The Wall Street Journal has been highly critical recently of how the fear of “talk-radio backlash” has prevented Republicans from getting immigration reform done. In other words, people like Rush Limbaugh are getting in the way of Washington progress. When a caller brought this up to Limbaugh Friday, he used the occasion to bash what he said were fake conservatives who gladly bash him so it makes them more appealing and moderate by comparison.

The caller asked Limbaugh why the “so-called conservative media” like the Journal and Bill O’Reilly bash him all the time. Limbaugh didn’t get into many specifics, but he did say that too many conservatives assume that people who appear on Fox News are on their side if, occasionally, they say things conservatives agree with.

There are a lot of people who try to pass themselves off now and then as conservative, but if they’re challenged on it, they’ll deny it ’cause they don’t want to take the heat of being one. They’ll say things like, “Well, I’m not one of those right wingers. I’m not a reactionary. I don’t make up my mind in advance.”

He said that plenty of these faux conservatives happily find their niches as “Mr. Moderate” or “Mr. Reasonable Right Winger” and condemn Limbaugh individually or talk radio as a whole because that’s what they’ve staked out ideologically and want to be seen as distinct and separate from the more conservative crowd.

Listen to the audio below, via The Rush Limbaugh Show:

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[photo via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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