The Republicans are a funny lot right now – not funny ha ha, but funny sad.   Rush Limbaugh has become their de facto king and any time any person says that the king has no clothes, they get reprimanded and must come crawling back.  The most recent victim is the head of the RNC Micheal Steele, who called Rush a performer and acknowledged that his performance can get ugly – and now he must beg forgiveness from the true leader of the GOP – Rush.

Limbaugh’s rhetoric is vicious, narrow and anything but the bigger tent that the GOP must create, Yet in a CNN.com poll that asked who had more influence in the Repubican Party Rush had 82% to Steele’s 18%.  The fact that Rush rules the roost reveals the true leadership gap in the GOP.   Imagine Barack Obama kowtowing to Keith Oberman.  Wouldn’t happen.  President Obama, or Nancy Pelosi, or Rahm Emamanuel would go in there and fight for what they believed would serve the most Americans and not back down.  They would hold a debate and perhaps both sides would emerge the richer for it.

The fact that Rush holds such power in the GOP demonstrates that the politicians in the Grand Old Party lack the courage of their convictions – especially when those convictions differ from Rush’s – they are cowards.