Rush Limbaugh doesn't get it

Rush Limbaugh represents one of the most difficult Republican demographics.  His is the portion of the party that believes it's kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, and if you can't put a price tag on it and sell it, what the hell are we talking about it for anyway?  I don't listen to Rush that much, though I try to hear when I have the chance, so my opinions are formed by what I hear him say.  I happened to hear him the day after the election.  OK, I admit, I made sure I heard him, because I was curious about what his take would be.

He rightly poo-pooed the notion that Republicans lost because they're too conservative, too pro-life, too anti-gay, sexist, or racist.  The Republican party has fought those labels for years, and sometimes prevailed despite them.  Though I admit, with the shifting demographics, and the ease with which up and coming minorities accept that portrayal, it does make me wonder what future the Republican party has. 

Nonetheless, it clearly wasn't that.  On one level, yes, we are becoming a more liberal nation.  The votes to allow gay marriage and legal pot were just small examples.  Things like gay marriage, legalized drugs, and free contraception are increasingly seen as important as the right to private property or free speech used to be.  But there are still enough people who don't accept those things, that the Republicans, with the right candidate, might be able to bring them together.  Who knows?

But what it wasn't about was a bunch of sissy, lazy pantywaists who just want to live on the government dole, who have no ambition, and who are useless drains on society because all they want is a handout.  He mentions nothing about Romney's flip-flops.  He mentions nothing about Romney's 47% speech.  He mentions nothing about Romney giving the impression that, once elected, he might not care about all that social conservative bull.  Yes, I ended up voting for Romney, as I said, to stop what I perceived as a greater threat to my nation and my liberty.  But it was the most half-hearted lever pull I've made since I started voting. Those things were missed by Mr. Limbaugh, in favor of insisting it's all about the green stuff and those who want as much of it as possible. 

Mark Shea once rightly said that the Middle Class who once laughed along with Rush Limbaugh is now the Middle Class that Rush Limbaugh laughs at.  I think he was right.  There is a segment of non-progressives in America who care for large bank accounts, and the right to bomb any country that gets in the way of said bank accounts, and that seems to be about it.  As long as they dominate the national face of the party, my guess is the average voter with a mortgage and a dwindling savings account will have a hard time getting behind a group of people who increasingly seem as if they have no intention of getting behind them.