Obama team take gloves off for fight with radio host Rush Limbaugh

[babsbunny]

Obama team take gloves off for fight with radio host Rush Limbaugh

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5860795.ece

Tim Reid in Washington

A ploy by the Obama White House to depict the inflammatory conservative talkshow host Rush Limbaugh as head of the Republican Party has triggered a furious partisan battle – just the style of bareknuckle politics the new President promised to end.

The increasingly bitter feud between the Obama team and the bombastic Mr Limbaugh, who enjoys the largest talk-radio audience in America, has delighted Democrats and dismayed many Republicans. Yet it has also brought accusations that the White House has cynically created a bête noire to distract attention from the debate over its economic policies.

The thrice-married Mr Limbaugh is a hero to the Republican base but a deeply partisan figure. The effort to portray him as the driving force behind the postBush Republican Party reflects the power void and identity crisis inside it, but it also risks dragging Mr Obama into a political street brawl with one of America’s most powerful and outspoken antiliberal forces.