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Wlady, I didn't mean to imply that Rush is a complete Bush or GOP toady. His record is out there on Miers, immigration, etc. as you mention, so to assert otherwise would be foolish of me.

But here we have Rush admitting that he was carrying water for people he didn't really believe in. That, to me, is a stunning admission by a man whose stock and following is grounded on the fact that he speaks his mind and doesn't hold back. His reputation is as a risk-taker, unafraid to get verbally slapped because of something he's said.

Rush has made it easy, even fashionable in many quarters, to expose, criticize and mock liberal doctrine. He is a hero to conservatives because he has freed their consciences to openly counterattack their opponents. And as everyone recognizes, he has revolutionized talk radio and still owns it. He should, because he has earned it.

But now he's made it almost too easy to bash liberals, and from my perspective, during the Bush administration Rush often took that easy path instead of doing the hard work of pummeling his party into line. Look how far afield Republicans went. If Rush, as he has admitted, was carrying their water, don't you think he could have done something to help reign them back in?

To be forthright, I don't listen to Rush nearly as much as I used to (a lot of it has to do with my schedule, which rarely enables me to tune in). But even when I do have the chance, I often don't because it seemed like every time I did listen his criticism of liberals wouldn't be anything new to me. Meanwhile his own party was in many ways betraying the principles he (and I) hold so dear, yet he would say comparatively little about that. Therefore my iPod was a more attractive option.

But if Rush says he is now liberated, I am curious about what he has to say. Sometimes you need a significant event in your life to get you to focus, or refocus. I hope that's the case now, so I will listen to find out.

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Immigration