Over at Obsidian Wings, Eric Martin offers an interesting post on Republican politicians falling in line behind Rush Limbaugh. I suspect the problem is that those who care most tend to love Limbaugh, and those who don't love Rush tend not to care. Given that, it takes a conservative who stands on principle and won't be bullied to take a strong public against something Rush says. And sadly, the GOP is in short supply of those these days.

  UPDATE: This post seems to have confused some readers, who are apparently reading it as a post on what it means to be a conservative, who is a "real" conservatve, and what is the proper conservative view on the stimulus bill. I didn't intend the post to be on any of those topics, however: My interest is in the general unwillingness of Republican politicians to publicly disagree with Limbaugh over the years, quite apart from the specific issue that happens to be in the news today. (Indeed, I agree with Limbaugh on the stimulus bill, so it would be weird if I were criticizing folks for taking a position I myself have.) In light of the confusion, I'll close up the comment thread.