Posted on 03/07/2009 5:38:46 AM PST by grey_whiskers
A few days ago, The Politico broke the story that Democrat consultants, including Paul Begala and James Carville, were working with Rahm Emmanuel to demonize Rush Limbaugh, and present him to the public as the face of the GOP. That Rush is villified within Democrat circles is nothing new, of course. Bill Clinton attempted to link him in the public mind with the Oklahoma City bombing. And President Obama told Congressional Republicans that "You can't listen to Rush Limbaugh and get anything done." But the sophistication and depth of this current effort deserves a little more scrutiny.
According to The Politico, it all started when polling data revealed a demographic chink in Limbaugh's armor. Apparently, Rush had a mere 11% approval rating in the under-40-year-of-age population. According to the article, "With President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney out of the White House and Tom DeLay gone from Congress, the left had been suddenly absent an unpopular right-wing figure." And Rush provided what has been called "The Tripwire" during his speech to CPAC (Conserative Political Action Committee) with his remarks about Obama that "I hope he fails".
The remarks on Rush have been coming fast and furious. From the flap over Republican National Committee chairman's Michael Steele's rebuke of, and apology to Limbaugh; to Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, to Ellen Goodman of the Boston Globe, everywhere the shots are coming fast and furious. It almost reminds one of what Limbaugh himself called a "journalistic front" -- a meme which comes out of nowhere and dominates the news cycle for a time, much as a cold front moves across a weather map, dominating the weather for a few days. Or, for that matter, of the Clinton War Room, guaranteeing a lightning response in the press to any situation threatening to make the Clintons look bad.
Speaaking of the Clintons, brings to mind the fact that so many of the current players in this affair are warmed-over Clinton staffers. And that may be the key to the whole thing. Remember that Hillary, like Obama, was a student of Saul Alinsky. For those of you who don't know, Alinsky was a devoted leftist who wrote a book called Rules for Radicals which is essentially a manual on how to use and abuse the legitimate system to gain political power. One of Alinsky's rules (Number 13) is --
"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
So of course, this is what the Obama Administration, and their shills in the press, are attempting to do. Why they are trying this is both instructive and ironic. It is not just that Rush Limbaugh stands in the way of Obama's popularity, or this or that spending bill, or is a rallying point for the GOP. Rather, Rush Limbaugh represents institutional change, in a way that threatens the very *heart* of liberalism in this country.
Time out for a little historical aside. In addition to Saul Alinsky, there are a few other relatively obscure, but very influential thinkers on the left, who have guided the strategy and tactics of the Socialists and Communists, in America and elsewhere. One of them is Antonio Gramsci, who developed the tactic of having leftists take positions of power and influence within cultural institutions. The institutions would then use their influence subtly to promote Communist or Socialist-friendly attitudes, and to replace traditional ones, thereby undercutting resistance to Communism. Does this sound a little like "Black Helicopters" or "Tin Foil Hats"? OK, consider it another way. Everyone has to read George Orwell in High School, including Animal Farm and 1984. Orwell merely put into entertaining stories, or allegories, or parables, the actual strategies developed by Gramsci. Recall the concept of "Newspeak" in 1984 -- if you control the language, you control the way people express things, and therefore, ultimately, how they look at things. For an example relevant to Rush Limbaugh, what do you call it when someone is unjustly persecuted, for ulterior motives? A witch hunt, or McCarthyism. But both of those terms are somewhat (even subiminally) subversive. "Witch hunts" carries with it a hint that religion is dominated by deranged superstition which are ready to break out and consume the innocent. McCarthyism implies that there *were* no Communists in any influential positions in the US in the 1950's. And yet, those are the words in vogue. (Except for one liberal's excited comment about US Supreme Court nominee, and now justice, Clarence Thomas, "We're going to *BORK* him". For some reason that never caught on.)
And now, back to the main argument.
When you combine Gramsci's strategies with Alinsky's methods, you see that controlling the language -- and therefore, controlling the steady drumbeat of information people are exposed to -- is *vital* to the left. The fact that so many members of the press jumped on the anti-Limbaugh bandwagon, and all saying virtually the same thing, indicates that this strategy has in large measure, already been implemented. The leftists control the press.(*)
Well, most of it. One of the parts they DON'T control...is Rush Limbaugh. Not only does he provide a counterpoint to the daily leftist screed, he ruins one of the elements of the leftist strategy, that of psychologically isolating conservatives. But worse than that, his popularity is a threat. What if Rush is (with a few others) such as Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin, a beachhead for an invading force, determined to seize the cultural institutions BACK from the leftists?
And that is why Limbaugh simply *MUST* be destroyed. He is too much of a threat.
Incidentally, I don't think this attack will work, even though these methods worked very well to bottle up Sarah Palin. There are two reasons. First, is that the left cannot DEFINE Rush, because there are too many people who already know him: and (like Ann Coulter) he already *has* a reputation as a rhetorical loose cannon: so he cannot be attacked for suddenly coming unhinged, when he has no reputation (among the annointed) for decorum or intellect anyway. Secondly, Rush refuses to be paralyzed. Remember when Harry Reid tried to demonize Rush by lying through his teeth about Rush "not supporting the troops"? He bullied the Senate into sending a threatening letter to Rush. Far from backing down, Rush publicized the letter, and then auctioned it off, to *benefit* the military. And as a crowning stroke, he offered to match the winning bid, and challenged Reid et al. to do the same.
Game, set, and match, to El Rushbo.
As conservatives, our next move should be to find a way to go on a counter-offensive.
And then sustain it.
(*) One other interesting thing about the leftists in the press. There is safety in numbers. If there are a large number of drones, all echoing the same thing, not only does it lend an air of credence to whatever they say, it also means that each individual member of the group will be immune to attack by Alinsky's rule 13 -- at least, based on anything they say that fits the party line. The columnist Joe Sobran had an interesting article about this called The Hive. It would be a great thing to have members of conservative think-tanks get together to plan counter-strategies to Alinsky and Gramsci...
He may be, but we have a President who follows Alinsky, plus our Sec of State, and no doubt Rahm Emmanuel too, along with the Snake Head and Big Mouth Begala.
If they demonize him any more, the ENTIRE COUNTRY will end up listening to his show.
I love it . That is what I was about to say. Keep it going as I am tres, tres fatigue of the bama’s face in the news.
Alinsky only works if your opposition doesn’t fight back.
Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey are 2 of the latest media has-beens that have attacked Rush. I believe it is at ihatethemedia.com
if anyone wants to mount a counter attack or freep these people or whatever, feel free to ping me.
I am about sick of the ONE man who has been solid in standing up for us getting kicked around. If not for Rush Limbaugh, this country would have already been ran over by those loonies.
I agree with your statement that why we in the grass roots are beginning to fight back,with our tea parties, now we need our elected Republicans to join the groups.
So basically you mean he is just a mouthpiece, parroting the audience?
A few days ago, The Politico broke the story that Democrat consultants, including Paul Begala and James Carville, were working with Rahm Emmanuel to demonize Rush Limbaugh, and present him to the public as the face of the GOP. That Rush is villified within Democrat circles is nothing new, of course. Bill Clinton attempted to link him in the public mind with the Oklahoma City bombing... From the flap over Republican National Committee chairman's Michael Steele's rebuke of, and apology to Limbaugh; to Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, to Ellen Goodman of the Boston Globe, everywhere the shots are coming fast and furious. It almost reminds one of what Limbaugh himself called a "journalistic front" -- a meme which comes out of nowhere and dominates the news cycle for a time, much as a cold front moves across a weather map, dominating the weather for a few days. Or, for that matter, of the Clinton War Room, guaranteeing a lightning response in the press to any situation threatening to make the Clintons look bad... controlling the language -- and therefore, controlling the steady drumbeat of information people are exposed to -- is *vital* to the left. The fact that so many members of the press jumped on the anti-Limbaugh bandwagon, and all saying virtually the same thing, indicates that this strategy has in large measure, already been implemented. The leftists control the press... Well, most of it. One of the parts they DON'T control...is Rush Limbaugh. Not only does he provide a counterpoint to the daily leftist screed, he ruins one of the elements of the leftist strategy, that of psychologically isolating conservatives... Incidentally, I don't think this attack will work, even though these methods worked very well to bottle up Sarah Palin.Thanks grey_whiskers.
Cheers!
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