Posted on 04/03/2008 7:55:15 AM PDT by jdm
Cobb is saying Rush Limbaugh has crossed a line with Operation Chaos, and he even has a cartoon up about it.
My take on “Operation Chaos” is that Rush is doing several things, here - he’s demonstrating his sway, he’s enjoying making mischief (and hoping that when the press talks about “Hillary winning and demonstrating momentum” they’ll mention his “Operation,”) and he’s getting a feel for just how strong may be the desire of conservatives to — not now, but in coming years — jump the GOP ship and form a more demonstrably “conservative” party.
Rush is justifying “Operation Chaos” by suggesting that since Democrats routinely play around with some Republican primaries (I believe the Kos folks did something similar) this is an acceptable thing for conservatives to do. Rush seems to blame the Democrats rather than the conservatives for the GOP nominating John McCain over some never-specified “perfect conservative” candidate, and his line is “since the Democrats selected our nominee, we’ll select theirs.”
I reject the premise that the Democrats “selected” John McCain. Had conservatives managed to find that “Ronald Reagan II” they were demanding, he/she would have been immune to stray Dem hijinks; if the conservatives couldn’t find/groom a preferred candidate when they’ve known they needed one for the past 4 years, they shouldn’t whine about it or blame others. (Please don’t tell me “Mitt was perfect” - you only loved him when you had no other choice but McCain, and you got McCain because no one else was “good enough” and Thompson was never serious. And remember, I’m the girl who still thinks — because things turn on a dime — that McCain may still not be the GOP candidate; health and age are real issues.)
Cobb writes:
This is quite obviously subversive which is bad enough, but when Limbaugh much to the consternation of party bosses on both sides claims to be influencing elections and manipulating democracy with his plotting it demonstrates what I consider unconscionable hubris. He’s gone too far and he needs to be stopped.
Well, it is subversive, and it is hard to justify the subversion on the basis “fighting fire with fire.” One cannot compare the influence of — at most — a couple million KosKidz to Rush’s enormous audience. I keep thinking that if a liberal with Rush’s audience was advocating “Operation Chaos,” lots of conservatives would be decrying the game-playing and mischief-making misuse of our votes, which I believe most conservatives consider “sacred” things.
But I don’t think Rush should be stopped. That would involved trampling on something equally sacred, our right to speak freely and organize and assemble, even if we’re making cakes of ourselves doing it.
This 2008 election - and much of our electoral process - is already a two-ring circus; Rush is simply adding a third ring, and he’s perhaps also demonstrating how absurdly dishonest and vapid has it all become - the endless campaigning, maneuvering, manipulating and lying. And like a good capitalist he is turning a profit on the thing, besides. (If the “Operation Chaos” tee shirts, hats, etc are meant to support a charity, please let me know.)
So, I don’t think Limbaugh should “be stopped.” But I also don’t know that people should be giggling and guffawing over “Operation Chaos” without considering that — if the “operation” is rooted in a spirit of spiteful payback — it is bound to reap negative fruit. Moreover, I am old-fashioned enough to think of our vote is “a sacred trust” even if that is unsophisticated of me, even if others think vote manipulation is timely sport.
I keep thinking about the Russian Immigrant who looked forward to his first chance to vote in America, and told Gerard Vanderleun, “I will vote always for best, always”…and about the people in Iraq who braved so much to hold their purple fingers in the air…and about the Iraqi and American dead who fought to give them that right.
And in thinking about them, I’m a bit ashamed of our three-ring circus and the casual menace which we are bringing to our own sacred process. They all deserve better than we’re giving them, right now.
What is your opinion? Is Limbaugh subverting a sacred trust, or is he - somehow - “saving” it?
“I reject the premise that the Democrats ‘selected’ John McCain. Had conservatives managed to find that ‘Ronald Reagan II’ they were demanding, he/she would have been immune to stray Dem hijinks;”
The second sentence rebuts the first.
The second sentence doesn’t support the premise that Democrats didn’t select John McCain. It merely says that the Democrats wouldn’t have been successful at their manipulation if there had been a better Republican candidate.
Her second sentence makes clear that the Democrats DID select Mr. McCain in saying that our process was NOT immune to “Dem hijinks.”
Thanks for the admission.
Agree. Pubbies have a long record of stupidity. McCain can’t raise money. He will be toast if he can’t get people excited about him. Obama will bury him with loot. McCain might win but it will be without the bucks.
The first amendment is a sacred trust. The folks opposed to “Operation Chaos” are dancing on that trust and people seem to be rushing to their defense.
Who I vote for and why I voted for them are my business.
Given the fact we have elected presidents based on physical appearance more than once, I am not sure there is any more “sacred trust” when it comes to voting.
Mr. Cobb needs to work on his grammar.
I'm ready to throw the Republican party under the bus much like the Whig Party was dismantled. F&*% Juan McAmnesty.
The media is ignoring the Paulian Democrats who are mucking about with Republican party platforms in various states.
Crossover voters are doing all sorts of things.
The Democrats are far more concerned about Republican operatives in their party than they are about the Communist operatives in their party.
The Democrat Party of today is not the Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson. Throw this party under the bus too. Enough of the DINO Socialist Party.
I find it hard to believe that Rush really has that much influence. Seems to me that Rush thrives on hearing the MSM talk about what he has said.
OC is a gimmick (IMO) to make Rush money. Rushbots are as loyal to him as followers of Rev. Wright are to him.
Rush has said many times that he leads no movement or heads any cause. He is here to get and keep as many listeners as possible so that he can charge confiscatory advertising rates. First and foremost, Rush is business.
Re your tagline:
Solution - hire illegals to push your car.
Crossover Democrats tried the same ploy in 2000 as well.
Only a fool would ignore the evidence of the crossover in the early primaries this time around.
The Democrats want a Loyalty Oath to party but not to country.
The good news is that he has a lot of practice doing just that.
Strategic voting is a feature of any voting system. Whether it’s a good idea or not (I’m torn—the only way I can see it backfiring is a Clinton/Obama ticket, but even there the more radical part of the demonRAT base will go ballistic calling Obama Hillary’s ‘house n*****r’, and saying ‘the Man’ has robbed African-Americans of the Presidency), Operation Chaos is just an extreme manifestation of strategic voting.
No subversion of the sacred trust of voting, just an odd way of using that trust.
The gloating is a bit obnoxious. But at least by being upfront about it, the Left can’t complain about a “secret conspiracy”.
Meanwhile the Paulians did plot to overrun state conventions and set the agenda.
Rush’s delegates aren’t even sure how far they are going to travel up and certainly aren’t looking beyond casting a vote for/against Hillary or Obama.
While I do not listen to talk radio, Rush’s job is to get ratings and make money from advertisements. He’s not violating anything. He’s a talk show host - no more, no less.
In the end, the final decision lies with the voters. I want to see the dems beat the crap out of each other, and that goes double for that Jimmy Carter clone named Obama. If I lived in Pennsylvania, I’d vote for Hillary in the primary to prolong this fight. That’s not because of Rush, but because I don’t think of the democratic party leadership as misquided, but an enemy that needs to be stopped at any cost, as long as it is legal. I’m not above getting my hands dirty either, just as my namesake did when he had to take care of problems called the Colorado Avalanche.
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