Shorter Rush Limbaugh: The only people the Republican Party should be listening to are Rush Limbaugh.

Dag nab it!! Buggy whips!! That's the ticket...people are going to buy our buggy whips whether they need them or not! Now get out there and sell them buggy whips!

I'd say this is the equivalent of Rush saying "jump!" and Republicans saying "how high?", but it's more like Rush is saying "sink!" and Republicans are answering, "how low?"

Rushpublicans, sheep one and all. Good, keep listening to Rust Limpballs. The more you do, the more you polarize yourselves.

From what I've heard of their first event, the audience was packed with DC GOP activists. So "listening" or "teaching," does it really matter? It's a closed circuit.

Seems like the GOP is just like the Donkeys - only different. GOP can't stand up to Rush. Donkeys can't stand up to bank lobbyists. It truly is time to clean house BIG TIME.

Flip Flop.

The GOP is a smelly fish on the bottom of a boat that is trying to flip it's way back into the ocean of acceptance.

First they try to flip that way, find they don't quite get over the side, then...flip again trying oh so hard to regain the bliss of swimming in the ocean of acceptance.

Problem is... the stench is hard to stomach. Flip flopping away.

If they can't stand up to Rush Limbaugh, how will they ever stand up to Hugo Chavez?

in part????

ok, now that is funny stuff.

i've always thought that the way to truly defeat a party or movement is get people to laugh at it (see "Liberal," circa 1983-2005) - if DNC could make this into a pithy, catchy ad and run this, it would be Game Over. first, because it really is hilarious. second, because it looks so weak. and third, because makingthe decision to not listen to people would really rub any remaining independents the wrong way.

From what I've heard of their first event, the audience was packed with DC GOP activists. So "listening" or "teaching," does it really matter? It's a closed circuit.

What? They couldn't predict Rush's reaction to a "listening" tour? Even Michael Steele knew enough to tell people they were welcome into the tent as long as they kept quiet.

Limbaugh simply has to have incriminating pictures of nearly every high-profile Republican politician in this country. What other explanation could there be? The parade of consistent ass-kissing and abrupt change of position on his say-so has been really quite something to see.

The more the Republicans listen to Rush the more irrelevant they will become. Why? Because Rush is a clown, consciously and deliberately a clown. Why? It pays well. Why? See below.

To quote Santayana: “The clown is the primitive comedian. Sometimes in the exuberance of animal life a spirit of riot and frolic comes over a man; he leaps, he dances, he tumbles head over heels, he grins, shouts, or leers, possibly he pretends to go to pieces suddenly . . . All this he does hysterically, without any reason, by a sort of mad inspiration and irresistible impulse. He may easily, however, turn his absolute histrionic impulse, his pure fooling, into mimicry of anything or anybody that happens to impress his senses; … Such mimicry is virtual mockery . . . so that the clown feels himself immensely superior, in his role of universal satirist, to all actual men, and belabors and rails at them unmercifully. He sees everything in caricature, because he sees the surface only, with the lurid innocence of a child; and all these grotesque personages stimulate him, not to moral sympathy . . . . He is not amused intellectually; he is not rendered wiser or tenderer by knowing the predicaments into which people inevitably fall; he is merely excited, flushed and challenged by an absurd spectacle.� (From Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies, Chapter: “the Comic Mask� pp 136 )

(I this little quote around for times when I feel people need reminding just what Rush is and why he is.)

Listening means something completely different to Republicans...i.e. listening only to people who already agree with you.

Oh, and Rush Limbaugh is a racist asshole.

Kurt:

My favorite applicable quote is from Tom Tomorrow: that Limbaugh "possesses all the wit and cleverness of a marginally bright schoolyard bully". Dead-on.

"at least in part because a radio talk-show host didn't approve."

I don't think the Republicans realize that he is a talk show host, an entertainer. They have no clue that Limbaugh doesn't give a rat's ass baout the Party. conservative "values" or anything else besides self-promotion. The Republicans crumbling into dust is at once a liability for him and an opportunity. He's attached to them at the hip. He'd have to do a complete about face and recast himself in a stunt worthy of pro-wrestling transforming a villain into a heroe. It easier for him to simply poke the dying GOP with a sharp stick. Notice how, now, he never offers his stand on anything before the Republicans weigh in? Then he immediately disagrees. Its his new schtick.

The Rush GOP: A party of sheep being ruled by a pig.

Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic.

A Conspiracy Theory

Limbaugh is already fixed for life, financially. Maybe he's begun to experience remorse at what he's wrought - the whole GWBush nightmare, economic collapse of the whole world, etc. His niece (in a Salon article a few months back) said he's always rather quiet and apologetic at family gatherings.

Perhaps he's secretly using his power to drag the current Republican Party leadership and ultra-wingnuts over the cliff, so that the party could eventually be taken over by newer, saner Repubs.

Isn't it now fairly well accepted that Werner Heisenburg, one of the few brilliant physicists who remained behind in Nazi Germany, was actually using his knowledge and influence to subtly sabotage the German nuclear bomb effort?

It's good to get up in the morning.

It is funny as hell to watch this clown show, but I think the underlying dynamic is fascinating. On the one hand, you have republicans who are realizing that their old standby positions (lower taxes! Slut sex!) just isn't working any more, and that perhaps, just perhaps, they really do need another, better message.

On the other hand, you have republicans who only want to clap louder, because the reason they've lost support is because the MSM and ACORN and Soros or whoever has blocked their true, pure, message (lower taxes! Slut sex!).

What they haven't figured out yet (because it would be WAY too painful to admit) is that it isn't about messaging; their policies don't work, their pseudo-religious wankering is just embarrassing, and that people just aren't that into them any more.

Rush makes money either way, so any time he can stir things up is good for Rush.

DH Walker wrote: Limbaugh simply has to have incriminating pictures of nearly every high-profile Republican politician in this country. What other explanation could there be?

Rush claims to have 30 million listeners; Republicans still think that's enough votes to win a Presidential election.

We do not need a listening tour; we need a teaching tour.

What Rush really wants is "reeducation camps" for the American People, which comes dangerously close to being yet another of his Arbeit Macht Frei moments.

And as DKos frontpager BarbinMD pointed out yesterday afternoon, they just added Sarah Palin to their panel of 'experts' after Rush Limbaugh threw a hissy-fit about her absence.

It's sweet to see the GOPers continuing to take their marching orders from Limbaugh the Hutt. You'd think that even Rush would have the self-awareness to realize that the more the GOP jumps every time he says 'frog,' the worse the GOP looks. But I think he's too stupid to realize this.

It's good to get up in the morning. Posted by: shortstop on May 6, 2009

That explains Rush's addiction to little blue pills.

But they are on a "listening" tour...listening to Rush Limbaugh.

I know this site gets it's jollies by pointing out the hypocrisy of right-wingers - a fun and inexhaustible diversion.

But does anyone think that a politician actually listening to people makes for better policy formulation? Limbaugh is right that teaching, explaining and persuading, debunking the other sides' lies, is what a party should predominantly be doing.

I think the Dems should spend about 98% of their time teaching and explaining, and 2% listening. Obviously, local constituents in a given district is another matter, as they can bring real (previously unknown) information, but on a national level? Listening to people is mostly a waste of time.

Stats already show the unemployment level, household debt levels and distributions, that 80% of the income distribution in the US has been stagnant for nearly 40 years, that cheap imported goods have let us feel a rising standard of living anyway, that nutty borrowing for homes and equity loans have allowed about 1/3 of the country to have 3,000 sq. ft. homes with granite and stainless steel everywhere - and now half of them can't afford the payments, that 20% have no health insurance, that 10% think that Obama and the UN are gonna take away their guns. Etc.

Knowing all that, you really don't need anecdotal stories.

Isn't it now fairly well accepted that Werner Heisenburg, one of the few brilliant physicists who remained behind in Nazi Germany, was actually using his knowledge and influence to subtly sabotage the German nuclear bomb effort?

No. It's nice to think so, but there's no actual evidence. Some interesting theories, which have to overcome Heisenberg's silence on the matter, post-war, but nothing remotely conclusive.

That explains Rush's addiction to little blue pills.

I was referring to how much more pleasant life as a liberal has become in the past few months, but you, er, raise a good point.

Real men don't listen.

Jabba don't care what you think, Jabba tell you what to think.

One of the first things Hilary Clinton did during her campaign that irked me was making a big hoo-ha about her "listening tour".

It wasn't plausible to me that Hil was humble enough to believe that any yahoos coming to town hall meetings would have jack squat to say in terms of original ideas or intriguing counterpoints.

The skepticism I had for Hil is dwarfed by that held against the current blowhards attempting to run the show at the GOP.

The GOP may indeed need a listening tour, but you dang sure don't CALL IT THAT.

Don't tell us you're going to listen. Just listen.
It might well work.

Just be prepared to catch some grief from your colleagues who don't listen to anyone outside the bubble when you bring up some of the things you've heard in your travels.

Supreme Leader George Soros really outdid himself with sleeper agent Limbaugh. It took several years, but we're finally seeing the fruits of that labor pay off.

I know we're not supposed to talk about it. We've kept the inner workings of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy quiet for years, but really, at this point, with Limbaugh in place as the defacto leader of the Republican party, who cares who knows!?

There is nothing they can do to stop us now! Gay marriage for everyone! Abortions for everyone! All tax brackets will be 100%!

Go ahead, my fellow comrades in the shadows, reveal yourself to be the Socifascimarxists that you are, what's the worst tha...

Rebranding means no change except waiting for the rest of the country to agree with us.

Waiting for Americans to change but ignoring any change that doesn't agree with them...ha!

To quote Santayana: “The clown is the primitive comedian. Sometimes in the exuberance of animal life a spirit of riot and frolic comes over a man; he leaps, he dances, he tumbles head over heels, he grins, shouts, or leers, possibly he pretends to go to pieces suddenly ... All this he does hysterically, without any reason, by a sort of mad inspiration and irresistible impulse. He may easily, however, turn his absolute histrionic impulse, his pure fooling, into mimicry of anything or anybody that happens to impress his senses; … Such mimicry is virtual mockery ... so that the clown feels himself immensely superior, in his role of universal satirist, to all actual men, and belabors and rails at them unmercifully. He sees everything in caricature, because he sees the surface only, with the lurid innocence of a child; and all these grotesque personages stimulate him, not to moral sympathy. ... He is not amused intellectually; he is not rendered wiser or tenderer by knowing the predicaments into which people inevitably fall; he is merely excited, flushed and challenged by an absurd spectacle.� (From Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies, Chapter: “the Comic Mask� pp 136 )

So that's why Keith Olbermann refers to him as "comedian Rush Limbaugh"!

What the National Council for a New America is, is an opportunity for us to go out across this country to talk about our conservative principles...."

Nice to see that Cantor is moving his shtick into the comedy genre. Conservative principles, indeed.

Limbaugh is already fixed for life, financially. Maybe he's begun to experience remorse at what he's wrought

Limbaugh? Feel remorse? Sputter...

Have you ever actually listened to the man? I mean really listened to him. Especially in his heyday during the Clinton follies '92-'99. The man is a pig. He's belligerent. He flaunts his asshole nature. He makes virtues out of vices. Calling him an egotistical bastard is an insult to egotistical bastards everywhere. He's the closest thing to a real "anti-Christ" figure that Paul warned about in his letters that I've ever seen anywhere in the world. If I were a religious person, I'd think that perhaps the man was perhaps an avatar of Satan himself - or perhaps Nyarlathotep - sent to the Earth to aggrandize our basest natures in the hopes that we give up on charity and brotherhood and all things that make us human and turn ourselves into monsters like himself that only live to further our own naked ambitions and feed our psychological hungers.

No. It's far, far more likely that Ann Coulter is a deep-cover performance artist masquerading as a nutjob winger than that Limbaugh is some kind of fifth columnist out to destroy the conservative movement. Limbaugh is all about only one thing - looking out for number one. This whole thing with the GOP is just awesome for him because he has all kinds of power now and almost zilch in responsibility. He makes an outrageous statement and Congressmen line up to kiss his ass and agree with him. He condemns something and a dozen Congressmen jump up to condemn it louder.

He's a piggy rolling in the mud. Nothing more than that. It would be nice to think that the man has a heart, but if he does he keeps it locked up in his basement or something.

"We do not need a listening tour; we need a teaching tour. That is what the Republican Party, or, slash, the conservative movement needs to focus on. Listening tour ain't it."

Let's translate. The conservative movement can never fail the people. The people can only fail the conservative movement. This is why the people require education in conservative thought and values. Jesus, these guys give me the creeps. They're like something out of the Cultural Revolution.

Well, since the bloated pigfucker Limbaugh is deaf from taking too much hillbilly heroin, no wonder he shows contempt for listening. He only talks and he knows his audience of slobbering inbred morons will sit there and believe every word unquestioningly.

I love it. And the best part is, the wingnuts don't even know how bad it is for them. Isn't there one GOP politician with a spine who can tell Limbaugh to go fuck himself without fear of reprisals? As long as the GOP gets their marching orders from some impotent loser who talks on the radio, they will never regain any power outside the south.

flubber, the singular flaw in your logic is that, at the moment, Republicans have nothing to teach. Rush THINKS they do which is why he's demanding that this be branded a teaching tour instead of a listening tour - they have all the answers by God, now YOU'VE got to listen if you want this nation to survive!

Unlike Rush's bubble, there are some politicians who are aware that times are rough, for the nation AND the party, whether or not they care to admit it. Hence, the listening tour. Even if they're only listening to their gripes so they can figure out how to tailor their message to cut through the griping.

Of course, the more they supposedly listen to real Americans and their real problems, the more they'll come to realize that neoconservative values, much like a form of evolution at its most brutal, is not designed to help these people, but to knock them off the map and make room for better, richer "purer" people. The listening tour will only serve to clarify just how much the GOP has and will continue to eff over all but the wealthiest with the occasional freak success story thrown into the mix (like Rush himself, a former failed DJ living on food stamps until he figured out how to make a living on hate).

So, to sum up, they don't have a message worth teaching. The GOP knows this, but listening won't help. Rush doesn't want to know this, so he shouts his bad lessons louder. And idiots & cowards listen.

This really is a dramatic escalation of influence for Rush. It's one thing for GOP leaders to not be allowed to talk bad about him, but another thing altogether for him to have the power to veto an entire messaging strategy.

The Republican Party is now like the abject, cringing dog who's been beaten by its abusive owner so many times that the owner now only has to raise his voice and the poor dog submissively piddles on the floor in hopes of avoiding another beating.

Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.

"Listening to people can make a difference," declared Mitt Romney while sitting on stage with Cantor during the first event. "That's what we're talking about here, we're listening to people."

"Yeah. We're supposed to be guards."
"We're guards."
"We're guards, huh? We're guards."
"We're guards."

Dan makes a great point; Rush is now appointing himself the chief architect of the GOP's communications and branding strategy. At what point is Frank Luntz going to start sensing that Rush is encroaching on his territory, and will he attempt any pushback?

A Conspiracy Theory

Limbaugh is already fixed for life, financially. Maybe he's begun to experience remorse at what he's wrought - the whole GWBush nightmare, economic collapse of the whole world, etc. His niece (in a Salon article a few months back) said he's always rather quiet and apologetic at family gatherings.

Perhaps he's secretly using his power to drag the current Republican Party leadership and ultra-wingnuts over the cliff, so that the party could eventually be taken over by newer, saner Repubs.

Isn't it now fairly well accepted that Werner Heisenburg, one of the few brilliant physicists who remained behind in Nazi Germany, was actually using his knowledge and influence to subtly sabotage the German nuclear bomb effort?

excellent...from "grass-roots" back to "top-down" in less then a week...now that's change i can believe in

Apology

I'm sorry about posting my "Conspiracy Theory" letter twice. I got a message saying it hadn't been posted, because I had posted too often, so I waited several hours and hit the "Post" key again, not realizing my letter had already gone up.

Thanks to those of you who have already responded! I realize it's pretty unbelievable on the face of it; that's why I called it a "conspiracy theory" ...

DHWalker: Rush doesn't need compromising photos, he's got his dittoheads, who send e-mails with death threats, right on cue, to anyone who dares challenge him. And Republican politicians, those brave, macho warriors, wet their pants and apologize.

Listening tour successful.

The Republican party leaders have have heard Rush Limbaugh.

I'm sorry about posting my "Conspiracy Theory" letter twice. -Zandru

Don't apologize to us. You apologize to Rush!

The Republicans woke up one day in October and realized they had been wrong about almost everything. Then they remembered that they lived for spite and self-aggrandizement anyway, and they slept like babies again. Rosemary's Baby to be sure, but nonetheless a deep and dreamless slumber from which they awaken every day to defile good people and debauch humane ideals before tiring themselves to sleep again with rich foods, well-chewed.

Rush is the only focus group to which the GOP pays attention.

"Rebranding means no change except waiting for the rest of the country to agree with us."

And the problem is, the country WILL come to agree with them. After the Democrats have restored enough prosperity for ordinary Americans to start taking it for granted again, they'll vote these assholes back in. They'll trash the country, start an unnecessary war or two, raise unemployment by ten or fifteen percentage points, and ordinary voters will run back to the Democrats to clean things up again.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

"These aren't the droids you're looking for."