Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:30 pm
While running down former Sec. of State Colin Powell today, Rush Limbaugh said something very interesting. He claimed that the words bipartisanship and moderate are liberal code words. Limbaugh claimed that there is no center, and centrism means agreeing with Democrats.
Here is the audio from Media Matters :
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Limbaugh said, “The biggest mistake Republicans could make would be to follow Colin Powell’s advice. The biggest mistake they could move is to move to the center, because there is no center. Centrists move and float, moderates the same thing. Centrism is a left wing code word. Bipartisanship is a left wing code word. Centrism just means agreeing with Democrats, moving their direction. That’s all it is.”
The problem with Rush’s assessment is that it assumes that only a left and right exist in this country. He completely ignores the middle, where most voters are. The worst thing that the Republican Party could do would not be to follow Colin Powell’s advice, but would be to follow Rush Limbaugh’s advice. Today, Limbaugh demonstrated his comprehensive ignorance of America politics with the advice that he offered to his party.
His advice is essentially that the Republican Party should move farther to the right, not work with Obama on anything, and then they should hope that he fails. What if Obama succeeds? Where is the Republican Party then? Calling bipartisanship liberal code represents a degree of extremism that is out of step with the way most Americans think. The majority of people in this country want more bipartisanship, not less.
If the GOP follows the advice of Limbaugh, it will become a fringe evangelical and anti-tax party. Rush is driving the Republican Party off of the cliff. The idea of being the anti-Obama party is stupid. Republicans have a duty as the minority to question and propose alternatives. Saying no, and hoping for failure is not an intelligent political strategy.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
