Rush Limbaugh rallied the culture warriors this weekend at the CPAC conference. Here’s a video, if you can stand to watch it. The video reveals both his strength and his greatest weakness:

This is par for the course in Limbaugh’s world, where record unemployment is a sport, global financial collapse is a game, and foreclosed homes are points scored. To Limbaugh, “winning” the political fight is everything — indeed, it’s the only thing. There is only one stake worth playing for, and it is the ultimate stake: the ‘majority power’ trophy.

This Week today, and you can see why Limbaugh’s demagoguery excites “the base” so much: Limbaugh was the keynote speaker at CPAC because he’s the most outspoken, unapologetic, and well-recognized conservative voice. His power within the party has grown in the wake of last November’s debacle. Contrast his standing-applause laden pep rally to the words of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor ontoday, and you can see why Limbaugh’s demagoguery excites “the base” so much:

“…I don’t think anyone wants anything to fail right now. We have such challenges. What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today.” Cantor said the Republican Party must change to be more inclusive. “There is no question the Republican Party has to return to be one of inclusion, not exclusion,” Cantor said when I asked him if he was willing to move the party to the middle on issues like the environment and gay rights. “We are a party with many ideas. And we have in that a commitment to make sure that we have positive alternatives, if we don’t agree with this administration,” Cantor said. (Emphasis mine)

That’s one Republican trying to face reality: the politics of division have ended. The southern strategy is dying. The ‘party of ideas’ is, in fact, fresh out of ideas and desperately engaging in a new, hip (or hip-hop) makeover. New polling shows the GOP risks losing an entire generation. It’s painful, and painful to watch.

Limbaugh, on the other hand, is happy to lead the Last Stand of the culture warriors. He’s shameless, self-assured beyond the point of narcissism, and voices the right-wing point of view with pseudo-intellectual elegance. In other words, he’s the perfect man for the job, and eager to do it.

Of course, Last Stands are rarely a prescription for victory, so the Obama team is more than happy to help Limbaugh take his place in party leadership:

he rarely speaks to a live audience

only if it’s pre-screened

didn’t

If Limbaugh’s smug self-assurance and intellectual straitjacket are helpful in front of a CPAC crowd, we should note that he usually isn’t this animated in front of a live audience. In fact,— and, like the callers to his radio show. Here’s an example of what has happened to him when hecontrol the makeup of the audience:

The Last Stand of the Kulturkampf will not take place under controlled conditions. The culture warriors may follow Rush to oblivion, but not in a pre-screened environment. Sooner or later, the painful Republican transition to post-division politics will be all the GOP has left. The only question is whether the CPAC crowd will destroy their own village in order to “save” it. Subscribe in a reader



