Another one bites the dust; or, what happens when you cross Dear Leader Rush

By Michael J.W. Stickings

TNR's Chris Orr has the hilarity:

Another week, another Republican forced to issue an abject grovelling apology to Rush Limbaugh. Asked last week by a Kansas City Star editorial board member whether Limbaugh was the de facto head of the GOP, Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt replied, "No, no, he's just an entertainer." Now, as I recall, Limbaugh has referred to himself as an entertainer often enough, so the problem here must be with the "just." (The GOP loyalty police are nothing if not careful parsers.)

In any case, Tiahrt has (shockingly) recanted any perceived slight, having a spokesman explain, "The congressman believes Rush is a great leader of the conservative movement in America -- not a party leader responsible for election losses... Nothing the congressman said diminished the role Rush has played and continues to play in the conservative movement."

Is it just me or is American conservatism increasingly coming to resemble North Korea? (And how is Rush both "a great leader" and not "responsible for election losses"? Given that the Republican Party is, more and more, his party, or at least a party that kowtows to him, should he not shoulder some/much/most of the responsibility for its failures, even if he isn't himself an elected or party official?)