He is now the de facto party leader. You disagree with him at your peril. Senators and GOP chairmen have learned this lesson the hard way and had to run groveling at Rush's feet with apologies when they dared criticize him.

His new marching orders, that the party openly wishes for Obama's failure, is gaining fire under the base. Nevermind that they treated even mere disagreement with Bush policy as treason and America-bashing, now it's your duty to save America by actively sabotaging Obama at every opportunity.

The GOP now has 68% unfavorables. They are less popular than legalizing pot. They have no new ideas. So what have they got to lose? If Rush thinks he speaks for the good of the country, if he's the leader of the party, then let him put his money where his mouth is and run for office.

I would love for a President Limbaugh, if only because it most mirrors what an evil American president would look like in popular culture.

Regardless how you feel about Limbaugh's political ideology, the guys personality and makeup demand he never be President.

Oh, he wouldn't actually win, but that doesn't mean he can't run. He is the modern GOP distilled down into one personality. Who could better represent everything the party stands for today?

I couldn't disagree more. Rush doesn't stand for what I believe in, we may share ideologies to some degree, but he is not the personality I want my party represented by.

It's not about what you want. It's about what IS. And right now, he's the leader of your party. And while he is, your party will continue to languish in 16% approval ratings, with no ideas, and no power. It's up to the base to do something about it, but they seem pretty happy with him at the helm. Look at the way they demanded that Steele apologize, and the way Jindal praised him for doing so. Even Mitt Romney, CPAC's top pick for 2012, weighed in.

And I'd love to know what ideologies you share with Rush Limbaugh, because near as I can tell, he doesn't have any, unless you're going to laughingly suggest again that the GOP ideology has something to do with smaller government or fiscal responsibility.

The more the GOP rallies around this guy and kiss his fat ass, the happier I am.

Limbaugh's popularity among the rest of America is lower than Bush's. ( http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Rush_Limb ... _0303.html ) The vast majority of Americans get him and know exactly what he is, and they don't like it. So for the GOP to cower to him is just unbelievable to me. It would be like Democrats doing the same thing to Reverend Wright.

The cluelessness of the current GOP constantly amazes me.

I must admit, I agree. If they are going to continue insisting on being so completely out of touch with the rest of America, to continue believing that people do not see through their "Obama is a socialist" bullshit after the last 8 years of Bush, then they and Rush deserve each other.

"Vast majority"? He had 45% disapproval with a whopping 27% expressing no opinion (the ones who are at least honest). I submit that the vast majority of Americans don't listen to Rush and know little to nothing about him, including you.

45% disapproval to 28% disapproval is a vast majority. "Don't know" doesn't really come into it. (Now, admittedly, I should have clarified that in my earlier post).

The breakdown that is most important is this one though:



If the GOP wants to stay alive as their numbers dwindle, they need those independents (you can probably write off the democrats switching parties). Rush is not the way to do it based on these numbers.

But hey, don't take my advice! My hope is that the GOP falls apart and gets replaced with a real opposition party that, you know, stands for something.

Yeah, I'm sorry, Mike's right. Most people DO know who Rush is, if the poll is correct, and a good 2/3rds of the people who know of him really do not like him. He's popular among the Republican base, but they are more hurting and more irrelevant than they have been in decades.

I said most people do not listen to Rush, not that most people do not know who he is. Most people know who Stephen King is, most people have never read a single thing he has wrote and can only identify him as "that horror writer."

The same goes for Rush. Most non-conservatives identify him as "that conservative blow-hard" and really have no clue about the things he says. I'm not saying that is a good thing for conservatives or the Republican party, just that most people really know nothing about Rush.

Whenever Rush hits the spotlight, conservatives love to downplay his influence. "He's an entertainer; no one really listens to him." But look what happens when the chairman of the RNC crosses him. He goes groveling to Rush, not the other way around.

If the guy is so marginal, then one has to wonder about the wisdom of the GOP going to him as their de facto leader.

I also like seeing Republicans complain that people are following Obama blindly while they hang from Limbaugh's puppet strings.

And that's not to mention their deification of Reagan, and the fact that they considered criticism of Dubya while he was in office to be treason.

I remember how you talked about how you liked how Bush stuck to his guns too. I gotta ask, are you a political masochist, or do you view politics in cinematic terms?

A little bit of both. I definitely feel the United States has always gotten the president it deserves and not necessarily always needs. Whatever happens in 2012 is what's meant to happen.

It helps to not be from the United States. There's a bag packed in the hallway just in case things get too shitty for my taste. But so far, so good.

^ wait, you're not an American citizen?

I have dual citizenship. loyalfromlondon, lol.

I'm also working on getting a German passport as well, for when I travel overseas.

Steele's pathetic groveling to the GOP's exalted leader continues:

"STEELE: The point that I’ve been trying to make which is if you go back and listen to that [CNN] exchange, there was no attack on Rush. I was saying that there are people out there who actually want to demonize and use him as a boogie man, but also say that what he is saying is ugly and divisive."

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/pol ... ealth.html


This man, ha.

What is there to understand? The guy blusters to line his pockets.

I've heard the comment that when Republicans are out of power, Rush makes more money. Maybe this is a ploy to make sure they stay unpopular. If so, it's working.

I agree he laughs all the way to the bank, popping pills as he goes. He is just an entertainer and probably rather have the democrats in power because it helps his ratings better.