There is a saying that "there's no such thing as bad publicity." I'm sure I am giving him much too much credit, but perhaps Rush Limbaugh should have heeded this nugget of traditional wisdom before he embarked on "Operation Chaos" earlier this year.
In late February 2008, Limbaugh announced "Operation Chaos," a political call to action with the initial plan to have voters of the Republican Party temporarily cross over to vote in the Democratic primary and vote for Hillary Clinton, who at the time was in the midst of losing eleven straight primary contests to Barack Obama. Limbaugh has also cited the open primary process in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, which allowed independent voters to cross over into the Republican primaries to choose John McCain over more conservative candidates (such as Fred Thompson), as an inspiration.
The goal of this gambit was to create chaos among the Democratic candidates by lengthening the Democratic selection process, perhaps until the Convention. This would thereby aid John McCain by allowing him time to begin his campaign while Senators Clinton and Obama expended their resources. Of course, Limbaugh was convinced that his plan was working and touted his success on his radio show.
More below the fold.
Here's Rush tooting his own horn:
Yes, Operation Chaos is exceeding all objectives, ladies and gentlemen. This is just amazing. I just got today's audio sound bite roster...
...The poll showed Arizona Sen. McCain, who has clinched the Republican presidential nomination, is benefiting from the lengthy campaign battle between Obama and Clinton." Well, yes, which was the primary purpose of Operation Chaos. (laughing)
No hubris there. (snark)
While this was going on, I commented to a co-worker and Limbaugh fan that I thought that this was poor strategy for Republicans. It brought a huge amount of attention to the primary races between Senators Obama and Clinton. In many news cycles McCain wasn't even mentioned because there was so much media attention focused on the Democrats. It also grabbed the attention of the public and inspired many to go and register for the first time greatly expanding the rolls of registered Democratic voters prior to the Presidential race. Many Republicans voted as Democrats, too, which may have (to a small degree) made them more comfortable with the idea of voting for a Democrat.
As November 4th nears, the possibility exists that Rush Limbaugh, may have been instrumental in making Obama a household name and helping to build a stronger Democratic majority. If Obama wins the election there will be plenty of blame to go around among Republicans and conservatives. I just want to thank Rush, and hope he gets his fair share.