The Republican Party as we know it is finished
 

G.O.P. Apologizes to Limbaugh in Flap Over His Role

The new chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, apologized to Rush Limbaugh on Monday after describing him in a television interview over the weekend as an ?entertainer? who made incendiary and sometimes ugly remarks, party officials said.

Mr. Steele called Mr. Limbaugh after the radio host belittled Mr. Steele on his show, questioning his authority and saying the new Republican leader was off ?to a shaky start.?

?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,? Mr. Limbaugh said, in a transcript of his remarks he posted on his Web site.

?Mr. Steele: You are head of the R.N.C.,? Mr. Limbaugh said. ?You are not head of the Republican Party. Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the R.N.C. and right now they want nothing to do with it.?

The fight broke out at a time when Democrats have sought to portray Mr. Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a line that has been pushed in television advertisements financed by labor, as well as by the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Steele bristled after a questioner on CNN referred to Mr. Limbaugh as the de facto leader of the Republican Party on Saturday.

?No he?s not ? I?m the de facto leader of the Republican Party,? Mr. Steele responded.

?Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer,? he said. ?Rush Limbaugh, the whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it?s incendiary, yes, it?s ugly.?

Mr. Steele told Politico on Monday that he had called Mr. Limbaugh to apologize.

?My intent was not to go after Rush ? I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,? Mr. Steele told The Politico. ?I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.?

Democrats reacted with glee to the exchange. ?Michael Steele has denounced himself for renouncing Rush,? said Paul Begala, an ally of Mr. Emanuel and one of the Democrats presenting Mr. Limbaugh as the face of the G.O.P. ?Can anyone seriously argue now that Rush is not the unchallenged leader of the Republican Party??

Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Mr. Steel?s counterpart at the Democratic National Committee, said: ?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.?

Most of the people calling Rush the leader of the right are people from the left.

I'm betting O'Reilly has more ideological followers than Rush. As the new chairman, a black chairman, he should have told everyone else to fuck off. Start shaping the party... instead he fell to the political pressure of that blowhard.

The Democrats seemed to be having trouble finding focus for quite some time there, now it's the Republicans turn I suppose. It happens. The last 10 years life has changed so much for people... it's a new world.

They'll regroup, but there's definitely a ton of jostling going on in the party ranks. Right now they need Rush and O'Rielly to "beat the drum" while they regroup, they don't need to be diminishing these cats.

:love2suck
Repubican politicians and Rush.....

No it's not. All the talk about the dissolution of the Republican Party is media exaggeration, not reality. Republicans lost the election in what was a Democratic banner year, thanks in part to the timely economic collapse. The Republicans still garnered tens of millions of votes and will do so again in the future. Sure, there is friction between true Conservatives and Neocons in the party. That's not going to stop them from voting together come election time to vote in a Republican.

I saw Karl Rove this weekend on tv actually saying that GW bush inherited the recession. And he was serious. He's banking on people forgetting that Bushes own people said they inherited a surplus long before 9/11 and even before Bushes first $300 give back check.

If I was a political cartoonist illustrating how I think the republican party is behaving right now, it'd be a guy with his index fingers in his ears and eyes tightly closed saying "no no no no no no no no no!".

With only two political parties it will be pretty easy for them to rebound

Good ridance. I hate fiscal liberal & social conservative fags. This is the land of the free not the land of the crazy racist guys who believe in some guy who listens to all their prayers for money and power.

You don't think having the RNC Chairman and a U.S. Senator groveling at his feet is a sign that he's the leader of the right?

LOL

Anyway, the Republican party is in a major transitional period. Some of its leading thinkers/proponents like William F Buckley and Fr. Neuhaus passed away last year some months before the election. Its core constituencies like social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, "classical liberals", etc feel unanchored. Limbaugh, albeit with a reach of 20+ million listeners, is just one voice among many. Ultimately, it will be the Democrats' handling of the economic meltdown that will shape which, if any, of the Republicans' differing subgroups will gain prominence in that Party's revival.

Many pundits said the Republicans were toast after LBJ trounced Goldwater. Many pundits repeated the same diagnosis after the whole Nixon fiasco. Republicans bounced back in 1980 with Reagan... and espousing many of the same beliefs as Goldwater.

Politics acts like a pendulum... it can swing only so far in one direction before a countervailing force gathers momentum.

That said, what Barack Obama is proposing (universal health care, mandatory college, etc) aim to be a GAME CHANGER that would resist countervailing forces should the pendulum swing back. :2 cents:

I dont like ANY of them. :)