It’s such a low-life way to do things, but it has worked in the past. In one small page, the Limbaugh staff has said everything that the Republican Candidates won’t say by will imply in every breath. Obama’s choice of churches determines his character, even when he doesn’t attend. His book, the Audacity of Hope is reframed into The Audacity of Hate. As a woman politician, you have two choices – Bimbo [Pelosi above] or Chunky [Hillary Clinton]. In either case, your position is reduced to caricatured femininity in a bee hive. In his daily feature, Pearls of Wisdom, Rush takes the campaign themes of each and reduces them to "fiction." A daily look at Rush’s site is a study of Sexism and Racism on parade at its worst…
In 2004, I didn’t know about Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Ann Coulter, the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, the Wall Street Journal. Why would I? They aren’t very interesting to follow. More like Nancy Grace, ascerbic and monotonous, trivial. The staff takes every point their targets make and mocks it in a sarcastic and demeaning way – not just undermining the points being made, but the integrity and character of the politicians themselves. In the Nixon era, they went after Muskie, and reduced him to tears. They broke into Daniel Ellsberg’s Psychiatrist’s office and the McGovern Headquarters in Watergate looking for mud to sling. Now they’re more sophisticated. Those things were illegal and got them in a world of trouble. Even Karl Rove got stung for such a "dirty trick." With Bush, they found a new formula. Get a large staff to pore over everything your opponent says, and generate these demeaning and sarcastic slogans on a daily basis. It’s not the content of any one of them that matters. It’s their constant presence that does the damage.
Another tool is in this exchange [Reggie: Not Down with the Chaos]. A caller attempts to challenge Rush. Limbaugh has a field day trashing his caller. His sarcastic, bellicose way of talking is as strong on the defensive as it is on the attack. At issue, Why do people even listen to him? They think of anything other than Hate Radio, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Standard, Ann Coulter as the "Liberal Media." Will it work again?
interesting stuff