John Mark Reynolds comes down hard from the Right on El Rushbo. Excerpt:
It was a bad speech, as a speech, and it made an argument that in our present societal context sounds like a spirited defense of the White Star Line on April 16, 1912.Let's examine the basic problems:
1. It appealed to Rush's base, but I fail to see how it went beyond that base. There was no attempt to reason with a broader audience using language that they could understand or would find appealing.
He failed to paint why conservatives want what they want in clear and compelling language and then tie it to his policy ideas. He just assumed "we get it." Many people don't. Rush ends up sounding as if "freedom" equals tax cuts, but fails to tell us why this fact (which is not self-evident) is true.
[snip]
As such he is a bad public face for the conservative movement.
Does anyone remember the visuals of Tip O'Neil behind Reagan? Rush is our visual Tip O'Neil.
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Scott, you're almost sounding Marxist with the means of production jargon and all that. But that doesn't make you wrong. Clearly we see that privately owned news organizations have their agenda set by the boss (cf. Rupert Murdock and Fox News.) As for the balance of your explanation, I think I have a broader view of liberty than just a free market for labor. Clearly, we don't have that here, when the interests of workers (and even owners) come in a distant second to the needs of management. Perhaps professional sports comes closest to you definition.
Still, is financial liberty the only - or even the biggest - part of the package? Marx might say so, believing as he did in the Golden Rule (i.e., the guy with the gold makes the rules.) I guess I'm not a Marxist who buys that stuff . . . not saying you are. Just saying.
Yes, Eddie, I'm sure.
Grovel:
1: to creep with the face to the ground : crawl2 a: to lie or creep with the body prostrate in token of subservience or abasement b: to abase oneself3: to give oneself over to what is base or unworthy : wallow
What I saw was an apology and an explanation. Rush has no power over Gingrey or Steele. Who does have the power are his listeners.
Let's see... Rush attents a conference of "the base" and talks to "the base" and this guy blasts him for talking to "the base" and not talking to "outsiders".
Cripes. Could there actually be a less relevant and more meaningless criticism? I doubt it.
Lots of fake conservatives are starting to have hissy fits. This is good. It's time to grow a spine, stand for something, and then explain it to those who don't understand it, once it stands out well enough to be seen. Let the pundits go hang. Since when have they EVER been relevant, other than to pretend to ration out "popularity" by their words?
The pundits can take a long walk on a short pier, they know little and understand even less. It is now time to ACT, not prattle. Few have a clue what it means to ACT, confusing it with "prattle".
Rush is the types affable persona that keeps the mass of conservatives
from storming the gates of power. In that he is actually a gift
to leftist and crunchy cons alike. Rush's mantra is "play by the rules and America is the land of opportunity", but I think a more strident conservative would have declared America obsolete by now.
In todays environment conservatism that is not unbearably angry
and resentful is useless as a political force. Conservatism is
as marginalized in the mass media and institutional party politics
as bolshevism was 100 years ago.
Does anyone remember the visuals of Tip O'Neil behind Reagan? Rush is our visual Tip O'Neil.
The problem I have with your referring to Rush Limbaugh as "The Right's Tip O'Neill", Rod, is that, whatever one may think of Tip O'Neill, his politics, or his political style, at least he, unlike Rush Limbaugh, submitted himself to the voters on repeated occasions, actually won elections, and had a job in which he had to deal with actual policies and their consequences.
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