Yesterday I made the argument that Laura Bush moved to the left as she used the race card to attack those conservatives who have spoken out about the lack of credentials Harriet Miers possesses to be nominated to the highest court in the land. Looks like Rush Limbaugh also sees it my way:
Let's go to audio sound bite #4. This was the Today Show today from Covington, Louisiana and Matt Lauer says, "Some are suggesting there's a little possible sexism in the criticism of Harriet Miers. How would you feel about that?"
THE FIRST LADY: I think that's possible. I think she is so accomplished, and, you know, I think people are not looking at her accomplishments and not realizing that she was the first elected woman to be the head of the Texas Bar Association, for instance, and all the other things. She was the first woman, managing partner of a major law firm. She was the first woman hired by a major law firm, her law firm.
RUSH: We've heard that, I know, but the idea that there is some sort of sexism here? This is hard for me. It is really, really hard for me. The more I hear from the defenders of Ms. Miers -- and again, I've got no brief against her, but the more I hear the people whose job it is to defend her, the more I hear them sounding like the left, that there's sexism here, that that's elitism going on.
Limbaugh has the obvious defense to such allegations:
All I'm saying is that there are people, and women -- and, by the way, this sexist business, I don't know that Janice Rogers Brown or Priscilla Owen or Edith Jones would consider me a sexist or any of the other people who have supported them in their quests to sit on the appellate bench and then on up to the Supreme Court. That's why this sexist business doesn't wash.
Then Limbaugh makes the prediction that this will invoke an aggressive awakening of conservatives, similar to the Reagan era:
RUSH: Now, ladies and gentlemen, will you pardon me for a moment while I address the liberals in the audience. I mean, you can listen. I want you to listen, but I don't want you to be offended here that I am specifically addressing the liberals, because I know you liberals are out there, and I know you've been listening to this first hour of the program today, and I know you listen to it every day. And if I know you liberals like I do --and I do -- I know you like every square inch of my glorious naked body, not just the back of my hand. I know you're out there rubbing your hands in glee. You think the conservative movement is falling apart. You think it's fractured. You think that all the factions are warring with each other and that a party and a movement divided like this cannot go anywhere. Well, I have a message for you liberal friends of ours out there. I know you think this is lots of fun. You think the conservative movement is split. You think there's an implosion going on, but let me warn you people about something. This is the kind of thing that you liberals should fear the most. You liberals, if you had any sense of history, if you're able to place what's happening today regarding the conservative reaction to the Harriet Miers nomination, if you have any context, historical context; you should be cowering in fear in the corners. The last time conservatives flexed their muscles like this was 1980. The last time conservatives said enough is enough. The last time conservatives rallied together and started demanding that conservatism triumph when Republicans are elected, Ronald Reagan won two landslides (1980 | 1984).
Limbaugh then really goes after the lying left:
That's what happens when the Republican Party embraces conservatism, and that's what happens when the conservative base is motivated to act. Once this matter of the Miers nomination has been resolved one way or the other, the conservative movement and the GOP are going to be stronger and they're going to be better focused because that's what the purpose of debate is, that's what the purpose of arguments is, and that will be the outcome here. The conservative movement and the GOP will be stronger, they will be better focused, they will be more energized than we have been in years. There will be a battle in the Republican primary for president between moderates like John McCain and conservatives, and after that battle is over the target will be the Democratic Party and liberalism. You will be exposed and you will be trounced just as you were in 1980. You have been warned. If you're sitting out there rubbing your hands in glee, feel free to continue, but you have nothing to offer. You don't have an agenda you can be honest and get behind about. You don't have anything positive, uplifting, or inspiring to say to the people of this country, even about this country. We conservatives know what we stand for, and we know our principles, and they are shared by most of America.
We are proud to publicly embrace our principles, and we are proud to campaign on them. You liberals on the other hand, you're always acting undercover, fearful that if your true views and motives are exposed that you can't win, and you can't. You can't win if you expose yourselves and you can't win if you mask yourselves and camouflage yourselves and hide. So go ahead and get cocky, that's the best thing I could ever say that would happen to us is for you to get cocky and to think you've won it and that it's all over. Go ahead and get cocky and get giddy and start celebrating now. But what you're watching and what you're witnessing is not a "crumbling," not a "fracture." It is not a "split." What you're watching is a very healthy and growing conservative movement and a very healthy party preparing to battle you. You are making the mistake of assuming that George W. Bush is going to be on the ballot again. You are running against ghosts.
First the conservatives will take on the so-called moderates within the GOP. In that debate it will become obvious that the so-called moderates will move America to the left as they compromise with the left. America deserves a clear choice when they go to the polls. Do we want to retain the principles of our Founding Fathers and make America even stronger, or do we want to transform America into a secular socialist state? It’s time we fight the battle that President Bush refuses to fight. Its time for the GOP to pick a candidate in 2008 who will fight the fight to save America from the enemies within. It time to get behind a true conservative.
