Last Call

If Rush Limbaugh publicly acts like he's the defining voice of the GOP in 2009, then, Paul Begala argues, Democrats should treat him as such.

Top Democratic operatives are planning a stepped up campaign to promote Rush Limbaugh as the public face of the GOP — an effort that will include recruiting Dem governors to make this case on talk shows, getting elected officials to pen Op eds arguing it, and running more ads pushing it, a senior Democratic operative says.

Key leadership staff in the House and Senate, and in all the political committees, have been encouraged by senior Dem operatives to push this message wherever possible, the operative says.

“I’m encouraging everybody to go out and say this,” Paul Begala, the well-known Dem strategist, just told me by phone. “I’m hot for this. Let’s get this out every way we can.”

Begala is emerging as a major cheerleader and public face for this effort, though he says he’s not formally directing it. He described the effort as “organic” right now, though senior Democrats are discussing ways to formalize it.

Demonizing El Rushbo certainly has the potential to backfire. It's the kind of tactics you'd expect the GOP to use against Obama, and let's face it: demonizing Obama is most certainly the GOP's current strategy. Still, there's a big difference between demonizing Rush Limbaugh and the President: You can simply use Limbaugh's own words to do him in.