It’s Only Fair When Democrats Do It? Rush Limbaugh Attacked for “Operation Chaos”

Columbus Dispatch: Limbaugh safe from voter-fraud charges — Radio host encouraged fans to vote Democrat By Mark Niquette

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has been telling his audience for days now that he could be indicted for encouraging Ohio Republicans to take a Democratic ballot in the March 4 primary in what he calls “Operation Chaos.”

Could that actually happen?

Not likely, Ohio officials say.

“We have no intention of prosecuting Rush Limbaugh because lying through your teeth and being stupid isn’t a crime,” said Leo Jennings, a spokesman for Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann.

For someone who labels people “stupid,” Jennings doesn’t like to pluralize basic English verbs.

(It’s not “isn’t a crime.” Jennings means “aren’t crimes.”)

Mr. Jennings, you can disagree with Limbaugh all you want, but Limbaugh hasn’t lied and he isn’t stupid. As for your manners and decorum, on the other hand…

When asked whether she has concerns about what Limbaugh did, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, replied, “I think it’s very bad form, but I think most voters are intelligent enough to make their own decisions.”

“Very bad form”? Democrats and the left-wing media, which focused primarily on John McCain, have selected the Republican nominee. A more conservative pick would have been any of the following:

• Duncan Hunter
• Tom Tancredo
• Fred Thompson
• Mitt Romney

They all dropped out of the Presidential race.

But when Limbaugh encourages his listeners to force the Democrat nominee, well, then it is “very bad form”!

Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states holding presidential primaries is designed to help presumptive Republican nominee John McCain win the Nov. 4 election.

The idea is to encourage Republicans in those states to vote for Hillary Clinton as a way to prolong the Democratic fight for the nomination with Barack Obama, possibly making it more difficult for Democrats to unite in the fall.

Some critics have complained that Limbaugh is improperly encouraging voters to break the law.

In Ohio, party-switchers are supposed to sign a form attesting, under penalty of election falsification — a felony — that they support the principles of the party whose ballot they are obtaining.

“Support the principles of the party…” ?

I guess the Soviet Union isn’t dead after all.

But Jennings said it would be difficult to prosecute anyone because they also have constitutionally protected freedom of speech and it’s hard to prove voter intent.

“You can’t just make the assumption that someone is lying,” Jennings said.

Rendering the entire concept of “supporting party principles” to be not only Soviet but utterly useless.

Neither Limbaugh nor a spokesman could be reached, but Limbaugh has a transcript posted on his Web site addressing listeners concerned about being charged with voter fraud.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Limbaugh said. “Look at this as a badge of honor, ladies and gentlemen. If anybody gets indicted, if anybody has to go jail, it will be me — and I’ll do my program from jail for the short amount of time I will be there before I am excused and the charges dismissed.

“I had the temerity, ladies and gentlemen, to tinker with a tradition, a liberal Democrat tradition: voter manipulation.”

It would be bad enough if that voter manipulation just involved the selection of Democrats and their nominees, but it has also been true in the case of John McCain.

If it’s too early for voter manipulation, the media dutifully plays its role to either force Republican candidates out of races or led them down the path of defeat. Virginia Senator and Republican, George Allen, lost the most recent election because of his use of a little-known slur. The media covered it for weeks. One would have thought Allen had committed adultery, tampered with witnesses and perjured himself. Meanwhile, the media didn’t give nearly the same coverage when it reported that his opponent, Jim Webb, had merely published pornographic novels including one depicting fellatio between a father and his young son.

The Times in England wrote:

In one excerpt, taken from one of six novels that Mr Webb wrote between 1978 and 2001, a naked stripper slices a banana with her genitalia. In another, Mr Webb says of a fictional nurse at Bethesda Naval Hospital that she would be less of a “damn witch” if she had sex.

Stupid use of a racial slur by Republican = very very bad!

Publication of porn novels (involving a boy, incest, and talented strippers) by Democrat = meh!

Part of the reason why Barack Obama won the election for his Illinois Senate seat is because the Illinois media’s hatchet job against his Republican opponent, Jack Ryan. The media cared nothing about privacy when they demanded the release of Ryan’s divorce records. Ryan understandably tried to obtain some media sympathy by explaining that release of those records would be harmful to his child. The media, however, much like sharks aware of blood, were hungry and demanded a Republican carcass. So why was the media so interested? It just happened that those divorce records revealed that Ryan took his wife to sex clubs. (Yes, this was certainly lousy, horn-ball behavior, but if Ryan was a Democrat, the story would have died before it was born.)

Republicans then recruited Alan Keyes, who lost by a fat margin to Obama.

Of course, when liberals and Democrats pull election stunts, it’s fine. When Rush does it, then it’s a problem?