Cornyn petition: Limbaugh attack is an 'outrage'

In an email to supporters, NRSC Chairman John Cornyn presses the Republican response to the Limbaugh attack: That Obama is playing unseemly politics -- the kind he campaigned against -- and trying to distract from spending plans.

"This is an outrage," Cornyn writes, echoing John Boehner's Washingon Post op-ed.

The letter:

Dear Friend: During his campaign last year, President Obama promised to bring a new tone to Washington. He decried partisan politics and in a speech last September said, “We have real problems in this country right now and the American people are looking to us for answers, not distractions, no diversions, not manipulations.” Yet, just weeks into his Administration the President’s staff has been caught engaging in a coordinated and cynical political attack game – the very diversion and manipulation then-candidate Obama attacked the McCain campaign for last year. The apparent goal of this strategy was to distract public attention from the Democrats’ massive spending proposals by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party.

Democrats needed the distraction -- over the course of only seven weeks of the current Congressional session, Senate Democrats have passed more spending than the previous Administration spent on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Katrina recovery combined. According to Politico newspaper yesterday, this coordinated strategy began with “conversations and email exchanges” taking place “in and out of the White House” between former Clinton political operative James Carville, the political team at the Democrat National Committee, and White House staff. The article goes on to note that “a senior White House aide has been tasked with helping to guide the Limbaugh strategy.” This is an outrage. It appears the Obama Administration has forgotten that the salaries of White House staff are paid for by you the taxpayer. To say nothing of the fact that this story reeks of hypocrisy coming from a President who campaigned against these very cynical political tactics last fall. President Obama owes the American people an explanation. His staff should apologize to the American people for supporting these tactics and diverting attention to the hard work that needs to be done to get America’s economy back on track. Please join me in signing this petition and calling on the Obama White House to come clean on this matter. Join me in asking them to work with Republicans on the critical issues facing our country today. The American people deserve better than diversions and manipulations. Sincerely, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman