randomJACKASS
Banned
Not all conservatives like his "leadership".
The Canadian Press said:Canadian David Frum attacks talk radio host Rush Limbaugh
WASHINGTON — Canadian David Frum has taken direct and unflinching aim at one of the most powerful figures of the Republican party, talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh, in a Newsweek magazine cover story.
In the piece entitled "Why Rush is Wrong," Frum - a transplanted conservative pundit who's also an American citizen - argues that Limbaugh's ideas for the future of the party will lead it down a disastrous path.
He describes Limbaugh as "a man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as 'losers.'
"With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence - exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we're co-operating!"
Frum's scathing attack on Limbaugh comes as the Democrats, led by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, continue to use the talk radio host as a punching bag, suggesting his divisive and polarizing views are representative of the Republican party's values.
The apparent goal is to convince Americans that the Republican party has been taken over by narrow-minded neo-conservatives who are clinging tightly to socially conservative policies that are unpopular among younger Americans in particular.
The strategy might also help win further support for President Barack Obama from moderate Republicans and independents who are squeamish about Limbaugh.
Emanuel has reportedly had his back up ever since Limbaugh, 58, said publicly that he wanted Obama to fail as president.
"Why would I want socialism to succeed?" has been Limbaugh's repeated response to the uproar that resulted from that remark. Some Republicans, including Newt Gingrich, were among those who objected.
Emanuel has since cast Limbaugh as the "voice and the intellectual force and energy" of the Republican party, setting off a quarrel among Republicans that has merely served to illustrate that, in fact, the party has no leader.
Limbaugh's three-hour daily show has the largest radio talk show audience in the United States and he recently signed an eight-year contract worth $400 million US. Last week Limbaugh challenged Obama to an on-air debate, telling the president he'd fly him to New York on his private jet for the occasion.
On his talk show Monday, Limbaugh didn't address Frum directly except to crow that he doesn't "see anyone else's face on the cover of Newsweek magazine." His critics, the talk radio host said, are simply jealous of his success.
But Frum, a respected figure among moderate Republicans, expects to become the target of Limbaugh's wrath at some point soon. His Canadian heritage has been held up before as reason to dismiss his opinions, he noted.
"Certain right-wing talk show hosts will throw this at me," Frum, the son of late CBC journalist Barbara Frum, said with a laugh Monday from his home in Washington.
"The problem that you encounter is Americans generally have very, very positive feelings about Canada. And it's said in a tone as if to say: 'You child molester. You terrorist sympathizer,' with this huge buildup of emotional intensity before the epithet is hurled. And what an anti-climax."
Despite Limbaugh's insistence that he's not the leader of the Republican party, Frum disagreed. Even more alarming is that leading congressional Republicans appear to be intimidated by Limbaugh, he added.
"He is the most visible and powerful conservative voice in America right now," Frum said.
"And he is creating tremendous pressures on the party that make it impossible to adapt ... there were moments during the debate on the budget when it looked like the Republicans might be able to come up with something like a relative alternative, and they've really been intimidated out of that."
Frum said the Newsweek piece was something he'd hoped he'd never have to pen.
"I wanted not to write this piece. I'm a big believer in broad coalitions. The people who listen to Rush are indispensable to any future conservative Republican coalition."
"They're the people who lick the envelopes and send in the $100 donations, and when the party's in trouble, it cannot afford to alienate that base. So he is getting them agitated in favour of the most inflexible possible position which really constrains the ability of party leaders to respond to the problems of today."
The party is in deep trouble in the aftermath of the November election and it needs to grow and adapt with the times on issues ranging from same-sex marriage to environmental and economic policy, Frum said.
That's why Limbaugh's insistence that Republicans should embrace social conservatism with even more fervour could sound the death knell for the party, he adds.
"I do feel that he's wrong, and he's leading Republicans in a very destructive way."
Get 'er done!
