by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
National Review Online<\/em><\/p>\n In the end, the controversy boils down to an argument of the moment versus one of the ages. Frum believes that conservatives have to change their message to appeal to new constituencies without which the Republican party will lose future elections. Limbaugh argues that conservatism\u2019s message is not predicated on transitory appeals to particular groups, but rests on sound principles that,\u00a0mutatis mutandis<\/em>\u00a0for new circumstances, don\u2019t really change. Frum, the politico, wants to return to power and so make the necessary adjustments; Limbaugh, the talk-show host, would rather stay in the wilderness if it means forgoing principles.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t see how Frum can win this argument, since he does not seem to understand the Limbaugh brief, which I think is something like the following:<\/p>\n Conservatism, to the degree it is failing, either has gotten off message (e.g., the mega-deficits of the irresponsible Republican Congress between 2001 and 2006, or the shamelessness of a Ted Stevens or Duke Cunningham or Larry Craig, or the inability of the Bush administration to convey to the public our aims and objectives in Iraq) or simply cannot communicate in an effective way why lower taxes, smaller government, individual freedom, muscular national defense, and traditional emphasis on the family and community are of interest to everyone, regardless of age, race, or class.<\/p>\n Accordingly, conservatism will return to prominence when it uses time-honored and unchanging free-market principles to address new problems, and when it finds advocates who both are adept at communication with non-traditional audiences (e.g., why it is in the interest of African-Americans to be skeptical of abortion on demand, why Hispanic small-business people need to be wary of intrusive regulations, why Asian-Americans should fear affirmative-action-driven\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0racial quotas at the University of California, why talented teachers should not have to join bureaucratic, ossified unions, why today\u2019s young people should not have to pay off Obama\u2019s annual $1.7 trillion deficits, etc.) and believe in their message\u2019s resonance, without trimming[?] for the applause of the moment.<\/p>\n This all could be discussed in reasonable terms, but Frum unwisely chose to conflate the role of a political analyst and strategist with that of the nation\u2019s premier talk-show host. The genre of talk radio hinges on entertainment \u2014 satire, invective, bombast, humor. A Limbaugh succeeds or fails not just by his ability to analyze politics (millions can do that), but by his acting ability, impersonations, ad hoc quips, and comedy, which hold an audience of 20 million for 15 hours a week (only a handful of people in the country can do that).<\/p>\n As a result of that confusion of genres, we get something incoherent like the analyst Frum, in\u00a0ad hominem<\/em>\u00a0invective, decrying Limbaugh\u2019s past problems with prescription drugs, three marriages, weight problems, cigar smoking, wealth, etc., as he weirdly accuses Limbaugh, the talk-show host par excellence, of resorting to\u00a0ad hominem<\/em>\u00a0crudity in saying that Obama is using his biracial heritage to his advantage, and that it improperly shields him from normal scrutiny.<\/p>\n The other issues likewise weaken Frum\u2019s case. Plenty of candidates, left and right, who are purported role models (in a way talk-show hosts need not be) have had divorces and admitted illicit drug use, smoke, and are not in top shape; the Democratic advocacy groups have had plenty of spokespeople, from the\u00a0Daily Kos<\/em>\u00a0and Michael Moore to the Durbin\/Kennedy\/Murtha outbursts on Iraq, that make Limbaugh seem moderate in comparison; so far the venom that was expressed against Bush dwarfs any legitimate criticism of Obama (we haven\u2019t yet, thank God, had novels like\u00a0Checkpoint<\/em>\u00a0about Obama); the notion that a businessperson like Limbaugh is wrongly profiting from his criticism of Obama is far less persuasive than the suspicion that political operatives are wrongly scrambling to reinvent their message, either to regain power or to become acceptable to those now in power; and finally, the notion that a moderate D.C. insider, in this groupthink Age of Obama, should be deemed courageous for taking on Rush Limbaugh is, with all due respect, completely laughable.<\/p>\n \u00a92009 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online In the end, the controversy boils down to an argument of the moment versus one of the ages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[723],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-KS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2898,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/oh-the-debt-we-will-see\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":0},"title":"Oh, the Debt We Will See!","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Going broke without style\u2026 $3.6 trillion budget. $1.7 trillion annual deficit. $800 billion plus borrowing stimulus. $600 billion plus in outlays for new nationalized health care, and then another $600 billion again for cap-and-trade.\u00a0 These numbers are so fantastic, so absolutely crazed, that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "March 2009"","block_context":{"text":"March 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/march-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12889,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/remembering-rush-limbaugh-with-comments-from-dr-victor-davis-hanson-heard-exclusively-on-the-trevor-carey-show\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":1},"title":"Remembering Rush Limbaugh With Comments From Dr. Victor Davis Hanson Heard Exclusively on The Trevor Carey Show","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Listen to \"Remembering Rush Limbaugh With Comments From Dr. Victor Davis Hanson Heard Exclusively on The Trevor Carey Show\" on Spreaker.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12189,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/limbaugh-a-genius-at-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":2},"title":"Limbaugh: A Genius at Radio","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Genius\u00a0is often defined in myriad ways. One trusted criterion is the ability to do something extraordinary in a field where others could not \u2014 and doing something that perhaps will never be done again by anyone else. By that measure, Rush Limbaugh certainly is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":928,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-real-point-of-the-lefts-uproar-over-limbaugh\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":3},"title":"The Real Point of the Left’s Uproar over Limbaugh","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Frontpage Magazine Rush Limbaugh has got the progressives pitching a fit over some remarks on his radio show about a Georgetown University law student named Sandra Fluke. Fluke had made the preposterous claim, while addressing House Democrats over President Obama\u2019s rule forcing Catholic institutions to pay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Women"","block_context":{"text":"Women","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/women\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2923,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/more-on-rush\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":4},"title":"More on Rush","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner All these highbrow conservative attacks on Limbaugh keep missing the point. 1) There is a certain sort of genius there that can do 15 hours of talk per week, ad hoc, and hold an audience of 20 million plus for over 20 years. There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "March 2009"","block_context":{"text":"March 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/march-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11765,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-04-04-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":5},"title":"Angry Reader 04-04-2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Sir: I thought you were supposed to be an intellectual. Hoover Institution and all that. Then you go off on an illegal immigrant killing an American. That's Rush Limbaugh turf. (the 2 semester and out fellow) I guess you're just another partisan propagandist after all. 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