The difference between Liberals and Limbaugh Conservatives is this. Liberals think that they're right. Limbaugh Conservatives know that they're right.
This is not an insignificant difference. If you only think you are right, but you admit the possibility of error, well, than it makes sense to pay attention to people who disagree with you, doesn't it? I mean you could be wrong. So why not listen to their arguments.
On the other hand if you know you are right what's the point to listening to anybody but yourself? Well the one value is to use other sources to convince people who don't agree with you to agree with you. But of course that's a very different exercise than reading other sources to see if they have a good argument. I admit it's an exercise I sway into at times, given the nature of this site.
That's why Tony Blankley can speak quite comfortably about sedition laws. He knows the country isn't ready for him, but that doesn't change his opinion that they would be a good idea. I mean if there is one right answer, and he has it, why bother allowing people to express opinions that are only going to hurt our war effort. I mean if it is, to borrow the Kantian Term, a categorical imperative to continue to support the President, than anybody who expresses disagreement with the President or the course of action he's taken is, by definition, a traitor.
Which brings us to Rush Limbaugh yesterday.
"And I'm going to tell you something, folks, I don't watch mainstream media anymore. And I can't tell you, I don't watch them at night. I got them on in here now, but this is work. The only part of this job that's work is, you know, glancing up as these TV monitors now and then to find out what the hell they're saying when I'm engaged in getting the truth out. When I get home at night I so rarely turn this stuff on. I can't tell you the last time I've watched one of the big three networks and I am not kidding, and I haven't read the New York Times in a long time, and I haven't read the Washington Post in a long time, and I haven't read Time or Newsweek or U.S. Snooze. It isn't necessary anymore. You can cherry pick things from those publications; do a key word search on the Internet. You don't need to go through all the gibberish and garbage that's there. You can find what's relevant that might be interesting or whatever."
Great news eh? Now there's no reason to listen to stories and facts that contradict your opinion. All you have to do is listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Cal Thomas and Glen Beck, watch Fox News, read the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page, and you don't run much of a risk of hearing an opinion you don't already agree with. Now to me, because I know I might be wrong, this seems like a somewhat horrifying prospect. I mean once you admit the possibility of error, well, you want to hear what the other side is saying.
But the Limbaugh Conservative admits no possibility of error.
"Let me tell you what is happening here. And I know this because I am living it. You have the red and blue states where the country is supposedly more divided than ever, and more partisan than ever. Well, guess what? You have a red and blue media now."
Rush Limbaugh paints a happy picture of the future victory of conservatism over liberalism, which is nice I suppose.
He might be right, but I don't necessarily think it's going to be his brand of conservatism. Let's face it Rush has been telling his audience that the economy has turned around since 5 minutes after Bush was Elected. He sold them on the idea that to fight terrorism we had to invade Iraq, and now that that's going south, he's trying to sell them on the idea that things there are going great.
The Limbaugh Conservatives have never had a better chance to implement their agenda. President Bush is as close to an extreme right wing president as we've had. They have control over Congress, they have the Supreme Court, they have new and better ways to get their message out, and so on and so forth. It's hard for them to pull of that oppressed minority gambit they used to love so much.
And yet with all this opportunity to win over the American people, the race in November is still neck and neck. I suspect that the Limbaugh conservatives are going to be over taken by the traditionalist conservatives and by libertarian conservatives who are frustrated at the arrogant foreign policy of the Bush Administration. But who knows?
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