Rush Limbaugh did not lose the election
posted at 2:00 pm on November 20, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Two editorials in the past two days have attempted to shift blame for two successive election losses onto someone who has never run for public office. Both Mort Kondracke and Karen Harper blame Rush and other conservative talk-show hosts for the GOP’s descent into the minority in Washington DC. Neither, though, explain how a conservative talk-show host whose policy positions got largely ignored over the last eight years cost Republican candidates votes.
Kondracke:
How can the Republican Party rebound? The first step would be to quit letting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham set its agenda. …
Step One is to fire Rush Limbaugh and his ilk as the intellectual bosses of the GOP. They shouldn’t be muzzled, as some liberals want to do by reviving the “fairness doctrine” in broadcasting, just ignored more frequently.
In recent years, Republicans have let right-wing talk show hosts whip the GOP base into frenzies — over immigration, brain-damage victim Terry Schiavo and same-sex marriage — that have branded the party as troglodyte.
Huh? Did Rush or any of the other people Kondracke mentions support an explosion of pork-barrel spending? As far as I know, Rush never uttered the phrase “compassionate conservatism” without irony or contempt. Rush, Laura, Sean, and the rest of the talk-show circuit certainly didn’t back the biggest expansion of discretionary spending by the federal government in decades. Other than the war and judicial nominations, Kondracke would be hard-pressed to identify which parts of the Republican agenda as pursued by GOP officeholders over the last decade belonged to Rush.
Harper falls into the same trap, only more insultingly:
However, Governor Jindal and other moderates must contend with Rush Limbaugh and others like him. Limbaugh, the Jerry Springer of radio, continues to encourage his listeners to support the right wing conservative wing of the Republican party as he trashes anyone who disagrees with him and that includes moderate centrist Republicans.
Irony spill on Aisle 1! Harper complains about Rush “trashing” people with whom he disagrees at the same time as she calls him the Jerry Springer of talk radio. Well, thanks for the tolerance lesson, Karen! We’ll put that right up there with Kathleen Parker’s “Oogedy Boogedy” description of Christians.
And how exactly is Rush equivalent to Jerry Springer? Does he host fistfights between mutants over politics? No. Rush gives his opinion on politics, avoiding the incessant talking-head shouting matches we see much more often on cable television.
You know, it’s odd; when Republicans won elections, no one seemed to mind Rush and his energy to bring conservatives to the table. When Republicans stopped being conservatives, or at least stopped acting like conservatives and more like the kind of Democrat Lite that Kondracke and Harper prefer, they stopped winning elections — and started blaming Rush Limbaugh for it. Kondracke wants Republican politicians to ignore Rush, Laura, and Sean, but they’ve been doing that since 2001, and that’s not Rush’s fault.
The GOP will go nowhere if it engages in scapegoating talk radio for the next couple of years. Republicans have lost two successive elections because American voters will choose Democrats when given a choice between an authentic Democrat and a fake Democrat. We’re not going to win elections by making Republicans more like Democrats. We will win elections when Republicans do the following:
- Find a First Principles approach that will unite the conservative coalitions, as Reagan did in 1980
- Have a zero-tolerance policy for corruption
- Stop supporting pork-barrel spending
- Take concrete steps to shrink the federal government
- Take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences for them instead of scapegoating talk radio
Note to Kondracke and Harper: Rush doesn’t work for the Republican Party. The Republican Party doesn’t follow Rush’s policy agenda, and hasn’t since George Bush came to office. The notion that the main problem with the GOP is Rush Limbaugh is profoundly foolish, so much so that only Beltway insiders could possibly reach that conclusion.
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Rush is the best extemporaneous political analyst on radio or television today, and has been for two decades. That he is also “pundit, social commentator, and entertainer” just adds to his resume. He is also something of a radio minister, preaching the gospel of Conservatism and the ideals of the Founding Fathers.
He is right about the Republican Party: it has lost its way and needs to return to the ideals and principles that underlie our Constitution and without which the Republic will wither and die under the assault of international Marxism, in the guise of liberalism.
Mort Kondracke is a nice guy, but he is often muddle-headed or just plain wrong. I always thought he was a Democrat, but he has been pretty good on the Global War on (Islamist) Terror. Who is this Harper woman?
Someone above said that we need a Conservative (capital C) movement, and I would agree. It is not up to the prominent talk-radio hosts to lead such a movement, but clearly we do need some leaders. If they emerge, Rush and the others will be behind them. That is one reason why the Democrats will next year try to shut down talk radio with the Gag (once called ‘Fairness’) Doctrine. We have to stop them.
MrLynn on November 20, 2008 at 11:17 PM
Were it not for his past peccadilloes, Newt Gingrich would be an obvious choice, although for me, his kowtowing to the Gorebull Warmists is anathema.
I believe that the coming “change you can believe in” will afford ample opportunity for some serious-minded Conservative voices to be heard above the cacophony of lukewarm pretenders.
Obama Overreach™ will be our friend in the long run.
hillbillyjim on November 20, 2008 at 11:33 PM
Yeah, let’s chop em up and get em out of our hair.
Oops, looks like Michelle exposed the lie about what goes on with the “fetus.”
Yeah, that pro-life cause is really a losing issue … Who gives a damn about the wanton destruction of babies in a mother’s womb, we’ve got an economy to worry about.
Wow, you are a piece of work.
Joe Pyne on November 20, 2008 at 11:34 PM
You are being generous. Another word comes to mind…
hillbillyjim on November 20, 2008 at 11:45 PM
Great post, Ed!
SouthernGent on November 20, 2008 at 11:52 PM
Leaving aside the fact that most people do care more about eating than what their neighbors are doing with their bodies…
…you really aren’t figuring out that abortion is often an economic decision, are you?
Can you afford to have the kid?
Mal Carne on November 20, 2008 at 11:53 PM
I know, I know, but I want to show respect to Michelle and Allah, this is their blog. However, that guy deserves zero respect.
Joe Pyne on November 20, 2008 at 11:55 PM
Kondrake and Harper are making a genuinely stupid point. As if ‘Teh Mav’ went paleo-conservative. As if.
Greg Toombs on November 20, 2008 at 11:57 PM
I have four children, we are struggling financially, which one do you think I should kill? The youngest or the oldest?
Joe Pyne on November 20, 2008 at 11:58 PM
Define “struggling”.
Mal Carne on November 21, 2008 at 12:06 AM
Better yet, why is this my decision to make? Make your own choices.
Why am I making this choice for you?
Mal Carne on November 21, 2008 at 12:09 AM
Anyone wondering how it was possible for the Nazis, the Communists, and the Fascists to do their evil while the rest of the populace shrugged with indifference, here’s how.
Joe Pyne on November 21, 2008 at 12:14 AM
…and why do you think I want the Nazis, Communists, or Facists to decide which of your kids die?
Make your own choices.
That is what conservatism is all about, right? Personal responsibility?
Mal Carne on November 21, 2008 at 12:18 AM
Personal responsibility is NOT pro-creating, and then killing the resulting child because you feel you can’t “afford to have the kid.”
hillbillyjim on November 21, 2008 at 12:41 AM
How is it Rush’s fault that of all the people, repubs came up with……. McCain to be their nominee?
How is it Rush’s fault that this was an election in which more than 90% of one race voted for one of it’s own ?
How is it Rush’s fault that we had ACORN being protected by our court system to actually commit voter-fraud ?
How is it Rush’s fault that we have a whole generation of voters coming out of our colleges which wants to please Hugo Chavez ?
Those who say that exposing the liberal and RINO agenda by Rush determined the result of this election are smoking something illegal !
This election was decided by 2 factors :
1. Race
2. Resentment against USA and American values
macncheez on November 21, 2008 at 12:48 AM
Personal responsibility IS having that child and providing for it and nurturing it to the best of one’s ability, or giving up that child to a family who would properly care for it.
I was the result of an accidental pregnancy when my Mom was 44 years old, and caring for my 3 month old brother. We were born 361 days apart, and I am sure I was a financial burden for my parents. However, they took personal responsibility, and made it work regardless of their perceived ability to “afford to have the kid.”
If they had your moral philosophy, I would not be here typing Conservative heresy and emitting that dastardly carbon dioxide.
hillbillyjim on November 21, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Sheesh, It’s hard to believe how soulless some of the libs are.
Kjeil on November 21, 2008 at 1:58 AM
Wow. Wow. Never knew Mort hated conservatives so much. Do we need more evidence that the Republican party is finished as a conservative party? Time to move on and start a new one.
Faramir on November 21, 2008 at 2:09 AM
Wow is right. The only thing worse than clueless people is clueless people with power. You can sure tell who is jealous and who bugs the Kondrackes of the world. Limbaugh rose by virtue of his reasoning, mocking liberal stupidity with laughs, and telling news that liberal fools censored.
I fell away from Limbaugh because he wouldn’t criticize Bush, favored the ports deal, and had to be dragged into talking about open borders by competitors. There is something a lot different than the “free market” going on and the ’80s and ’90s boilerplate doesn’t get it. I still tune in to him sometimes, though, and I’ve found him at his best when he takes more calls and talks to people directly involved in an issue.
That’s the way it goes with people on the right. There are honest disagreements, competition, and nobody trying to squelch the free speech of others.
Feedie on November 21, 2008 at 3:21 AM
you just saw history rewritten here: ed morrissey never supported bush. niether did rush or any other “real”, non-RINO conservative. your memory is defective. in fact, you’ve all spent the last eight years in the wilderness without a party.
eh on November 21, 2008 at 4:33 AM
Kondracke is a spineless moderate and an idiot. I always mute him whenever he starts to talk on Brit Hume’s Special Report panel. I’ve been quite irritated by his weakling attitude since early on in the presidential primary process and his current thoughts on Rush prove just how out of touch he is with conservative America. Grow a spine, Mort and leave the three prime voices in talk radio conservatism alone.
Maybe he’s just jealous that millions upon millions more people listen to Limbaugh, Hannity and Ingraham than will ever bother to care what he has to say. It is positively laughable that he thinks the conservative values and beliefs of Limbaugh, Hannity or Ingraham are “the agenda” of the modern Republican party. Unbelievably, brazenly out of touch.
Jockolantern on November 21, 2008 at 4:53 AM
That’s crazy and I totally disagree. The way the Republicans start winning is to take the advice of Limbaugh, Hannity and Ingraham. It’s not their fault we lost. We lost because our candidate had no clear message.
Voters will vote for conservatives if the message is articulated in a way they can understand.
SueM on November 21, 2008 at 6:08 AM
Mort Kondrake, RIP. I don’t wish the man ill, but the Mort Kondrake we see today is not the Mort Kondrake of even 5 years ago. The Pod People got him. Rush Limbaugh is not the problem. The GOP is the problem. Give us a viable candidate, for pete’s sake!!!!
I agree with the previous poster: the GOP could turn it all around by paying more attention to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, et al.
We need strong conservative candidates. If the GOP won’t provide them, we need to seek them from a third party.
NTXLass on November 21, 2008 at 6:30 AM
You already decided that when you chose to have sex.
Now be a man and take responsibility for your decision.
Squiggy on November 21, 2008 at 6:41 AM
Mort Kondrake cannot shine the shoes of Rush Limbaugh on his best day. I would like to point out to Mr. Kondrake that the conservatives are still winning elections. The problem is that moderate and liberal Republicans have ruined the identity of the party to the point that conservative Democrats are taking seats. There are more Red Dog Democrats in office now than there has been in some time.
If the Republicans want control back they need to prove to America that they are the true party of conservatism and that the Democrats will whip their conservatives into party line votes to pass liberal agendas.
Hawthorne on November 21, 2008 at 7:29 AM
Kondracke and Harper: Both exhibiting p#nis envy. I, for one, don’t give a snowflake what they think.
redneck hippie on November 21, 2008 at 7:38 AM
What, contraception never fails? People don’t get raped? married people don’t miscalculate their cycles based on the rhythm method the Catholic Church advocates as the only form of birth control?
Not every act of sex is by choice, and not every unwanted pregnancy is born out of carelessness. Married people can and do have children they can’t support. Or perhaps you’ve never seen Like A Raisin in the Sun?
Whatever. This is irrelevant to my point - that abortion, gay rights, and other “social conservative” issues are inherently exclusionary. If you’ve ever wondered why Republicans under perform with women and the young, this is why. Every time Republicans talk about them instead of issues that impact every American - like they economy - they become irrelevant to a section of the American public. Until the Republicans get consistent about their limited government message (why does the government get to stay out of your wallet, but spy on your bedroom?), they’re going to have trouble.
Mal Carne on November 21, 2008 at 7:44 AM
I used to like Kondrake…but lately he seems to be suffering from dementia.
becki51758 on November 21, 2008 at 7:48 AM
Rush Limbaugh was emphatically against John McCain during the primaries. John McCain won the nomination nonetheless. And yet it’s Limbaugh’s fault that John McCain lost the general election.
Makes sense.
angryed on November 21, 2008 at 7:49 AM
…wait a second.
Be a man and take responsibility?
Men can have abortions? Who knew?
Assuming I did perform this act, are you telling me to “be a man” and go prevent my wife from having an abortion?
What do I do if I can’t persuade her? Lock her up for nine months? Beat her into compliance?
No, seriously. How is it my choice what the woman who bears my child does with her body?
Mal Carne on November 21, 2008 at 7:50 AM
” that abortion, gay rights, and other “social conservative” issues are inherently exclusionary”
So they’re exclusionary…..I’m a conservative. our country is going to hell in a handbasket and I will never support you hedonistic secular progressives on these issues. If that makes me minority status ad infinitum…so be it…
Baby killing Sodomites rule!! NOT!
paulsmos on November 21, 2008 at 8:17 AM
Now its come down to Oogedy Boogedies and Troglodytes. This election cycle has been eye-opening, if nothing else. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that there are a few who have become more comfortable with left-wing idealogues than they are with the core of their own party. Perhaps we need more than just a reformation. Perhaps we need an exorcism, as well.
littleguy on November 21, 2008 at 9:06 AM
Oink wrote, in response to my disparagement of Rush Limbaugh for his cowardly behavior during Vietnam, ‘Leave us alone.’ LOL. Look, I didn’t bring it up until pressed on the matter: hero-worship the man to your heart’s content. But character counts. It would be one thing if he owned his little draft-avoidance issue, admitted what he had done and explained why, said he was young and made a mistake–all of us make mistakes. But he didn’t, and he won’t own to it. Whenever confronted by the issue, Limbaugh gets defensive and takes off on a tangent about ‘Internet smear machines’ and the like. So for me, the man remains a sometimes entertaining and information radio personality who happens to espouse views upon which I sometimes agree. He’s no leader. When genuine leaders screw up, they own up and move on. They show the stuff of leadership. That ain’t Limbaugh.
troyriser_gopftw on November 21, 2008 at 9:46 AM
information=informative. Sue me.
troyriser_gopftw on November 21, 2008 at 9:48 AM
And don’t even get me started on Newt Gingrich. If folks want another leader like Lincoln, they should start by looking to character. Men of character don’t use women for oral sex so they can claim under oath they didn’t ‘have intercourse’, especially when they’re pushing for the impeachment of another moral cripple doing the same thing. Gingrich’s hypocrisy on that matter is the elephant in the room whenever his name comes up for RNC chair or presidential candidate–and will continue to come up unless and until he addresses these moral failings directly. We claim belief in objective truth and a repudiation of the relativistic, situational morality of our opponents? Fine. Then let’s raise the bar and keep it raised for all GOP leaders, spokespersons, and candidates. A double standard is no standard.
troyriser_gopftw on November 21, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Kondracke personally moved left (until the last year he finally came out as a closet socialist), so ‘the consensus of Middle America’ also moved left. Doh!
Well at least he still sided with winning in Iraq (maybe extended to WoT).
Sir Napsalot on November 21, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Mort’s just jealous of Rush. It’s Rushs’ humorous remarks that get the libs all bent out of shape. If they would learn to listen closely and discern the humor they would start seeing the pearls of wisdom.
Herb on November 21, 2008 at 10:45 AM
OT
but Glenn Beck has to stop the whining here … is anybody else listening to this dude … he has no come to the point where he is using the economy to hawk his book
He just set out another doom scenario about Citi bank and then told us that we have to read the “Christmas Sweater”
this dude has to stop
joey24007 on November 21, 2008 at 11:40 AM
A really good post.
Rush is listened to bcs people like what he has to say.
He tells it like it is. His sarcasm is awesome. I love his spoofs.
Perhaps these Dem-lites believe Rush controls his listeners by antennae attached to tin-foil hats.
I for one think we should go back to Election Day as a national holiday. Start teaching civics in HS again, along with a real ECON class.
Then people would probably be a little more motivated to vote.
Conservatives are usually a little apathetic about voting.
GOP-get your head outta your a$$!
We want REAL conservatives!
Badger40 on November 21, 2008 at 12:26 PM
How is it NOT your choice what happens to your child?
MrLynn on November 21, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Free speech is sickening
I am totally against free speech
Shut up all people who say the wrong things
Did I get it right, mommy?
entagor on November 21, 2008 at 1:16 PM
McCain found time to embrace The View audience but not the base. His ‘handlers’ nicked Palin’s reoeated attempts to talk directly to the base.
That’s all you need to know.
Sir Napsalot on November 21, 2008 at 1:23 PM
Information = DEATH TO LIBERALS
Rush = Information = DEATH TO LIBERALS
Rush = Good
Liberals = BAD
You may now return to watching FOX (soon to be MSNBC lite)
Mark Garnett on November 21, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Why is it that Pro-Abortion people act like an Abortion is the only form of Birth Control available?
If you’re pregnant, you know how it happened and it most likely could have been prevented by either not Having Sex or by using any number of Birth Control options on the market.
http://www.WithBias.net
BiasedGirl on November 21, 2008 at 4:13 PM
what mort would like is to have republicans be like his little bathtub buddy Fred Barnes…a complete tool who is a disgrace to the republican party. So let me get this straight, since Rush, & Sean, and everyone else set the Agenda for Mccain…thats why he lost…how much more moderate of a republican can you be!!!! its like were living in a worm hole…everything i see and read when it comes to politics is upside down….. like Glenn Beck said..”why have the light beer, when u u can the real thing”… THATS why he lost.
Conservator23 on November 21, 2008 at 8:00 PM
One of my daughters is a broken-rubber baby. Another one is a broken-rubber/pill baby. We couldn’t afford them (at the time), but somehow we raised them into wonderful young women.
Why does adoption not enter your frame of reference? I now have a two-year-old son (finally - I love all my daughters, but I needed a boy too). The adoption was final about a year ago. It’s a shame there aren’t anywhere near enough babies available for adoption, but they are apparently all being killed.
As for “not every act of sex is by choice”, that’s a straw-man argument. Yes rape happens, but the percentage of abortions due to rape or incest in infinitesimal. Your argument won’t hold water if you base it on the lowest common denominator.
Squiggy on November 21, 2008 at 8:55 PM
I have noticed that all people who support abortion have already been born…
Ronaldus Magnus
joey24007 on November 21, 2008 at 10:09 PM
OT: I read an article several years ago about doctors who stopped doing abortions. They told horror stories about why some people wanted abortions. One was a couple of yuppies who didn’t want a kid arriving because they had a cruise scheduled. Talk about vile and selfish. Heck, call it what it is: evil.
Back on topic (sort of): When I used to watch that show with Kondracke on the panel, Kondracke would spin some liberal phantasm, squint his eyes and look so pleased with himself; then meany Brit Hume would state a fact or ask an inconvenient question, and Kondracke’s bubble would pop. It was so funny to watch; after I caught the pattern, I’d look for it every day.
Feedie on November 21, 2008 at 10:42 PM
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