Is Drug Addicted College Dropout Rush Limbaugh The Real Mastermind Behind Romney's Failed Campaign?

Tuesday night, Rachel Maddow didn't refer to Limbaugh's drug addiction. But she didn't have to. "The modern American right," she explained, in reference to his insane newest conspiracy theory about the latest Batman movie trying to destroy Mitt Romney, "is hermetically sealed in a media universe that lets in no natural light and no air. They breathe in only their own exhalations. And in that sealed, self-referential oxygen-deprived environment the modern American right has become addicted to conspiracy theories.”

Lawrence O'Donnell is less kind. He routinely reminds his viewers (below) that Limbaugh is indeed a deranged, delusional drug addict who, basically, just makes stuff up, pulls the next day's GOP talking points out of his ass, and feeds them to... well not just the delusional Republican base but to the Romney campaign operatives-- like Romney campaign chairman, bloated, Havana-born Arab-American John Sununu who immediately accused the president of using drugs after Limbaugh demanded that of the Romney campaign and then asserted that the president should learn to be an American. They then went whining to the press that Obama isn't being fair to them by talking about Bain and Romney hiding something in his taxes because those things are "distractions."

Even conservatives are starting to worry that they were right about Romney all the time-- that he's unfit to be their standard bearer. He's now gotten into another fight with the Tea Party over whether or not he'll allow Sarah Palin to speak during prime time at "his" convention. He's about to be humiliated by them again and it wouldn't surprise me if he's forced to have her nominate him or give the keynote address. (God only knows which psychotic right-wing "preacher" they'll force Romney to accept for the benediction.) Now you have a right-wing ideologue like Ramesh Ponnuru calling Romney's economic agenda hypocritical:

The Republican position on federal spending could not be clearer: It doesn’t create jobs. Except when it goes to defense contractors.

...There is, of course, no reason to think that defense spending is more helpful to the economy than other kinds of federal spending. Republicans have been dead-set against sending federal money to states to help them avoid laying off teachers. Yet teachers, too, spend money at beauty salons and car dealerships. They, too, have “good paying and reliable jobs,” as the National Association of Manufacturers said of defense workers in a letter opposing cuts in April.

And another right-wing ideologue, albeit a more rational one than Ponnuru, David Frum, is trying to explain to his Republican readers why the Romney campaign is talking crazy and why he's "heading straight to the mud":

Yesterday was a truly ugly day on the campaign trail. Former Bush 41 Chief of Staff John Sununu told reporters on the campaign trail that President Obama had to learn to be an American-- suggesting of course that he is not an American yet. (Killing bin Laden evidently being yet another of those jobs Americans won't do.)

Sununu is a notoriously poorly spoken spokesperson however. One might have hoped that the line was an aberration. Sununu later offered clarification that the president merely failed to understand the American system of job creation.

But as you look at the day's timeline, the Sununu remark looks less accidental. Variants of the comment were offered by other Romney spokespersons and were restated in most virulent form by Rush Limbaugh.

This may be more than just an angry reaction to the Bain barrage.

Taegan Goddard this morning links to a new Washington Post/ABC poll showing that even now there remains a big enthusiasm gap on the conservative side.

While 51% of liberal Democrats feel strongly favorably toward Obama's campaign, just 31% of conservative Republicans feel the same about Romney's bid.

It's probably hopeless by now to try to excite the GOP's conservative base about Romney, not only because of ideology, but even more because of sociology. Romney's life, career, and manner all combine to remind the white working class why their parents and grandparents voted Democratic.

Yes it does-- and why their children and grandchildren will vote Democratic too.