The Rush Limbaugh Talking Point
Sure, he's an incredibly, insanely, popular radio personality with lots of appeal. I don't know too many lawmakers, however, who are busy tuning into his show while they are shuttling between their offices and the House floor for votes.
There is a concentrated effort, largely by lefty media outlets like MSNBC, taking place now to pin the GOP on Limbaugh. That network essentially ran the same segment all day yesterday between Norah O'Donnell's afternoon show through Hardball and the rest, asking Republicans why they catered to Rush.
Its leaked its way to some other outfits, too. Rick Klein, of ABC's The Note, had this little bit of editorial analysis included in one of his pieces today: "As they gather in Washington to select the new RNC chairman, Rush Limbaugh gets his way: They’re settling on opposition to Obama as an organizing principle."
Of course, the irony in all this is that the criticism only increasing Rush's influence among listeners.