In 2009, at his first meeting at the White House with congressional leaders, President Obama told House speaker John Boehner and the Republican congressional leadership that they should “stop listening to Rush Limbaugh,” since “that’s not how things get done in Washington.” I met with Boehner in my office in Florida a couple of weeks later. He confirmed the president’s statement and remarked, “We have no idea why he said that to us.” I said to him, “John, he wanted just one of you to leave that meeting, go to the microphones, and denounce me.”

And there is much more. Its consequences are unmistakable. I firmly believe that the conservative-media revolution has caused the liberal media to abandon any pretense of objectivity and fairness and actively advocate on the Left’s behalf. This has led in turn to the hyper-partisan nature of our politics today. When Republicans were perennial losers and happy about it, the media could stay hidden behind their wall of phony objectivity. But they were called out. Now there is a fierce competition for the hearts and minds of the American people, which the Left used to believe it owned.

So it is not I, nor anyone else in conservatism, who is to blame for the partisanship in Washington. That is on the Democrats and the Left, for trying to destroy the traditions and institutions that have defined this country. We stand in defense of this great nation, and we always will. And we look forward to the Republican party’s someday joining us.