Party of Lincoln now Party of Limbaugh

[L.Wood]

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Perhaps I'm taking too many liberties with this singular thread. Maybe it belongs under News Bits. However, I'm of the opinion that the new Republican extremism
will be the losing mantra for the coming elections, except for the slave states. Could we use this to document-comment on the rise of ultra extremism? L.wood

Huckamongering
— By Kevin Drum

Mike Huckabee says that Barack Obama is midwifing the birth of a "Union of American Socialist Republics" in his new budget. "Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff."

"If a prominent Democratic office holder, in 2005, delivered a speech referring to George W. Bush's agenda as 'fascism,' comparing his administration to totalitarian regimes, and casually throwing in a reference to Hitler," says Steve Benen, "that Democrat would have a very difficult time being taken seriously by the political establishment moving forward. Presidential ambitions would be largely out of the question."

"Why Huckabee thinks that federally funded research into determining which medical treatments are effective is similar to being a totalitarian mass-murderer is a bit beyond me" says Matt Yglesias. "But it’s par for the course in the uglier corners of conservatism, they’re just not corners Huckabee’s been known for dwelling in."

"Either Huckabee is losing his ear or this is what you really have to say to get the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012," says Mark Kleiman.

I'd say (a) yes, Huckabee really believes this stuff, (b) no, a Democrat couldn't get away with something like this, (c) yes, it's what you have to do to win the GOP nomination these days, and (d) no, nobody really cares because talk radio has inured us to this kind of stuff. Boys will be boys. He's just warming up the crowd. Etc.

And the good news? It demonstrates that things are going to get worse for Republicans before they get better. "The party of Lincoln is now the Party of Limbaugh,"says Paul Begala, and he's right. Like most parties that have lost their way in the past, it's now clear that they'll spend at least four years insisting that what America really wants is an even more extreme version of what they voted against in 2008. Cooler heads will eventually prevail, but not until 2016 at the earliest. Maybe not until 2020. Obama's really got some running room in front of him.

Mother Jones Feb 28

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[Betsy]

This morning on George Stephanopoulos's show, after being shown clips of some speeches like this given at the CPAC event, both Karl Rove and George Will shook their heads agreed that these kinds of comparisons to socialism and whatnot are not the right way to go about repairing the Republican part. It appears true that Rush Limbaugh has commandeered the tone and position of the GOP's message, to what even those two can see is its detriment.

Also interesting was who was absent at this event - George Bush, Sarah Palin and the guy who was being looked at as the GOP's great brown hope: Bobby Jindal. Now their saying Mitt Romney is the one most likely to run for president in 2012.

[L.Wood]

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Limbaugh tells GOP Chairman....QUIT.

Limbaugh Blasts Steele: If I Were GOP Chairman, I'd Quit

Rush Limbaugh isn't happy with Michael Steele, who insisted that Rush isn't the leader of the Republican Party, but is just an "entertainer" whose work is "incendiary" and "ugly."

Greg Sargent reports that Limbaugh positively lambasted Steele on his radio show today, even seeming to suggest that the new RNC chairman should resign in shame: "I'm not in charge of the Republican Party, and I don't want to be. I would be embarrassed to say that I'm in charge of the Republican Party in a sad-sack state that it's in. If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it's in, I would quit."

Limbaugh also responded to criticism of his very active desire for President Obama to fail, bringing back the GOP's with-us/against-us dichotomy -- only in this case it's you're with Obama or against him. "So send those fundraising requests out," Rush said mockingly. "Make sure you say, 'We want Obama to succeed.' So people understand your compassion."

So the question now is who better speaks for the Republican base voters and activists: The official party leadership, who say they want the president to succeed even as they don't think his policies can work -- or Rush Limbaugh, who actively wants the stimulus and other policies to fail so that the country can survive? Five'll get you ten...
Talking Points Memo






The Plum Line reports: The Dems and the White House have launched a campaign to elevate Rush and to stamp his face on the entire Republican Party, in order to force individual Republicans to choose between endorsing Rush’s desire for failure and criticizing the powerful talk show host. Intriguingly, insofar as Rush wants to force individual Republicans to make precisely the same choice, Rush’s interests dovetail perfectly with those of the Democratic Party and the White House."

You just got to love it when inmates take over the asylum.

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