{"id":14012,"date":"2009-03-04T09:27:05","date_gmt":"2009-03-04T16:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=14012"},"modified":"2009-03-04T09:26:43","modified_gmt":"2009-03-04T16:26:43","slug":"the-rush-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/04\/the-rush-factor.html","title":{"rendered":"The Rush factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Frum has it right<\/a> (on this at least). (Emphasis mine)<\/p>\n

\n

On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims. This president invokes the language of \u201cresponsibility,\u201d and in his own life seems to epitomize that ideal: He is physically honed and disciplined, his worst vice an occasional cigarette. He is at the same time an apparently devoted husband and father. Unsurprisingly, women voters trust and admire him.<\/p>\n

And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as \u201closers.\u201d With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence \u2013 exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we\u2019re cooperating! Those images of crowds of CPACers cheering Rush\u2019s every rancorous word \u2013 we\u2019ll be seeing them rebroadcast for a long time.<\/p>\n

Rush knows what he is doing. The worse conservatives do, the more important Rush becomes as leader of the ardent remnant. The better conservatives succeed, the more we become a broad national governing coalition, the more Rush will be sidelined.<\/p>\n

But do the rest of us understand what we are doing to ourselves by accepting this leadership? Rush is to the Republicanism of the 2000s what Jesse Jackson was to the Democratic party in the 1980s<\/strong>. He plays an important role in our coalition, and of course he and his supporters have to be treated with respect. But he cannot be allowed to be the public face of the enterprise \u2013 and we have to find ways of assuring the public that he is just one Republican voice among many, and very far from the most important.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That might be an easier task if GOP leaders didn’t keep backing off any criticism they make of Rush in a flurry of denials, retractions, apologies, and ass-kissing.<\/p>\n

(It’s also not promising — for Republicans — that the majority of the comments on the page seem to be in defense of Rush and criticizing Blum for defending style over substance.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Frum has it right (on this at least). (Emphasis mine) On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims. This president invokes the language of \u201cresponsibility,\u201d and in his own life seems to epitomize that ideal: He is physically honed and disciplined, … Continue reading “The Rush factor”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fourth-estate","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38655,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/05\/the-midnight-ride-of-rush-revere.html","url_meta":{"origin":14012,"position":0},"title":"The Midnight Ride of Rush Revere","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 5-Sep-13 11:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Really. \u00a0Rush Limbaugh is publishing a US History book for young folk, to \u201cteach what is rarely being taught in schools today\" (but without, he insists, an \"agenda\").That the book is titled Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans does not fill me with hope, right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13541,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/18\/not_that_i_would_care_to.html","url_meta":{"origin":14012,"position":1},"title":"Not that I would care to be quoted from 1998, mind you, but …","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 18-Nov-08 2:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And now the liberals want to stop President Reagan from selling chemical warfare agents and military equipment to Saddam Hussein, and why? Because Saddam allegedly gassed a few Kurds in...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32297,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/23\/the-threat-of-american-dictatorship.html","url_meta":{"origin":14012,"position":2},"title":"The threat of American dictatorship","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Jan-13 2:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Granted, I heard a lot of people argue the same thing about George W. Bush. And about Bill Clinton before him (probably the first time I heard that sort of malarkey given much media attention). And, granted, it's Rush Limbaugh, whose goal in life is to see how big a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12456,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/28\/maybe_hes_on_his_meds_aga.html","url_meta":{"origin":14012,"position":3},"title":"Maybe he’s on his “meds” again …","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Apr-08 3:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot. Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments that appear to call for riots in Denver during...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/rush.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17152,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/04\/18\/unblogged-bits-for-sun-18-apr-2010-801pm.html","url_meta":{"origin":14012,"position":4},"title":"Unblogged Bits for Sun, 18 Apr 2010, 8:01PM","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 18-Apr-10 6:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Limbaugh: Volcanic eruption in Iceland is God\u2019s reaction to health care\u2019s passage. - Because heaven knows we should all flock to Rush for his Biblical interpretations. Crikey. Adult leadership - If the GOP could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13228,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/02\/12\/next_up_were_going_to_man.html","url_meta":{"origin":14012,"position":5},"title":"Next up — “We’re Going to Manzanar-Land!”","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 12-Feb-09 4:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow. I mean, what can you say the the latest idiocy coming from Rush Limbaugh? The Club Gitmo T-shirt - When America Was Safe\u00a0 ECONOMIC STIMULUS! President Obama has issued...","rel":"","context":"In "Fourth Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}