thanks, for the post. Vet. 
There are two sets of rules. One set for the rulers and another for the rest of us. —Richard Yancey, former IRS tax collector
Posted on 03/07/2009 9:03:09 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
So who’s more important, President Barack Obama or radio personality Rush Limbaugh? The answer may surprise you. By at least one mainstream media measure, it’s Rush.
For those who aren’t familiar with the dying newspaper business, it’s critical to remember that editors tend to put the stories they consider most important on page A-1. Thus, the front page of an August 1945 Indianapolis Times carried the headline: “Japs Surrender.” That was the big story at the time, although a framed copy of the newspaper was recently removed from the halls of an Indiana VA hospital in the interest of political correctness.
In any event, on March 4 The Washington Post featured a front-page (“below the fold” as they say, but still) headline: “GOP Seeks Balance With Conservative Icon Limbaugh.” The story went on to examine the tempest Rush stirred up when he announced -- on Feb. 28 -- that he wants “Barack Obama to fail.” Limbaugh made the front of the Post’s Style section March 4 too, by the way, and was back on the front page on March 6, 2009.
To review: Wednesday’s story was a front-pager looking into a story about an event that happened four days earlier. Compare that to, say Obama’s address to Congress (don’t call it a State of the Union, please) the preceding week. Obama spoke on Tuesday, newspapers fawned over his audacious plans on Wednesday, and that was that. By Saturday -- four days later -- you’d search in vain for a front-page story on Obama’s supposedly ground-shifting speech.
In other words, Limbaugh’s four words seem to have had a greater effect than Obama’s thousands of words did. Interesting, that.
The Post managed to dig up the usual suspects to make the usual ad hominem attacks. “Rush is the bloated face and drug-addled voice of the Republican Party,” former Clinton flack Paul Begala told the paper. “Along with lots of others, I intend to continue to turn up the heat until every alleged Republican either endorses or renounces Rush’s statement that he hopes our president fails.”
Some of the “others” Begala plans to work with include politicians on the public payroll. The Politico newspaper reports that Begala and his fellow attack dog James Carville have daily phone conversations with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual.
It should come as little surprise, then, that they’ve coordinated their words. “Emanuel elevated the strategy by bringing up the conservative talker, unprompted, on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ and calling him the ‘the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party’,” Politico reported.
Well, someone had to be.
Anyway, it’s odd that all Americans are apparently supposed to suddenly fall into line behind the president. Sure, we all want the country to succeed -- but many of us (Limbaugh included) think Obama’s policies would take the country in the wrong direction. It’s unclear why anyone would support, for example, the socialization of health care. It hasn’t worked in the U.K. or Canada, so why import it?
It’s also worth remembering that, during the Bush years, liberals not only wanted the president to fail, they actively worked to bring about his failure. That’s called “politics.” In fact, they even declared he’d failed when he hadn’t.
Remember Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement in April 2007 that, “this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday”? That came as Americans were fighting and dying in Iraq, so the stakes were slightly higher than they are today when we wonder whether the president will succeed in his attempts to federalize the health care system.
If we’d followed Reid’s advice, or that of his then-fellow Sen. Barack Obama, the U.S. would have lost the war in Iraq. Instead, it’s generally accepted that, because of the surge, we’ve won.
One thing is clear: the White House listens to Limbaugh. It was only after Rush criticized Obama for failing to talk up the markets that Obama suddenly decided to remind people that this might be a good time to buy stocks. Coincidence?
But it’s also a pleasant and necessary change from a few weeks back, when the president stumped for his supposed “stimulus” bill by proclaiming that our economy was in free-fall and might never recover unless his massive spending bill became law.
So who’s more important?
Any president can command the front page any time he wants. “The Constitution gives me relevance,” as Bill Clinton explained (irrelevantly) in 1995. An entertainer such as Limbaugh can achieve relevance only if his ideas deserve it. The Washington Post, for one, seems to think they do -- more so, maybe, than the president’s own ideas.
No kidding. We KNOW Rush has been vetted, because if there was any real dirt on him it would have been all over the media back in the 90’s!
You know what is weird - AM Radio was dying and heading towards dinosaur status until Rush breathed life into AM radio. The TV network news and newspapers are dying. Sat radio was supposed to kill reg radio - Rush stuck with AM and he is thriving.
The fools in the media could learn something but they won’t. Rush is raking it in, in a medium that should be dead. If the newspapers were not so insanely liberal - they might have a shot at survival.
thanks, for the post. Vet.
Rush
Don’t forget Clinton. Mr. Cocaine user and rapist.
I am sure they will try to make stuff up. But what they don’t realize is they have continually picked losers and morons since Carter.
Poor marketing. It has been presented as merely a car radio. They screwed up by not pushing the home market. And I speak as a four year subscriber.
RUSH MAKES THE LEFTIES SOOOOOOO NERVOUS. EMBRACE THIS, FOLKS! THE HATE THEY SPEW IS BEYOND WORDS. tHE TRUTH IS... GOOD ‘OL RUSH CANNOT BE DESTROYED AND THESE LEFTIST BOTTOM-FEEDERS KNOW IT! GO RUSH! WE HAVE YOUR BACK! 2012 IS OURS TO WIN!
Democrats are given a pass on that. Just as they are when their kids have babies out of wedlock. Or when they have affairs. Just ask Sarah Palin about double standards.
That's the point. Obama's words are not interesting.
Limbaugh's four words energized the base. Obama's first four words put us to sleep.
The conservative theory of relativity: listen to Limbaugh for 3 hours, and it feels like 3 minutes. Listen to Obama for 3 minutes, and it feels like 3 days.
Fact:
Carter = F (no need to explain further)
Clinton = D- (Nafta, lack of morals, Chinese secrets)
Obama = FAILED (socialism is a recipe for failure.
These leftist morons had/have NO business running our country. It’s hard to sit and watch them destroy the USA. 2012 is ours to win, folks.
How come it's Politically Incorrect to say "Japs" but still Politically Correct to say "Brits"?
If the Japanese made headlines every day in 2009, would newspaper editors really be printing out J*a*p*a*n*e*s*e in every headline every day or would they be printing out "Japs"?
If Franklin Delano Roosevelt made headlines every day in 2009, would newspaper editors really be printing out F*r*a*n*k*l*i*n D*e*l*a*n*o R*o*o*s*e*v*e*l*t in every headline every day or would they be printing out "FDR"?
Just a rhetorical question pointing out the silliness of Political Correctness.
It will be too late.
No republican president will have the guts to gut the federal government.
America is permanently screwed with no means of turning back to capitalism.
We cannot be defeated and will WIN in 2012 if we organize, and organize our campaign well.
my apologies. caps are off. (=
Rush Limbaugh, A RADIO COMMENTATOR, is prescribed addictive pain medication by his Doctor for his back problems. He refuses surgery to fix the problem because it could harm his vocal cords and end his career. He gets hooked on the PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS, not illicit recreational street drugs as used by Obama and his Liberal Sycophants BTW, and he goes through a treatment program to end his addiction.
He is now scarred for life while Obama, the President of the United States, has absolutely no repercussions for committing multiple Felonies as an adult. He should make Robert Downey Jr. the new Drug Czar.
What a wonderful world we live in.
Carville and Begala look like the typical child molesters. Maybe their police records should be checked?
man...Rush Limbaugh as president would be something
he is crackerjack smart and quick and self deprecating....that’s the best part
who knows....if Obama can do it..
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