What's good for Rush Limbaugh is bad for Republicans

National Post ^ | David Frum

[indcons]

Gallup's latest polling reveals the continuing collapse of the Republican party's base vote. The news is so very bad that there will be only one possible response from GOP party leadership and our radio talkers: Ignore it.

--SNIP--

Instead, our congressmen talk to and about Rush Limbaugh like Old Bolsheviks praising Comrade Stalin at their show trials. Rush is right! We see eye to eye with Rush! There is no truth outside Rush!

Rush and Hannity and O’Reilly and Ann Coulter and the others have their place and their role. They spoke for an important section of public opinion, and it is a section our party needs. But it is only a section, and not the whole. The more the party allows them to become our public face, the more embattled and endangered the party becomes.

The relationship between these radio talkers and the larger Republican and conservative world has become parasitic and antagonistic. They flourish and profit to the extent they can polarize and radicalize. The GOP will recover only to the extent that it moderates and reaches out. They benefit from controversies that position them as the leaders and designated speakers for conservative America. But the more visible they become, the more our party is shoved to the margins and rendered unelectable. What is good for Rush is bad for the GOP, and what is good for the GOP is bad for Rush.

--SNIP--

[STARWISE]

Shut up, David. You became a certified egomaniac just to make a name and career for yourself after you left the WH.

[GatorGirl]

And I don’t understand his reference to Gallup. I can’t find any current or daily polling on the Republican base. I saw the “party id” polling for 2008, but I also saw a blurb that “Democratic identification is at it’s highest point since...1983.

LOL! And we all know what happened at the next election!!!

[Kent C]

The GOP will recover only to the extent that it moderates and reaches out.

Tried that for the last two election cycles, David. [insert that defintion of insanity here.] Are you that blinded by your biases? Do you think that people don't know that that is what was tried in November?? Quit using the Republican label, it makes you look like an even bigger fool than you already are.

[VaFarmer]

Thanks for posting the article, but...

What is Frum talking about? Why would anybody want to vote for a Republican candidate unless the voter thinks that candidate is going to take positions that the voter supports?

What do I care whether a Republican or a Democrat wins an election? I want a conservative candidate, not some generic party label mannequin.

Rush talks conservative. That interests me. If a candidate doesn’t talk conservative, then I don’t care about him or her.

[redhead]

Oh, my. He sounds ...upset. Do you think he might be jealous?

[eyedigress]

Jay Leno took a swipe also. Rush sets the trap and the roaches “rush” in.

[budwiesest]

Frum is an Obama Republican I guess

Obamlican!! Yes, it's me. I did it! I put the two together.(sadly, they truly exist)

Saddens me to think my politicians are so 'caveman-esque'. Can't switch to GEICO, can't follow a little instruction (Bill of Rights, etc.). Just what a country, about to fall on it's face, needs- Cro Magnon Man without insurance.

If Sasquach shows up in my room tonight, I promise not to shoot him. Just hit him with the butt. And take pictures. Lots of pictures. If Lady Sasquach is nearby, I'll take pictures of her too. She'll taunt me, no doubt, as I kick her boyfriend's butt, but, what else is new? Me? I'll be thinkin', "Too much hair mam, too much hair."

[GeronL]

your drunk huh?

lol

Frum wants to get us McCained every 2 years. Then he’ll say we conservatives cost the party the election. what a joke.

[utahson]

What is good for David Frum and Peggy Noonan is bad for Republicans. Enough of these back stabbing POS’s.

[budwiesest]

all I seem to hear is Obama’s Right.....there is no Truth outside Obama”

That's a stand-up triple. Hard to do. Good on you.

[FBD]

Bwaaaahaaaa! good one.

but here comes the answer: wait for it...waaaaait for it...

;-)

[marron]

In the present climate, its easy to see who is who. The Dems are in position to do more damage than at any time in decades, and there is almost no hope of stopping them.

Some Republicans are trying to find common cause with the Dems. They are taking us off the cliff at breakneck speed and these guys think its patriotic to unite with the lemmings for the good of the country. Guys like McCain, for example, and their mouthpieces like Frum who save their invective for any Republican who dares to mention the cliff.

But there are still a few out there who are actually wading into the fight of the century. When you’re outnumbered is when you find out what people are made of. Almost every Republican whose name we know is looking to make friends with the winning team. They are not the leaders we are looking for. Changing your jersey and joining the winning team isn’t leadership.

But while the weak sisters are lining up to join the cool kids, it leaves the way wide open for anyone who wants to step forward. Anyone can be a leader right now if he wants to, he just has to be willing to leap headlong into what looks like a long series of losing battles. The guy who can do that and smile while he’s doing it, who actually enjoys getting his knuckles banged up, he’s the real leader.

The sell-outs, the posers, the empty suits, they think we’re the problem. We spoil their happy parade. We embarrass them in front of their friends. Guys like Frum will never understand guys like Limbaugh, or women like Palin, or people like us for that matter. And when you’re surrounded and outnumbered, when you’re in a target-rich environment like this one, there is no reason really to pretend that the Frums and McCains are on your team. They aren’t. Time to face it and admit it and rub their faces in it. They’ve chosen and we’ve chosen.

[A message]

Frum rhymes with dumb. How appropriate.

[Spok]

“The GOP will recover only to the extent that it moderates and reaches out.”

This is the McCain perspective that brought us Obama. If we’re going down, I’d rather be wedded to my core beliefs than compromise and mediocrity.

[Anti-Bubba182]

The analysis is horse manure. People identify with the party that succeeds. We have an unpopular war and a terrible economy. That people would start distancing themselves from the GOP is natural. If the economy does not turn around with an Obama administration the Democrats will suffer.

Limbaugh and the others are the tail, not the dog.

[SatinDoll]

Have you ever listened to Rush for six months straight? If you do that, then you will be amazed at how much sense he makes in his arguments. He is a very logically thinking man, and highly values the principles of our nation’s founders, my ancestors from over 200 years ago.

Better yet, you should call him and talk with him about what you disagree about in his monologues - he is very polite and respectful if you are equally so, even if he disagrees with you.

[Darkwolf377]

I see zero evidence that the GOP follows in lockstep behind Limbaugh, so this whole article is an attempt to do what, exactly?

[TigersEye]

Wrong! Very wrong headed.

[goldstategop]

If moderation worked so well for the GOP, why was every moderate Republican defeated in the past election?

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Exton1]

Funny how the Repubics have to become moderates? Why not ask the DemonCats to become honest and pro American. Republicans are all extremist, unless they agree and become Demoncats.