Limbaugh Sent GOP to Hillary in Texas, But She Won Anyway
Posted by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet at 4:16 PM on March 7, 2008.
There were Limbaugh voters in Texas and Ohio -- not enough to tip the scale anyway.
Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is influential. He is the nation's most important radio host, according to Talkers magazine. And he's a great showman, urging Republicans to cross party lines and vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in the Democratic Primary in Texas and Ohio. It's classic political talk radio.
"I want Hillary to stay in this, Laura," Rush told Laura Ingraham on Feb. 29, near the start of his Hillary crusade. "This is too good a soap opera. We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically, and it's obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it and don't have the stomach for it, as you probably know."
And on Wednesday, the day after the Texas Primary, there was this exchange on Fox News, where Clinton was the guest and was asked if she owed Limbaugh a thank you for a primary victory.
HILLARY: Be careful what you wish for, Rush.
WOMAN: Is that it?
HILLARY: I think that's it.
Later that day, Limbaugh played that mesmerizing exchange on his show and then said, "How do you interpret this, folks? She could have said thank you. She could have said thank you! In fact, I was expecting in her victory speech last night, to be thanked.
"I helped give Mrs. Clinton the biggest and happiest moment and night of the campaign season so far, maybe her life, and she tells me, "Be careful what you wish for, Rush"? Why, that sounds like a threat, does it not? I've got a Democrat presidential candidate threatening your host. Why, I am stunned! After all I did..."
This is fun, entertaining radio, but that does not make it true.
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