This afternoon, as I drove home from a late morning appointment, I shuffled through the radio channels to find something to listen to while progressive talk had commercials. I always forget that Rush is on at noon--and I stumbled across his program. Usually I wouldn't give it the time of day, but I heard him talking about Hillary and Obama...and I thought to myself, "um, the primaries were over two years ago, genius." Then I heard what he was REALLY saying.
Full disclosure: I used to be a Rush listener. Well, watcher, really. When I was in middle school, it was a bonding experience between my father and me. In the early Clinton years, Rush really got his sea legs and started becoming his current megalomaniac self. And I was encouraged to read his books and watch him every day with dad. Interestingly, I think it was Rush's obvious insanity that pushed me so far left. If this was conservatism, I wanted no part of it. But I thought it should be known that Rush and I have a "history". I'm no "jenny come lately" to the Rush Limbaugh party.
But what was he talking about this afternoon? Well, ladies and gents, he's calling out to all disaffected democrats who feel that Hillary would have been a better president than Obama's been. In his most compassionate voice, he said things like, "Hillary would never have led the country down this path of destruction," and "She was screwed--not literally--out of the presidency." (see here for a discussion of it on a right-wing website.)
Then the kicker. He said--if you want Hillary to ever be president, you need to stay home on November 2nd. Yup. Sure did. He implored them--don't let Obama stage a comeback or Hillary will never get her shot. "Pick the horse you want to ride, democrats." Nice one. Then he called it "Operation Reverse Chaos" in reference to his "operation chaos" from 2008 where he tried to get GOP folks to vote for Hillary in the primaries. Now, of course that was a ROARING success.
You know what this means, folks. Our GOTV efforts are getting to them. What was a victory parade is becoming a more frenetic panic. If the dems don't lose the House or Senate, folks like Rush Limbaugh won't know what to do. Their narrative will be crushed. This is the only logical reason that Rush would be spending his time trying to convince dems to actively stage protest by staying home...he's scared.
And rightfully so. This midterm election has always been more of a story of disaffection and "likely voters"--not about a shift in the country's values or ideals. Their side may be louder, but that doesn't mean there's more of them! We need to buckle down now, guys. Phone calls, car pools, Halloween "spook the vote" parties. We need it all. Imagine the pleasure we'll all feel if on November 3rd, Rush and the rest of 'em have to try to explain why they were so very very wrong...
Wouldn't that be worth it? :-)
Sign up to volunteer at OFA to either canvass or phone bank. Donate to Orange to Blue. Talk to your friends. And above all VOTE.
It's been awhile since I've said that I'm "fired up and ready to go", but I can definitely say it now!