Monday, August 11, 2003
IS RUSH GETTING OUT OF TOUCH ?
Following on the heels of Rush Limbaugh's high profile analysis of Arnold Schwarzenegger not being a true conservative came a thoughtful post on Rush vs. The Blogosphere by Eric at Classical Values ( Eric also links to the king of blogging, Instapundit)
I confess to being only an occasional listener to Rush but there have been times where he has been both insightful, deft of argument and witheringly funny all at once. Limbaugh has been the gold standard of talk radio for a long time, particularly conservative talk radio and he earned the success and fame that he has acquired. Much of Rush's vast popularity has come from his being more in tune with the average radio listener than the liberal media elite and politicians he regularly lampoons. However, taken together Rush's contempt for the blogosphere and his disdain for Arnold's allegedly insufficient conservatism may be signs that Limbaugh's enduring, stratospheric success may be eroding his connection to more ordinary folk, especially those in the relatively wide spectrum of thought called " conservative " who are not primarily " social conservatives " but are libertarians and moderate, small business, type conservatives. For example, today on his radio program Rush defended his remarks on Schwarzenegger by saying:
"Are there better qualified people on the ballot than Arnold? I happen to think so. Who are they? In due course, my friends. That's why this thing has to spell out here. There are some people out there that have an (R) by their name who are pretty damn good.”
That may be, but unfortunately they most likely don't have the financial resources that Schwarzenegger has to launch a serious -i.e. one likely to result in a GOP victory- campaign. What Rush is really arguing is that Arnold is not conservative enough and the implicit message is that Schwarzenegger isn't a true conservative because he doesn't loathe gays or want to ban all abortions. One wonders if El Rushbo remembers Barry Goldwater ? Is the GOP standard bearer going to have to be Russell Kirk in order to get the seal of approval from the EIB network ? Because if so, Republicans should get used to losing elections with purity, going down with banners flying.
But hey, at least that will bring back the Buchanan crowd.
Post-script: David Horowitz gets it even if Rush doesn't.
¶ 9:24 PM
Following on the heels of Rush Limbaugh's high profile analysis of Arnold Schwarzenegger not being a true conservative came a thoughtful post on Rush vs. The Blogosphere by Eric at Classical Values ( Eric also links to the king of blogging, Instapundit)
I confess to being only an occasional listener to Rush but there have been times where he has been both insightful, deft of argument and witheringly funny all at once. Limbaugh has been the gold standard of talk radio for a long time, particularly conservative talk radio and he earned the success and fame that he has acquired. Much of Rush's vast popularity has come from his being more in tune with the average radio listener than the liberal media elite and politicians he regularly lampoons. However, taken together Rush's contempt for the blogosphere and his disdain for Arnold's allegedly insufficient conservatism may be signs that Limbaugh's enduring, stratospheric success may be eroding his connection to more ordinary folk, especially those in the relatively wide spectrum of thought called " conservative " who are not primarily " social conservatives " but are libertarians and moderate, small business, type conservatives. For example, today on his radio program Rush defended his remarks on Schwarzenegger by saying:
"Are there better qualified people on the ballot than Arnold? I happen to think so. Who are they? In due course, my friends. That's why this thing has to spell out here. There are some people out there that have an (R) by their name who are pretty damn good.”
That may be, but unfortunately they most likely don't have the financial resources that Schwarzenegger has to launch a serious -i.e. one likely to result in a GOP victory- campaign. What Rush is really arguing is that Arnold is not conservative enough and the implicit message is that Schwarzenegger isn't a true conservative because he doesn't loathe gays or want to ban all abortions. One wonders if El Rushbo remembers Barry Goldwater ? Is the GOP standard bearer going to have to be Russell Kirk in order to get the seal of approval from the EIB network ? Because if so, Republicans should get used to losing elections with purity, going down with banners flying.
But hey, at least that will bring back the Buchanan crowd.
Post-script: David Horowitz gets it even if Rush doesn't.
¶ 9:24 PM
