George Demos, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutor from Long Island, is one Republican candidate who is not shying away from playing the Rush Limbaugh card in his bid for his party’s nomination.
As controversy fades over Limbaugh’s remarks about Georgetown Law student and contraception activist Sandra Fluke, Demos joins the ranks of Republican politicians who have recently publicly associated themselves with the conservative talker. Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson told The Daily Caller earlier this week that he was right to hope for President Barack Obama’s policies to fail.
In March, in the heat of the controversy, some suggested that Republican candidates might be wise to distance themselves from Limbaugh. A number of weeks later, with the exception of a few local NOW protests, public attention has moved elsewhere.
Demos is facing Randy Altschuler — the GOP’s 2010 nominee for that seat — in a hotly-contested fight for his party’s nomination to take on incumbent Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop. And Demos seems to have fully embraced Limbaugh and his “Limbaugh rule,” which is to vote for the most conservative candidate in a primary despite any indication that the candidate can win or lose in the general election.
My Fellow Conservative,
Will you be following “The Limbaugh Rule” in this year’s primaries?
On September 14, 2010, Rush stated: “In an election year when voters are fed up with liberalism and socialism — and when the fate of the country as founded is at stake — you vote for the most conservative Republican in the primary. Period.”
The nation followed Rush’s advice and we elected hundreds of conservatives like Scott Walker, Rand Paul and Allen West who added steel in the gelatinous GOP spine.
The contest hasn’t been missed by political watchers in the massive New York City media market, where Demos and Altschuler have been trading barbs over who is the more conservative candidate.
In 2010 — a strong election year for the Republican Party — Altschuler lost the general election race to Bishop by only 593 votes — roughly 0.2 percent of the vote. This time, Altschuler has the support of the National Republican Campaign Committee, which named him to its “2012 Young Guns” list.
That could setup a contest between what some call the Republican establishment candidate and the conservative talk radio candidate, giving political watchers a better gauge of which plan of attack will work best for Republicans in November.