Rahm:
Posted on 03/01/2009 10:44:47 AM PST by FocusNexus
President Obama's chief of staff said conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the Republican Party, and suggested that Limbaugh's desire for the president's policies to fail is the uniform position of the GOP.
Chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said Limbaugh is the "intellectual force" of the GOP and Republicans now have to live with that choice.
"He is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party. And he has been up front about what he views, and hasn't stepped back from that, which is he hopes for failure. He said it. And I compliment him for his honesty, but that's their philosophy that is enunciated by Rush Limbaugh. And I think that's the wrong philosophy for America," Emanuel said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
On Saturday, Limbaugh gave an hour-and-a-half speech to cap off the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Limbaugh said it's fine for Republicans to criticize Obama's plans and Republicans must return to their core philosophies.
He added that Obama's plan won't restore prosperity and that's why he wants it to fail.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The UPS guy doesn’t even stay at the door when making deliveries to my house. We are banding together.
They better be careful, because if they drive him off the air he could decide to run for President himself.
Yes. How dare the Republicans think that they could put someone 'colored' on TV or in office to respond to the pResident's remarks?
This is why they are doing it:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/114163/Limbaugh-Liked-Not-Republicans.aspx?version=print
Rush is generally not well-liked in the U.S. by a majority of voters. Only 60% of Republicans have a favorable view of him and even more critical, only 25% of independents have a favorable view of him.
If the Dems can tie all Republicans to Rush, they get increased electoral gains on the Republicans in 2010 and 2012. Republicans simply cannot win a damn thing with Rush’s numbers and so long as Rush is on national tv getting attention for himself, the Republicans get hurt.
This is actually a brilliant tactic by the Democratic leadership and it is working very effectively. I have no doubt that by the end of 2009, most sheeple will see Rush’s face and Republican politician as the same thing. What is the GOP leadership going to do to counter this? What can they do without splitting the party? I think it starts with the base, take insults of Rush from GOP leadership with a grain of salt and remember that they have to be re-elected, Rush doesn’t.
The freaks in power right now are indeed power crazed, to the max, and it is a chilling, creepy feeling to think of people like rahm emanuel, aka genuine thugs, with their dirty fingers in the pot. Ya feel as if their orgasmic in their panting over the power controlling our money evokes.
I want them to fail, miserably. I hope they are swEATing BULLETS before the next four years are up. I hope many of them are running away with their dirty tails between their legs even before the next election.
If our press will not expose them, RUSH, Hannity, Laura Ingraham, etc., WILL and we will be right there helping them.
I'll take rush as the face of my party, and his 20 plus million listeners will too. He has truly educated me on genuine conservatism. And he refuses to dumb down his rhetoric...which is why I love him!
Rush's face? Obama's face?
Pass the cigars and throw throw the banana's away.
Rahm:
He’s right, Rush is the Republican leader now. If not Rush, who is it? Certainly not McCain, he’s not even a conservative, and Govs. Palin and Jindal don’t have enough national stature yet.
Where Emmanual is wrong is in his criticisms. Rush knows what’s wrong with Obama’s plans and he knows what’s right for America, and that ain’t Obama and his Commie friends.
“I think Obama knows his policies will fail, and he’s written off a second term in favor of pushing his agenda and getting as much of done as possible”
I’m not sure I quite agree with this. I think he wants everything to pass quickly while he has a manufactured crisis underway. I think he fully expects to easily win a second term.
I think his plan is also likely to succed. He is going to ensure citizenship to the 10+M illegal aliens, who he thinks will all vote RAT/Marxist. He is also funding ACORN with our money to help ensure swing districts in swing states go heavily RAT through illegal means. I think he expects a second term is a given. He is just anxious because he has so much of America to undue and he might not have 60 senate votes after the mid-term.
If we take Rush as the leader of the party then we need to get used to Republicans yielding the real power to the Dems and get used to seeing liberal legislation being rammed down our throats for years to come.
Until the time comes that a large majority of Americans find they agree with Rush, this problem will be a fact and Republicans will be in the minority, irrelevant and useless in Washington. But since Rush has be out there for a long time and is known by almost all voters, I don’t see this happening anytime soon.
At least they identified the reporter as a “liberal extremist.”
Exercising the First Amendment is a barrier to progressives, not a barrier to progress.
I don't think we lose with Rush, just the opposite. I think we need to start being PROUD OF OUR CORE....PROUD OF WHAT WE STAND FOR...and stop the groveling and meowling and all that other crap liberal commie victems are so good at producing.
because “the rich” will leave the country and there won’t be anyone left from whom to take things away.
Oh, there’s always the “Middle Class”,
it is indeed a war on the successful,
there won’t be peace until all are reduced to poverty.
It’s very much like Islam in that respect.
Excellent distinction.
Rush is definitely a barrier to “progress”ives.
“Why? What do you fear from Rush as a figurehead?”
Did you not see the poll numbers? Are you not aware of Rush’s unpopularity? I personally find Rush entertaining as hell but take his numbers and facts with a grain of salt.
But a nice chunk of Republicans and a majority of Independents can’t stand him. These numbers mean electoral thrashings if Dems can successfully make Rush and Republican candidate synonyms.
That’s what I fear. This is no longer 1994, Rush is not political gold, he’s political cryptonite.
“For the reasons you list, the Left will pull out all the stops to kill Rush and talk radio. He/they are too effective. Let the battle begin.”
I think just the opposite. I now see why Obama is against the fairness doctrine and I will predict now that he will veto any fairness doctrine or anything that comes close to it regardless of what it is called.
Rush is not careful with his words, he doesn’t have to be. He can pull Howard Dean 2004s all he wants. Remember when people instantly recoiled and abandoned Dean after the famous yell, even Dems? Well Rush says and does things all the time that are viewed as politically incorrect by a majority of voters and is constantly put in a bad light by the MSM.
Obama wants him out there, he knows about Rush’s poll numbers and his unpopularity. He needs Rush’s microphone to be unfettered, free, no pressure. He wants Rush to be relaxed and feel powerful. Once in that state, Rush gets risky. The more Rush talks, the more likely Obama can tie Rush to the individual Republicans and the more Dem victories can be eeked out by the Dems.
We are being played like fiddles by Obama. He has a brilliantly sinister mind.
They have to have a rallying point, a point ot focus their energies and hatred at. It is much more effective to ‘put a face’ on a movement, something tangible.
Remember 1984 and “Goldstein?”
And if you don’t like that, remember George Bush the last 8 years? And still today to some degree?
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