AJH

AJH

46% have a positive perception of him with 43% viewing him negatively. There is a massive gender gap in those numbers, with 56% of men but only 37% of women holding a favorable opinion of him.

The numbers break down along party lines pretty much as one would expect. 80% of Republicans and only 17% of Democrats like him. Independents are pretty evenly divided with 44% seeing him unfavorably and 43% giving him a good review.

“Rush Limbaugh seems to be carrying a lot of power with Republican elected officials in the early days of the Obama administration,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said. “Based on these numbers you have to question whether that’s justified though. Most GOP voters have a generally favorably opinion of him, but at the same time a strong majority of them also don’t think he should have a lot of influence in American politics.”

Mr. Debnam is an idiot. Republican officials routinely ignore Limbaugh and conservatives, which has been costing them an inordinate number of supporters.

AJH

Given that the Dow once again plummeted into D’oh! territory today, the power struggle between Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steele seems a frivolous side show. But in the end, Steele bowed to Limbaugh, affirming Rush’s preeminence as the angry voice of the party.

I’m not sure the Democrats can contain their glee at this state of affairs.

Without [George W. Bush], the Democrats showed some sign of fracturing. But the party’s leadership has neatly been able to pivot from the message, We’re not Bush, to the message We’re not Rush.

It’s the same damn thing, except that Rush is more deeply unpopular with the nation’s women voters.

AJH

Christopher Buckley, who jumped ship to support Obama, seems to be coming around in his thinking, especially on ridiculous, irresponsible spending and the subsequent erosion of liberty.

Some idiot dog owner has been letting his pet let loose all along Lancaster Drive, particularly on the sidewalks. It is just so disgusting. I can't believe how many inconsiderate boobs live around here. A recent idea by a German politician brought all of this to mind.

AJH

Meetings of the 'Convention on Modern Liberty' are being held in London, Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Glasgow and Manchester.

American journalist Jamie Malanowski has called for the UK to implement a Bill of Rights, modeled after the first ten amendments to the American Constitution.

AJH

Fidelity’s Edward “Ned” Johnson jumped into the controversial debate over President Obama’s “New Deal II” and what Johnson called government “make-work projects.”

“We can only hope that the government’s cure doesn’t further sicken the patient,” Johnson wrote in his annual update on Fidelity’s performance over the past year.

“During the ’30s, Congress - with guidance from the president and the same kind of good intentions - shifted the country’s cash flow away from productive businesses to government make-work projects, which most likely prolonged the Great Depression,” wrote Johnson, arguably Boston’s most powerful business executive.

Those policies helped make “money ridiculously easy to obtain and business people eager to comply with the policies,” Johnson wrote.

I love this opening from a story at Yahoo! News India, which is a good source for some issues not generally reported in the American media.

“Acting legend Clint Eastwood, 79, apparently believes that political correctness has rendered modern society humourless.”

Apparently Eastwood's comments left the writer somewhat unclear, thinking apparently that Clint might actually be a racist. Apparently political correctness crept into the writing a bit. Obviously there is no “apparently” about it; Eastwood does not like what has happened.

I have enjoyed most of his movies and love the fact that he, as he ages, the powers in Hollywood don't deter him from speaking the truth.

“People have lost their sense of humor. In former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth or you will be insulted as a racist.”

“I find that ridiculous. In those earlier days every friendly clique had a 'Sam the Jew' or 'Jose the Mexican' - but we didn't think anything of it or have a racist thought. It was just normal that we made jokes based on our nationality or ethnicity. That was never a problem. I don't want to be politically correct.”

“We're all spending too much time and energy trying to be politically correct about everything.”

AJH

David Brooks is not “a conservative New York Times columnist” as Beth Fouhy of the Associated Press notes in her “Analysis” of Jindal and the reaction to his address (“Jindal draws flak from GOP, Dems over speech”).

Brooks characterized Jindal's arguments as “insane” and “tone-deaf” on The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.

“To come up in this moment in history with a stale, 'Government is the problem, you can't trust the federal government' is just a disaster for the Republican Party,” Brooks said.

Juan Williams focused on Jindal's delivery.

"It came off as amateurish, and even the tempo in which he spoke was singsongy," Williams said, adding that the content of the speech was "very simplistic and almost childish."

Rush Limbaugh defended Jindal on his radio show Wednesday while acknowledging that “stylistically,” Obama had outshined Jindal.

“The people on our side are making a real mistake if they go after Bobby Jindal. We cannot shun politicians who speak for our beliefs just because we don't like the way he says it.”

AJH