"Rush is the bloated face and drug-addled voice of the Republican Party"

[stevedeshazer]

-Paul Begala

GOP Seeks Balance With Conservative Icon Limbaugh



By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 4, 2009; Page A01

For a man who expresses no desire to lead the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh has a knack for creating problems for those who do.

Still smarting from consecutive electoral drubbings, Republicans now find themselves caught in a crossfire between Democrats pressuring them to denounce the conservative talk radio host's bombastic criticism of a popular new president and his own denunciations of their party as an embarrassment.

<snip>

"The influence Rush has is 20 million listeners," said Ron Bonjean, who was spokesman for former House speaker J. 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 yesterday, maintained their insistence that Limbaugh is the GOP's de facto leader, and said they planned no letup in their attacks. The White House and the Democratic National Committee have been coordinating their response, and liberal interest groups are planning to expand their television ads highlighting Limbaugh's comments in the days ahead.

"Rush is the bloated face and drug-addled voice of the Republican Party," said Paul Begala, a longtime Democratic strategist who rose to prominence during Bill Clinton's presidency. "Along with lots of others, I intend to continue to turn up the heat until every alleged Republican either endorses or renounces Rush's statement that he hopes our president fails."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/03/AR2009030303946.html?hpid=topnews

[BuyingThyme]

1. Was Begala the one who coined "drug-addled gas bag"?

[Monaco3]

2. Yeah, what in the world happened to Rush's pig face? I got bigger than EVER

[BuyingThyme]

3. Welcome to DU, Monaco3!

:hi:

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. I think he's absorbing moisture from the atmosphere.

One big, evil, walking, talking, human ShamWow. Have you seen Daryn Kagen lately? Rumors are that he absorbed her, too. Just like The Blob.

(And welcome!:hi:)

[FVZA_Colonel]

4. It's nice to see the Democrats actually acting in an at-least semi-coherent manner,

and working towards creating a particular media narrative.

[Wetzelbill]

5. It's kind of weird

I almost don't know how to react to Dem competence when it comes to shaping a political narrative or message. :)

[Berry Cool]

11. Actually, how much work does it take to create that narrative?

I mean, look at him. Look at what we know about him. True, it's time someone really pinned him to the wall more as the drug-addled gasbag he is. And now Keith Olbermann, who used to always refer to him as "Comedian Rush Limbaugh," is going to refer to him as "Boss Rush Limbaugh," which cements even further in the public eye his image as the REAL "brains" of the Republican Party--"He Who Must Be Obeyed."

[newfie11]

6. You can add pervert to that list describing rush. n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

7. Rush just wants to eat Little Debbie

by the truckload...I'd say he will blow a fuse before too much longer.

[radfringe]

8. he's the blob with a microphone... n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

9. The Dems Need To Bash That "20 million" Thing

He DOES NOT HAVE 20 MILLION LISTENERS! Why won't the dems have someone say that since that's a weekly cumulative, he really has about 3.7 million listeners? That would seem to have a pretty powerful impact on his actual importance. "You guys are taking your direction from a guy that just has the radical 1.1% as listeners? What's the matter with you?"
GAC

[tsuki]

10. Thanks, I was about to question the 20 million number. nt

[maseman]

13. Well it is true

Depends what you call an audience. He does cume about 20 million listeners per week. What does that mean? A cume (cumulative audience) is if someone tunes in for at least five minutes during a period of time. So during Rush's 15 hours of live show per week he has about 20 million people tune in for at least five minutes.

I think what you're referring to is the AQH persons which adds in the amount of listening element to that 20 million level. So on average, in a given 15 minute period during Rush's show, he has a much smaller audience than the 20 million. I don't know what the number is but it will be a smaller number.

A good analgoy is that 80,000 people can show up to a football game but never, at any point, are all 80,000 people in their seats. You may have an average "in-seat" audience of 64,000 people at any given point during the game.

[Aviation Pro]

12. Love the pic with the earpiece.....

...I wonder when someone in the MSM is going to add "boy-buggering" to drug-addled gasbag

[i-think-u-feel]

16. Really?

That's the external part of a Cochlear implant... when did it start being cool to make fun of deaf people?

[Aviation Pro]

18. When he started making fun of people with Parkinson disease....

...Michael J. Fox had no choice when he was diagnosed with that awful disease. The fat bag 'o shit went deaf from quaffing Oxycontin. So.....

FUCK HIM.

[frylock]

19. it starting being cool to make fun when it's self-inflicted from drug abuse..

i like onions and bell peppers.

[Winterblues]

20. He LIES about almost every single thing so what makes you believe

he wasn't Lying about his hearing loss as well? I think it was all just a reaction from his very heavy illegal drug use.

[stevedeshazer]

17. Bastard blew out his hearing with Oxycontin

Can you imagine what would happen to a Democrat who took so much junk he couldn't hear?

[KharmaTrain]

15. Dancing With Scorpions

Let's play with numbers. 20 million. Sounds impressive don't it. Well, that's 20 million people per week...5 days per week (ya really think the GOOP will be honest with numbers???) and then those numbers are of people who tune in, not that stick around. And, I've seen those numbers thrown around for years without any real ratings to back it up...just Rushbo's word. I used to have access to the hourly break-outs from Arbitron for several markets, and Rushbo was never in the Top 5 or 10 shows for his time period...usually the lowest daytime ratings for the station. But they've always say statistics lie and liars use statistics...and there's no finer liar in this country than Rushbo.

Even if we use that 20 million number, that's not even a majority in the GOOP party. There were nearly 50 million cast for Gramps last year. Remember, Rushbo was humpin' for Freddie Thompson last year...he sure didn't do much to help that campaign. Rush is ballot box poison, but contribution gold. Steele backed down after his phones rang off the hook with freepers and dittoheads and he saw millions in contributions going down the tubes. That's why he backed off...and others fearful of losing hard to find dollars won't cross paths with Rushbo either. Yep, that party is a hostage to Oxy boy.

The fun is watching a game played for years on Democrats being turned on the GOOP for once. Admit or deny...do you love Rushbo or not? Add water and fun ensues. And it will until someone with some stones in that party dares to stare Rushbo down. I don't see that day coming anytime soon, but when it does, the blowback on Rushbo within his own party will relegate him to the assheap...or else the GOOP will lose elections for the forseeable future.

[mzteris]

21. much as I dislike Larry Flynt - where is he on this?

I mean, he HAS been able to dig up the dirt - I'd love to see Rush completely and thoroughly discredited in a way that leaves no doubt with even his brain-dead followers as to his depraved behaviour.

[EnviroBat]

22. We need to stay on this! RUSH is their man, let's keep it that way!

In everything we do as Democrats, we should be propping up this fat piece of garbage as the RECOGNIZED leader of the Republican party. They couldn't have run with a bigger failure as a human being. A man who longer even tries to hide his blatant fascism... As the pukes party dies an agonizing death, Rush Limp-bag should be the last act of pants-soiling incontinence to the dying republican corpse!

GO RUSH! YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE, BUT WE LOVE WHAT YOUR DOING FOR YOUR PARTY. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK SHIT-ROCKET!