In a lengthy review of Jeb Bush's "Talk Radio Problem," Politico reminds us that in 2008 Rush Limbaugh said he'd "rather see the Democrats in the White House" than John McCain. That's telling, it seems to me, less on ideological grounds than in self-interested deceit.
As a relentless attack machine, Limbaugh is far better off with the opposition in power. Indeed if you heard any of his broadcasts from 2001 to early 2007, you might have thought liberal Democrats were in power, in all three branches. Throughout, under the ghastly incompetence of President George W. Bush and his congressional allies, liberals, to have heard Rush tell it, were singularly wrecking America. Conservatives owned Congress and they owned the White House — only because of their ownership of the Supreme Court as well — yet somehow, in LimbaughLand, liberals were always having their wicked way.
It was a perfect world for Limbaugh in that it was wholly fictitious, and loaded with humbug.
In 2016, one gathers, Limbaugh will be saying that he'd rather see Hillary or any other Democrat in the White House than Jeb Bush. "He's not a conservative," Rush has already declared. Mark Levin, who often manages to be even more vile than Limbaugh, has ruled that Bush is "an old-time liberal Republican" — which, to the talk-radio crowd, is tantamount to communism. And Laura Ingraham professes that "Jeb is the easiest candidate for Hillary to beat by far because he divides the GOP at a time when we need a candidate who unifies the party…. He’s made it fairly clear that he believes he can win without conservatives."
I cite Ingraham because her comment is even more suggestive of right-wing-talk duplicity — toward its own audience — than Limbaugh and Levin's remarks. Ingraham, who knows better, omits from her observation that the GOP is organically, catastrophically fractured. There is no candidate who can unify the party or fail to alienate significant blocs. Yes of course Jeb Bush would flounder in his bid to attract many of his party's beastly reactionaries. But Rand Paul would lose the hawks; Scott Walker or Ted Cruz would repel the passably intelligent; Mike Huckabee would antagonize all but the fundamentally self-righteous ... one could go on. So Bush is unique in his base botherations — how?
Ingraham knows this. Levin knows it. Even Limbaugh is smart enough to comprehend such an insurmountable reality. Yet they each burden Jeb in ways that they apply to no others.
Fact is, Jeb can't fracture the Republican Party any more than it's already fractured. Fact two: Jeb Bush would be, as they say, Hillary's worst nightmare (as nightmares go) in the general, since his relative moderation would appeal to centrists and his immigration pragmatism would neutralize much of Hillary's otherwise Hispanic advantage. Again, Ingraham, Levin and Limbaugh know this.
But, let's face it, even though they would never admit it. Ingraham, Levin and Limbaugh don't want any Republican in the White House, which is why they deplore the most electable one and puff the certain losers. It would be bad for business. Better to rail, for another four years, about the wicked Democrat in the White House. They are swindling their audiences, and those suckered audiences don't have a clue.
"They are swindling their audiences, and those suckered audiences don't have a clue." Nor do they want one. Every political or religious movement eventually devolves into a con game.
Posted by: shsavage | March 24, 2015 at 09:19 AM
Been meaning to ask you, having just returned from a weekend visit to Missouri, about that place. The purpose of the trip was to pick up the latest addition to our crew, an otherwise unadoptable dachshund with serious anger management issues. He is doing nicely but I may take a while to recover from my experience. I listened to the radio. Quite a few different stations in fact. Is it always like that? Blaine, the dachshund, seems fine now. Do you suppose he listened to the radio in Missouri?
Posted by: Peter G | March 24, 2015 at 10:15 AM
Some conservative chatterers claim all the showboating clowns distract the base and make the real candidates, most importantly Jeb at the moment, look better to the general electorate by comparison. This is wishful thinking. The ugly insanity gushing from The Noise Machine has pulled the whole Republican party down. The beautiful irony of the constant Orwellian historical revision, mean mouthing, and outright lying is that a majority of conservatives now actually believe their own batshit and the overall electorate sees them as less reasonable than Democrats.
Unfortunately, that doesn't mean they're going to be too severely compromised in the immediate future. The wingnuts, driven mostly by fear, still show up disproportionately in mid term elections. The mischief going on in state houses is expanding rapidly.
Posted by: Bob | March 24, 2015 at 10:55 AM