Can Rush Limbaugh really anoint GOP nominee?

Note: You can listen online to the Jackie Mason radio show by clicking here.

Jackie Mason

WND executive news editor Joe Kovacs joins comedian Jackie Mason Sunday night on "The World According to Me: Jackie Mason Radio Show at 7:15 p.m. Eastern to discuss his recent story regarding Rush Limbaugh's influence in the presidential race.

Mason is the legendary comic and one of the newest columnists in the WND lineup.

As WND reported May 16, Limbaugh, the most-listened-to radio host in the U.S. and America's No. 1 voice for conservatism, said he alone has the power to select the 2008 Republican nominee for president at this point, but he's avoiding promoting one candidate over another so as not to sound like a "cheerleader."

Limbaugh's remarks came during his analysis of the May 15 GOP presidential debate in South Carolina, as a caller urged Rush to throw his support behind Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, as the caller claimed Paul was the most conservative of the field of candidates.

Rush Limbaugh

"I don't think Congressman Paul has a snowball's chance," Limbaugh said.

"You have the power yourself to make him the Republican nominee," the caller responded.

"That is very true, and that is why I must exercise this power responsibly, not as a cheerleader," said Limbaugh, "which is why I'm not picking a name right now. I alone have the power to move the [Republican] base."

Limbaugh continued:

The exercise of my "power" – it's not something I'm really conscious of on a daily basis, but it would be foolish and silly for me to deny that I possess it. But the primary effort in the usage of my power is to educate and inform as many people as possible so they get in the arena of ideas and eventually go vote. Because I believe in ideas and ideas triumph, and when elections are won, I want them to be won on ideas, not labels and other things that are devoid of substance. ...

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But I did want to make note that I finally have now acknowledged what everybody knows, and it is one of the reasons that I am the biggest target of the American left simply because of that power. This is a power, my friends, that could be used for good or evil. I choose to use it for good. ... It's the elephant in the room. Why deny it? That would be false humility, and there's nothing that grates on me more than a person that engages in false humility and tries to laugh it off. ... I'm not going to sit here and deny what you all know.

Kovacs is in his 24th year of journalism, having run radio, television and print newsrooms throughout the U.S., as well as Budapest, Hungary, before joining WND in 1999.

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