Limbaugh Wins As Election’s Biggest Manipulator

[Commentary] With Democratic enthusiasm waxing, Republican energy waning, and more than four out of five voters convinced the country is now on the wrong track, one would think hard-right wing talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh would be near-suicidal. But no! As it stands, Limbaugh – now in his twentieth year as the universally acknowledged “Grand Poobah” of talk radio, with an estimated weekly audience of about 13.5 million listeners — looks to be the biggest winner thus far in the ongoing Presidential primary sweepstakes. From attacking Republican frontrunner John McCain early in the process to ‘dreaming’ of – and some say illegally calling for — riots at August’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, all the way to more recent efforts such as “Operation Chaos,” aimed at inserting himself and his followers into the Democratic primaries in an attempt to weaken Barack Obama by supporting Hillary Clinton, the so-called “Limbaugh effect” has garnered excessive attention from the ‘drive-by’ mainstream media that Limbaugh purports to hate but actually depends on and manipulates adroitly. Although the real-world effect of “Operation Chaos” is doubtful – at least in terms of influencing the Democratic primaries – it has clearly been wildly successful in its real mission of promoting Limbaugh and his nationally syndicated radio program.
http://www.roryoconnor.org/blog/2008/05/13/rush-limbaugh-the-biggest-winner/