BO vs Rush...MY money is on RushLimbaugh Cracks the Whip, and Republicans Get in Line

The minority whip appears to be someone who has never won an election.

Republican lawmakers who were having a difficult time becoming the "loyal opposition" in the first week of the Obama administration got a swift kick in the pants earlier this week from the "voice" of their constituents: Rush Limbaugh.

The conservative talk show host was one of many across the country who took to the airwaves to cajole congressional Republicans to line up against President Obama's $819 billion stimulus package.

The result was unanimity. Though the stimulus bill passed handily Wednesday in the heavily Democratic House, every Republican in the chamber voted against it.

Their unity won praise from Limbaugh himself, who said Democrats sought bipartisan support only because they know the stimulus plan will fail and don't want to be solely responsible.

"[Democrats] want the Republicans to not have cover," Limbaugh told FOX News on Thursday. "There's nothing about the economy in this bill."

With Wednesday's vote, House Republicans have effectively disowned the package. But lawmakers are not off the conservative hook. With Democrats determined to pass the bill, right-leaning hosts have signaled that the stimulus will be their rallying cry in the early months of the Obama administration. It will be Kryptonite to those who embrace it and a lightning rod for conservative audiences.

"This economic stimulus package is bad for the country, but it sure is good for the Republican Party," talk show host Mike Gallagher told FOXNews.com. He said hosts like himself will play the "loyal opposition" on this defining issue. "And the battle is just beginning for us."

Leslie Marshall, who's on the liberal end of nationally syndicated radio hosts, said Limbaugh will not derail the stimulus but will have fuel for as long as the package is being executed. She suggested the conservative talk giants are in a good spot right now.

"Rush Limbaugh came to glory during the Clinton years because he had somebody he could bash, in a sense, and liberal hosts have been having a field day for the last eight years," she told FOXNews.com, explaining that nitpicking the opposition party is "part of why people listen to us."

It also didn't hurt ratings when Obama mentioned Limbaugh by name at a White House meeting last week, telling GOP lawmakers not to let people like Limbaugh derail the package.

"[Obama is] obviously more frightened of me than he is of (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell," Limbaugh told his listeners. "He is more frightened of me than he is of, say, (House Minority Leader) John Boehner, which doesn't say much about our party,"

Given the vote breakdown in the House, Obama's remark may have been a blunder. The San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday called it Obama's "first tactical error" because it elevated Limbaugh.

And Republicans apparently still fear the host. Just ask Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey, whom Politico.com quoted Tuesday defending his party's leaders in light of Limbaugh's comments.

"It's easy if you're Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks," Gingrey said. "But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn't be or wouldn't be good leaders, they're not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell."

The next day, after apparently hearing an earful from constituents, Gingrey issued a mea culpa on his government Web site.

"I have actively opposed every bailout ... I see eye-to-eye with Rush Limbaugh. Regardless of what yesterday's headline may have read, I never told Rush to back off," Gingrey wrote.

"Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, and other conservative giants are the voices of the conservative movement's conscience."

Limbaugh, who offered his own stimulus proposal in a Wall Street Journal editorial on Thursday, accepted Gingrey's apology. He added that despite multiple efforts, he can't be marginalized.

"They know that I am the direct route to conservative-based voters and if they can discredit me, if they can marginalize me, they think that they've got Republicans out of the way," he said.

Democratic dominance in Washington virtually ensures that conservative talk hosts will not enjoy the level of influence they had when they successfully mobilized their audiences in 2007 to push lawmakers to kill immigration reform. But it does give them the opportunity to hound Republican officials to fall back into the conservative line.

"I think Republican senators who vote against this thing are really, really going to do so at their own peril," Gallagher said.

"The Republicans need to decide do we believe in small government, do we believe in fiscal responsibility," said conservative commentator and FOX News host Glenn Beck.

Beck, in an interview with FOXNews.com minutes after the House voted for the stimulus, said he's by no means banking on the failure of the stimulus program if it passes.

"If it succeeds, God bless us," he said. "It's not a game for me. It's not a game for most Republicans. It's real."

He said it's difficult to cast the bailout trend as a purely Democratic initiative since the Bush administration backed the first stimulus package last year, as well as the financial rescue package.

He continues to criticize Republicans and left open the question of whether GOP leadership really follows his advice.

But conservative talk is on night watch as the package heads to the Senate. After Boehner challenged Beck in an interview Wednesday to watch him rein in spending, Beck responded, "Believe me, sir. I will be."

FOXNews.com's Judson Berger contributed to this report.


BO...Bit off more then he can chew!!!