David Frum on Right-Wing Media

David Frum of the conservative blog New Majority makes the case that Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter and other Right-wing media stars should not be the public face of the movement.

The relationship between these radio talkers and the larger Republican and conservative world has become parasitic and antagonistic. They flourish and profit to the extent they can polarize and radicalize. The GOP will recover only to the extent that it moderates and reaches out. They benefit from controversies that position them as the leaders and designated speakers for conservative America. But the more visible they become, the more our party is shoved to the margins and rendered unelectable. What is good for Rush is bad for the GOP, and what is good for the GOP is bad for Rush. At some time, some bold party leader will have to confront this dilemma: not by quarreling with Rush or by breaking with him, but by making it clear that our party is bigger than Rush, that it has room for more points of view, and that while Rush may speak for a party faction, he does not speak for the party as a whole.

Frum is correct that the belligerant self-righteousness typical of these media figures drives away a lot of moderates that the GOP needs to avoid irrelevance. However, I don't see how Republicans can appeal to the middle without putting Limbaugh and his imitators in a closet somewhere with their reactionary followers. The problem is that since these provocateurs only succeed by attracting attention, they can't be kept under wraps for long. Frum and other GOP moderates are going to have to choose between courting/tolerating the wing-nuts and a big-tent party. They can't have both.

UPDATE: Eric Kleefield supports this point with new Gallup poll numbers on Limbaugh for Talking Points Memo.

Limbaugh's favorable-unfavorable numbers among Republicans stand at 60%-23%. Among independents, though, he's at just 25%-45%. And Democrats definitely have it in for him at 6%-63%. Multiplying out the partisan subsets in this poll, we get an overall top-line result of 28% favorability for Limbaugh across the country, compared to 45% unfavorable.

So if Limbaugh does become a national issue, the data shows he could be a net plus for the Dems -- though the obvious caveat exists that swing voters could have more important things to worry about than some radio loudmouth.

--Ballard Burgher