Infinite MonkeysIn Politico today, we have Rush Limbaugh:
For his part, Limbaugh scoffed at a question about whether his influence would wane should one of his least favorite Republicans win the White House and returned to his other most favored punching bag.“If anything, my impact will increase with a McCain presidency,” Limbaugh said. “The question is whether the MSM's impact will be lessened, which is slowly happening all around us. I will thrive as always.”
Well of course he'll thrive. Yes, Limbaugh is a conservative, but there are times when that seems incidental. His real shtick is grievance, and in that sense he's now set up perfectly for the 2008 election. If a Democrat wins, he'll be able to rail about how the Democrats are ruining the country. And if John McCain wins -- well, Rush will be able to complain about how a not-conservative-enough Republican is ruining the country. Lose-lose for conservatives is actually win-win for Rush.
Cross-posted at Cup O' Joel.
Posted by Joel at May 11, 2008 09:45 AMIt's always win-win for Rush. Pundits have been predicting his demise since he hit the national scene in 1988 -- doing what no one thought possible at the time, which was make a day-time radio show a success.
When Clinton won in 1992, it was supposed to be the end of Rush because his way of thinking was in a decline. Instead, he grew his audience by criticizing Clinton.
When the GOP won Congress in 1994, it was supposed to be the end of Rush because criticizing Clinton was passe.
When Bush won in 2000, it was supposed to be the end of Rush because he didn't have Clinton to kick around anymore.
Etc., etc. ...
As Rush has explained a million times, his success is not dependent on the results of any election. He practically invented the genre of entertaining political and social commentary on the radio. As long as there is a thirst for it, he'll thrive.
Posted by: Dr. Zaius at May 11, 2008 10:28 AMYou're right, Zaius, that there's probably been a lot of wishful thinking that Rush would, you know, shut up already.
But how did he keep going after the 2000 election. Somehow, even though the GOP controlled the White House, Congress and much of the Judiciary for most of that time, he was still selling the idea that liberals were still at fault for everything. And for his audience, the might've even made sense. Incredible.
Posted by: Joel at May 11, 2008 10:48 AMThe post-2000 period was more a non-stop mockery of liberals and liberal ideas -- which to conservative ears never goes out of style. I don't recall a lot of "fault" assigning.
Posted by: Dr. Zaius at May 11, 2008 11:15 AMThe same question has been posed vis-a-vis the Wright / Obama presidency success/failure. win/win.
I think Rush mocks himself mostly. I mean who the heck could know what is REALLY going on inside that head beyond cha-ching.
Posted by: john 2000 at May 11, 2008 05:26 PM