Posted by
Darrick Johnson on Wednesday, March 04, 2009 12:13:37 AM
One outgrowth of the Steele / Limbaugh controversy is a chorus of self - described 'serious' conservatives, like David Frum, dismissing Limbaugh as only an entertainer. As if the two are mutually exclusive. Do we really want, or need, a series of dry textbooks, and supporting white papers defining and defending conservatism, or do we need people who can persuade, and entertain?
Rush is an entertainer, but that doesn't make his positions unserious...Rush is brilliant, and a true conservative..thus far, Michael Steele has exhibited neither trait.
At Intern Orientation at The Heritage Foundation, we were instructed that Heritage was different from other think tanks because they didn't just want to write papers, they wanted to influence policy...apprarently many lesser think tanks actively avoided putting position papers in the hands of policy makers until after the votes had taken place.
Entertainment is not an end in itself, but great ideas are often best communicated with humor...was Reagan any less a conservative hero because he could skewer liberalism with a smile?