Rush Limbaugh: The Voice of Conservatives

Originally published in Politico’s Arena

By David A. Harris, President of the National Jewish Democratic Council

Rush is most certainly not a creation of liberals. He has a major listening audience around the country, and the offensive things he says do as much to hurt the conservative cause as they do to tear apart civil political discourse in our country. Most of all, he thrives in an atmosphere in which GOP congressional leaders and other Republican elected officials refuse to condemn him and reign in his dangerous rhetoric.

And there’s evidence aplenty of how damaging and ugly his language is. Rush has repeatedly compared President Obama and Speaker Pelosi to Hitler, and he’s compared a White House website to Hitler’s “youth movement”—even using a swastika in his own imitation of the Obama administration’s health care reform logo.

In the wake of the recent tragedy in Haiti, Rush upped his own ratings again when he discouraged folks from donating by saying “we’ve already donated to Haiti — it’s called the U.S. income tax.” He famously went on to accuse President Obama of engaging in “domestic U.S. politics” when he led a U.S. response, and he referred to the U.S. military as “Meals on Wheels.” Unfortunately House GOP Whip Eric Cantor, far from condemning Rush, has noted that the GOP “needs” the likes of Rush Limbaugh.

Rush is the voice of the right, and he earns that crown in part through the silence of the GOP’s elected leadership. And the caustic effects of his rants damage us all. Luckily, we won’t need to deal with him too much longer; in the wake of the final passage of health care reform, he pledged to head off to Costa Rica in five years—apparently not realizing that Costa Rica has the very type of socialized medical system that terrified him.

But I’m not holding my breath ...