David Frum is persona non grata within his own party. Here's why.
From www.newsweek.com
Why Rush is Wrong
Limbaugh is kryptonite, weakening the GOP nationally. No Republican official will say that; Limbaugh demands absolute deference from the conservative world, and he generally gets it. When offended, he can extract apologies from Republican members of Congress, even the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
He claims 20 million listeners per week, and that suffices to make him a very wealthy man. And if another 100 million people cannot stand him, what does he care? What can they do to him other than ... not listen? It's not as if they can vote against him.
But they can vote against Republican candidates for Congress. They can vote against Republican nominees for president. And if we allow ourselves to be overidentified with somebody who earns his fortune by giving offense, they will vote against us.
The theme of one person standing up to the schoolyard bully, the crooked politician, the rich, or the powerful has been central to countless novels, movies, and plays. We Americans have always believed as Lincoln said in his Cooper Union Address: "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it". It is a story as old as the Bible. Think David and Goliath...Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, or even Rocky. We naturally root for the little guy. Not that David Frum is a "little guy". He's been a major player in the conservative wing of the Republican party for years. And, I am not a fan of David Frum.
But he has, in a sense taken on, a modern day Goliath in the guise of Rush Limbaugh. And in so doing, as he points out in a section of the quoted article, he has brought down upon his head the wrath and fury of not only the "ditto head" masses who daily hang on Limbaugh's every verbal fart but also some of the movement's chief rabble-rousers like Hugh Hewitt and Fred Barnes.
But he may have history on his side when it comes to challenging and attacking media bloviators like Limbaugh.
Limbaugh is neither the first nor the last of the self-styled dictators of public opinion who have believed their own pr. In the 1930's, we had the infamous Catholic priest, Father Coughlin who railed against Communists, Democrats, socialists, Jewish bankers, FDR, etc, etc. In the 1940's and 50's, there was the newspaper/radio commentator Walter Winchell who broadened his daily broadsides from just showbiz folk to carrying the water for Senator Joe McCarthy who set the standard for character assassination and the destruction of people's careers and lives for decades to come through the use of lies, innuendo, and fear-mongering. All of them were eventually brought down by their own hubris. They actually believed that they alone were right and they alone knew what was best for America. But they also became caricatures of themselves and objects of mockery, scorn, and derision.
Eventually, in a few years, Limbaugh will be just an interesting footnote in history. I can envision the day when he and Ann Coulter become the political equivalent of a "professional" wrestling tag team, travelling from town to town in the last of the "red" states having smackdowns with the ghosts of enemies past.