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Do not let Limbaugh pick the president
Financial Times ^ | May 7 2008 19:05 | Last updated: May 7 2008 19:05 | Jurek Martin

Posted on 05/07/2008 9:14:57 PM PDT by Fred

Ihad been thinking for some time that more attention should be paid to Rush Limbaugh – not to what he says, because it is pretty much the same old rightwing bombast he has been selling for 25 years, but to what he has been urging his legion of 20m similarly inclined radio listeners to do.

This is, wherever state laws allows, that they should register in a Democratic party primary and cast a vote for Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, the front-runner to be the Democratic presidential nominee. He calls it “operation chaos” and he has been revelling in its claimed success, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which Mrs Clin­ton, the senator from New York, won.

This strategy may have met its Waterloo in Indiana. Even though the Limbaugh factor may have handed Mrs Clinton her margin of victory on Tuesday night, it was so wafer-thin – at a 2 per cent margin – as to be immediately deemed insufficient. It certainly did not work in North Carolina, which Mr Obama won comfortably, and where “crossover” voting for the unaffiliated is allowed, but only with complicated strings attached.

I actually do listen to Mr Limbaugh, preferably on the sanitised car radio, which leaves no trace that a liberal wife could decode. I do so on the Flashman principle that you should always know what the enemy is thinking, even if he talks in tongues, and especially if he is smarter and more entertaining than the average conservative, which Mr Limbaugh certainly is.

And you can see the point of operation chaos from his vantage point, both in the short and longer term. If he believes Mrs Clinton would be the weaker candidate against Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, he can beat up on her until the first Tuesday in November and his ends will have been served if she loses. If she becomes the next president, then he can assault her much as he did her husband for his eight years in office, however long she lasts, maintaining his audience ratings in the process.

Finally, if his strategy of operation chaos does not work out and Mr Obama becomes the nominee, which is now even more likely with his North Carolina victory, then he can ratchet up his harangues against “garden variety liberals” (his standard description of the Illinois senator) who would sell the country down the river and into the slavery of the Chinese.

I think even Mr Limbaugh would concede he has never been Mr McCain’s greatest fan. He preferred Rudy Giuliani early on, with qualifications, and then shifted, with zero enthusiasm, to Mitt Romney, because he was not Mr McCain, whom he considers an apostate from his authorised version of conservatism. But now he is stuck with the Arizona senator.

Now, all this might be fine theory if Mrs Clinton were not playing to his audience, as she reinvents herself from the “garden variety liberal” she certainly was into the San Francisco-denigratin’, huntin,’ shootin’ and shot-drinkin’ mama that is her new political persona. It is not just her espousal of the populist idea of a holiday from the federal petrol tax, also advocated by her vodka shot-drinkin’ friend, Mr McCain, and derided by every economist who has ever been to any known university (including the lawyer, Mr Obama).

It is also the fact that she chose to appear on Bill O’Reilly’s television show on the Fox network. For those who live in Luxembourg or Borneo, Mr O’Reilly is Mr Limbaugh minus several IQ points. He has devoted much of his career, like Mr Limbaugh, to eviscerating the Clintons, but now his blue-collar persona is convenient to her.

All that said, the Limbaugh-O’Reilly-Clinton axis, one that can only have been drawn up on the dark side of the moon where strange bedfellows meet, has cut Mr Obama deeply, if not necessarily fatally as Tuesday’s primaries still leave him holding the whip hand.

There is something compelling about Mr Obama’s cerebral cool, his refusal to play the political game as it is conventionally played. But I am not the audience, even if I could vote, that the game is being played for.

We are slicing and dicing the great American community as it has never been sliced and diced before. Every component part is in play – black, white, men, women, Hispanic, Asian, rich, poor, old, young, Protestant, Catholic, evangelical, Jew and non-believer. Every primary exit poll, which, at least, purports neutrality if not the gospel, carves up the apparent electoral preferences until our minds boggle.

Does, for example, Mr Obama’s long association with his pastor, the Rev Jeremiah Wright, matter or not? Old people say it does, the polls tell us, young people say it does not. And then there is Mr McCain’s relationship with the Rev John Hagge, another “man of the cloth” prone to views that are not in the gospel either.

And when Mr Limbaugh goes on a rant, as he did this week, about “Jerry” Wright allegedly counselling a troubled couple in his church and then marrying the wife after their divorce, then I have to wonder where the war in Iraq, the looming financial crunch and everything else that is out of kilter in this country feature in the election.

Ultimately, the next president will be the one with whom America feels more comfortable and who has a vision for tomorrow not yesterday. I do not think Mr Limbaugh, or operation chaos, figures in that, but I may be wrong.

The writer was twice the FT’s Washington bureau chief

onohana@aol.com


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; chaos; clueless; crossovervote; financialtimes; jurekmartin; obamatruthfile; operationchaos; rush
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1 posted on 05/07/2008 9:14:57 PM PDT by Fred
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To: Fred

Total yawn! I could care less what he thinks. If they mess with our primaries, we mess with theirs.


2 posted on 05/07/2008 9:17:34 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
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To: Fred

People have been voting across the aisle during primaries for years. Why are they acting like it is a “New” thing?


3 posted on 05/07/2008 9:18:14 PM PDT by Witter
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To: Fred

Why shouldn’t Limbaugh be allowed to pick the president? He could certainly do a lot better at this than those who are doing it now.


4 posted on 05/07/2008 9:18:26 PM PDT by svxdave (Life is too short to wear a fake Rolex.)
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To: Fred

Right. According to this clown I guess it is alright for the msm and the dimocRATS to pick the Republican candidate. This jerkoff does not have a clue to what is going on in this country.


5 posted on 05/07/2008 9:18:49 PM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: Fred

If Rush could pick the next president, it wouldn’t be McCain.


6 posted on 05/07/2008 9:19:30 PM PDT by swatbuznik
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To: Fred
And when Mr Limbaugh goes on a rant, as he did this week, about “Jerry” Wright allegedly counselling a troubled couple in his church and then marrying the wife after their divorce, then I have to wonder where the war in Iraq, the looming financial crunch and everything else that is out of kilter in this country feature in the election.

Typical Lib. Morality, integrity and honesty mean NOTHING. Perfect 'RAT behavior.

7 posted on 05/07/2008 9:20:54 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (Bob Taft has soiled the family name for the next century.)
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To: Fred

It’s legal,, unlike many acts and stunts that ACORN and MoveOn have pulled in the past.


8 posted on 05/07/2008 9:21:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline—1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRget!)
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To: Fred

Limbaugh is at his best when he is throwing spitwads from the back of the room. And his Operation Chaos is an epic spitwad.


9 posted on 05/07/2008 9:21:18 PM PDT by Pelham (Press 1 for English)
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To: Dawnsblood
"Total yawn! I could care less what he thinks. If they mess with our primaries, we mess with theirs."

And we get The Clintons for at least four more years. Think about that.

10 posted on 05/07/2008 9:21:56 PM PDT by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: Fred
I don't think the MSM gets it. The Democrats have chosen the GOP nominee. To conservatives, turnabout is fair play. Operation Chaos's purpose isn't to select a Democrat nominee but rather to put the Democrats in a situation where they fight each other to death. So far the strategery has worked out beautifully. The Democrats still haven't settled on a nominee.

"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

11 posted on 05/07/2008 9:22:32 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Fred

I remember in 1972, while taking a poli-sci class, the professor was explaining the strategy of cross voting in primaries.


12 posted on 05/07/2008 9:23:30 PM PDT by going hot (Happiness is a momma deuce)
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To: Fred
For those who live in Luxembourg or Borneo, Mr O’Reilly is Mr Limbaugh minus several IQ points.

Worth reading just for this line.

13 posted on 05/07/2008 9:24:26 PM PDT by aposiopetic
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To: Fred

I wasn’t aware Rush preferred Rudy early on.


14 posted on 05/07/2008 9:24:49 PM PDT by peggybac (Tolerance is the virtue of believing in nothing)
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To: Pelham

Besides...It gave us something to do for a few months...

I have been voting straight ticket for years...so many in fact...when I asked for a dem ticket...everyone at the table smirked and snickered...

Now if we can convince the witch to run third party...

MUWHAHAHAHAHAHA!


15 posted on 05/07/2008 9:25:26 PM PDT by Crim (Dont frak with the Zeitgeist....)
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To: swatbuznik

One of many reasons to tune Windbag out.


16 posted on 05/07/2008 9:27:59 PM PDT by Antonio C (God bless John McCain, George W. Bush, and our troops)
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To: blackbart.223

People... Operation Chaos was never about helping Hillary win, it was only meant to prolong the Democratic primary. It has worked perfectly and when Hillary is finally toast, it will end. Thank You Rush!!


17 posted on 05/07/2008 9:28:08 PM PDT by NRA1776
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To: Parley Baer
This jerkoff does not have a clue to what is going on in this country.

That was my take on the article too. It is amazing how people can just ramble off mindless unthinking drivel and it passes for political perspective.

18 posted on 05/07/2008 9:28:56 PM PDT by HerrBlucher (Asked on his deathbed why he was reading the bible, WC Fields replied "I'm looking for loopholes.")
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To: Fred

This writer claims to listen to Rush but he sure doesn’t understand what he is hearing. Rush isn’t picking the candidates. All Rush is doing is messing with their minds and bloodying up Obama for the general election. Something McCain will refuse to do because he is above that sort of thing.

As an added bonus, Rush is having loads of fun in the process. I love what Rush is doing. He is helping the Democrats to look almost as stupid as the Republicans. Almost. :)


19 posted on 05/07/2008 9:29:08 PM PDT by upsdriver (My kingdom for an acceptable presidential candidate!!)
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To: Fred
Limbaugh-O’Reilly-Clinton axis

Rush would eat this up....Rush is now 'a man...a legend...a way of life'...in the United Kingdom
20 posted on 05/07/2008 9:29:11 PM PDT by Fred (The Democrat Party is the Nadir of Nilhilism)
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