GOP wordsmith Frank Luntz has some frank opinions about Limbaugh, Levin, etc. – they’re “problematic” for the party. This wasn’t supposed to go public, but “off-the-record” is almost a quaint notion these days, when everybody’s carrying a pocket video recorder (their smartphone). Republican consultant Frank Luntz told a College Republicans event at the University of Pennsylvania on Monday that Marco Rubio is “getting destroyed by Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh and a few others” in conservative media. Luntz says Rubio’s “trying to find a long-term, effective solution to immigration that isn’t the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him” for it. According to Mother Jones, Luntz also isn’t happy about conservative talk hosts who talk about birth control and women’s control over their own bodies – which probably traces back to Rush’s comments about Sandra Fluke. (The pushback by progressive activists has cost radio a lot of ad dollars.) Luntz doesn’t want to tangle with Limbaugh in the open – he agreed to talk in detail only when he thought he wouldn’t be quoted.
People wonder why everyone (including apparently Frank Luntz) is so afraid of conservative talk radio hosts. The answer is simple. Rush Limbaugh is on over 600 radio stations nationwide and has a notoriously thin skin. Rip him and he will rip you...and he's not talking to a small group of college Republicans. He's talking to millions of conservatives who aren't exactly known for seeking out their own information to see if Rush is correct or not. They don't call them Dittoheads for nothing. Levin is the same way, and his listeners are just as loyal. If you're an elected official, getting destroyed by Rush could lose you an election. If you're a consultant like Luntz, it could lose you gigs. Power and money. Two things they never want to lose. As long as that's the case, I don't see this situation changing.
