Rush Limbaugh wants Michael Steele to Fail

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The only person more “off his rocker” than conservative radio host, Rush Limbaugh, is the person who thought it was a good idea to unleash him on unsuspecting CNN, C-Span and FOX viewers for a commercial-free hour on Saturday evening.

If you missed it, Limbaugh’s keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Committee is worth watching on YouTube — if only to witness how weak and desperate the GOP has clearly become (as evidenced by the fact that Limbaugh of all people is the keynote speaker at anything). CNN contributor Bill Schneider likened Limbaugh’s speech to the “angry white man” rhetoric in the Republican Party during the nineties.

If the GOP is at all interested in reversing their losing streak in 2006 and 2008 elections, they should not let Limbaugh be the spokesperson of the party.

Granted, it was not a Republican event but at the same time, “conservative” has become synonymous with “Republican”, so a conservative convention is largely perceived as a Republican convention. Therefore, any party interested in reviving their political effectiveness would not see the sense in giving this man a national platform at an event that could be tied back to their party. (Limbaugh’s presence on the CPAC stage probably produced the same cringe in Republicans that Reverend Wright did in Obama supporters when Wright spoke at the NAACP convention during the primaries last year.)

Limbaugh is a famously polarizing and partisan figure despite his claim that he “wants everyone in this room and everyone of you around the country to succeed.” Limbaugh is a liar. He doesn’t want everyone in the country to succeed. He doesn’t even want the president of the United States to succeed. He said so himself last month. A fact that he didn’t refute.

In fact, he reinforced this earlier comment by saying, “[People say to me], ‘you can’t say Mr. Limbaugh that you want the President to fail because that’s like saying you want the country to fail.’ It’s the opposite. I want the country to survive. I want the country to succeed. I want the country to survive as we have known it, as you and I were raised in it, is what I mean.” Of course the crowd erupted in applause and chants of USA. (Those “USA” chants made my skin crawl during the campaign and oddly enough it has the same effect now.)

So, again, Limbaugh, you do want the president to fail. So much for bipartisanship.

Limbaugh’s speech was another clear example that members of the Republican Party are not on the same page. I noticed it when high profile Republican governors Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzaneggar came out in support of Obama’s stimulus plan a few days before LA Governor Bobby Jindal gave an embarrassingly awful speech in opposition to it. Now we see a divide again. Limbaugh says, “[Conservatism] is what it is and has been forever. It is not something you can bend or shape.” Well, Conservativism may not be pliable, but many Republican politicians want the party itself to change.

On Saturday, just hours after Limbaugh’s speech, newly minted Republican Committee Chair, Michael Steele, was at the State of the Black Union in Los Angeles. Steele talked about his plan to take his party into “every corner, every community center, every church” to woo the black vote.

Michael Steele is fighting an uphill battle in terms of changing public opinion of the Republican Party. His battle is made even tougher by people like Limbaugh, Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, and Minnesota Republican Rep Michelle Bachman (who shouted “You be da man!” to Steele at a recent conservative conference).

Maybe it’s not President Obama that Limbaugh wants to fail, maybe Limbaugh really wants Steele to fail. Because if Limbaugh is looked at as the spokesperson for the next four years then fail is exactly what Steele — and the Republican party in general– will do.

Tagged as: Michael Steele, Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh

Article by Alissa Christine

Alissa serves as Managing Editor for theFreshXpress.com. She enjoys reading, writing, shopping, Facebooking, Tweeting and all things PINK.Follow her on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AlissaInPink

Alissa has written 15 article(s) for us.