Barack Obama’s tongue-lashing of conservative talk show titans Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck this week could prove a winner for both sides.
The president gets a boost with his base and may win over some independents by tying his political opponents to two of the nation's most polarizing figures.
But the conservative talkers get presidential confirmation that they're at the center of the political debate — together with a collection of sound bytes that will fuel their shows for days to come.
In an interview that aired on CBS’s "Early Show" Friday, Obama said the rhetoric employed by the chief chatterers of the conservative movement is “troublesome” — and he cast Limbaugh and Beck as demagogues who cash in on the fears of Americans struggling through a rough economy.
Limbaugh fired back in an e-mail to POLITICO, arguing that his ratings are just fine in good times and bad — and accusing Obama of "purposely" governing "against the will of the people."
It's not the first time a president has gone after conservative talk radio; in the days after the Oklahoma City bombing, President Bill Clinton said that "promoters of paranoia" on the airwaves "must know that their bitter words can have consequences."
And it's not Obama's first round in the ring, either.
The president's shots at Limbaugh and Beck are just the latest sequel in what is becoming a franchise of attacks on conservative media outlets and personalities deemed hostile — and one in which a good portion of the box office returns are certain to accrue to the president’s handpicked villains. - Politico Story
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