Limbaugh: This is just the beginning...

I recall being chilled to the bone back in 1992 when Rush Limbaugh uttered this line.  At the time he was beginning to make a name for himself as a "commentator" for the right, and had been mercilessly attacking Clinton throughout his Presidential campaign.  

After Clinton won, Rush was on some cable show (must have been CNN, but now I don't actually recall which) and was asked snidely by the host, "so, Rush, I guess the party's over now, huh?"  It was a moment of gloating over the utter demolition of the Bush Presidency.  Rush merely stared back and deadpanned, "not at all ... this is just the beginning...."  It was chilling.  With that one phrase, he completely rewrote the frame of the election.  He was declaring war on Clinton.  Clinton's victory meant nothing to Rush except that he would now be Rush's biggest and most prominent target - and that was the beginning of the party, not the end.

At the time, I thought it might just be Rush talking big after a loss.  Remember that the House went 258-176-1 and the Senate 57-43 both for the Dems at the time with a 5.8 million vote margin of Clinton over Bush (A hell of a lot stronger majority than the Reps today).  I soon found out differently.  Just after, he begin to deligitimize the Clinton Presidency.  First with the "57% of Americans voted against Clinton" line, followed by the "HillaryCare" slams, and the pumping of one baseless scandal after another like Whitewater, TrooperGate, etc.  It was, of course, all a bunch of rambling lies that no one would really beleive, right:  Then came 1994.  Bam!  

After this, Rush, joined by an ever increasing number of right-wing cohorts (Hannity, Savage, etc.), went into overdrive.  Hey, it worked so well, why not keep using it?  I think one of the reasons the right hates the Clintons so much is because they could never beat them.  They thought 1996 would be the icing on the cake after '94, and they got spanked.  Impeachment was the revenge.  Since then, they've gone from success to success in demonizing the Dems, from Gore to Kerry to Daschle to ???  

So, what's my point?  The left in 2004 is in a position much like the right was in 1992.  A minority in both houses of Congress.  Out of the Whitehouse.  What was the response of the right to the devastating 1992 loss?  "The party's not over!  It's just beginning!"  The left now has a fledgling media network in Air America, and if they want to succeed like the right did, then Air America needs to "start partying."  

Iraq, Al Qaqaa, Taliban, bin Laden, Haliburton, Saudis, Enron, brother Neil's sex scandals.  Bush has so much more material to work from than Clinton did.  START PARTYING!  The greatest Presidential meltdown since tricky Dick is unfolding before our eyes (and Bush didn't win 49 states, either!)

2006 could become the left's 1994, but only if the left treats 2004 as the right did 1992.  If you're on the left, it's party-time!

•  I just posted on Limbaugh, "position"

  About his use of Gramsci as far back as 1993.  A slightly different reading on the idea of position than yours, but nonetheless the same general moment in history.

  Check it out.

  And good diary!

  by Jeffrey Feldman on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:22:23 PM PDT

•  hate to be like them

  but if being like them means winning elections, then so be it.

  by karenc13 on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:23:04 PM PDT

  •  We don't have to be like them at all!

    The republican party is a target-rich environment and we should be unmercilous in attacking them. But, unlike Rush et all in 1992, we will be telling the truth instead of making shit up.

    That's not like them at all.

    by MarkInSanFran on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:32:31 PM PDT

    •  Don't deny

      the usefulness of making stuff up.

      Take social security.  "Bush is going to destroy it."

      Is that true?  Not technically.  However, said frequently enough, loudly enough and emphatically enough, it will force the Reich Wing to explain, deny, and defend their fascist plans.

      The point of going on the offense is to put the other guy on the defense.  

      That's why Limpdick makes stuff up.  To get us to defend.

      We must do the same.  We make a statement which may or may not be true, but which CAPTURES the ESSENSE of some policy issue.  Then we say it often, loudly and emphatically.

      That will swing opinion our way.

      by dataguy on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:43:58 PM PDT

      •  Don't make stuff up

        
         Kerry did that and was taken apart for it by factcheck.org and other media outlets

        Kerry Falsely Claims Bush Plans To Cut Social Security Benefits

        http://www.factcheck.org/article283.html

         And the only result was more older people voted for Bush.

         There is plenty of issues to bring up without making stuff up.

        by ari on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 05:46:46 PM PDT

•  Good topic

  I agree with what you said.  I think we can do it.  We need a firm party stance and make our platform known (no evidence of flip-flopping)...remember the right's "Contract with America"?  We need to do something like that, maybe "Promises for the People" or something like that.  Let's layout a plan for what we would accomplish if we took power in Congress in 2006!

  by lalawguy on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:24:34 PM PDT

•  I'm pumped, let's do it n/t

  by dan s on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:27:01 PM PDT

•  It'll be fun to hear them "splain"...

  away the inevitably increasing mess in Iraq. Who can they blame?

  Of course I'll have to listen to 2nd hand reports because I never tune into Limbaugh.

  by fly on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:31:11 PM PDT

•  I'm In!

  by Yosef 52 on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:32:56 PM PDT

•  It is all about power.

  What kind of power do we need?
  How can we get it?
  How will we use it?
  Who will exercise it in our names?
  How will we select them?
  How will we control them?
  

  by hestal on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:37:30 PM PDT

•  I could not agree more, in fact, I reccommend

  this diary.

  I've been saying all day to people "jeez--48 percent of the country agreed with us, I thought at least 80 percent of the country hated us! I think we did damned well."  I had been wondering what Kerry could do to seize the initiative and traduce the Bush's when he got in--I had hoped that he would accept the presidency and immiediatly warn bush against pardoning any of his inner circle. Even if Bush had no need to do so (because he didn't thinkt hey'd get indicted) I thought it would be the moral and political equivalent of the de-legitimization of the Clinton era that carried right through the fake charge of trashign the white house.

  Now is the time for all of us, in the new internet world and through LTE's and other means, to attack, attack, attack. At no time should the republican initiatives be given the benefit of the doubt, at no time should their motives be assumed to be good. People should be told that the republicans are hypocrites, are screwing them, are stealing from them--it has the beauty of being true and it will be effective, long term.

  This isn't becoming the enemy, its simply realizing that the larger war for political power in this country has to go through the valley of culture wars. More people vote on gut instinct than will ever vote on ideas and information. Trust me, I went door to door in NH.

  We must not rest until "republican" is a dirty word and "conservative" nothing but a joke.

  aimai

  by aimai on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:37:37 PM PDT

•  Look at all the anger the Repug party

  Has created against it.  I have never been so pissed at a 'group of folks' and they will continue to do so - this will insure the anger only intensifies.  

  by sgilman on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 04:44:54 PM PDT

•  I agree.

  Last night I was thinking about how even the SCLM throws around the term "liberal" with disdain. Attack ads by a congressional candidate here in UT called Nancy Pelosi a "radical liberal" as if they were saying "child molester." (That candidate, John Swallow, (R) lost btw.)

  I'm tired of it. It's time to hit back, and hit hard. We need to start pasting labels on the repugs. We need to start calling them "monied elite" and "corporate puppets" "bigoted thugs," "enemies of democracy" and anything else that will stick. We need to get some radio personality to start doing exactly what Rush and Hannity do, but in reverse. I don't think Al Franken is the man for the job, nor is anyone else currently on the air. John Stewart maybe, but no one would take him seriously at first.

  We need at every turn to question this president. We need to link him to every scandal that comes up no matter how tenuous the evidence, we need to vilify him constantly in thought word and deed. We need to seriously kick ass and take names.

  We all thought that this election would be about ideas and GOTV efforts. What we didn't realize is that we lost the hearts and minds of middle america. How do we get it back? By never underestimating middle america again. By appealing to their basest interest. Fuck Guns as an issue, Just to hell with it. There are so many guns in circulation in this country it's pointless to try and fight it. And for the time being, I'm sorry, this is just reality, DO NOT TALK ABOUT GAY RIGHTS. Maybe that will come later, after we're in power again, but we just can not afford to have Joe six-pack calling us "The party of homosexuals" Middle America hates gays. Amendments were 11 for 11 people. Even in Patchouli soaked Oregon fer Chrissakes! Maybe someday they won't, but we can't change that attitude, we're gonna have to work around it.

  And on abortion rights we're gonna have to lay low. Do not make it a plank in the party's platform. That's what the repugs do. If they have an issue that's divisive for their base, they ignore it. We have to also.

  TAKE NO PRISONERS

  KERRY FOR MINORITY LEADER

  DEAN FOR DNC CHAIR

  by jdjonsson on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 05:02:09 PM PDT

•  Not just Air America either

  I've been fascinated by how liberals seem to have quickly mastered blogs and their uses for targetting.

  Also, we seem to OWN the documentary field with Michael Moore and Going Upriver and Control Room, etc.

  Humor also seems to be our forte ... think Jon Stewart, Franken, Bill Maher, Lewis Black

  I say use the right's 1992 tactics but with our own brilliant twist. All I want from their tactics really is their effectiveness and their tenacity.

  by SusanG on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 05:03:30 PM PDT

•  The Bloggers Are the Death of A 1,000 Cuts....

   this is tailor made for us..stuff pops up on the internet..in blogs and spreads in ways they never dreamed..memes take hold..and some of them may come true..such as The Draft..swing away! The chimp has been throwing feces, it's time to throw it back at him..some may stick and some may stink, 'sall good to me.

  by sula on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 05:16:19 PM PDT