On the surface, the GOP relationship with Rush Limbaugh appears simple: he has devoted listeners who the Republican Party thinks are important to the party's base as voters.
But voters are only one source of a political party's power. The other is money. Are the votes that Limbaugh commands through his listeners really the reason for the party members' quick submission to Rush after any attempt they make to criticize him?
I have more questions than answers here. I am hoping that some people will read this who will have some good info and links that can open this up better than I am able to myself. In this diary I am pretty much just trying to get at the questions and hoping that others have recommendations for information that would move past these questions alone.
So. Whenever I go over the pieces of the Rush Limbaugh/GOP saga that is still unfolding delightfully right before our eyes, I think of recent moves by President Obama and his people directly bringing up Mr. Limbaugh as has been covered and diaried pretty extensively here.
But there's another piece of data that also comes up for me when I think about this. It feels to me like it may be part of the Limbaugh saga in the larger Obama strategy but hasn't yet shown itself. It's this:
[President Omaba] said the ambitious budget plan he presented Thursday will help millions of people, but only if Congress overcomes resistance from deep-pocket lobbies.
"I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they're gearing up for a fight," Obama said, using tough-guy language reminiscent of his predecessor, George W. Bush. "My message to them is this: So am I."
On Saturday, he was a full-throated populist, casting himself as the people's champion confronting special interest groups that care more about themselves and the wealthy than about the average American.
Nonetheless, he said, well-financed interest groups will fight back furiously.
Some analysts say Obama's proposals are almost radical. But he said all of them were included in his campaign promises. "It is the change the American people voted for in November," he said.
Insurance companies will dislike having "to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that's how we'll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs," the president said. "I know that banks and big student lenders won't like the idea that we're ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that's how we'll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable. I know that oil and gas companies won't like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that's how we'll help fund a renewable energy economy."
Source
Yes, the GOP response to Limbaugh could be just concern about his power over his listeners as voters.
But what if it is also about big-money interests that have links to Limbaugh and also the GOP?
What if what goes on behind the scenes when a GOPer criticizes Limbaugh is a call from some big money mover(s) that have vested interests in promoting Limbaugh's show (not just whether it has listeners who would buy their products, but maybe also its actual message and its political and economic implications) ... and also have direct interests in politically shutting down what President Obama is trying to do via institutionalized funding links to the Republican Party?
So what I am wondering is:
What kind of information and research are people here aware of that would get at such connections and money/power flows, in a specific and detailed way? Links oh please?
And, am I the only one who has the feeling that at some point Team Obama's strategy may lead into some open display of specific connections between Limbaugh, the GOP and the kind of special wealthy interests that the Obama narrative took on so directly in the quote above?
Two final notes:
- I apologize if the information is already out there in some obvious way, and I have not found it. I did some searching (google and here) but not exhaustive.
- I am aware that the GOP is not the only party that would have links to these kinds of big-money interests. I'm focusing there because of how the Obama narrative on Limbaugh is shaping up.