First, from the perspective of electoral politics, Rush Limbaugh is not much of a factor. That’s not to say he is unimportant in other ways. He influences lots of people and is certainly important from a cultural perspective. But we’re talking about elections – where more than a hundred million people participate. That has to change our evaluation of his influence. Additionally, he might be a hot topic for a few news cycles, but news cycles are drops in the bucket from an electoral perspective.
Second, there is value in the discussion among conservatives about the future of their movement. But that does not mean that the payoff is going to be electoral. This is a discussion by political elites for elites. Electoral politics – at least the difference between winning and losing – is inevitably non-ideological and non-elite.
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