Newspaper Roundup for Mar. 4, 2009
CNSNews.com Headlines — ... Supreme Court may reveal stance on Prop. 8 on Thursday Philadelphia Inquirer: Budget cuts endanger stem-cell research in N.J. Fox News/AP: Russian Scholar Says U.S. Will Collapse Next Year Politico.com: Republicans leaders worry that GOP made a costly mistake in choosing Michael Steele Fox News: Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Remove Census Bureau From Commerce Department Boston Globe/AP: Obama names friend, adviser to head FCC Politico.com: Inside the Dems' anti-Rush Limbaugh plan Washington Post: President Walks Tightrope on ...

Around the Web in 80 Seconds, 03.04.09
The Latest on Air America — ... . Why all this Dem chatter about Rush Limbaugh? Poitico reports that so long as Rush is the face of the GOP, the Republican Party will continue to convert true believers into moderates. Scientists discover new creature that ...

Rush is Running to Boost His Ratings Not to Lead the GOP. He's the $400 Million Man -- And He Wants to Keep It That Way.
BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash — ... "controversial."So it goes with Rush.  He could care less whether the Republican Party moves in one direction or another.  His job is to pick a fight and get maximum media coverage -- and then egg it on by luring his followers to listen to his program for his latest response to those who keep the story alive by criticizing him. Yes, it's a P.T. Barnum & Bailey technique on steroids, but Rush knows a thing or two about using drugs to enhance his pleasure -- uh, we mean audience. In a "Politico" story on March 4 titled "Inside the Dems' anti-Rush plan," Rush basically admits ...

The Democrats and Rush Limbaugh: An intriguing symbiosis.
Althouse — Jonathan Martin describes the dynamic: The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned [that he had an 11% approval rating with voters under 40]. 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. Rush's "I hope he fails" line was big. ... Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the ...

Classy White House Coordinates Attack On Rush Limbaugh
Gateway Pundit — ... small business, corporations, American taxpayers, Big Oil, private health care, etc. Today the White House coordinated a new attack on radio host Rush Limbaugh. Considering Obama has managed to triple the deficit and tank the stock market in his first 40 days in office, it makes sense that he would want Americans to focus on something, anything other than his horrid record. More hope and change... The Politico reported: Top Democrats believe they have struck ...

No More Mister Nice Blog — ... My first instinct when I saw Politico's story about the Democrats' careful plotting of the anti-Limbaugh campaign was that it was a bad thing -- that now the story will be the Democratic campaign rather than what the Democrats are saying, and the message will be "Evil Democrats are manipulating the news cycle." ...

Behind the Limbaugh Strategy
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire — ... Politico reports that Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Rush Limbaugh's name in an October poll "and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters... 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." ...

Rush Job: Inside Dems' Limbaugh plan
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News — ... 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. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19596.html

It’s the Democratic Congress, Stupid!
The Moderate Voice — ... I am really, really going to try to write a column this week outside of the black hole of the Limbaugh, Steele, White House triangle of political death. The sad thing about all of this drama is that it doesn’t mean anything that positively impacts the life of one single American citizen. All this drama between Emanuel, Rush, George Stephanopoulos and Steele is a smoke screen to keep your minds off of what is really important: the fact that Obama and the Democrats have no clue on how to fix the economy and that the Democratic Congress is giving away BILLIONS of your ...

Quote For The Day
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — ... "The administration is enabling me. 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,” - Rush Limbaugh. ...

Is Steele really prepared to lead the GOP? PLUS: More on the efforts to demonize Rush
Sister Toldjah — ... Related to all this, The Politico this morning writes in depth about the Democrats and their continued attempts at painting Rush Limbaugh as the face of the GOP, which The Fix noted ...

Poll Watch: 11 Per Cent of Republicans Say Rush Limbaugh is GOP Leader
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog — ... OPERATION LIMBAUGH planned by Obama political operatives, (Obama Chief of Staff) Rahm Emanuel, James Carville and Paul Begala appears to ...

Rush as GOP's Leader? 81 % of Republicans Don't Think So.
The Atlantic Politics Channel — While Democrats continue to assert that Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the GOP--and while Limbaugh himself seems to be embracing the notion--a new ...

Team Obama's Petty Limbaugh Strategy
Swampland — ... But what is the chatter on the cable stations? For most of this week, and for much of the last month, it has been about Rush Limbaugh. Hour after hour, daytime pundits are asked a litany of banal Rush questions: Does Rush really run the Republican Party? Why did RNC chair Michael Steele apologize to Rush? What does it mean that Rush addressed conservatives last weekend? As Jonathan Martin makes clear in the Politico today, this entire controversy has been cooked up and force fed to the American people by Obama's advisers. In other words, it's not the kind of change you can ...

Today Blames Limbaugh for GOP 'All-Time Low'
NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias — ... According to the Politico Democratic strategists, months ago, planned to paint Rush Limbaugh as a bad guy to hurt the GOP and on Wednesday, the "Today" show followed that blueprint as Matt Lauer pilloried RNC Chairman Michael Steele over his flap with the talk show host: ...

Limbaugh Hoglets
Newshoggers.com — ... is the closing paragraph. We want independents and moderates to think that Limbaugh is the national leader of the GOP, because it makes it harder for the Republicans to look like reasonable actors who care about Main Street instead of being the pathetic toads they really are. If Obama is to have success in building a center-left coalition in this country, the first step was to marginalize the GOP as extremists.  Over at Politico Jonathan Martin explains how the Republicans fell into the Democrat's Rush ...

Footnote to our Limbaugh discussions
Sound Politics — Footnote to our Limbaugh discussions Shot: Rush Job: Inside Dems' Limbaugh plan Chaser: Just 11% of Republicans Say Limbaugh Is Their Party's Leader It would seem the White House is grasping at straws, trying to distract from the fact the Obama budget and related agenda items are facing increasingly tough sledding in a Democratic Congress that is just now coming to terms with the phrase "sticker shock." Posted by Eric Earling at March 04, 2009 08:51 AM | Email This

Obama Expands War On Limbaugh - With Video
Pat Dollard | Young Americans — The Limbaugh Boxed Set here. Politico: Rush Job: Inside Dems’ Limbaugh plan By JONATHAN MARTIN 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 Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October ...

Pinky and the Brain
Southern Appeal — Paul Begala and James Carville have really done it this time. They finally figured out that depicting Rush Limbaugh as the face of the Republican Party will lead to its downfall. Brilliant! Especially considering the ...

The Democrats' Rush Strategy
Power Line — ... Politico goes behind the scenes to chronicle the Democrats' plan to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the Republican Party. The effort apparently is being closely coordinated among the White House, mainstream media journalists and Democratic Party activists. According to one source, James Carville and Paul Begala of CNN have been working with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel on the Limbaugh project. ...

Hope and Change: The Operation Rushbo Distraction
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... If the first six weeks of the Barack Obama administration can be summed up in one sentence, it would be this: Obama fiddled with Rush Limbaugh while Wall Street burned .  Politico reports that the demonization of Rush Limbaugh comes as a deliberate strategy by Obama and the Democrats, who hoodwinked people into believing that a Chicago Machine pol really wanted to change the partisan nature of politics.  Starting in October, Obama relied on an old hand in attack politics to devise this strategy — and rolled it out even in the middle of an economic meltdown: Top Democrats ...

Team Swampland’s petty Obama strategy
Balloon Juice — ... But what is the chatter on the cable stations? For most of this week, and for much of the last month, it has been about Rush Limbaugh. Hour after hour, daytime pundits are asked a litany of banal Rush questions: Does Rush really run the Republican Party? Why did RNC chair Michael Steele apologize to Rush? What does it mean that Rush addressed conservatives last weekend? As Jonathan Martin makes clear in the Politico today, this entire controversy has been cooked up and force fed to the American people by Obama’s advisers. In other words, it’s not the ...

Politico Exposes White House and Media's Anti-Limbaugh Strategy
NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias — ... the Left feared its message would be muted without having George W. Bush to blame on all the world's problems, and Limbaugh made a nice substitute as the object of their disaffection to distract the public from real issues. Given White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's connections to key media figures such as ABC's George Stephanopoulos as well as CNN's Paul Begala and James Carville, disseminating the hate was a piece of cake. As Jonathan Martin reported Wednesday at Politico: Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by ...

Another President Declares War on Opposition Media
JammieWearingFool — No, not another story about Obama's coordinated campaign against Rush Limbaugh. But an admirer of his apparently is taking a page from the Chicago Machine playbook. As politicians in the U.S. discuss bringing back the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which would compel radio and TV stations to present both sides of any controversial issue, the question in Venezuela is far more serious: whether there can be more than one side — Hugo Chavez's side — that gets aired about anything. Addressing the nation on his weekly television show on Sunday, the Venezuelan ...

Rush’s Riveting Radio Today
The Anchoress — ... (particularly since the Politico has uncovered a little WH plumbing operation in which he been systematically targeted by Obama’s office), I tuned in to Rush Limbaugh for his opening monologue. ...

alicublog — ... criticizes Limbaugh's comments. Limbaugh beats him up on the radio and Steele is forced to apologize. Republican reformers find this troubling, but the yahoo wing of the party tells them to shut up, as do some of the suit-and-tie operatives, and their press organs start spreading the word that maybe it's time to get rid of Steele. The GOP base is not buying Limbaugh as the head of the Republican Party, but some Democrats, mischievously, are. Rightbloggers warn Democrats they better not ...

President Obama Wallows in the Mud With Rush Limbaugh
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog — ... If the first six weeks of the Barack Obama administration can be summed up in one sentence, it would be this: Obama fiddled with Rush Limbaugh while Wall Street burned.  Politico reports that the demonization of Rush Limbaugh comes as a deliberate strategy by Obama and the Democrats, who hoodwinked people into believing that a Chicago Machine pol really wanted to change the partisan nature of politics. ...

Blaming the White House for the Limbaugh flap?
Political Animal — ... about contracting reforms, he referred dismissively to the "chatter on the cable stations." But what is the chatter on the cable stations? For most of this week, and for much of the last month, it has been about Rush Limbaugh. Hour after hour, daytime pundits are asked a litany of banal Rush questions: Does Rush really run the Republican Party? Why did RNC chair Michael Steele apologize to Rush? What does it mean that Rush addressed conservatives last weekend? As Jonathan Martin makes clear in the Politico today , this entire controversy has been cooked up and force fed to ...

Dems attacking Rush - trying to rob gun stores
RedState: Conservative News and Community — ... Now, the Politico reports that Democrat strategists as early as October 2008 identified Rush Limbaugh as their next target of abuse, in terms of beating all conservatives and Republicans into submission. Recent events have shown a coordinated strategy by administration officials (Emanuel, AxelRod, Gibbs, Plouffe, Pfeiffer, and Obama himself), media pundits (Begala, Carville), leftist groups (Center for American Progress, Americans United for Change, Americans United for Choice) the DNC (Woodhouse, Kaine), and ...

Things That Make My Head Explode
Talking Points Memo — ... Time's Michael Scherer reads Jonathan Martin's piece in Politico on how happy the Dems are to let the GOP brand themselves as the party of Rush and ...

Midday open thread
Daily Kos — According to the Politico: 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. Well, Republicans are making it all possible with their fawning over Rush, but if this was an orchestrated plan by the previously hapless Dems, then mad props to the architects. Oh, and they appear to be doing the same with Jim Cramer. ...

Duh! Obama Flunkie Admits Attacking the Media is Counterproductive
JammieWearingFool — No kidding. Now that their conspiracy to destroy Rush Limbaugh has been exposed, maybe it's time they moved on to more productive things, like curtailing their economic destruction and stop lurching so far to the left. Uhhh , you notice this boob, uhhh , says uhhh about as much as Uhhhbama does? Labels: ...

WH Alinsky tactics on conservatives (via Rush) to backfire?
Flopping Aces — ... Everyone who happens to turn on news for five minutes knows of the philosophical public battles between Obama, the Democrats and conservatives, targeting radio host, Rush Limbaugh. Today, Jonathan Martin of Politico introduces us to the architects and players in the Alinsky “target and isolate” propaganda campaign via his article, Rush Job: Inside Dem’s Limbaugh plan. ...

Ahhh, The Evil Plan!
Talking Points Memo — ... These are trying times. So I appreciate the right wing media's efforts to keep me rolling in laughs. I happened over to Drudge's site to see "Enemies List: White House Plots Limbaugh Coverage". That links through to Jonathan Martin's piece in The Politico. And Michael Scherer ...

It’s all politics
PoliGazette — Politico explains why Democrats and especially the White House have gone after Rush Limbaugh in recent days and weeks: 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 Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their ...

Poll: Rush Limbaugh And White House Are Both Wrong When It Comes To GOP
The Moderate Voice — ... However, despite a report creating a stir on the Internet about how White House aides and allies are trying to make Limbaugh a symbol, the fact is Limbaugh is hardly a victim — and in fact both sides now are in a symbotic relationship ...

Did Begala punk the Post?
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... , after interviewing a number of people of the Right.  The steam went out of this report after Politico’s explosive exposure of the Operation Rushbo in the White House, ...

Childishness
Blue Crab Boulevard — ... their fair share of this over the years to deserve all that they get. But I am deeply disappointed that the President himself is playing this game - not just because he is the President and this kind of nonsense should be beneath him. It’s also because he is the President in part because he promised he wouldn’t do this stuff! And yet, we’ve seen this kind of immature nonsense quite a bit from an administration that has only been in place for a month. Cost refers to this piece from The Politico that tells the inside story of the coordinated smear campaign. He also points to ...

Inside the Dem attack plans
Maggie's Farm — ... Politico reports that these tricks have been in the works for months. We need to get used to this new ball game. Can anybody imagine the Bush admin. doing stuff like this? ...

Inside the Dem plan
Maggie's Farm — We need to get used to this new ball game. Can anybody imagine the Bush admin. doing stuff like this? I do not believe that Conservatives, or Repubs, are up for these kinds of games and tactics. We have often observed here that the Left prefers to reserve their live ammo for their American opposition rather than for foreign threats or dangerous criminals.

Rush Takes Bait, Leaves MSM/Democrats With Hook
GayPatriot — ... It’s almost been amusing these past few days watching the Emanuel/Carville/Begala White House/MSM axis go overboard to potray Rush as the head of the GOP because the talk show host’s unpopularity “ ...

Who's Really Using Rush Limbaugh As A Distraction?
News Hounds — ... I caught several FOX News programs yesterday (3/4/09) and every single one of them included at least one discussion about Democrats' deliberate effort to characterize Rush Limbaugh (because polls show how unpopular he is) as the face of the Republican Party. And, ...

links for 2009-03-05
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog — ... (tags: barack_obama China) Operation Limbaugh: The Democrats anti-Rush Limbaugh plan - Rham Emanuel, James Carvile, Paul Begala Plot Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of ...

Boehner Op-Ed: Democrats Playing Diversionary Games
Politics Daily — ... Reacting to multiple news reports of the coordinated effort among the White House, Democratic operatives, and the mainstream media to use Rush Limbaugh as a cudgel to marginalize opposition to the Administration's policy proposals - which Political Machine readers ...

Democrats’ sophomoric plot to demonize Limbaugh failing
RedState: Conservative News and Community — ... If you have not heard about the Dems’ Rush plot conspiracy, Jonathan Martin’s, “Rush Job: Inside Dems’ Limbaugh plan,” provides the best description of the Democrats’ sophomoric, but devious, plot to demonize Rush just as they did President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Governor Sarah Palin.  ...

On matters of taste there can be lots of disagreement
Classical Values — ... . Thus, while it mattered very little to me whether she attended religious services where nuts were speaking in tongues (or listening to admitted witch hunters), for a lot of people, that kind of stuff is scary as hell. And it may be the sort of thing that leads to electoral defeat. Similarly, just because I can overlook my disagreements with Rush Limbaugh, and the fact that I don't especially like his personality, that does not mean others can. Especially the young . The seeds were planted in October after Democracy Corps, the Democratic polling company run by Carville and ...

Boehner: Pay No Attention to the Sideshow
The Atlantic Politics Channel — ... The media narrative, particularly after Jonathan Martin's piece yesterday at Politico, seems to have turned its attention to Democrats' messaging strategy (and away from Rush himself). Boehner, arguably, has more of a vested interest in making the Limbaugh fuss go away than anyone else (save Michael Steele), as the storyline most threatens House Republicans (see ...

The Immature White House
Real Clear Politics - TIME.com — ... , falsely implying that his opponents preferred to do nothing at all. Now, we have come to the second major political battle of his administration, and - whaddaya know! - his team is attacking a straw man once again. This time, they are doing so by pushing the patently absurd claim that Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. Democrats have been batting this one back and forth for a few weeks, but now we know that the White House has been intimately involved in the strategy : By February, Carville and Begala were pounding on Limbaugh frequently in their ...

Democratic Party Leader Keith Olbermann Is a Lying Resume-Padding Liar
Weekly Standard Blog — ... Let's not forget that Keith Olbermann is the true leader of the Democratic party. Obama is just Olbermann's lackey. (If we say that enough times, the mainstream media will treat it seriously. Right?) ...

3/5: The Senate Centrists Strike Again
Blogometer — ... an effort to force the removal of several provisions from the budget bill "that would allow Cuban-Americans to visit relatives on the island once a year and end limits on the sale of American food and medicines in Cuba." Lefty bloggers believe that Menendez is harming the Obama admin.'s efforts to address climate change in an attempt to preserve a failed policy: LIMBAUGH: The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy To Demonize Limbaugh Conservative bloggers are buzzing about yesterday's Politico article detailing how Dem strategists -- including various people in the Obama admin. -- are ...

Attacking Rush, Democrat Decries Attack Politics”
GayPatriot — ... Yup, at the same moment she is participating in a White House-coordinated attack on an Administration critic, she decries those very attacks. ...

Fox News Runs With GOP Talking Point That White House Is Focusing On Limbaugh To Distract From The Economy
Think Progress — ... Yesterday, Politico reported on an alleged “strategy” to paint hate radio talker Rush Limbaugh as the face of the GOP that was “hatched” by Democratic strategists and is “now being guided in part from ...

Rahm Attacks!!Assault on Rush Defining Moment for WH/MSM Axis
GayPatriot — ... detailing the conservative opposition to the President of the United States, offering facts and arguments, the White House coordinates with its allies (Clinton Administration veterans) in the MSM to attack Rush personally. ...

Why Are Our Tax Dollars Paying For The WH "Limbaugh Strategy"?
The Jawa Report — ... It is on the record -- thanks to Politico.com -- since last fall, the White House, led by Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff to Barack Obama, has been targeting me, your host, your harmless, lovable little fuzzball. Their standard operating procedure: they need a demon to distract and divert from what their agenda is. They need a demon about whom they can lie so as to persuade average Americans that they're the good guys, the benevolent good guys, and the mean SOBs are their enemies trying to stop this great young little president from doing miraculous and wonderful things ...

Rotwang Ruminates (2)
TPMCafe — ... Reveling in the perversity of your enemies seems like clever political tactics, but does anybody remember "After Hitler, us"? ...

The Party of Rush
Pajamas Media — ... has already been recognized by the Republican party as a huge asset, a game changing personality who can rally the troops with a word, exciting the base and getting them out of their houses to the polling booth. But Limbaugh wishes to be seen as more than a conservative jester or pied piper. And it is this ambition that the Democrats have decided to exploit by trying to thrust Limbaugh forward as the face of the Republican party. The effort has been ongoing for months and, according to Politico, is now being coordinated from the White House (as if they don’t have anything ...

Weekend Opinionator: The Party of Limbaugh? A Conservative Debate
Opinionator — ... You’d think that would be highly unlikely, but as we found out this week, the White House is going to do everything in its power to keep Limbaugh at the forefront of public consciousness. The Politico’s Jonathan Martin had the scoop: 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 Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James ...

Ted Kennedy's Bill
The Corner on National Review Online — ... battling brain cancer. On his radio show, Limbaugh said President Barack Obama's proposed health care revisions will be championed by "the liberal lion Teddy Kennedy." "Before it's all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care bill," Limbaugh said. Brian Wolff, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, called the remark outrageous and reprehensible. The DCCC might want to check in with the Hill now and again. Unless the whole idea is to follow Rahman orders. Steele won't last more than a week. Onto the next storyline. ...

Rahm Emanuel May Be a Great Attack Dog, But He’s A Rotten Chief of Staff
The Sundries Shack — ... Carville, Begala, and Stephacalifragilisticexpialidocious figuring out how to run the next smear campaign against some pesky talk show host . Before that, he was covering his ass lest someone ask him uncomfortable questions about ...

The Heckler in Chief and Venezuela's Media Mauler
American Thinker — ... are ignoring the big story: what does targeting Rush portend for reviving the Fairness Doctrine, which would require broadcasters to provide opposing viewpoints on controversial issues, and cripple talk radio? Instead, they're obediently following the White House lead in stoking an alleged ...

NYT confirms that the attacks on Rush were “explicitly authorized” by the WH
Sister Toldjah — ... Of course, the Politico was onto the WH’s political antics against Rush way before the NYT was, but the NYT has Axelrod specifically on record as authorizing the attacks. ...

The market hates uncertainty and the President is sowing it
Doug Ross @ Journal — ... giving by removing tax breaks for the despised wealthy (again, those earning over $250K). As for the results? • U.S. stocks have lost $1.6 trillion in market-cap since Barack Obama's inauguration, Bloomberg reports. • The current decline appears to be worse than the 1929-1932 decline . • Equity markets are in disarray, hemorrhaging value on a daily basis as the rudder of economic policy lies unattended. [image] A nd -- rather than calm the markets -- Obama's diminutive Al Capone and his various accomplices in the mainstream media have conspired to ...

Democrats Get Worried About Obama
Wizbang — ... at the Obama Inaugural Party (no, you didn't read that wrong, it's still going on). It's about time because the adolescent nature of the administration's message machine was sending paroxysms of doubt into the world's financial markets. Clever political schemes dreamed up by Carville, Emmanuel and others were seen by many voters and the markets as symptoms of a much more serious problem: cluelessness. Last week David Broder ...

Politico: 20+ lefty groups holding daily calls to coordinate messages
Hot Air » Top Picks — Politico: 20+ lefty groups holding daily calls to coordinate messages posted at 4:36 pm on March 10, 2009 by Allahpundit Send to a Friend | Share on Facebook | printer-friendly How many faintly ominous pieces has Politico run this year about people close to Obama colluding to target their political enemies? There was the story about Rahm Emanuel’s friendly daily chats with Begala, Carville, and Stephanopoulos, then there was the expose on the group effort (“explicitly authorized” by David Axelrod ) to make Rush Limbaugh the face of ...

We Haven't Heard the Last of Rush
Swampland — ... And not just because he still has that microphone. Democracy Corps--the same folks who determined last fall that Rush would make such an excellent political villain--have ...

Operation Rushbo
Real Clear Politics - TIME.com — Last week Jon Martin of Politico reported that Democrats had launched a concerted effort to paint Rush Limbaugh as the face and leader of the Republican Party. The plan, originally hatched by former Clinton operatives James Carville and Paul Begala, quickly expanded to include current White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and was "explicitly authorized" by Senior Advisor to the President David Axelrod, according to ...

Time to Tie Democrats to Pelosi (& Reid)
GayPatriot — ... Remember how eagerly White House Chief of Staff and his friends in the media were to dub Rush Limbaugh the leader of the GOP, given a poll which showed the conservative talk show host “was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters.“ ...

Rules (and Roles) for the Right
Patterico's Pontifications — ... Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.) Alinsky may be an ideological touchstone for both Pres. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but Alinsky did not believe in working within the political system, whereas Obama and Clinton clearly do.  This means that the Obama Administration’s use of these tactics will tend to be covert, rather than overt — White House talks with partisan operatives and friendly media figures, White House authorized media attacks, messaging coordinated by the Sorosphere, preemptive ...

Of Rush Limbaugh & the Conservative “Pantheon”
GayPatriot — ... Roger Simon, appearing on the panel with me, disagreed, anticipating the discussion which would ensue when the White House teamed up with partisans in the MSM to smear the talk show host.  He thought Rush was just too controversial and confrontational. ...

Pitney: The Next Enemy
Articles on National Review Online — ... , President Obama knows the value of a good enemy. By stirring up fear and hatred toward a key figure on the other side of the battlefield, Alinsky taught, organizers can fill their war chests and rally their troops. In the 1990s, the Democrats designated demon was Newt Gingrich. For the past several years, they counted on President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Now that Bush and Cheney are out of power, who is next? [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] Earlier this year, White House officials and other top Democrats tagged Rush Limbaugh as the leading figure in the ...

Of David Frum, Rush Limbaugh & the Republican Future
GayPatriot — ... But, then again, so should Frum refrain from insulting fellow conservatives.  In his piece on Limbaugh, not only does he bring up Rush’s past personal problems, calling him a “walking stereotype of self-indulgence,” he also buys into the spin of the MSM/White House Axis, calling Rush the leader of the GOP.  And he claims Rush is invested in Republican failure: ...

“The most polarizing President of the past four decades”
GayPatriot — ... hasn’t helped endear him to Republicans.  Ol’ Rahm might want to reconsider slamming Rush Limbaugh.  His buddy James Carville might want to reconsider ...

Monday In The Media's Stormy Seas
Swampland — ... said criticism by accusing people like me of not reading Politico's meatier journalistic fair. (To clarify, I never suggested that Politico does not have top-notch journalists doing top-notch journalism; I do not believe that Politico is an evil force in the universe; and I would argue that one can, when observing a single news organization, both marvel at its radical adaptation to the Internet and consume the finer, substantive, long journalistic product of Politicos like Rogers, Martin, Smith, Calderone and ...

Video: Are the tea parties “a sham and a fraud”?
Hot Air » Top Picks — Video: Are the tea parties “a sham and a fraud”? posted at 7:33 pm on April 13, 2009 by Allahpundit Send to a Friend | Share on Facebook | printer-friendly They must be. Nothing the right does is legitimate in liberal eyes, so there must be a disqualifying factor hidden somewhere here. Savor, please, the rich, nougaty irony of a leftist complaining about “grassroots” movements actually being orchestrated from the top down . As for his tacit point about all deficits being equal, er, not so . In fact, if anything good ...

A HEADLINE THAT EXPLAINS WHY THE LEFTIES ARE UPSET: Move Over, MoveOn: Tea Parties Spark Conservati…
Instapundit — A HEADLINE THAT EXPLAINS WHY THE LEFTIES ARE UPSET: Move Over, MoveOn: Tea Parties Spark Conservative Insurgency Online. Related: Danny Glover, The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Also, this: “Savor, please, the rich, nougaty irony of a leftist complaining about ‘grassroots’ movements actually being orchestrated from the top down.” Do be sure to click on the links — it’s as if they’ve spent the last little while doing things to undercut their message about the tea parties now . . ...

Gen. Colin Powell Is Above the Fray, But I'm Not
Politics Daily — ... The Democrats latest secret strategy to make Rush Limbaugh the "face" of the Republican party has us on alert. Stanley Greenberg, James Carville and Paul Begala saw how negative Rush polls with moderates and independents, so they came up with a scheme to have Democrats mention Rush whenever possible to raise public awareness of him and to attempt to tarnish the Republicans. ...

Is the Left Making a Martyr of Rush Limbaugh?
GayPatriot — ... And now, I wonder if the Administration’s attempt to destroy Rush Limbaugh will backfire and increase his standing not just with his conservative audience, but also with Americans not favorable disposed to his viewpoint  . . . or his persona.  At the White House Correspondent dinner on Saturday, Wanda Sykes laid only kid gloves on the President, while reserving her rancor for Republicans and their allies in the media, particularly Limbaugh. ...

Obama Projects his Insecurities on His Unpopular Critics:Or How “Darth Vader” Defeated the Man on the Pink Unicorn
GayPatriot — ... Perhaps, if Obama had not been so thin-skinned, he would not have gotten himself into this “mess.”  There seems to be a patten with this president to project his own insecurities onto his unpopular critics.  (Remember, his advisors’ attempts to smear Rush Limbaugh?)  But, just as Rubin noted people respond to more than just personalities.  Facts matter, ideas matter. ...

Obama Projects his Insecurities onto His Unpopular Critics: Or How "Darth Vader" Defeated the Man on the Pink Unicorn
Right Wing News — ... most misguided punditry in recent memory. This episode serves to remind us that politics is still about facts and how effectively the facts are marshaled. It is not purely a contest of personalities (although that counts for more than pundits on both sides would like to admit). Perhaps, if Obama had not been so thin-skinned, he wouldn't have gotten himself into this "mess." This president seems to have a pattern of projecting his own insecurities onto unpopular critics. (Remember, his advisors' attempts to smear Rush Limbaugh ?) But, just as Rubin noted people respond to more ...

Video: MSNBC very angry at having its Limbaugh obsession pointed out
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... , you’re dumb enough to believe that the media hypes Rush’s controversies because it’s secretly right-wing rather than overtly left-wing and intent on framing Obama as centrist and “reasonable” by comparison, then you’re probably also dumb enough to believe he’s in constant rotation on MSNBC because the brain trust there finds him genuinely relevant and interesting. This is, of course, part of the Rahm/Carville/Begala strategy of tarring the GOP with every distortable soundbite to exit Limbaugh’s lips; no surprise that a network known for bowing to Obama — ...

The Return of the Politics of Personal Destruction
RedState: Conservative News and Community — ... the four trade regular phone calls. Emanuel told the Politico the calls “are about what’s happening, what the implications are of what’s happening and what’s going on.” Another alluded to Carville, Begala, and Emanuel working to turn Limbaugh into a target. Shortly after Obama picked fights with Limbaugh and Cantor, Stephanopoulos reported Cantor had “repudiated” Limbaugh on This Week. In fact, Stephanopoulos had selectively quoted his interview with Cantor to make the case — leaving out that Cantor had actually reiterated Rush Limbaugh’s key points from Rush’s now famous ...

No, Rush Limbaugh Isn’t A Racist
Nice Deb — ... If you remember, a full scale assault spurred on by liberal think tanks, and directed by the White House was tripped by Rush’s brutally frank comment that ...