"We are being told that : we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward, whichever, because his father was black, because this is the first black president"More inflammatory words could hardly have been spoken that were intended to stir up violence or strife by any American today, let alone by an individual who doubles as a talk radio host whose program is heard Monday through Friday by millions of listeners and who also doubles as the de facto leader of the Republican Party.
In fact Limbaugh has so much authority and power within the ranks of the Republican Party that he forced current chair of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele to apologize to Limbaugh for remarks made by Mr. Steele on a CNN program hosted by D.L. Hughley this past Saturday night, February 28, 2009.
Limbaugh blasted Steele for his comments on Monday afternoon, March 2, 2009, ranting to his radio audience, "Why are you running the Republican Party? Why do you claim you lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it that President Obama succeeds? ... I would be embarrassed to say that I'm in charge of the Republican Party in the 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."
During the March 2, 2009 radio broadcast, Limbaugh attacked Steele: “I hope the RNC chairman will realize he’s not a talking head pundit, that he is supposed to be working on the grassroots and rebuilding it and maybe doing something about our open primary system and fixing it so that Democrats don’t nominate our candidates,” Limbaugh warned his audience. “It’s time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking head media star, which you’re having a tough time pulling off.”
Less than an hour after Limbaugh show went off the airwaves, Steele phoned Limbaugh and offered his personal apology, and immediately issued a press release that recognized Limbaugh as a "national conservative leader."
Michael Steele, chair of the Republican National Committee said: "I respect Rush Limbaugh, he is a national conservative leader, and in no way do I want to diminish his voice," Steele explained. "I'm sure that he and I will agree most of the time, but will probably disagree some as well, which is fine.
"The Democrats are doing everything they can to find ways to take people's attention off of their massive 36-billion-dollar-a-day spending spree that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have embarked on. To the extent that my remarks helped the Democrats in Washington to take the focus, even for one minute, off of their irresponsible expansion of government, I truly apologize."
The Democrats strategy of attaching Limbaugh's rhetoric to the face of the Republican Party were quick to point to Steele's admission of assailing Limbaugh's credibility as prim a fascia evidence that demonstrates Limbaugh's unparalleled influence over the Republican Party.
"Chairman Steele's reversal this evening and his apology to Limbaugh proves the unfortunate point that Limbaugh is the leading force behind the Republican Party, its politics and its obstruction of President Obama's agenda in Washington," Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Monday evening.
"But the new RNC chairman’s extraordinary comments won’t sit well with the millions of conservative listeners Limbaugh draws each week, and Steele aides scrambled to limit the damage Monday morning by trying to change the subject.
“Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats know they lose an argument with the Republican Party on substance so they are building straw men to attack and distract,” said RNC spokesman Alex Conant.
“The feud between radio host Rush Limbaugh and Rahm Emanuel makes great political theater, but it is a sideshow to the important work going on in Washington. RNC Chairman Michael Steele," said "and elected Republicans are focused on fighting for reform and winning elections. The Democrats’ problem is that the American people are growing skeptical of the massive government spending being pushed by Congressional leaders like Nancy Pelosi.”
"You know who needs a little leadership? Michael Steele and those at the RNC,” Limbaugh said, part of an unusual counter-attack against the elected head of the GOP."
Limbaugh was highly critical of the way the Republican Party is being currently run.
"I'm not in charge of the Republican Party, and I don't want to be," he said. " I would be embarrassed to say that I'm in charge of the Republican Party in the 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. I might get out the hari-kari knife because I would have presided over a failure that is embarrassing to the Republicans and conservatives who have supported it and invested in it all these years."
Democrats have continued their assault on Limbaugh and the fractures his controversies are causing the Republican Party.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was more than happy to stoke the flames that are consuming GOP unity during his daily press briefing on Monday.
"Do they want to see the President's economic agenda fail?" queried Gibbs of the GOP, citing Limbaugh's remarks just months ago and over the weekend at CPAC when Limbaugh issued broadside after broadside against Obama's agenda for the nation. "You know, I bet there are a number of guests on television throughout the day and maybe into tomorrow who could let America know whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend," Gibbs announced.
Today, during his radio broadcast, Limbaugh showed his willingness to engage the Democrats and the media when he made th following remarks: ”If these guys are so impressed with themselves, and if they are so sure of their correctness, why doesn’t President Obama come on my show? We will do a one-on-one debate of ideas and policies. Now, his people in this Politico story, it’s on the record. They’re claiming they wanted me all along. They wanted me to be the focus of attention. So let’s have the debate! I am offering President Obama to come on this program — without staffers, without a teleprompter, without note cards — to debate me on the issues. Let’s talk about free markets versus government control. Let’s talk about nationalizing health care and raising taxes on small business,” Limbaugh said.
The Democratic offensive against Limbaugh is "an effort carried out by high-profile Democratic strategists like James Carville and Paul Begala. Top White House officials, including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, have joined in, and a senior White House aide is helping to guide the Limbaugh strategy."
"The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh's name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering Obama with praise.
"Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s.
"This is being led from the White House. There is an orchestrated attack, daily drumbeat on me from the White House," Limbaugh said.
"Your flunkies are demanding this debate," Limbaugh said to Obama. "Your flunkies are targeting a private citizen with an enemies list that so far has three or four names on it: Mine; (CNBC's) Rick Santelli; Jim Cramer at CNBC; and let's not forget Joe the Plumber, who your allies in Ohio also tried to destroy.
"The difference is that Joe the Plumber does not have his own microphone every day. They're shutting Santelli up at CNBC. They're going to shut Cramer up pretty soon, too, but he'll go down with a fight," Limbaugh said. "That isn't going to happen here, to me."
Misplaced paranoia on Limbaugh's part?
"... Republicans now find themselves caught in a crossfire between Democrats pressuring them to denounce Limbaugh's bombastic criticism of a popular new president and his own denunciations of their party as an embarrassment.
"Few Republicans are eager to alienate Limbaugh's millions of avid listeners. But as party officials work to expand their shrinking coalition, they also are vexed about how to contend with his more pointed commentaries on hot-button issues and a president whom most in the party have been reluctant to criticize."
"The administration is enabling me," Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail to Politico. "They are expanding my profile, expanding my audience and expanding my influence. An ever larger number of people are now being exposed to the antidote to Obamaism: conservatism, as articulated by me. An ever larger number of people are now exposed to substantive warnings, analysis and criticism of Obama's policies and intentions, a 'story' I own because the (mainstream media) is largely the Obama Press Office."P
"The bigger, the better, agreed Carville. "It's great for us, great for him, great for the press," he said of Limbaugh. "The only people he's not good for are the actual Republicans in Congress."
"If Limbaugh himself were to coin a phrase for it, he might call it Operation Rushbo - an idea that started out simply enough but quickly proved to be deeply resonant by a rapid succession of events, say Democrats inside and outside the West Wing.
"The seeds were planted in October after Democracy Corps, the Democratic polling company run by Carville and Greenberg, included Limbaugh's name in a survey and found that many Americans just don't like him.
"His positives for voters under 40 was 11 percent," Carville recalled with a degree of amazement, alluding to a question about whether voters had a positive or negative view of the talk show host.
Paul Begala, a close friend of Carville, Greenberg and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, said they found Limbaugh's overall ratings were even lower than the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial former pastor, and William Ayers, the domestic terrorist and Chicago resident who Republicans sought to tie to Obama during the campaign.
Then came what Begala called "the tripwire."
"I hope he fails," Limbaugh said of Obama on his show four days before the president was sworn in. It was a time when Obama's approval ratings were soaring, but more than that, polls showed even people who didn't vote for him badly wanted him to succeed, coming to office at a time of economic meltdown.
"The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was the first to jump on the statement, sending the video to its membership to raise cash and stir a petition drive.
"We helped get the ball rolling on this because we're looking and listening to different Republican voices around the country, and the one that was the loudest and getting the most attention was Rush Limbaugh," explained DCCC chairman and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
"The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank run by former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta, also pounced on Limbaugh's "fail" line, drawing attention to it on their blog.P
"Soon after, Americans United for Change, a liberal group, was airing Limbaugh's statement in an ad aimed at pushing Senate Republicans to support the stimulus bill.
"It just cropped up out of how much play that comment was getting on the air," said Brad Woodhouse, who runs the group and is about to take over as communications director at the Democratic National Committee. "When we did it and it generated so much press, it just started to snowball from there."
"But liberals quickly realized that trying to drive a wedge between congressional Republicans and Limbaugh was unlikely to work, and their better move was to paint the GOP as beholden to the talk show host.
"This was driven home to them, according to one Democrat, when Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., took a shot at Limbaugh in late January only to appear on his program the next day and plead having momentarily had "foot-in-mouth disease."P
"By February, Carville and Begala were pounding on Limbaugh frequently in their appearances on CNN.
"Neither Democrat would say so, but a third source said the two also began pushing the idea of targeting Limbaugh in their daily phone conversations with Emanuel.
"Conversations and email exchanges began taking place in and out of the White House not only between the old pals from the Clinton era but also including White House senior adviser David Axelrod, Deputy Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Woodhouse.
"The White House needed no more convincing after Limbaugh's hour-plus performance Saturday, celebrated on the right and mocked on the left, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he re-stated his hope Obama fails.
"By Sunday morning, Emanuel elevated the strategy by bringing up the conservative talker, unprompted, on CBS's "Face the Nation" and calling him the "the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party."
"Even Republican National Chairman Michael Steele joined in with a surprising critique of Limbaugh as a mere "entertainer," who is "ugly" and "incendiary." "He took a little match we had tossed on the leaves and poured gasoline on it," said one Democrat of Steele.
"Steele called Limbaugh to apologize Monday.
"And Democrats kept at it in rapid-fire succession, thrilled that Steele had validated their claim that Republicans were scared to cross Limbaugh.
"Americans United for Change launched a new ad featuring Limbaugh's CPAC appearance. A left-leaning media watchdog group began a new Limbaugh tracking homepage. Democratic National Chairman Tim Kaine tweaked Steele for his apology. Terry McAuliffe tried to inject Limbaugh into the Virginia governor's race. The DCCC launched a new website, www.imsorryrush.com, mocking the Republicans who have apologized to Limbaugh.
"And Gibbs served up a made-for-cable-TV quote to end his daily briefing Tuesday.
"I was a little surprised at the speed in which Mr. Steele, the head of the RNC, apologized to the head of the Republican Party," Gibbs quipped with a grin, before striding out of the press room.
"David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager last year and a member of his inner circle still, published an op-ed in Wednesday's Washington Post chiding Republicans for being "paralyzed with fear of crossing their leader."
"A senior White House aide has been tasked with helping to guide the Limbaugh strategy.
"Outside, Americans United for Choice, a liberal group, and the Democratic National Committee are driving the message, in close consultation with the White House.
"Democrats can barely suppress their smiles these days, overjoyed at the instant-ad imagery of Limbaugh clad in Johnny Cash-black at CPAC and, more broadly, at what they see as their success in managing to further marginalize a party already on the outs.
"I want to send Rush a bottle of vitamins," said Begala. "We need him to stay healthy and loud and proud."
"With President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney out of the White House and Tom DeLay gone from Congress, the left had been suddenly absent an unpopular right-wing figure.
"Few Americans know who the congressional Republican leaders are. Even Sarah Palin is now four time zones away from Washington.
Enter Limbaugh.
"It's something of a back to the future tactic for Democrats: painting the GOP as the party of the angry white male. But unlike Newt Gingrich or other prominent Republicans, Limbaugh doesn't have to mind his tongue.
"And the liberal political apparatus is at battle stations taking note of his every comment.
"Media Matters, the left-leaning media watchdog and advocacy group, began a "Limbaugh Wire" Web-site Tuesday to track him. "For a long time Americans haven't really been aware that he's so influential," said Eric Burns, the group's president.
"Democrats are now working hard to ensure that changes.
"He's driving the Republican reluctance to deal with Obama, which Americans want," said Greenberg. "He's the policeman (keeping them in line)."
"They'll all get a fresh hook for the story after today, when a Democratic polling firm goes into the field to test, among other things, Limbaugh's standing with the public.
"All the attention only offers upside for the buzz-hungry Limbaugh, said Carville.
"The television cameras just can't stay away from him," Carville said Tuesday, a day when cable news played images of Limbaugh seemingly on a loop. "Our strategy depends on him keeping talking, and I think we're going to succeed."
Steele, who must chart a perilous course in his initial period as RNC chair said Tuesday "that he and congressional leaders will be shaping the party's strategy. But he also praised Limbaugh as a "strong conservative voice," adding, "What ticks the left off is, he is effective."
"Steele's gyrations reflected the delicate balance Republicans are attempting to find with Limbaugh. Party strategists say his listeners include a huge swath of the their activist base, but some of his rhetoric leaves GOP elected officials forced either to defend views they may not support or to disagree with a popular conservative icon.
"The influence Rush has is 20 million listeners," said Ron Bonjean, who was spokesman for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., referring to what Limbaugh says is his weekly audience. "But to get back to the majority, we need to also connect to independents who may not be listeners of his show."
"Democrats continued to mock Steele for buckling to Limbaugh, maintained their insistence that Limbaugh is the GOP's de facto leader and said they planned no letup in their attacks."
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