Posted on 03/05/2012 3:09:09 PM PST by Signalman
Because the American people are confused and mis-educated. Democracy fails in such a populace.
The anti-capitalist stuff started right around the time of SC and just afterwards. It was too soon to affect SC.
I live in Florida, and this theme was broadcast day and night, quoting Rush and also appearing in national papers, such as the Romney-supporting Wall Street Journal. And they all cited Rush. It was a stupid off-the-top-of-his-head remark, and Rush did back down and say several days later that maybe it was an overstatement and not quite accurate, but the damage was done.
I think Rush’s performance as a whole has declined since his latest wife (#4, I believe). Maybe it’s not fair to blame her, since I don’t know a thing about her. But I have noticed a definite difference in the last few years. He has become more careless in what he says, more of a shock-jock, and also much more sloppy in his research. Maybe this will be good for Rush, just the way the drug thing was, and will be a wake-up call that will make him focus again.
Good news. Newt is surging! Go Newt!
Good news. Newt is surging! Go Newt!
“I think Rush’s performance as a whole has declined since his latest wife (#4, I believe).”
True, but I think that the decline started with his hearing loss. I’ve listened to Rush for 22 years and he is not the Rush of the early 1990’s. That Rush endorsed Pat Buchanan as a protest vote against Bush 41. That Rush did his own research instead of just reading what’s on the Drudge Report. By the time Rush is on I’ve already read the Drudge Report, I don’t need Rush to tell me what’s on it.
He and other conservative talk hosts have been especially useless during Republican primaries. By trying to be neutral he does more damage than if he actually endorsed someone.
Thank you for making one of my points. I am not the one that you need to convince. I would suggest a bit more tact if you forward that to the hundreds of thousands that need to be convinced.
Surging?Did He win something?I didnt notice.
I live in Florida too. All that talk started in early January. In fact Rush made the statement around the 10th of January which was nearly two weeks before the South Carolina Primary. So I’d still have to say it had little effect.
By the time the election came here to Florida, all I heard day and night was Newt was thrown out of Congress for dirty deeds. Newt’s not trustworthy. Newt is the first Speaker to leave in disgrace for ethical wrongdoing. Newt and Nancy Pelosi. Newt and Hillary. Newt is a Washington insider. Newt is sleazy. Newt is unethical, erratic, and reckless. Newt was paid $30,000.00 an hour to work for Freddie Mac. The democrats want to face Newt. All lies from the pit where Mitt lives. Newt wants amnesty and Newt says be humane to the illegals.
I saved the information from Mitt and his PACs. I could not find one thing on what Rush said. Maybe it bothered some people. But that is not what Romney concentrated on round the clock when he beat him. I don’t think what Rush said was very much of a factor. Mitt chose plenty of other things to focus on. So I can’t blame Rush.
It could well be that his hearing loss has affected his performance. He doesn’t take very many callers and he often doesn’t seem to understand the point they’re making when he does take them. So instead he just tends to rant, which gets a little tedious if what listeners really want is analysis. And often now, instead of being witty the way he used to be, he can be simply loud and rude. I think that’s how he got himself into this current situation.
The other thing is that success kills. Rush has become a personality now and is sought after as a speaker, celebrity dinner guest, etc., in addition to simply being extremely wealthy and spending his time golfing and hobnobbing with other wealthy people. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this, but I think it may have taken off his edge and also simply not left him with a lot of time to devote to his program. As I say, maybe this will be a wake-up call and we’ll get the old Rush back.
It’s true that the Romney PACs were hard at work here in Florida, and of course one of the problems is that early voting is so very early here that many people had already voted (under the influence of Romney’s scorched earth campaign) before primary day even got close. I read that Romney got something like 60% of the early voters - although some of them certainly did regret it later.
It was a real Romney lie-fest, to be sure, and that was no doubt the main reason Gingrich didn’t do well. The thing that gave me the impression that Rush’s comments had an effect, however, is that they were heavily discussed and even adopted here on FR, and Gingrich - probably the most free-enterprise of all of the candidates - was suddenly being portrayed as an anti-business liberal, which is utterly ridiculous.
I think you’re right, though, and it probably had less of an effect than other things with the rank and file voter. But because it was picked up by the Wall Street Journal and other papers, I suspect it had more of an effect on discouraging political endorsements from higher-up GOP pols here.
Of course, only a couple of weeks later, I recall reading articles in those same papers saying, “well, maybe that wasn’t what Gingrich was saying after all,” or “well, maybe Bain Capital isn’t exactly a fairy godmother,” or even “well, maybe Romney was lying about his business career,” which was the point Gingrich was making all along.
But I think the damage was already done because it gave Romney yet another thing he could use. I don’t think Rush handled it well, because just as in the Fluke episode, he doubled down for a few days and then finally admitted that maybe he had “misspoken.” Maybe this latest episode will remind Rush that, rightly or wrongly, a lot of people look to him not just as a radio show host, but as a conservative leader, and there’s no such thing as random remarks from a leader.
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