On Wed, 4 Mar 2009 15:06:32 -0800 (PST), Too_Many_Tools
wrote:

LOL...can we get Gunner to help Rush?

They both can serve as spokemen for advertising Preparation H.

TMT

Gold Rush: Dems launch Operation Rushbo
Jonathan Martin Jonathan Martin Wed Mar 4, 4:04 am ET
Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting
Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale
effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics
and now being guided in part from inside the White House.

The strategy took shape after Democrats included Limbaugh’s name in an
October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular
with many Americans. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as
an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his
inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with
praise.

Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP
bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a
polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s.

Limbaugh is embracing the line of attack, suggesting a certain
symbiosis between him and his political adversaries.

"The Administration is enabling me,” he wrote in an email to POLITICO.
“They are expanding my profile, expanding my audience and expanding my
influence. An ever larger number of people are now being exposed to
the antidote to Obamaism: conservatism, as articulated by me. An ever
larger number of people are now exposed to substantive warnings,
analysis and criticism of Obama's policies and intentions, a ‘story’ I
own because the [mainstream media] is largely the Obama Press
Office.”

The bigger, the better, agreed Democrat James Carville. “It’s great
for us, great for him, great for the press,” he said of Limbaugh. “The
only people he’s not good for are the actual Republicans in Congress.”

If Limbaugh himself were to coin a phrase for it, he might call it
Operation Rushbo – an idea that started out simply enough but quickly
proved to be deeply resonant by a rapid succession of events, say
Democrats inside and outside the West Wing.

The seeds were planted in October after Democracy Corps, the
Democratic polling company run by Carville and Stanley Greenberg,
included Limbaugh’s name in a survey and found that many Americans
just don’t like him.

“His positives for voters under 40 was 11 percent,” Carville recalled
with a degree of amazement, alluding to a question about whether
voters had a positive or negative view of the talk show host.

Paul Begala, a close friend of Carville, Greenberg and White House
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, said they found Limbaugh’s overall
ratings were even lower than the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s
controversial former pastor, and William Ayers, the domestic terrorist
and Chicago resident who Republicans sought to tie to Obama during the
campaign.

Then came what Begala called “the tripwire.”

“I hope he fails,” Limbaugh said of Obama on his show four days before
the president was sworn in. It was a time when Obama’s approval
ratings were soaring, but more than that, polls showed even people who
didn’t vote for him badly wanted him to succeed, coming to office at a
time of economic meltdown.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was the first to jump
on the statement, sending the video to its membership to raise cash
and stir a petition drive.

“We helped get the ball rolling on this because we’re looking and
listening to different Republican voices around the country, and the
one that was the loudest and getting the most attention was Rush
Limbaugh,” explained DCCC chairman and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

Soon after, Americans United for Change, a liberal group, was airing
Limbaugh’s statement in an ad aimed at pushing Senate Republicans to
support the stimulus bill.

“It just cropped up out of how much play that comment was getting on
the air,” said Brad Woodhouse, who runs the group and is about to take
over as communications director at the Democratic National Committee.
“When we did it and it generated so much press, it just started to
snowball from there.”

But liberals quickly realized that trying to drive a wedge between
congressional Republicans and Limbaugh was unlikely to work, and their
better move was to paint the GOP as beholden to the talk show host.

This was driven home to them, according to one Democrat, when Rep.
Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) took a shot at Limbaugh in late January only to
appear on his program the next day and plead having momentarily had
“foot-in-mouth disease.”

By February, Carville and Begala were pounding on Limbaugh frequently
in their appearances on CNN.

Neither Democrat would say so, but a third source said the two also
began pushing the idea of targeting Limbaugh in their daily phone
conversations with Emanuel.

Conversations and email exchanges began taking place in and out of the
White House not only between the old pals from the Clinton era but
also including White House senior adviser David Axelrod, Deputy
Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and
Woodhouse.

The White House needed no more convincing after Limbaugh’s hour-plus
performance Saturday, celebrated on the right and mocked on the left,
at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he re-stated
his hope Obama fails.

“He kicked this into full-gear at CPAC by reiterating it,” said a
senior White House official of Limbaugh.

By Sunday morning, Emanuel elevated the strategy by bringing up the
conservative talker, unprompted, on CBS’s “Face the Nation” and
calling him the “the voice and the intellectual force and energy
behind the Republican Party.”

Even Republican National Chairman Michael Steele joined in with a
surprising critique of Limbaugh as a mere “entertainer,” who is “ugly”
and “incendiary.”

“He took a little match we had tossed on the leaves and poured
gasoline on it,” said one Democrat of Steele.

Steele was forced into calling Limbaugh to apologize Monday, an
embarrassing climb-down following the RNC chairman’s criticism of the
conservative talk-show host.

But Democrats kept at it in rapid-fire succession, thrilled that
Steele had validated their claim that Republicans were scared to cross
Limbaugh.

Americans United for Change launched a new ad featuring Limbaugh’s
CPAC appearance. A left-leaning media watchdog group began a new
Limbaugh tracking homepage. Democratic National Chairman Tim Kaine
tweaked Steele for his apology. Terry McAuliffe tried to inject
Limbaugh into the Virginia governor’s race. The DCCC launched a new
website, www.imsorryrush.com, mocking the Republicans who have had to
apologize to Limbaugh.

And Gibbs served up a made-for-cable-TV quote to end his daily
briefing Tuesday.

“I was a little surprised at the speed in which Mr. Steele, the head
of the RNC, apologized to the head of the Republican Party,” Gibbs
quipped with a grin, before striding out of the press room.

David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager last year and a member of his
inner circle still, will publish an op-ed in Wednesday’s Washington
Post chiding Republicans for being “paralyzed with fear of crossing
their leader.”

A senior White House aide has been tasked with helping to guide the
Limbaugh strategy.

Outside, Americans United for Choice, a liberal group, and the
Democratic National Committee are driving the message, in close
consultation with the White House.

Democrats can barely suppress their smiles these days, overjoyed at
the instant-ad imagery of Limbaugh clad in Johnny Cash-black at CPAC
and, more broadly, at what they see as their success in managing to
further marginalize a party already on the outs.

“I want to send Rush a bottle of vitamins,” said Begala. “We need him
to stay healthy and loud and proud.”

With President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney out of
the White House and Tom DeLay gone from Congress, the left had been
suddenly absent an unpopular right-wing figure.

Few Americans know who the congressional Republican leaders are. Even
Sarah Palin is now four time zones away from Washington.

Enter Limbaugh.

It’s something of a back to the future tactic for Democrats: painting
the GOP as the party of the angry white male. But unlike Newt Gingrich
or other prominent Republicans, Limbaugh doesn’t have to mind his
tongue.

And the liberal political apparatus is at battle stations taking note
of his every comment.

Media Matters, the left-leaning media watchdog and advocacy group,
began a “Limbaugh Wire” web-site Tuesday to track him. “For a long
time Americans haven’t really been aware that he’s so influential,”
said Eric Burns, the group’s president.

Democrats are now working hard to ensure that changes.

“He’s driving the Republican reluctance to deal with Obama, which
Americans want,” said Greenberg. “He’s the policeman [keeping them in
line].”

They’ll all get a fresh hook for the story after Wednesday, when a
Democratic polling firm goes into the field to test, among other
things, Limbaugh’s standing with the public.

All the attention only offers upside for the buzz-hungry Limbaugh,
said Carville.

“The television cameras just can’t stay away from him,” Carville said
Tuesday, a day when cable news played images of Limbaugh seemingly on
a loop. “Our strategy depends on him keeping talking, and I think
we’re going to succeed.”

It amazes me that so many liberals hate and despise Rush Limbaugh, yet
they hang on his every word as if it were the gospel. They try to
imply that Limbaugh is a nothing, an entertainer, yet they continue to
argue with his comments. Strange, isn't it?

Jim