Hanna, as bizarre as it may seem to you, the way you feel when you listen to Rush Limbaugh is the way a large portion of the country feels (me included) when they read the Washington Post editorial page—amused, slightly terrified, and in shock that there are people who really think that way. Rush gets about 20 million listeners a week on about 600 stations—which may or may not justify White House acknowledgment but are pretty impressive numbers nonetheless. Especially when compared to certain plummeting newspaper sales.
As crazy as it may seem, there are still a few people in America (at least 20 million of them) who don't think government intervention is the solution to every problem. Or that it's a coincidence that every time Obama unveils a new package of regulations stocks on Wall Street descend into further freefall. And earlier, when you were wondering "whither the movement"against terrifying appointees like Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has gone"it's gone to Rush and to talk radio. Why? In part because no major mainsteam newspaper is going to do any investigating in that story. Why is that? I don't know. I assume it's because journalists don't believe the fact that Sebelius supports (blandly labeled but truly gruesome) partial-birth abortion is something that compromises her credibility as a lawmaker. Conservatives do. But maybe that's an incorrect assumption of journalists on my part?
The main problem (although probably good news for you) with that movement of the conservative voice to talk radio is that Rush is preaching to the choir—not to Congress. Until conservatives find a way to get their message out to a larger audience, they're going to have a hard time gaining any ground. But until then, Limbaugh won't be going away. He's one of the only sources that's providing information on the issues conservatives care about—information that they're not finding in the mainstream media and maybe never will.