For GOP, Limbaugh looms large

Three observations about the Limbaugh dust-up within the GOP:

1. Rush’s keynote appearance at CPAC was certainly one of the more bizarre sartorial outings in the history of American politics. He looked about as creepy as a guy can look. Either his shirt was missing a button, or he had his lounge lizard on.

2. Most of Rush’s ideas aren’t crazy. Like a lot of Americans, he’s convinced that President Obama wants to do something pretty radical.

And in a way Rush is right. If the government succeeds at fixing this economic mess, it will prove that politicians, not individuals and free markets, are the best protectors of the public welfare.

For conservatives, that’s a scary notion and it’s a social transformation worthy of a full-throated debate.

3. But the messenger — Rush himself — has become a problem for Republicans. (To quote RNC chairman Michael Steele, Rush’s program is “incendiary” and “scary.”

Steele has since apologized, but he was right.

Rush has a powerful niche following on the right, but as long as he is the most prominent voice of the GOP, the vast majority of Americans just won’t go there.

Dislodging him won’t be easy for Republicans. Rush really is in a category by himself. He is a kingmaker, an enforcer, a man who can set the rules of enagement within the conservative movement.

All of which delights Democrats, who see him as the perfect foil for their agenda.