Castrus, I think I speak for a lot of FReepers when I say WE GET that Rush didn't intend to shill for Romney and we understand why he was upset with Newt. We also understand that Job #1 right now is to TAKE OUT ROMNEY. Period.
What Rush DIDN'T GET was that his attacks on Newt ABSOLUTELY benefitted Romney, whether he intended them to or not and no matter how much he tried to balance things by equally criticizing Romney.
Rush almost not only DIDN'T GET, but he eagerly and even willfully miscontstrued, what Newt was saying, and IMO, his stubborn pride, which is his Achilles Heel, prohibits him from owning up to it (and Pelham nailed it in his post where he says capitalism is Rush's substitute for religion). It is crystal clear: Newt wasn't criticizing capitalism, he was criticizing Romney's way of practicing it.
Romney is a proven statist through and through, and statism is the enemy. As far as I'm concerned, if Newt goes a bit populist to take down OUR ENEMY (and remember it was REAGAN HIMSELF who said in 1979 that he wanted his campaign to "stand for Main Street, not Wall Street. I want us to stand for the worker, the shopkeeper, the entrepreneur, and the small businessman") then I say GODSPEED NEWT GINGRICH.
Rush should have joined me. He missed the bus.
I too was stunned not only by Rush’s tin-ear criticism of Gingrich and his plumping for Romney, but by the fact that a lot of Freepers took up the cry. It was bizarre, since nothing but a serious misunderstanding of Gingrich’s ad could make anybody think it was a criticism of capitalism. Possibly a wilfull misunderstanding (I do think Rush favors Romney), but a misunderstanding nonetheless.
It’s possible, as Finny said, that once Rush had come out with that crazy claim, he refused to back down simply out of arrogance and embarrassment. He loves to call himself the “all-seeing, all-knowing,” although I have often noticed lately that his information is not current and I feel that he’s just talking off the top of his head, especially in his rants. So maybe the Bain thing is just more evidence that he’s slipping, and the blind adherence of some Freepers to Rush’s words reflects the day when Rush was more aware and possibly more conservative.
He’s certainly ceased to be a conservative leader in my mind, although I hope now he does what he can to repair the damage.
Good post. You explained it far better than I ever could.