Déjà vu All Over Again
Way back in 2006, Rush Limbaugh all but hand delivered control of both houses of Congress to the Democratic Party. If you recall, the political turning point in that election cycle came just three weeks before election day. It arrived with the exquisite timing of Michael J. Fox stumping for stem cell research. His 38-second video was an example of a tactic well played. From that day forward, the GOP was on the defensive.
The power of Fox’s message was not his celebrity; it was the reality of his humanity. He sacrificed his privacy for the advantage of truth in an environment of lies and misrepresentation. The visceral impact of symptomatic Parkinson’s was there for all to see.
Obviously, it is not pretty. Nor was it pretty when Rush Limbaugh responded by mocking the actor’s illness. Unfortunately for the Republican Party, Limbaugh’s inextricable link to their identity did not play well.
Fox was campaigning locally for Senate hopeful, Claire McCaskill, of Missouri. Yet his video took on national implications. America’s YouTube culture made the Republicans pay dearly for the indiscretion of their representative hellhound. The electorate was left to choose between Limbaugh and the hero from Back to the Future.
From thereon, the GOP backpedaled. Subsequent interviews saw Fox take the high ground against the personal attacks. Instead of refuting the harassment, he simply explained the nature of his disease and the potential of stem cells. He contrasted the hope for change against intransigence, making substantive points at every opportunity.
Certainly, many other factors contributed to that reversal of Congress. But the superb timing of the Fox video flummoxed the GOP. Their counterattack was limited to robo-calls and innuendo. These tactics, however, only highlighted the lack of substance in their underlying strategy.
Now, in 2009, barely six weeks into even stronger majorities in Congress and an overwhelmingly popular presidency, Rush Limbaugh again shines a light on the Republican mirage. His wish for president Obama to fail in a time of national crisis discombobulates GOP leaders, reducing them to the kind of stutter stepping we’ve seen of late from the RNC chair, Michael Steele.
The GOP has systematically reduced itself to the gimmicks of hostility solely for the sake of opposition. Only a party in total disarray would kowtow to a reactionary such as Limbaugh. They have no plan, no vision, nor a humane identity.
It’s déjà vu all over again. Once more, Rush Limbaugh is hand delivering something to the Democratic Party. Only this time it’s not an election; it’s the future.