Quite astounding: Rush Limbaugh is now head of the GOP. Not Steele, McConnell or Boehner.

[Faygo Kid]

It is, I am sure, a temporary phenomenon, as the physical coward that is Rush Limbaugh cannot possibly long assume the mantle of leadership. Yet the GOP is so bereft of ideas or integrity that they have actually forfeited that mantle of leadership to the profoundly uneducated and deeply disturbed Rush Limbaugh.

I think it was inevitable; I remember sitting with friends in the mid-1990s when we all agreed he was a disturbing and dangerous influence in America. He encouraged his dittoheads to live in an echo chamber, and he was successful. His evil spawn kept it growing these many years, but all echoed - and all hailed - Rush. Now it ends.

Now that he is actually and unquestionably the leader of the GOP, he is likely to collapse under the strain. He was never anything more than a small and insecure bully with a big mouth, anyway. And, he is profoundly unpopular with most sentient beings. http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0109/Why_Limbaugh_is_the_new_Bush.html

As someone born in the same year, I have always seen him for the little man he is.

The USA now has a clear choice, and even Rove can't spin it: We are a nation facing the choice of coming together as represented by Barack Obama, or as a country led by the forces of Rush Limbaugh, and his army of orcs (Hannity, O'Reilly, Crowley, Levin, ad infinitum from the Reich Wing cookie cutter).

They are putting all their eggs in the Limbaugh basket, and he can't handle it. The GOP has turned itself over to Rush Limbaugh, not Michael Steele. And they are likely to perish as a result.

[gristy]

1. OK, I'll bite

Michael Steele is the newly elected head of the GOP. Not Limbaugh.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-republicans_for_webjan31,0,6244816.story

[Faygo Kid]

2. Of course Steele is the newly elected chair. But Rush runs the party.

You think GOP members of Congress are more afraid of crossing Steele, or Limbaugh?

The evidence is in.

[janx]

3. I agree, and though I generally avoid threads that have to do with

GOP bomb throwers like Limbaugh, I find this situation interesting.

[quiet.american]

10. Wow. Just wow. You simply can't be that gullible. nt

[uponit7771]

4. Yes, make his bloated ass the face of the GOP and rake in the moderate votes.

[K Gardner]

19. On MTP, Gregory showed a clip of Limpnuts and asked the Republican to respond to it, as if

that were the primo argument of the day. They looked mortified.

Priceless !

[Raine]

5. He perfectly represents their "values"

that's for sure.

[traxster]

6. The republican base is disgusted by the republican leadership

And Limbaugh, Levin, and the rest egg it on. So yes, Limbaugh and the rest of them are way more influential on the way that the conservative base thinks. I am a glutton for punishment, so I listen to quite alot of conservative talk radio so I hear what they say.

So, WHEN the stimulus bill passes, the republicans in congress will have a hard time to getting their base to understand, since all the rich, out of touch people that are on talk radio are telling all of them that it is a bad idea.

[ginnyinWI]

14. it is easy to get a Republican to be cynical.

It seems to be their default position. So it's easy to get them to mistrust their own leaders in addition to the opposition. Limbaugh's show might as well be called "Divisiveness-R-Us". Just try to get that lot hopeful--even when they were in the majority their message was negative. They hate government and only want power so that they can keep it away from progress.

It must take a lot of energy to be that pessimistic all the time. And it must poison you.

[Olney Blue]

7. Rush is a big, fatter idiot.

[geiger]

18. ditto. finally he gets called on his bullshit.

[madamesilverspurs]

8. Hmmmm,

haven't we seen this ventriloquist/dummy act before? Maybe recently? They do seem to like that kind of gig, eh?

[stevedeshazer]

9. I liked him better when he was Jeff Christie

[Cardiff]

15. Is that really his picture?

What an ugly young fucker.

[stevedeshazer]

17. Yes.

[struggle4progress]

11. Why is it astounding? The GOP decided forty years ago to pander to Neanderthals --

and now the troglodytes are key to GOP election strategies. That fact that Limbaugh regularly interviewed VP Cheney on air just confirmed how far gone they really were

[AllentownJake]

12. They have no party elders to help them right the ship

Anyone who could help is either tied to W or too old to step in. They have no one to play referee or to give them advice right now. They have no one the leader of the factions can meet with to negotiate deals.

Gerald Ford is dead
Ronald Reagan is dead
Jesse Helms is dead
Kissenger is 85
Bob Dole is 85
Donald Rumsfeld sold them on Iraq
George H.W Bush is 84
James Baker is 78
Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama
Bill Frist left the Senate in psuedo disgrace and wasn't an effective leader
Newt Gingrich was chased out of the house by his own party
Tom Delay left the same way Gingrich did
Trent Lott left the senate in disgrace
Dan Quayle always was an idiot and no one in the party will listen to him
Cheney authored the mess they are in
Rove promised them a permanent majority to last a generation and it didn't last more than 6 years
John McCain just lost an election for the Presidency

Michael Steele has no credibility. He lost a Senate Race in 2006 and he was elected on the 6th ballot. He doesn't even have the money the GOP normally has to bargain with.

They are going to be at war with each other for a while struggling to take control of the party. Each faction with their own leader struggling to take over.

Throughout our years in the wilderness we still had guys like Byrd, Kennedy, Biden, Leahy, Mitchell, Nunn, etc. Guys who could make phone calls to broker deals between the warring factions.

[ACTION BASTARD]

20. Interesting list. Either too unpopular (poison) or way past their experation date.

Sarah Palin is still their best option. Man, they are fucked but good.

[GeorgeGist]

13. Keep repeating that meme ...

it's no accident that Rush intends to fulfill Sarah's wetdream.

[Elidor]

16. He looks like he's about to start dividing into two identical organisms

It's been too long since I took biology, I can't remember the word. Mitosis?

[moriah]

21. "Head" is right. n/t

[janx]

22. I wish I had dental insurance. n/t

[cooolandrew]

23. 'The Limbaugh party' it works for me. =)

[RepublicanElephant]

24. ...