In desperation, the defeated right turns to Rush Limbaugh

[T_i_B]

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/rupert-cornwell/rupert-cornwell-in-desperation-the-defeated-right-turns-to-rush-limbaugh-1639662.html

Many strange things have happened in America, in this young age of Obama. But none stranger, surely, than that the de facto leadership of the Republican Party has passed into the hands of a right-wing talk radio host.

The moment of that passage came on Saturday 28 February, when Rush Limbaugh was the closing speaker at CPAC, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference here in Washington, normally a festival for Republican true believers. As I wrote in this space last week, the arriving delegates looked like stragglers from Napoleon's army in the 1812 retreat from Moscow, shellshocked still by their crushing election defeat. But when they left they were walking on air – or rather, the reverberating echoes of Limbaugh's address, in which he reaffirmed conservative values and stated that he wanted the new President to fail.

For many, it was an unsettling moment: not because of the black shirt he was wearing (Limbaugh's bloviating has always had a whiff of Il Duce), or because John McCain, the party's defeated White House candidate, had chosen not to attend. What made it unsettling was that politics had not merely fused with entertainment. It had surrendered to entertainment.

He may not be leader of the party, but right now he is its most powerful figure. For what other Republican has such an audience, not to mention communications skills rivalling those of Reagan himself. But these same attributes make him a gift for Democrats. The conservative base adores Limbaugh, but not many others do – certainly not the self-described independent voters who decide elections, and who currently dislike him by a three-to-one margin. The louder Rush roars, the quicker the funds flow into the Democratic Party coffers.

[Uben]

1. Leader of the LOSERS!

A fitting title!

[SpiralHawk]

5. "Rush DraftDodger is our kinda FAIL hero. Smirk." - Republicon Homelanders

"We luved us some Commander AWOL Bush and some VP Dickie 'Five Military Deferments' Cheney, so we really luvs us a drug-abuser who dodged the draft using an Ass Pimple as an excuse. He is our favorite Chickenhawk, although O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, Scarborough and the others also found great ways to avoid serving America, while gayily advocating that our sons and daughters get into uniform and go off on an Oil-Profits and Nation Building Crusade. Smirk."

- Republicon Homelanders

[RJ Connors]

2. A leader is defined by who it is the people follow.

That being true there is no doubt that Rush IS the leader of the Republican party.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. The lemmings have chosen the first one to go over the cliff.

Follow me, says the fat man.

[saltpoint]

4. The INDEPENDENT has it right, looks like. Thanks for sending this

along.

The GOP is looking very bad these days. Voters chose the other party in November by impressive margins and now Republicans in the Congress are lining up to smooch the hindquarters of an arrogant propagandist.

Kind of pathetic.

[Demeter]

6. It Was Either Rush or Sarah Palin

and you know what the wackos think about women leaders....or women in general!