The Great Republican Hope: Mr Rush Limbaugh

I have avoided the political car crash of radio demagogue Rush Limbaugh (pictured) featuring himself as the standard-bearer of the post-Bush Republican Party, primarily because any comment just Feeds the Beast.

I was taken down memory lane, however, when Crooks and Liars brought back this Rush-ian success from 1990. It comes from his short-lived and ill-fated television show. Limbaugh's formula of reducing a complex issue (abortion) to a simplistic bashing of an "enemy" group (the "FemiNazis" of the National Organization for Women) works well with his radio Dittoheads. However, here it goes badly awry with an audience ready to challenge him until we're left with Rush's ultimate solution: Clear the Audience.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNK4byQkn7w[/youtube]

Bobby Jindal Tells Massive Lie, Many Too Busy Laughing At Him To Notice

Scott's analysis this week has, rightly, centred on President Obama's address to Congress. Elsewhere however the buzz has been about what came after, in Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal's pre-taped response. Enduring America may already have scientifically proven that Sarah Palin will be the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 but Jindal's star is rising within the GOP and he's seen in some quarters as a potential challenger to Obama in 2012. So what went wrong for him on Tuesday? And if this speech doesn't kill his career will his lie- about helping a now-dead Sheriff fight bureaucracy to save lives during Hurricane Katrina - do so?

Jindal's canned response has been variously described as hokey, homespun and just plain condescending. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was left stupefied, briefly losing the power of speech before remarking on the hyporcrisy of a Republican invoking "government failure during Katrina as a model for how to move forward as a country":

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOFcaYljKfc[/youtube]

So far, so bad for Jindal. But the following day bloggers at Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo began to raise doubts about Jindal's story of standing alongside Sheriff Harry Lee, as he announced he'd rather be arrested than prevented from sending out volunteer rescue boats which lacked the correct insurance:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8U4zVmJPs[/youtube]

The story is false- Jindal's office has admitted that the governor overheard Lee, who died in 2007, telling the story in an interview several days later. Jindal used a story stolen from a dead man as the centrepiece of Tuesday's GOP response, and in ten short minutes the future of the Republican Party became a laughing stock and a liar.