The results of the Pennsylvania primary are in and the winner is...Rush Limbaugh! Rush is the architect of what is probably the smartest election strategy of the year: the notorious Operation Chaos. Chaos is a response to the Democratic habit of crossing party lines in primaries to vote for Republicans, frequently more to disrupt the Republican field than due to their support of any Republican candidate. It is his contention (supported by more than a little evidence) that John McCain wouldn't be the current presumptive Republican nominee but for Independent and Democratic votes.
Seeing the Dems were in the most contentious primary fight in a long time Rush started encouraging his listeners to cross party lines and vote for whomever was the underdog in order to protract the very contentious Democratic campaign. With joy in his heart and a laugh in his voice Rush came up with the very Bondian name, Operation Chaos for his plan and thus was another Left-wing headache born.
The efficacy of Rush's strategy can be witnessed in the sheer irritation towards it that the Left has shown. At one point, in Ohio the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, at the behest of a Democratic Board member looked into prosecuting any voters involved in Chaos. Sadly for the Democrats, it went nowhere.
The other way to see how well Operation Chaos is working is by looking at the numbers. According to the Boston Globe:
About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000in Mississippi, exit polls show.
The numbers for the effect of Chaos aren't in yet for yesterday's result but it is almost a certainty that part of what looks like a large margin of victory for Hillary Clinton in Pennsylyvania is due to Rush's "foot soldiers".
And it looks like, just as Limbaugh had planned the Democratic race will continue with the candidates continuing to tear each other apart and weakening their party, which can be nothing but good news for Republicans come November.
Below is a transcript of a call from Rush's show yesterday which shows the inner workings of this most public of conspiracies.
RUSH: We have an Operation Chaos volunteer on the phone from Exton, Pennsylvania, by the name of Bill. Bill, you're doing the Lord's work out there. Thanks for the call. Hello, sir.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. Yeah, we went to vote for Hillary. I was a gun-toting evangelical clinging to those guns and clinging to my God. I went out and voted. They asked me on the way out, the pollsters asked me, "Oh, were you one of the people who switched parties?" I said, "Yeah, I switched parties." "So why did you do that?" I said, "Because of Operation Chaosssss."
RUSH: All right!
CALLER: And then they went and they said, "Okay, what are the issues? Were they Iraq, global warming?" "No," I said. "No, it's because of Operation Chaos, led by the commander-in-chief, Rush," and she just laughed. She laughed her head off. Then I went over to the Hillary table and I was there with my Republican committeeman, which he's on board with Operation Chaos as well, and I said, "I voted for Hillary," and she said, "Oh, thank you very much. Thank you very much." "But," I said, "Tomorrow, I'll be reregistering Republican," and she just laughed. It was just a classic moment.
RUSH: That's all they care about is the now anyway. You know, they'll deal with the general later. They just care about the now. They're so happy you did it. I know the Clinton campaign's grateful as they can be for Operation Chaos. They can't ever say so, but they're grateful as hell.
CALLER: It was awesome.
RUSH: So you had an exit pollster, it was an exit pollster, and they asked you if you're a switcher --
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: -- and which issues mattered, and when you said Operation Chaos, Rush Limbaugh, commander-in-chief?
CALLER: She just laughed and laughed. I said, "We want to keep this going through the convention," and she just laughed. They were young kids. They didn't really know until that day that it was in effect, but this Republican Chester County. There were quite a few there.
RUSH: Couple more questions. You say they were young. How old were these exit pollsters?
CALLER: 18, 20.
RUSH: Don't be so convinced that they don't know about Operation Chaos.
CALLER: Oh, no. They knew about it because they'd heard about it that day, I'm pretty sure. They didn't say that.
RUSH: Okay, so they laughed about it. So they must be hearing this a lot.
CALLER: Oh, yes. I'm saying, there was before -- I got there around 11 o'clock, and there was about 150 people already voted. But that's a lot because we're in a Republican county, and they were just laughing. Especially when I said, "Well, we're there to make sure the Dems keep fighting it out 'til they go to the convention."
RUSH: Way to go. Well, there you have it. There's Bill from Exton, Pennsylvania, one of the hundreds of thousands of volunteers in Operation Chaos scattered across remaining primary states. He was happy to be in Pennsylvania today voting as an Operation Chaos operative, following, by the way, to the T orders from headquarters.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: York, Pennsylvania. Tim, I'm glad you called. An Operation Chaos volunteer on the phone. Hello, sir.
CALLER: Mega bitter Pennsylvanian dittos.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: I have two reports, actually. One report from Saturday. I waited nearly all day for the live campaign representative to call me from the Hillary campaign, and finally the call came in.
RUSH: Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. Why did you know that a call was coming? Why were you waiting for a phone call?
CALLER: Oh, I have never received so many phone calls. I thought I was on the Do Not Call list, but I'm not sure now.
RUSH: Wait a minute. I want to set the stage here so people understand. You're a Republican, Operation Chaos volunteer, and you registered Democrat to vote for Hillary?
CALLER: Yes. And finally that registration went through. Unfortunately, it didn't for my wife. She remained Republican, although she had tried. She did a mail-in and it didn't work.
RUSH: Yeah, there was a deadline. There was a deadline.
CALLER: Yep. But I did. I succeeded in becoming an operative, and I succeeded in getting the live phone call on Saturday, and the gentleman, very politely asked me, you know, if I was going to show my support for Hillary, go out and vote. I said, "Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't miss it," and he started thanking me, and I said, "Sure, I'm an operative for Operation Chaos." He was laughing so hard, he could barely say, "Thank you for your support," and hang up.
RUSH: They know. You know damn well he know. Despite the Drive-Bys trying to make it look like it's insignificant, ineffective, it isn't happening, they know. The exit pollsters today are laughing when Operation Chaos volunteers tell 'em they're operating with Operation Chaos orders.
CALLER: Well, the second report is from the polling station. I haven't been able to go over yet. I'm just chomping at the bit, but my wife was by earlier, and like I said, she voted Republican today for a couple of local things, and she reported that in-line campaign representatives were going down through with a notebook and just taking notes, asking people if they were part of Operation Chaos.
RUSH: (laughs) No kidding.
CALLER: They weren't throwing their bodies down in front of people telling them they couldn't vote, but they were taking notes. Not taking names, but seemed to be taking notes of what the responses were. I don't know what they're preparing for, but --
RUSH: Now, let me ask you specifically: Were these campaign workers or were these pollsters?
CALLER: Well, they were probably -- no, no. They would have been pollsters, you know, outside the campaign building.
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: Outside the whole building.
RUSH: Before you'd gotten in there where where's no electioneering involved, before you got in there, before your wife got in there and got in line to vote. This is outside --
CALLER: Outside.
RUSH: -- before she's gone up and signed up, signed in -- and operatives, campaign operatives, pollsters want to know how many people are with Operation Chaos?
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: (laughter)
CALLER: There were several of my neighbors there that I know are Republican that were just kind of smiling, you know, giving the thumbs up to my wife. (laughing) You know, to believe that it's not a force to be reckoned with, I can't wait 'til tomorrow when I switch back. I really can't, because I've been getting these cravings for tofu. I stopped by and looked at the new Priuses. It's making me sick.
RUSH: Yeah, you can't hang onto this too long because --
CALLER: No.
RUSH: -- of the addictive forces that can overcome you.
CALLER: It's mentally straining, I tell you. (laughs)
RUSH: Well, they're actually asking people in line -- both Republicans and Democrats, by the way?
CALLER: Oh, yeah, yeah.
RUSH: If you're a part of Operation Chaos?
CALLER: Just going down through the line.
RUSH: "Are you Operation Chaos?" All right, that's great news. Well, you're going to go reregister tomorrow, and probably a lot others are too. A lot of others will too but that story will never be written, about the shrinking Democrat voter registration.
CALLER: I know, I know.
RUSH: (laughter.)
CALLER: I just want to get it over with as quickly as possible and am trying to make an impact.
RUSH: How come you haven't voted yet?
CALLER: I work. I'm a Republican. I'm busy working.
RUSH: Right. Well, don't --
CALLER: I'm hoping I can get through at the end of the day.
RUSH: No, no. There's no hoping in Operation Chaos.
CALLER: (laughs)
RUSH: Our mission relies not at all on hope. You've got to get in there and vote. Those are your orders!
CALLER: I will get in there and vote.
RUSH: All right. That's the only reason to switch party registration.
CALLER: Oh, believe me; I wouldn't miss it for the world.
RUSH: Tim, thanks for the call.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: We really appreciate it.
Yes. Yes we do.
The Anchoress has something to say about Operation Chaos.
9 comments:
Amazing to see so many Americans blindly follow this wannabe autocrat. Being spoon fed your political opinions by an entertainer who is on par with professional wrestling is sad.
Rush's audience is far better informed than the average American. I listen to him regularly but I also read widely, including much material from the Left.
Rush's audience doesn't slavishly follow him. I think if they're going along with Operation Chaos they're doing so because it is right in line with their own thinking, in the first place.
Rush isn't popular because he's leading his listeners. He's popular because he echoes their thinking.
Wanna be autocrat?? Get a grip.
If you were saying that about those who watch KO or Jon Stewart or Colbert, I would agree. Now there's an audience sitting around waiting for marching orders and just itching to be relevant.
rw
Nocommie1
I would agree that he does echo many of his listeners sentiment...but not all. I listen to him also but thats because I'm here in Utah where that style of opinion is the only available (besides blogs and MSNBC : ) )
I do disagree on the point that his audience is better informed. Because HE IS "the drive by media". His mischaracterizations of democrats as "socialists / facists" can be heard by his listeners, who then repeat it but yet they couldn't tell the difference between a socialists and fascist or better yet name one of each (present company excluded.
keith Olberman = Rush Limbaugh from different perspectives
Thanks for dropping by, wise dog, but I've got to disagree with you about Rush's "mischaracterizations of democrats as "socialists / facists" can be heard by his listeners, who then repeat it but yet they couldn't tell the difference between a socialists and fascist or better yet name one of each (present company excluded."
The fact is that there are very few difference between fascists and socialists and those on the Left are their philosophical descendants. I posted a review of Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg http://becauseimright-nocomme1.blogspot.com/2008/03/liberal-genealogy.html not too long ago. You should pick it up.
Nazis were National Socialists. Mussolini was a self-described socialist. To quote myself from that previous post, "Fascists and progressives (the name by which liberals were known until the middle of FDR’s years in office) did (and still do) in fact have much in common; the raising of the State to quasi-religious status and the corollary need to diminish religion’s place in the public square; the use of the tactic of making each issue a “crisis” requiring military-style mobilization, (Think War on Poverty or the need to Save The Earth.) including the need for mass communal action. They also both see the need for the virtual ideological take-over of the universities and believe that the “old ways” are corrupt and outmoded. They believe in “new ideas”, “new ways of doing things” and a “new politics of meaning”. They frequently agitate for “change”.
So if Rush happens to point this out and people agree, I have no problem with it.
The Democrats view of the ability of the 'state' to be able to solve problems does not equate them to Nazis or facists. This line of thinking is great as propaganda material for conservatives but in this era (1980-present) it isn't the democrats that use the tactics you write about.
The republicans have been the master of labeling "each issue a crisis requiring military-style mobilization". Reagan's "War on Drugs", Department of HOMELAND SECURITY and Bush's "War on Terrorism" are surely of the same fratenatiy you speak against. Not to mention Bush's surviellance of bank accounts, telephones and the use of torture are all tools of the omnipotent state you revile. Though Democrats maybe tagged as 'fascist/socialists' but it is actually the Republicans that mastered the use and implementation of these tools through their propaganda officers such as Karl Rove who can manufacture a war in Iraq through the fear of WMD that was non-existant.
For now these tools are being used against "enemy combatants" who DID intend the U.S. harm but it is only a matter of time before warrantless wiretaps are used against U.S. citizens who might have committed a criminal offense (ie; drug dealing) but are soon to be labeled "domestic terrorists" thereby allowing the provisions of the "Patriot Act" to be enforced much more broadly than intended. This ultimately will not be the fault of the Dems but more likely lay at the feet of the Republicans and their supporters.
I have read some of your postings and they are.......lets just say true to your cause and well spoken. I'll drop by more often to 'stir the pot' if you don't mind.
Wise Dog:
"The Democrats view of the ability of the 'state' to be able to solve problems does not equate them to Nazis or facists." It actually does. Mussolini and Hitler were fans of FDR's in the early 30's, seeing in his policies strong echoes of their own philosophy.
I actually agree that Bush's big govt conservatism uses many of the tactics and rhetoric of the Left (and derivatively) of fascism; certainly more so than Reagan conservatism. But Bush is a rank amateur compared to Woodrow Wilson and FDR whose administrations were thick with socialists/fascists. Bush is Wilson on training wheels. Hillary and Obama, I believe would be far closer to the fscist model than Bush would be if he were President for another five terms. (Oh, the horror, huh? LOL)
You really should pick up Liberal Fascism which makes the relationship between fascism and the Left very, very clear.
And stop by often. Things are dull without a little thought-provoking disagreement.
If wisedog and others are going to comment, at least say something I can't already read on the DNC website of approved talking points. This repeating of what they've been told to believe by their liberal leaders is getting old.
Fascism is a subset of Marxism, as is socialism and communism. That's one of the main reasons the Germans and Russians didn't like each other in WW2, because they both had their little versions of how they thought Marxism should be implemented. But Marxism centers around the State having the power over the people and the various instruments created by the people, for example their farms or the companies they create (corporations). That's modern-day liberalism defined to the letter; more gov't regulations over people's lives.
So yes, the Democrats view of the ability of the 'state' to be able to solve problems DOES equate them to marxism/socialism/commiunism/fascism, because it's from the same source and their desire is the same thing. I'm not saying it's something they're willing to discuss out-loud (though they are getting slightly more bold at admitting who and what they are), but as a former Dem I know it to be the discussion behind closed doors, and it's the main reason I left the party.
rw
rw:
Yep. That's why I told him to pick up Liberal Fascism, which pulls the mask off the truly ugly face of the Left.
Socialism/Fascism adapts itself to the particular culture of the country in which it takes root. In Germany it meant killing Jews. The Italians weren't disposed to that sort of thing so didn't their form of fascism didn't manifest that murderous policy (until Hitler started applying pressure on them). The idea that government should be the new God and reign supreme, however was the same. And yes, it is also exactly what the Left believes as well.
The idea that conservatism and fascism are in any way related is wrong on its face. Anybody ever heard of a small government Nazi?
Post a Comment