[dfwgator]

It wasn't one particular thing, it was a "death by a thousand cuts." Limbaugh was just another straw, along with Foley, Katrina, Iraq, etc. There were not enough GOP "wins" to overcome all of that.

[Michael.SF.]

everyone knows of Limbaugh's self-indulgent, mocking tirades against actor Michael J. Fox

The fact that Michael J. Fox wrote that he does in fact adjust his medications for certain events, such as testifying before Congress, proves that Rush was right on this. It was the media who ignored that fact so as to help Rush dig a hole he could not get out of.

Those Conservatives who fall for this line of thinking (as outlined in the post) are allowing themselves to be manipulated by the media.

Don't fall for it.

[MNJohnnie]

No it was all the little Savagebots who spent all their time savaging their own side and never bothered to attack the Democrats on ANYTHING.

Want to know why we lost? Look in the mirror.

[megatherium]

I agree. The Ted Haggard scandal certainly didn't help matters either.

Concerning the Libertarians: My congressman, a one-term Republican incumbent, was defeated by a Democrat who was the previous incumbent. The margin of victory was 3%. But a Libertarian ran, getting 4%. As it happens, I am acquainted with the Libertarian candidate. He tells me his polling shows he mostly drew votes from the Democrat. I have no way of knowing if this is true, but it makes me wary of blaming the Libertarians for the present debacle.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

===It wasn't one particular thing, it was a "death by a thousand cuts." Limbaugh was just another straw, along with Foley, Katrina, Iraq, etc. There were not enough GOP "wins" to overcome all of that.===

That an a lack of statesman-like (or even demogogic style) strong leadership in the house and senate...

[beaversmom]

Personally I think Limbaugh's affect would be minimal. I don't know if there's any way to gage that. You are right--death by a thousand cuts. I would include immigration and the open border, McCain's backstabbing, the constant MSM negativity toward the GOP, Libertarian siphoning of votes, "macaca", 6th yearitis, corruption scandals (real and imagined), and President Bush's communication problems to your list. I'm not trying to sound like an eternal optimist because I AM very disappointed over the election, but all and all, it's surprising that we didn't lose by a bigger margin than we did. To me it shows that the GOP has a pretty good base of support. If we can correct the problems (at least some of them) that lead up to this loss and start attracting more people to our side then we would be in really good shape. Overriding the MSM is going to be the really big hurdle.

[Edit35]

Limbaugh needed ... to berate Fox not for his spasticity, but for using his celebrity to petition Congress for money not his. Limbaugh ought to have suggested Fox ... raise money for private research among his stinking rich pals.

Limbaugh was correct in admonishing M. J. Fox for using his celebrity to smarmily claim that Democraps are righteous.

But he mistakenly said, and I realize that doing a radio show on the fly is tough, that Fox was acting.

Cripes, even I know that Fox has gone off his medication in the past in order to "reveal" his disease to political whore-meisters.