Back in the 1990,s, going back to visit our relatives, in Eastern Canada, we would drive through the States. Often times, I had greater tolerance for fools back then, I would listen to Rush Limbaugh, for a laugh. I have been accused of having a warped sense of humour. My kids are still scarred from the experience of having had to listen to Limbaugh. One of his on-going rants related to his disdain for moderates, i.e. moderate Republicans. He had no use for them. Why should Republicans get along and try to make compromise deals with Democrats on any issues? To Rush, moderate Republicans were voters who did not agree with Rush, himself, on EVERY issue. Colin Powell would have been considered, to Rush, as a moderate Republican.

Later on, in his life, Rush blamed John McCain’s loss to Barak Obama, in 2008, to Republican attemps to attract and win over Democrat voters. For Rush this was hogwash. Rush was scathing in his description of those Republicans, who, he saw as pandering to the “Moderate approach”, calling them “intellectualoids”

Sad to say Rush caught on. At the time of his death he had 20 million ditto heads listening to him. He lead the way for others, such as Glen Beck and Michael Savage, to follow in his footsteps. Following his mocking of moderates, the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party took shape. The Tea Party giving way to the Freedom Caucus. The left in return has become, by American standards, more extreme. Up here, in Canada, these Democrat extremists would just be regular NDP. Any chance on compromise on almost anything, in the States, between Democrat and Republican is nearly impossible. Rush Limbaugh, and his disdain for moderates, had a big role in that.