Limbaugh Blows Off GOP Rebranding Effort: We Don't Need A "Listening Tour"

On Monday Rush Limbaugh became the most prominent in a series of conservative figures to push back against a new Republican re-branding effort launched by GOP luminaries over the weekend.

During his program, the brash radio personality whacked the National Council for a New America -- an effort undertaken by, among others, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, John McCain, and Eric Cantor to repair the party's image after the '08 election -- saying that rather than a "listening tour," what the party needed was "a teaching tour."

"I'm weary of the same people who drove us to this point telling us what we have to do now. I'm not including Jeb in that. Jeb was not part of the campaign last year," said Limbaugh. "But everybody else on this bus tour -- for the most part -- is responsible for where we are. We did it their way in 2008. We did it with the candidate and approach that they thought would work. Pandering. 'We got to listen to the American people.' I maintain that when a politician says we have to listen to the American people and learn, we are pandering. We're not leading."

Limbaugh's comments, picked up by Media Matters' Limbaugh Wire, were delivered a day after the NCNA hosted its first meeting at a North Virginia pizzeria. At that event, Romney, Bush and Cantor all discussed the need for a modernized and more inclusive approach to Republican politics -- one still premised on conservative principles.

In expressing his doubts, Limbaugh, who insisted that the GOP would have won in '08 with the right presidential candidate, joins a host of other prominent conservative voices to have publicly or privately pushed back against NCNA.

Earlier on Monday Roll Call reported that Rep. Thaddeus McCotter would not be joining the new effort out of concerns that it would overwhelm or trample upon what Republicans in the House were trying to do to reassert the GOP brand.

"We should be focusing on doing the little things right and building on them," said the Michigan Republican. "We have to do it every single day in the House... I hope [the new group] augments it but I worry that it may overwhelm it."

Meanwhile, as Greg Sargent reports, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been visibly absent from the NCNA's list of signatories, despite having received overtures -- including from Sen. McCain -- to join. After calls for comment, Palin said she would work with the Council.

LISTEN TO LIMBAUGH'S COMMENTS:

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Comments

[coliwabl]

Rush is the greatest manipulator and spinner of news commentary in the history of the media. It is unfortunate that he chose the dark side. He brings shame on conservatives every time he speaks. With a positive, non-abusive message, think of the things he could have accomplished. Now, even if he tried, the attempt could never be trusted.

[rabiddog6708]

Ru$h Lar.dbu.tt is a very funny man.....he says silly things and makes Repubs smile.....kinda like a clown at a circus......Ru$h likes the ox.ycon.tin......he likes it a whole lot.....he likes lots of it......Ru$h likes to stuff his pi.eh.ole with pies and other assorted goodies......you, see, he is a lar.dbu.tt.....he also speaks from that orafice....says silly things that makes Repubs giggle like little kids.

[ebanks84]

If you guys want to know how the repubs have been programming people all over the world, check out YouTube and MKUltra to see how they do it. Also, check out H.A.A.R.P and realize that radio waves control much of our population. And you wonder, "what made me do that". You'll find out that answer when you start to investigate what the shadow government has been doing to you over the years.

R u s h is just an example of their programming technique because he has been very successful at it over the radio for years. And all the others like B e c k are just following suit. Wake up America!

[ebanks84]

Watch how R u s h has been brainwashing his listeners over the years and they are bound and glued to this form of brainwashing and only their demise will be the end of their total control.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ2fMeer5Mw

[ebanks84]

EVERYBODY MUST SEE THE ABOVE VIDEO to prove why "brainwashed" people cannot and will not ever see reality. It's a mind blower!

[ebanks84]

Now we know how the GOP operate. They bend over, grab their ankles, and learn how to TEACH :).

RUSH has trained them well until they tried to go out on their own this weekend and blew it. He had to remind them to TEACH, not LISTEN. Because that's what he has been doing all these years, teaching those truck drivers and their families what to do to be a good conservative. He's trained a helluva lot of people too.

Wake up repubs, and listen to your DADDY. Cause BIG DADDY don't want to repeat himself. TEACH now!

hehehehehe­he........­...

[jimisolo]

Rush is right! They should all listen to him and follow his ideas. If they'd only listened to Rush, none of this "mess" would've happened.

btw - how'd that whole PUMA thing work out for ya, big guy?

Someone, ANYONE, from the Republican party HAS to break free of the shackles afixed to them by their "media leaders", and the failed policies and ideas that they are forced to spew or be shunned. Newsflash.­..Limbaugh­, Hannity, Beck, etc. DO NOT have your party's best interest at heart!!! Stop cow-towing to these neanderthals and start standing up for your own ideas and beliefs on how to lead. Start putting the smack down on these glorified snake oil salesmen, and put them back in their place. Their listeners/watchers aren't going to vote for a Democrat anyway...you don't need them supporting you on their shows. You will get their audiences' votes regardless of how much bile they spew about you. Falling into lock step with them only puts you in their shadows and makes you just as irrelevant to the majority of Americans as they have found those money grubbing, fear mongering, blowhards to be.

Sheesh...this ain't rocket science folks. Wake the heck up already, or you really do deserve to go the way of the Whigs. Not sure how many times, by how many people, it will take for someone to take notice of what is being spelled out for you all over the country.

[ebanks84]

You can speak until you're blue in the face to these people and all they'll do is look at you like you're the weird one. They are all programmed by big daddy to listen and obey. Nothing more and nothing less.

[Ohsnap]

It is because of the GOP's stupidity that is making this mans millions. They're losing voters, but they still stick with him because of money.

[Gingersp]

Couldn't believe what I read -- "when a politician is listening to the American people, he is pandering"!?!?!?!? Not listen to the American people!?!?!?!? Am I the only one who sees that as smacking of dictatorship? Also, I think the name "National Council for a New America" sounds scary and suspicious, but maybe I'm over-reacting.

[snoopjohnny]

Over-reacting? Maybe, but you probably have a different definition for "listening" than rush. His mouth is a staging area for self-marketing sound bytes and rush ads, designed to provoke us into taking him seriously (quite a clever accomplishment, considering). He used to serve as an effective counter-weight, back when Republicans ruled.....a reminder of how wrong you can go when conservative thought (or any thought) is guided or driven by fear. Now, his status as "spokesman" is helping to destroy or at least weaken credibility of a party already in trouble. Republicans need him like a car fire needs gasoline.

[ebanks84]

No, you're not. That's how they get started with their dictatorial propaganda. And Rush is getting the old boys back in line to do more programming of the public. Don't listen. TEACH people what to do to be a good conservative.

[timmmahhhh]

Nope you're n ot overreacting. Rush is too bullheaded to ever aadmit he is wrong on anything. That should make it clear why he is a neo-con-artist.

[Seattlelite]

You tell-em Rush -- there is nothing wrong with your party no improvement needed and anyone who says different you give-em hell.

[nini516]

RUSH: If there's any listening going on, it will be for my show, and only my show!! Blah, blah, blah.
(Sweat profusely) LOL

[Katzencats]

Let's see if 24 hours passage & being the third time , I'll be able to post my comment? I'd really like others' opinion.

As others have rhetorically asked, has Rush been elected to an office we don't know about? What's with the "we" BS (or is he using the "royal we")?

Anybody besides me wonder if this is just weird scheme to get us (Dems/Libs/Progs) to let down our guard? Can they all really be so buffoonish as to implode right out in the open? While some of the Right is truly dumb as dirt, more than a few of them are actually pretty bright. Too bad they didn't use their smarts for the good of the country, instead of themselves (wouldn't have been as much fun for them).

Seriously, what's with the sudden outbreak of stupid among their ranks? Something doesn't smell right...

[pt1010]

could it posibly be that after 2000 and 2004 we made attempts to address massive voting irregularities and in the process exposed the repubs as representing only a small fraction of the country

no amount of "rebranding" will make this party anything but the party that represents the interests of the rich and powerful, a very, very small minority of the population

[mjl422]

Rush's show probably generates alot of money for the Re-puppet-clan party. And, since money talks, he gets to pull all of the strings.

[snoopjohnny]

Rush could teach so much to worried Republicans and the nation. I say, let him educate the weak-kneed who have doubts, just because the party is losing elections, credibility, direction. I'll bet he could "right" the minds of the indecisive who would stoop to "listening" in this time of change. If only Rush and Joe the Plumber could tour the country helping keep these worry-warts "on message"! Then I think folks would understand that sometimes, you just don't need to listen!

[RobertDrovie]

You think Rush Limbaugh realizes that, the more he opens his mouth, the more of the problem he is. His bellicose and beligerent attitude is a perfect example of why the previous Administration was so hated and why the GOP was so rejected by the American People. So, keep talking Rush. You'll make a Democratic sweep in the Mid terms a shoo in. As for the Republicans, you better find a way to muzzle your Mutt!

That's how I see it.
http//robe­rtdrovie.b­logspot.co­m

[TimWhitehill]

I'm confused by Limbaugh's comments. If republicans are supposed to be teaching instead of listening, then is he saying they shouldn't be listening to him? Or does he consider himself one of the ones who should be teaching? How does he decide who's to teach? Is it elected officials? He's not one. Is it officers of the party? He's not one. By what criteria is it decided he gets to teach?

Let me ask a harder question. If a party and it's philosophy has disastrous effects on our economy, on our foreign policy, on our health care system, is seriously in the minority in congress, and has no apparent leaders, then what makes them qualified to teach?

The truth is as usual, Limbaugh is full of hot air. He only says what is geared to make him money. Not what's good for the party he's the poster boy for and certainly not what's good for the country. The shear arrogance is appalling.

[ebanks84]

Think of "programming" in the sense of "mind control" and you won't be confused any longer. He has been doing this mind control over the radio for years and his regular audience is TOLD by him how to react, what they should do, and to make themselves known. He NEVER ask his listeners for dissenting viewpoints. He tells them not to dissent, that's all. Americans are just waking up out of the biggest brainwashing campaign ever in history, the BOOB TUBE.

[ManwithaParachute]

We don't need no stinkin' listening tour....my jowls pick up sound waves from all over the country. As long as I am not jumping around, I hear what the people are saying on the EIJ network. You know EIJ, Entertainment In Jowlwork.

[timmmahhhh]

Actually I feel EIB is appropriate - Excess In Babble.

[jrmarsh]

Divide and conquer Rush.

[rich misty]

And Republicans think he is on their side ;-)

[ebanks84]

That's all they know. If you have been programmed by Rush, that's all you know.

[ebanks84]

That's all they know because they are programmed by big daddy.

[timmmahhhh]

I know...isn't it beautiful?!?