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...
Read Sobran's The Hive in the link at the bottom, to see why this might not be easy. We'll have to develop new methods.
Cheers!
“Alinsky’s methods might work for Rush, too.”
they will if the GOP quits running moderates like Bob Dole, W, and McCain.
This just shows why the left does not understand AMERICA not just Rush.
Rush is NOT ALONE.
He articulates what MOST of america believes.
The Obama effort to silence rush is just an effort to prevent us from talking to each other.
(seriously what can we expect from an administration that does not even understand Democracy originated in Greece and the Athenians originated the representative senate? Hillary clintons gaff-a-palooza diplmatic pouch european excursion.)
After the bashing his numbers doubled.
Time for Rush to get a TV slot-----simulcast his radio show on TV. More and more people are tuning in---but even more wait with baited breath for Rush's latest pronouncements about the idiots in the WH who were foolish enough to take him on.
Twerp-jerk COS Rahm Emanuel is behind the Bash-Rush initiative.
Emanuel lacerated Limbaugh on CBS Sunday morning show---Face the Nation. Emanuel's interview had Bob Scheiffer valiantly swimming against a tide of lies spewing out of Rahm Emanuel's double-talking mouth (March 1 broadcast).
Question after question, Emanuel stuck to his lies ---and cruelly refused to give Scheiffer a lifeline.
It is appalling that this individual---Emanuel---is making US policy.
If President Obama wants credibility as he undertakes a massive restructuring of the US economy, ASAP he should dump Emanuel-----this pitiless master of agitation and propaganda.
We have a cunning calculating little jerk running our WH. Rahm Emanuel's statements to Bob Scheiffer were a pack of lies.
Share your views with Face the Nation. EMAIL ftn@CBSnews.com
At the the same time it is okay for private citizens to burn epitaph's of our military at a gathering in Seattle...it is okay for Alec Baldwin to wish the death upon a senator and his family because he was investigation Bill Clinton....it is okay for members of the Senate to condemn our military...the list goes on....
I believe in free speech even it comes out of the hateful mouth of the left.....
‘This just shows why the left does not understand AMERICA not just Rush.
Rush is NOT ALONE.
He articulates what MOST of america believes.’
Exactly! I know people that just want to live their lives but keep voting for leftists.When I ask them why they tell me because they (leftists) want to help people and I tell them once you accept “help” from the gubmint, you’re screwed!
Frankly, I fear for his life. The gangstas in the WH are probably, even now, weighing the pros and cons of turning Rush into a possible martyr.
Reading and discussing Tsun Tzu’s “The Art of War” and studying Miyamoto Musashi’s “The Book of the Five Rings” then applying those principles would soundly defeat any of the Alinsky crap the Dems use.
We must know our enemy, his strengths and weaknesses, then use those against him.
Do Carville and Begala realize who they are picking on? Rush comes from a family that knows the law. He has a top-notch lawyer brother. He has a brother who is a judge. Carville and potty-mouth-Begala need to be sure they are not breaking the law in any defamatory way.
It took Hitler about 3 months to silence his critics in Germany. Looks like Obama is off to a running start silencing his critics.
Rush chose to get into this battle. He must feel that he can take the heat, the lies, the character destruction.
I think this attack is part of a larger plan to end free speech itself. By constantly heaping hate on Rush on a daily basis the sheepole will be giddy with delight when Obama manages to take over the Radio stations, rather than red with anger, as they should be in a sane world. The Crush Rush bill has already passed the Senate as I type this.
Liz, as the poster of the Sunday Talk Show Thread all these many years (just about since Free Republic was born) I will tell you that Bob Schieffer is cut from the same cloth as any other driveby media, leftist, DNC’er press person.
He didn’t valiantly try to defy Emanuel. He was trying to help him.
To this day, Bob Schieffer has never had to answer for his false “purple-faced rage” review of Clinton’s Lewinsky disposition.
Rush’s under 40 demographic numbers will soar when they figure out they’re gonna be paying for all this spending for the rest of their lives.
I really think we must look past this present attack and look at the real target, talk radio. Durbin got his Fariness Doctrine passed via back door tactics in the Senate. I think that as Conservatives all of us must stay on top of the Dems attempts to silence talk. Incidentally, I’m not saying that we aren’t, by any means. It’s just that I can’t help the thought in the back of my head that say’s okay what’s their true objective.
Alinsky is an ass. His tactics aren’t all that impressive.
Don’t sweat it-——we need to remind CBS that Schieffer can “swim” without water wings (/snic)
they will if the GOP quits running moderates like Bob Dole, W, and McCain.
Leave Bush out of that list...unlike the other two, he actually won...twice...
Oh yeah, I said "leave Bush out"...can't do that...with that line of thinking, we should probably leave out the last Republican President to not only talk about amnesty but to actually sign it into law...think his name was Reagan...
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