Rush to Judgement

Do you ever listen to the shock jocks on the radio? I used to listen to Rush before he had a national audience, and was actually funny when he was broadcasting out of Sacramento, California. Less druggy ranting and it seemed he actually did some reading in preparation for a show, instead of Drudge, Drudge, Drudge...

There also was a brash, young history teacher in the SF Bay area who reinvented himself as a tough guy, no-nonsense uber-conservative, and today's bumper sticker is devoted to him, a variation which I think he's had to deal with all of his life:

- Michael Savage is Such a Wiener -

Politico reports on Rush Limbaugh at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday: "In a 90-minute session, Limbaugh dismissed calls for bipartisan cooperation with President Obama and congressional Democrats. Working with them is tantamount to being co-opted by liberals eager to impose big government across the land, he said.

"Where the hell do we get to compromise when we believe in our principles?" Limbaugh told the cheering crowd. "It's a tough challenge, but it's worth it."

Republicans in Washington should try to obstruct Obama's agenda at every turn, said Limbaugh, "We don't have the votes to stop what's going to happen on Capitol Hill. What we can do is slow down and inform the American people about what's on the horizon.”

They then let Rahm Emanuel counter in another interview: "I think that’s the wrong philosophy for America,” Emanuel said. “What Americans want us to do, and what President Obama has been very clear about, is work together setting our goals …

“Our goal is to continue to reach out and it’s our desire that the Republicans would work with us and try to be constructive, rather than adopt the philosophy of somebody like Rush Limbaugh.”

Emanuel’s comments were in line with a new strategy by White House allies in the private sector to make Limbaugh synonymous with the GOP.

“He has been very up front, and I compliment him for that – he’s not hiding," Emanuel said. "And whenever a Republican criticizes him, they have to run back and apologize to him and say they were misunderstood.”

So Rush is being set up by the Democratic Party as being the intellect and voice of the Republicans. Give Rush enough airtime and he will gleefully put his foot in his mouth and keep on talking as if its normally done this way every day. His ego will never let him apologize, and like a shark must keep going forward...

Here's the problem with Rush Limbaugh - he doesn't really care about you or me or what we think, he only cares about himself and what he thinks. And what he thinks must be right because he makes so much money at it. Very narcissistic and too self absorbed to break out of the shell he has built for himself. Too much of a media whore... Dangerous for a political party to listen and take such a personality seriously, unless you also don't have the capacity to listen to others and are too self-absorbed in your principles, too dumb to realize it...

Especially bad if those principles have been proven to not work in the real world and has driven our country to the brink of economic ruin, with a dishonest and corrupt way of doing business. We need people who can be introspective and flexible enough to change, willing to rebuild on a better ideology instead of running around like Chicken Little, crying about Obama...We are not impressing the younger generations.

A straw poll was taken at the CPAC with interesting results: "Romney took 20 percent of the vote, followed by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal with 14 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul with 13 percent, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with 13 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 10 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 7 percent. Others on the ballot included South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Nine percent were undecided.

With no unifying Republican figure to rally around after the desultory 2008 elections, the straw poll results reflect tensions among conservatives about how best to oppose the Obama Administration’s agenda – through openly wishing for failure, a sentiment voiced recently by talk show host Rush Limbaugh, or working with the new president at a time when the American public seek a larger role for government amid the deepening recession."

Late night humor from Stephen Colbert on Bobby Jindahl:

"Nation, last night, once again, the political stage was set on fire by a brilliant orator, a man whose charisma even I have to admit can only be rivaled by a giant Brad Pitt made out of puppies. I'm speaking of, of course, of Bobby Jindal." --Stephen Colbert

"Now, it's clear the Republican party has a new rock star -- in that Jindal appears to have the body fat of Iggy Pop on free heroin day. Now, Jindal took it straight to the Democrat's porkulus plan, like this waste of money [on screen: Jindal going after the $140 million set aside for volcano monitoring]. Ridiculous! Monitoring volcanoes totally ruins the surprise. Republicans know all we need to control volcanoes is to sacrifice a virgin. That is why they support abstinence education." --Stephen Colbert

"Of course, seismology wasn't the only boondoggle Jindal went after [on screen: Jindal talking about the $8 billion to be set aside for a high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Disneyland]. A magnetic levitation train from Vegas to Disneyland? Actually, that sounds pretty cool. You leave the kids with Cinderella, two hours later you're blowing their college fund on Pai Gow poker, getting bottle service from a 'hostess,' also dressed like Cinderella." --Stephen Colbert

"I say Jindal's speech was a homerun. Jimmy, let's look at the rest of the highlights. Oh, there are none? Okay. All right, well, then, folks, I guess I am forced to talk about the Democratic pre-sponse. No, I didn't hear any of it. I mute all of Obama's speeches, because I like to hear myself yell." --Stephen Colbert