Bloghouse: The god of thunder

After the thumping Republicans received in last year's elections, it wouldn't have been surprising to find the party wandering the wilderness, searching for a leader and for a message more palatable to the electorate.

That didn't take long at all. The apparent leader: the thrice-married, prescription-drug-abusing, Parkinson's-disease-victim-ridiculing Rush Limbaugh. The message: Hope for failure.

Limbaugh electrified the annual powwow of the conservative movement, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), with a keynote that secured his place in the party hierarchy. Hugh Hewitt gushed over the performance:

Rush gave a speech … that will be talked about for years and even decades. … [H]e actually was passionate about freedom. And completely and utterly contemptuous of conservatives urging accommodation to the agenda of President Obama, especially those conservatives ashamed of the grassroots and their attachments to pastimes such as NASCAR and issues such as the dignity of every human life and the importance of marriage.

Erick Erickson at Red State was so moved that he began recruiting soldiers for Rush's war against Obama:

Because if Barack Obama succeeds, the American way of life fails. Join the RedState Army of Activists and lets work to make sure Barack Obama fails at destroying liberty and freedom.

One little problem with the GOP plan: It seems that not many Americans like Limbaugh, and not very many mainstream Republicans want to call him their leader. In fact, according to Politico, pinning that label on Limbaugh was the brainchild of Democratic strategists. Ezra Klein called it brilliant:

Steve Benen at the Political Animal agreed:

In 2008, the top priority for Democrats and their allies was tying George W. Bush around the Republican Party's neck. In 2009, Bush has been replaced by a figure that's arguably far more loathsome: a drug-addled shock-jock who's actively rooting for America's decline.

Andy Aplikowski had a different view — that, rather than propping Limbaugh up, the Obama administration is persecuting the poor man:

If the Presidential abuse of power continues, we may need to take action. I do not believe it is with in the power of the Constitution for the President and his staff to try to assassinate the character of a citizen for his speech or beliefs. That is exactly what Obama is doing. This is disgusting behavior and a disgrace to the office.

One person who was definitely mean to Rush was Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who called him an "entertainer" and said his show was "incendiary" and "ugly." Bad move on Steele's part, said Jeffrey Lord at the American Spectator blog:

First Ringer at Truth vs. the Machine wondered whether Steele, who subsequently did apologize to Limbaugh, is ready for prime time:

I don't recall Bill Buckley ever being attacked by the Chair of the RNC. Fresh off of his "hip-hop GOP" comments, Michael Steele continues to show a remarkable display of intraparty ignorance by blasting Limbaugh on the very same day Rush closed CPAC with a thunderclap.

But conservative David Frum wrote that Limbaugh, not Steele, is hurting the movement:

It was a misstep for Steele to be drawn into a direct spat with Rush. But on the substance: Steele was right. Limbaugh is not the leader of the Republican Party, and this weekend he again demonstrated why not. … Nothing Steele said will be 1/1000 as harmful to Republicans and conservatives as Rush Limbaugh's now multiply repeated statement that he hopes President Obama fails. … When Limbaugh says he hopes Obama fails, almost everybody listening will hear that as a wish for a longer and more severe recession. I appreciate that Limbaugh has a personal and ideological meaning behind his statement. He means that he wants the President's program to be rejected in favor of some other emergency package. But that's not what he said, and that's not what the big voting public will remember.