Democrats for Rush

The Politico has an article of how some familiar Democratic operatives, like Stanley Greenberg, James Carville and Paul Begala conspired to raise the profile of Rush Limbaugh in the public sphere. To help their cause:

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.

(...)

The seeds were planted in October after Democracy Corps, the Democratic polling company run by Carville and 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.

These guys, especially Carville, love to pat themselves on the back as master strategists. I wouldn't give them all the credit. However, it makes sense. Rush is their best friend. Blockhead GOP strategists better figure that out.

UPDATE: I wish I could find more conservative sites, besides Frum's New Majority that see this. All I see is the usual defense: "People who criticize Rush never listen to him." It's like the Catholic Church, obey all the rules and don't dare debate what is being fed to you.

UPDATE II: Whoa! This is the headline on Drudge. Now we know it's big news!

UPDATE III: The New York Post are calling it: "Operation Big Mouth" Too funny!

Conservative Anger at Bush

Joel Kotkin in Politico has a devastating takedown of the Bush Administration. Free marketers and strong defence conservatives realize they were dealt a knock out punch by his bumbling. (Read)

The shoes thrown in Iraq and celebrated around the world epitomize not only ill manners but also the fact that even our supposed friends there don’t like us very much. If history is any guide, Iraq will end up as an authoritarian state with strong anti-American (as well as anti-Israel) leanings. The farther our sons and daughters get away from those ever-scowling people, the better most Americans will feel.

One unintended part of the Bush legacy will likely be a weaker, highly stressed military. The influential Democratic Netroots will be able to hound the military establishment — whatever President-elect Barack Obama’s intentions. Congress may be reluctant to commit troops to almost anything short of a Chinese invasion of San Francisco, which many Americans — and perhaps some progressive natives — might consider a blessing anyway. Support for new weapons systems, needed or not, will dissipate.
...

Bush’s legacy for the cause of free market capitalism may be even worse. Our first MBA-holding president has turned out to be the worst economic manager since Herbert Hoover. The bailouts of Detroit and — much worse — the vile Wall Street profiteers now open the door to an unprecedented expansion of invasive welfarism throughout the economy. It’s hard to call proposals that build tennis courts in yuppie towns or subsidize performance artists in Flint, Mich., wasteful after the billions Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has lavished on his compadres in Richistan.

In the coming years, the only legitimate opposition to the bipartisan pro-Wall Street policy will come from the scruffy populists of both parties, many based in the heartland regions of the country. Bush may even make quasi-Marxism respectable again. Hearing about $20 billion in new bonuses for government-subsidized Wall Streeters this year should be enough to bring out the hidden Bolshevik in even rational people.

Ironically, the only people who should be thanking Bush — the environmentalists, the urban gentry, the welfare staters — are the very ones who have despised him the most. Now that he has helped put them in power, perhaps they could host a celebrity fundraiser for the new Bush library in Dallas. Serenaded by Barbra, scolded by St. Al, with a short film by Michael Moore, the program — hosted by Whoopi Goldberg — could help consecrate a lavish new sarcophagus that Bush has prepared for the conservative movement.

Ouch! I look forward to reading more Joel Kotkin in the future.