Limbaugh is not an elected official. He's a talk radio host.
"Limbaugh is not an elected official. He's a talk radio host."
Yep, and the First Amendment gives him plenary authority to scream his head off in public as loud as he can about his beliefs, and get as big a following as he can. If that following becomes so big that it menaces the political careers of Senators who defy it, that is precisely what Limbaugh sought to do, and precisely what the First Amendment gives him the right to do. We elect our representatives. Once they are in office, we have plenary rights to nag them, browbeat them and, if they head in a direction we don't like, to organize massive political resistance to them in such a way that they fear for their political lives and cave in to public demands.
That's what happened in the Miers case. It's the way our Republic works and always has worked. President nominates. Senate advises and consents or disapproves, and People bring as much pressure on Senate and President to do what People want. In this case, the pressure from the People, organized by folks like Limbaugh, added to doubts already in the minds of some Senators, and made the nomination very politically costly. So Miers withdrew in order to spare the President a humiliating defeat.
That is how the Constitution is designed to work.
The President doesn't always win, not if the Senate, or the People, don't like what he's doing.
They didn't with Miers, so he lost.
No big deal. Happens all the time. Looks like it's may happen again on this port deal.