Sunday, July 21, 2013
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Jonathan Bernstein
I'm a political scientist blogging about American politics, especially the presidency, Congress, parties, and elections.
New item alerts and occasional other tweets @jbplainblog
New item alerts and occasional other tweets @jbplainblog
Elsewhere
Ones That I Liked
Impeachment Enter the Contest!
Amend It Another Contest
Hard Boards Politics ain't easy.
Pardon Them On torture.
"Live" Filibuster Give it up, already.
Attack Politics Inevitable.
When Polling Doesn't Help
Hard Boards Politics ain't easy.
Pardon Them On torture.
"Live" Filibuster Give it up, already.
Attack Politics Inevitable.
When Polling Doesn't Help
Blog Archive
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2013
(1030)
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July
(82)
- Elsewhere: Senate Deal, more
- Yeah, This Doesn't Work
- Read Stuff, You Should
- How the Senate Deal is Working
- Shocker! (Least Revealing Revelation Ever)
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Catch of the Day
- Housekeeping
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Sunday Question for Liberals
- Sunday Question for Conservatives
- What Mattered This Week?
- Friday Baseball Post
- Elsewhere: Trump Again, Boehner, Immigration, More
- GOP DC Circuit Strategy, Revisited
- Rise of a Reality-Based Conservative Media?
- Read Stuff, You Should
- GOP DC Circuit Strategy Emerging
- Cruz/McGovern
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Oy, Kraushaar
- See, I Had to Look Up Something Limbaugh Said, And...
- Read Stuff, You Should
- July 23, 1973
- C'mon, Reporters, Really????? (Yet Again)
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Elsewhere: Cruz, More
- C'mon, Reporters, Really?????
- Hey, John Boehner: Wanna Make a Deal?*
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Sunday Question for Liberals
- Sunday Question for Conservatives
- What Mattered This Week?
- Friday Baseball Post
- Catch of the Day
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Question for McCainologists
- A Little Plain Blog Told-You-So
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Why the Senate Deal Is Worse Than They Should Do
- The NLRB Court Case
- Read Stuff, You Should
- July 16, 1973
- Wait -- The White House Has Backup Nominees Quickl...
- Mixed Feelings on the Senate Deal
- Today Is Apparently Not a Good Day to Die
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Leonard Garment
- The Next Step on Immigration (Fun Times in the House)
- Read Stuff, You Should
- July 14, 1973
- Sunday Question for Liberals
- Sunday Question for Conservatives
- July 13, 1973
- What Mattered This Week?
- Patterns
- Catch of the Day
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Maybe Boehner Should Have Tanked the Farm Bill
- Catch of the Day
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Immigration Blame Game
- Nuclear Retaliation Revisited
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Catch of the Day
- I Doubt Republicans Have a Divine Doctrine Problem
- An End Game on Executive Branch Nominations?
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Rick Perry, President?
- Catch of the Day
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Sunday Question for Liberals
- Sunday Question for Conservatives
- What Mattered This Week?
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Happy Fourth of July!
- Hmmmm...O'Malley
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Those Radical Democrats
- Read Stuff, You Should
- Oy, [Headline Writer]
- Read Stuff, You Should
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July
(82)
Posts
I believe that in the last three or four elections, Rush has been the Progressive's best player.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm a fiscal conservative but socially liberal on just about everything. As a USMC combat vet in Viet Nam (III MAF, I Corps) I recall listening often to Paul Harvey's take on the news of the day, and he struck me as sensible and moderate. I suspect that this is the kind of icon that Rush would like to be but simply cannot help himself in his horrific racism and sexism under the guise of tweaking the left and firing up his base.
ReplyDeleteMore bad than good. Clearly, he has converted some listeners to conservatism, but his strident tone tends to give a bad image to the Republican Party. His attack on Sandra Fluke clearly hurt the party in the 2012 elections, but Republican politicians outside the Northeast have to be careful about criticizing him because of his popularity among much (though clearly not all) of the Republican base. In the pre-Limbaugh period, Republicans won 5 of the 6 Presidential elections from 1968 through 1988, but since his broadcasting went nationwide in 1989, we have won only two of six, and won the popular vote in only one of six. He seems to thrive on opposition to Democratic Presidents, and it is not at all clear that Republican victories in Presidential elections are helpful to his brand. So he is unlikely to urge his listeners to get behind the most electable conservative candidate, which in 2012 was clearly Romney.
ReplyDeleteInteresting analysis, Anon.
DeleteI'm not a conservative, but definitely lean that way on fiscal issues. But I have tried to figure out Rush's style and influence on the GOP. His style has been terrible in that he provides good verbiage for bad ideas. He's not honest in his examination of issues, but he sounds good. That has seriously decreased good analysis. He pretends his listeners are the soul of the GOP, but he fakes humility about being their spokesman. Some examples here and here.
ReplyDeleteCorrection--fake humility about NOT being their spokesman.
DeleteExcellent for conservatives. I don't agree with him on most things, but Limbaugh provides much-needed ballast to one side of the spectrum. Let's face it, the Republican leaders are mostly power-hungry RINOs who would have happily nodded Obamacare through if they thought they could get away with it. People like Limbaugh help hold their feet to the fire, which is doubly necessary in the Republican party because the toxic institutional incentives of Washington militate always for larger federal control and destruction of liberty.
ReplyDelete