Hillary Won Indiana Last Night Thanks To Rush Limbaugh (With Update)

From Sam Stein at The Huffington Post:

Did Rush Limbaugh actually impact the Democratic primary?

The loud-mouthed radio talk show host has been encouraging Republicans to vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton to continue the "chaos" in the Democratic race. And a sampling of some key exit poll information suggests he may, to a certain extent, be having an effect.

Thirty-six percent of primary voters said that Clinton does not share their values. And yet, among that total, one out of every five (20 percent) nevertheless voted for her in the Indiana election. Moreover, of the 10 percent of Hoosiers who said "neither candidate" shared their values, 75 percent cast their ballots for Clinton.

These are not small numbers. By comparison, of the 33 percent of voters who said Sen. Barack Obama does not share their values, only seven percent cast their ballots in his favor. Basically, more people who don't relate to Clinton are, for one reason or another, still voting for her. These are not likely to be loyal supporters. * * *

I've been complaining about this for a while -- not because I think what Mr. Oxycontin is doing is evil (getting mad at Rush Limbaugh for being evil is like getting mad at a shark for biting your arm off) -- but because of all the factors regarding electability that the uncommitted superdelegates should be looking at, this is a big one in my book.

Given all that has gone down in the last several weeks -- the Rev. Wright controversy, Obama's bitter remark, etc. -- Hillary was still only able to win Indiana by two points, and she won it because the Idiot Limbaugh told his dittoheads to cross party lines and vote for her.

For the first time in this campaign, I heard the talking heads on television last night extensively discussing this "Limbaugh Effect." Even Sen. John Kerry mentioned it on MSNBC during an interview (and check this out). Hopefully all this will sink into the uncommitted superdelgates' heads over the next few days.

In the meantime, I think Obama should shift gears and start going after McCain, not necessarily with attack ads, but with ads that point out the differences between him and McCain. Obama will eventually have to go on the attack, though, because if you thought the Democratic primary fight was brutal, you ain't seen nothing yet.

UPDATE: The Extreme Right is finally starting to realize where the bear goes though the buckwheat on all this. Right-wing blowhard and Oxycontin-aficionado Rush Limbaugh said this on his radio program earlier today:

I am tempted to tell the superdelegates to pick Obama because I now believe that he would be the weakest of the Democrat nominees.

Nice flip-flop there, Rush. What are you going to do next, hang a "Mission Accomplished" banner in your studio? Why don't you instead move on to your next project, which is to convince all your listeners that you really wanted John McCain to be the Republican nominee all along.