David Frum Cuts Rush Limbaugh’s Influence Down To Size

Since his “liberation” from the American Enterprise Institute (and, in all likelihood, conservative society), David Frum is enjoying some newfound freedom. Among the superpowers that other Republicans lack is the ability to take a shot at radio host Rush Limbaugh.

On Reliable Sources yesterday, the question of the “appropriateness” of President Obama‘s Limbaugh name-check came up again, and Frum took the opportunity to put the radio host’s audience numbers in perspective. While Limbaugh claims a “weekly audience” of 20 million, Frum cuts his influence on American politics down to size. (h/t Trish)

Frum judges, correctly, that this is a win-win for Obama and Limbaugh. The President can easily afford to piss off 3 million people who are never going to support him anyway, and Limbaugh certainly doesn’t suffer with that audience by being named by their bogeyman.

What’s really stunning about this story, however, is the comical sense of collective media amnesia. It was almost exactly a year ago that this same Limbaugh vs. Obama narrative was being played out, complete with the DNC executing the exact strategy Frum references here. The difference is that this year, Frum won’t have to apologize.

But the media report this, like a flock of Marshmallow Peeps, as if they were Just Born. Howard Kurtz doesn’t mention it, nor did I hear anyone on Hardball bring it up when Chris Matthews called Limbaugh a walrus.

This same collective brain fart occurred during the much-hyped Fox News vs. the White House story. While Jake Tapper did raise a fair point about one specific statement, the rest of that story played out with nary a mention of the fact that the administration had been calling out fact-challenged critics almost from day one:

…this is not the first time something like this has happened. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbsroutinely takes shots at news outlets, Fox and otherwise, and he always has. His indictment of the entire British press got him a huge laugh in the briefing room, and nobody complained when he admonished Major Garrett for using blogs as a source when he asked about “Dealer-gate.”

This is another point that gets left out in the name of ginning up conflict. These things get painted as the administration simply lashing out at those who disagree with it. While Limbaugh and Beck are definitely members of the opinion media, however, they both trade in facts that are demonstrably, objectively false. While it can be argued that calling an entire news organization “illegitimate” is chilling, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with pushing back against falsehoods.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.