Meet Rush Limbaugh: the latest blowhard to learn nothing from history, thereby fating himself -- and his flock -- to repeat it.
Rush was on the air back in 1993 and 1994, when Republicans found themselves in essentially the same position they’re now in: locked out of the White House and staring up at imposing Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.
With Rush egging them on, they defined themselves by their blanket, loud, and often hysterical opposition to Bill Clinton’s agenda (and to his legitimacy as commander in chief). They killed his stimulus bill by filibuster, offered zero votes for his first budget (the one that set the stage for the economic prosperity -- and balanced budgets -- of the late '90s), and demagogued healthcare reform until an utterly defeated Clinton pulled it from the agenda.
And for their willful obstruction and fear-mongering, the Republicans were rewarded with an electoral tsunami in the 1994 midterm elections, one that handed them control of Congress for the first time in decades. And it was only supposed to be the beginning: Two years later, Clinton himself would be on the ballot (well, if Democrats didn’t dump him first), and then the real fun would begin.
