Question For Media: Is Rush Limbaugh Conservative Movement's 'Unofficial Leader?'

WASHINGTON - Rush Limbaugh rose to prominence in the early 1990s through a
relentless series of smears leveled at President Clinton, his administration,
and his family. With a progressive back in the White House, Limbaugh has
returned to regular attacks on the president. The Los Angeles Times described
him as "the politically wounded party's unofficial leader"
and his keynote speech at this weekend's Conservative Political Action
Conference (CPAC) was broadcast live on Fox News and CNN and then rebroadcast
on Fox News the next day - a treatment that, according to Fox News'
Greg Jarrett, "not even the president" gets.

Limbaugh started a media firestorm with his comments in January -- just
days before President Barack Obama's inauguration -- that he
"hopes" Obama "fails." Since then Limbaugh has
continued his drumbeat repeating this theme, recently asserting that it is not
only him but "every Republican in this country" who "wants
Obama to fail."

Among top conservatives, reaction to
Limbaugh's sentiment has been mixed. Former Rep. Tom
DeLay and former
Sen. Rick Santorum have publicly agreed with Limbaugh's sentiment
while some
conservative
figures have
distanced themselves the conservative commentator. RNC Chairman
Michael Steele recently joined Rep.
Phil Gingrey in the list of conservative leaders who have bowed down to
Limbaugh after publicly
criticizing him.

With Republican at a crossroads on whether Limbaugh speaks for the
party, it might be best, as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in
yesterday's briefing "to ask individual Republicans whether they
agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend." Media Matters today launched "Rush
Watch," a resource center for all of the latest research on the top-rated
radio talk show host:

www.mediamatters.org/rushwatch/

Below are some of Limbaugh's attacks on President Obama and his
policies since the inauguration as well as conservative commentary on
Limbaugh's rhetoric:

Limbaugh's "I
Hope He Fails" Mantra Against President Obama

During the broadcast of his January 16 show, in response to the invitation
of "a major American print publication" to describe his "hope
for the Obama administration," Limbaugh replied "I hope he
fails." Limbaugh has continued to pound this theme on his show, not only
saying that he wants "the stimulus package" to fail but that
"every Republican in the country wants Obama to fail."

• Limbaugh: "The dirty little secret ... is that
  every Republican in this country wants Obama to fail, but none of them
  have the guts to say so; I am willing to say it"
• Limbaugh: "I want the stimulus package to
  fail," "I want everything he's doing to fail."
• Limbaugh on GOP strategy for Obama era: "Hoping
  he fails"

A Limbaugh Fissure Within
Conservative Movement?

Since President Obama's inauguration, there has been a wide range
of reactions from conservative officials and media figures to Limbaugh's
rhetoric.

Conservatives in Congress such as Rep. Eric Cantor and other prominent
leaders such as Republican strategist Mike Murphy have distanced themselves
from Limbaugh.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor

• Responding to George
  Stephanopolous' question whether "the Rush Limbaugh approach
  of hoping the president fails" is "the Eric Cantor House
  Republican approach," Cantor replied "absolutely not." [Media Matters' County Fair, 3/1/09]

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford

• Gov. Sanford, when
  about the "view that perhaps Republicans are rooting for President
  Obama to fail," replied: "I don't want him to fail. Anybody who wants him to fail is an idiot,
  because it means we're all in trouble."
  [Center for American Progress' Think Progress, 2/25/09]

GOP Strategist Mike
Murphy

• Mike Murphy disagreed with Limbaugh saying "Republicans want the country to succeed,"
  and warned against a "party of 25
  percent of the vote going to Limbaugh rallies." [Media Matters' County Fair, 3/1/09]

While other conservative leaders and
personalities such as Tom DeLay and Rick Santorum have echoed Limbaugh's
comments.

Former House Minority
Leader Tom DeLay

• When asked if he agreed with Rush Limbaugh that we
  shouldn't hope for President Obama to succeed, DeLay replied "Well, exactly right. I don't want this for
  our nation. That's for sure." [Center for American
  Progress' Think Progress, 2/27/09]

Former Pennsylvania
Senator Rick Santorum

• Similarly, when asked "do you hope, should we hope
  that President Obama fails," Santorum replied that "absolutely we hope that his policies fail," adding "I believe his policies will fail, I don't
  know, but I hope they fail." [Center for American
  Progress' Think Progress, 2/28/09]

RNC chairman Michael Steele and Rep. Phil Gingrey actually backed down
from their respective criticisms of Limbaugh.

RNC chairman Michael Steele

• RNC Chairman Michael
  Steele originally said "Rush
  Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes it's incendiary, yes
  it's ugly." [Politico,
  3/2/09]

• After Limbaugh addressed
  those comments on his radio show, asserting that Steele that he is
  "head of the RNC" and not "head of the Republican
  Party," Steele soon was backing down on his comments. Steele said
  his "intent was not to go after
  Rush" and that "[t]here
  was no attempt on my part to diminish is voice or his leadership."
  Steele further claimed that what he was trying to say was that "a lot of people...want to make Rush the
  scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he's not." [Politico, 3/2/09]

Rep. Phil Gingrey

• Responding to
  Limbaugh's assertion that Obama is "obviously more frightened
  of me than he is Mitch McConnell" and "John Boehner,"
  Rep. Gingrey said "I mean, it's easy if you're Sean
  Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and
  throw bricks." Gingrey continued: "You know you're just
  on these talk shows and you're living well and plus you stir up a
  bit of controversy and gin up the base and that sort of thing." [Politico, 1/27/09]

• Gingrey appeared on
  Limbaugh's show the following day to express his "very sincere
  regret for those comments" and said "I clearly ended up
  putting my foot in my mouth on some of those comments." [Center for
  American Progress' Think Progress, 1/28/09]

Limbaugh's Influence on
Conservative Echo Chamber: Health IT falsehoods and Other Attacks on
Obama's Policies

As evidence of Limbaugh's influence among both
conservative and mainstream media, he was the first to unabashedly advance
former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey's falsehood that a provision in the
House-passed version of the economic recovery bill grants the government
authority to "monitor treatments" and "make sure your doctor
is doing what the federal government deems appropriate." This dubious
claim was soon being parroted by several conservative media figures. Limbaugh
took credit, saying "I found it. I detailed it for you and now it's
all over the mainstream media."

• Limbaugh repeats health IT falsehood from Bloomberg
  "commentary" on House recovery bill

• Limbaugh takes credit for spreading health IT
  falsehood: "I found it. I detailed it for you and now it's all over
  mainstream media"

• Echo chamber: Bloomberg "commentary"
  health IT falsehood goes from Limbaugh to WSJ's Moore and Fox, back to Limbaugh

Media Matters has documented Limbaugh leading
the conservative echo chamber in advancing other false and misleading
information about President Obama's economic proposals.

• Parroting GOP, Dittohead Limbaugh dutifully
  launches false ACORN attack

• Limbaugh op-ed misrepresents reason for stimulus

• Limbaugh, Hannity ignore '80's interest rate cuts
  in prescribing Reaganesque tax cuts to end recession

• Memo to Limbaugh: Try CTRL+F before blasting Dems
  for purportedly unsearchable bill

• Limbaugh misquoted Obama on home values, used it as
  evidence of Obama "talking down the economy"

• Limbaugh falsely claimed that taxes on "most
  small businesses" would increase if Bush tax cuts on wealthiest
  Americans expire