And the Republican politico backtracked so quickly that some could virtually put their prediction on a timer …
The dynamics of this are now becoming interesting for political junkies who aren’t wedded to either party. There are now increasing signs that President Barack Obama is starting to lose some of the independent voters who backed him (for instance, just look at the posts here on TMV by writers here who enthusiastically or reluctantly backed Obama and who are now re-evaluating). Obama will try and could turn this around via detailed explanation of his plans and motives — which he’ll try to do on 60 Minutes tonight and in a press conference slated for 8 p.m. EST tomorrow.
But Limbaugh remains a net negative for the GOP. He’s loved by his party’s conservative base but there are some voters who will not cast their votes for candidates or a party that enables the kind of attitude and exclusionary advocacy that Limbaugh does. In a national sense, GOPers and their party would do better in expanding their base without him — but loyalty to Limbaugh is a must due to the Republican’s existing customers who love him and the potent power of the talk show host’s microphone to destroy those in his party of seriously question or dismiss him.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.