Rush Pauses Op. Chaos; Op. RonDemption Soars

Yesterday, on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, the self-described Commander-in-Chief, US, Operation Chaos, issued new orders to his army of Dittoheads:

Ladies and gentlemen, I am calling an operational pause in Operation Chaos. We have a week to figure out now what's best to do...My gut reaction here, after hearing Obama, was to issue orders changing directives, i.e., vote Obama in remaining primaries. But I'm holding back.

He went on to explain that he wants to see how the mainstream media covered Barack Obama's reaction to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright's fresh gems from the National Press Club meeting.

Still, coming as it does on the heels of the commencement of Operation RonDemption, the plan to give Ron Paul a state primary victory while damaging John McCain's campaign, one has to wonder if the Dittoheads are quaking in the face of the combined might of the Ron Paul Revolution and Idaho Democrats Who Didn't Caucus.

Being a liberal, I'm more comfortable with Head of the Operation RonDemption Steering Committee, and I have some new plans, too. After the jump, a little more on both "Operations," and Limbaugh's assessment of the Democratic race.

Operation Chaos is Limbaugh's attempt to keep the Democratic nomination up in the air as long as possible so that Hillary Clinton keeps attacking Barack Obama and McCain gets a free ride in the press. The change in tactics indicates that Limbaugh sees the Wright "controversy" as possibly evaporating. Although he chalks it up to something he calls the "drive-by" media, clearly his assessment is based on his political thermometer reading.

Whether or not he's being truthful in his analysis, he has a pretty good read on where the MSM narrative is headed for the Dems. I think Rush sees in the tea leaves both the weakness of the Wright smear and the formidable political skills of Barack Obama. His assessment of the press as Barack-friendly remains to be borne out since they turned on Obama last week.

Operation RonDemption, meanwhile, continues to grow. The strategy is to get Democratic voters and independent leaners in Idaho to vote for Ron Paul in the Republican primary. Anyone who wasn't among the 21,000 or so that voted in the Democratic Caucus is eligible.

With a low Republican turnout expected due to the nominee already being selected, the combination of Paul-ites and rogue Dems will have much more bang for the buck than Markos Moulitsas' Dems for Romney did in Michigan. An attention-grabbing 20%+ finish is well within reach, and with some hard work, an outright victory for Dr. Paul is not impossible.

Here's a new wrinkle. The polls in Indiana are pretty well knotted right now. If one or the other of the Democrats falls way behind by primary day, that candidate's supporters can peel off for Paul, as well.

For Obama, it might mean sacrificing a few delegates, whereas Clinton supporters would have to ask themselves where they can do the most good, inching a few delegates to an insurmountable lead, or damaging John McCain with a Ron Paul insurrection? Clinton's case to the Supers isn't going to rest on delegate totals, anyway, so if she's losing the state by then, the impact will be minimal.

The next step here is a viral marketing program, something at which the Ron Paul army is quite proficient. The prospect of one or two state primary victories is plenty of incentive. They're already starting to spread the word. If they can get some boots on the ground in these two states, the impact could be even greater.

I also noticed that Limbaugh is selling Operation Chaos merchandise. Unfortunately, there's no Operation RonDemption merch yet, but feel free to print this article on iron-on transfer paper, or just fly it from your car's antenna like a diplomat.

Be sure to check back for Operation RonDemption updates as they become available.