March 4, 2009 7:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rush L said he "felt liberated" when the Republicans lost the congress in '06, remember?
He feels GOOD, when the leaders with the best chance of advancing his listeners agenda are defeated. Not a real winning team attitude by any means.
I don't know about you guys but after Nader played spoiler for Bush in '00 and then went right back at it even after losing the Green Party nomination in '04, I really got viscerally turned off by the guy, even though I have much admiration for his historical accomplishments.
I always thought it was a little strange that no real Dem in power at the time lit off on Nader. Maybe that's what's happening here with Rush. He's got the noose around his neck on his own - he said he feels MORE comfortable when Republicans lose, silence and smiley shrugs by Republicans may be them trying to feed him enough rope to finish the self lynchjob.
March 4, 2009 8:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look, I don't like Rush Limbaugh, so I simply don't listen to him. And to be honest, after all these years that Limbaugh has broadcast his poisonous right-wing schtick, I'm not quite sure why so many prominent media people have suddenly taken public notice that the man is a demagogue, clown and buffoon all rolled into one.
Regardless, I'm confident in saying that President Obama would no more debate this pompous asswipe on the national airwaves, than President Franklin Roosevelt would have directly engaged that anti-Semitic, fascist-mongering Catholic priest, Father Charles Coughlin, back in the 1930s.
And quite frankly, with an audience of over 40 million listeners in 1935 (out of a population of about 135 million), Fr. Coughlin attained a level of popularity that Rush can only dream about.
March 4, 2009 9:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Something people are missing here about this exercise. The GOP's decent into lunacy and final utter domination by the CPAC crowd is alienating a significant part of the GOP's rank and file. The percentage of reliably Republican voters who are still more or less sane--and I think that's probably somewhere between 20-35% of the total, are becoming increasingly alienated.
Egging on Rush's takeover is forcing those people to finally confront the fact that their party is in the hands of repulsive loons and they have no ability to take it back from them. If those people finally give up and hive off from the GOP, the Republicans are out of the game for a generation, assuming they don't go the way of the Whigs and the Federalists.
And, regardless of whether that works, at a bear minimum it also means that the Congressional Republicans' relentless opposition to Obama's policies gets them painted with the greasy smelly brush of Limbaughism.
I'd call that a worthwhile gambit. Which is why I found Daou's pearl clutching and Shererer's pieties to be jaw-droppingly stupid.
March 4, 2009 10:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
This was recently covered here. Sorry for double post.
March 4, 2009 11:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
One of the main reasons I couldn't support Hillary was the presence of so many utter maroons like Daou in her campaign. I thought and still think they were quite capable of effing up sufficiently for her to lose to McCain. Thank God we'll never know.
March 5, 2009 8:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
This was recently covered here.
March 4, 2009 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rush Limbaugh wans to debate...don't make me laugh. I don't want to rain on the popcorn but Rush got his fat-ass handed to him in debates by Michale Irvin EVERY WEEK!!. No dis-respect to Michael Irvin (he was a HOF reciever) but he's no Barack Obama either. If Rush wasn't so afraid of debate why does his fat head explode at mere mention of the Fairness Doctrine??
March 4, 2009 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rush knows there isn't going to be a debate. Evenso, I don't see how having Rush's 'head handed to him' makes the popcorn less tasty. ;)
March 5, 2009 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rush will do what the right-wing cannot seem to help doing. He will enjoy himself so much he won't notice that he's overplaying his hand. If there's a strategy to the White House approach on this, that could be it, and it's a safe bet.
March 5, 2009 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
He's only overplaying his hand if you think Rush actually gives a rat's ass for anything except Rush's bank account. He doesn't. He makes more money when the Rethugs are out of poweranyway, because there's more ressentiment to stoke amongst the dittoheads. So he has no motivation at all to worry about damaging the party. Quite the contrary.
March 5, 2009 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, that's precisely what I'm referring to. He may not care one wit if he damages his party, but his party cares, and so do the Democrats. He may be more popular than ever with those who can't get enough of their own resentments, but it is exactly that popularity that will help in his own marginalization.
March 5, 2009 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe, but so far his stranglehold over the "minds" of the party's yahoo base has given him the upper hand. These Congresscritters know perfectly well they have a big problem here, but they felt obliged nonetheless to make their highly publicized trips to Canossa. I think this comedy can actually go on for quite a while, and I'm sure rooting for it to.
March 5, 2009 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, he has the upper hand. That's a good thing.
March 5, 2009 10:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Am I alone here in thinking this is just ugly, and not befitting of Obama?
The longer this goes on, the longer Barack starts looking just like the rest of 'em, and when that happens, bye-bye 60% approval.
March 5, 2009 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Obama has remained above the fray. Democrats have stated the obvious. Crossing Rush means crossing the republican base. Rush is in control.
March 5, 2009 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's ugly within their own party. I don't think the WH has engaged in any ugliness, unless you think designating Rush as the face of the Republican party is itself an ugly statement. I don't.
March 5, 2009 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's ugly within their own party. I don't think the WH has engaged in any ugliness, unless you think designating Rush as the face of the Republican party is itself an ugly statement. I don't.
March 5, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink