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Supposedly, talk radio megamouth Rush Limbaugh is the best weapon Democrats have. Democratic strategists James Carville and Paul Begala said they discovered in polls conducted last fall that Limbaugh was “deeply unpopular,” particularly among young people. Even more unpopular than “God-damn-America” Jeremiah Wright.
So, when Limbaugh famously said recently that he wanted President Barack Obama to fail, they figured they’d hit the motherlode. Unpopular radio guy attacks incredibly popular president. Put it out there, call Limbaugh the real leader of the Republican Party and watch the GOP brand sink into oblivion.
Well, maybe. But, maybe not. It is possible - just possible - that the reason so many people, especially young people, don’t like Limbaugh is because they have never really listened to him. They have seen and heard only the caricature, only selected soundbites from his sworn enemies, only the venom coming from the Bill Mahers and Keith Olbermans of the world, who don’t have an audience even close to that of Limbaugh’s.
So, the more they promote what they believe are the missteps of the Great Satan of the Right, the more likely it is that everybody, including young people, will hear more than a soundbite. They might actually hear what he says in context. They may realize that, agree with him or not, he puts forth his views in coherent ways. That his attack on the president is about his policies, and is not personal. That his wanting Obama’s agenda to fail is no different than Democrats wanting President Bush’s reform of Social Security to fail. That he has the guts to speak plainly, unfiltered by all the handlers and scripters that now surround Obama, just as they surrounded Bush and every other president of the modern era.
In short, Carville, Begala and the rest of the Obamanites might expand Limbaugh’s prodigious audience even further. They might not want that for a guy who could crush them both in a debate without breaking a sweat.