Emanuel: Limbaugh is 'the voice and the energy' of the GOP

David Edwards and Muriel Kane Published: Sunday March 1, 2009
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Should Rush Limbaugh really be considered the new voice of the Republican Party? He will be if the Obama administration has anything to say about the matter.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel pressed the point home on Sunday's Meet the Press, when host Bob Schieffer asked, "Who do you think now speaks for the Republican Party?"

Emanuel blandly replied, "You just named him. It was Rush Limbaugh. He has laid out his vision, in my view, and he said it clearly, and I compliment him for that. ... He's asked for President Obama, and called for President Obama, to fail."

"Whenever a Republican criticizes him," Emanuel continued, "they have to run back and apologize to him and say they were misunderstood. He is the voice and the intellectual force and the energy behind the Republican Party."

The battle lines in the current conflict between the White House and Rush Limbaugh were drawn even before the inauguration, when the conservative radio talk-show host began saying of Obama, "I hope he fails."

A week later, now-President Obama struck back, suggesting to GOP leaders, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."

Limbaugh appeared thrilled to have been granted the mantle of GOP leadership in this manner, retorting that Obama "is obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He's more frightened of me, then he is of say, John Boehner, which doesn't say much about our party."

Not all Republicans were happy about Limbaugh's renewed prominence. One GOP consultant noted that "Rush is a double-edged sword, he cuts both ways. ... Sometimes you love him, sometimes you cringe." And more moderate Republicans worried that the Democrats might successfully tar the entire party with Limbaugh's extremism.

One conservative blogger even complained, "I am ... so done with Limbaugh’s high profile as one of the most listened to conservative advocates in the country that I could just spit. I simply don’t want this Limbaugh character to be the sole voice of the GOP. Stop it now. Make it go away."

However, Democrats appear determined not to let it go away. Americans United for Change and AFCSME recently put out a political ad suggesting that Limbaugh is now the de facto head of the Republican Party and including a clip of Limbaugh saying "I want him to fail."

Limbaugh himself, obviously basking in the attention, fueled the controversy on Saturday with his self-proclaimed "first national address" to the Conservative Political Action Conference, which was broadcast live by both Fox and CNN. Limbaugh spoke for over an hour to his cheering supporters telling them that it is their job to "take this country back."

"It's our desire that the Republicans would work with us and try to be constructive rather than adopt the philosophy of somebody like Rush Limbaugh, who's praying for failure," Emanuel insisted on Sunday. "I do think he's an intellectual force, which is why the Republicans pay such attention to him."


This video is from CBS' Face the Nation, broadcast Mar. 1, 2009.




Download video via RawReplay.com