Posted on http://www.evans-politics.com/" Evans Politics, April 12, 2009, by Paul Evans:
The powers that were from the Bush administration are keeping their noses firmly in midst of the media limelight. Limbaugh stated that he wants President Obama to fail, and the media is still talking about that. Dick Cheney pugnaciously declared about April 7th that President Obama's policies were making America less safe, setting off major jawboning among the talking heads. It seemed to finally be settling down, only to have Karl Rove call Vice President Biden a "Liar," as you might expect on Fox News, on April 10th. (Watch the discussion of this on Hardball on Evans Politics Videos, http://www.evans-politics.com/politicsvideos.html") Eugene Robinson on that Hardball show made that point that Rove is showing up all over the place, which "doesn't sound like that great an idea to me. ....Whatever he's doing he's doing a lot of it. He seems very determined to be a player, and to try to set some kind of tone and agenda for the Republican talking points machine...."
Over at the click here Washington Monthly on April 11, Steve Benen is making exactly the point I am making about this:
KEEP ON TALKING, KARL.... Three of the least respected, least admired figures in contemporary American politics are Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove. If Democratic leaders had their way, these three would be up front and center as much as possible. Especially as far as the White House is concerned, the more three on the attack, the better President Obama and his team look.
And wouldn't you know it, in these early months of the Obama presidency, it's working out pretty well.
Limbaugh has strengthened his reputation as the de facto leader of the party; Dick Cheney is click here annoying Republicans by making so many public appearances and taking cheap shots at the nation's leadership; and Karl Rove is arguably an click here even more rabid attack dog now than he was when he helped run the White House.
And the polling numbers support the idea that having Rove, Cheney and Limbaugh lead the charge for the GOP is something Democrats can feel pretty satisfied about. At MSNBC's First Read on April 10, click here, Mark Murray wrote a piece titled "GOP Deperately Seeking Mr. Popular":
We can tell you one thing about the current Karl Rove-vs.-Joe Biden spat: Democrats are loving every second of it.
Why? Because -- as with Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh before him -- the public has a very sour opinion of Rove. "We're not too worried that Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, and Dick Cheney are battling it out to remain the face of the Republican Party," a Dem strategist emails First Read. "Every time Rove pops up, it just serves to remind people what they wanted to change."
...snip...
An August 2007 Gallup poll showed Rove's standing at 26% favorable, 44% unfavorable. Another Gallup poll early this year had Limbaugh's at 28%-45%. Per the December 2008 NBC/WSJ poll, Cheney's was 21%-58%.
I did a little more digging on the approval ratings of the Repugnant Three to see if I could find more current data. Gallop did a poll between March 27 - 29 of 2009 on favorable/unfavorable percentages. At that time Karl Rove was 21% favorable, 44% unfavorable and 35% "never heard of/no opinion" (How anyone could either not have heard of these guys or have no opinion about them is beyond me, but I guess a lot of Americans are just not that into politics.) Cheney had a 30% favorable result (and our former fearless leader, George W. Bush had advanced into the stratospheric realm at 35%, from an all-time low of 28% on at least one poll). Pollster.com for November 4-5, 2008, among likely voters, had Rush Limbaugh at 23% favorable, 51% unfavorable and 26% "neutral/no opinion." Also for Rush Limbaugh, Gallop had a poll from February 5th of 2009:
Gallop Poll - February 5, 2009
Rush Limbaugh Popularity
Republicans: Favorable, 60%, Unfav., 23%, Other, 17%
Independents: Favorable, 25%, Unfav., 45%, Other, 30%
Democrats: Favorable, 6%, Unfav., 63%, Other, 31%
* Other = "Never heard of/No opinion"
So long as no clear popular leader of the GOP emerges, Democrats are perfectly comfortable with letting Rove, Cheney and Limbaugh thrust their immense egos into the spotlight. We don't even really have a preference: let the three of them vie for face time, it's all good. The Repugnant Three, hated as they were during the painful eight years of George W. Bush, are good news these days for the Obama administration.
