Off-topic, but isn't Laura Ingraham an Establishment "conservative" like Rush?
First, explain what an "establishment conservative" is and how Rush fits this. Does Rush's brother David also fit it? What about Michelle Malkin?
This is the crux of our dilemma at JTF.
An establishment conservative, whether a media personality or a political figure, is someone who seems conservative on the surface, and who often says all of the right things, but who actually does more harm than good to the cause, by failing to use his or her position to accomplish something concrete. Instead, this person uses his or her position of power to profit personally, all of the while
serving the establishment by throwing a sop to, and lulling to sleep, genuine rank-and-file conservatives desperate for a voice to represent them and an agenda to carry out.
All of the well-known conservative commentators, with the possible exception of Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and a handful of others, fall into this category, according to JTF. For example, Chaim has often said that he wishes that conservative commentors, in response to the illegal alien crisis, would advocate massive civil disobedience. But they never do.
Nor does Sean Hannity, to take another instance, ever refrain from speaking of Islam's "militant wing" as if there was any other.
The problem with following JTF's line of razor-thin ideology is that sooner or later, rightly or wrongly, you end up painting yourself into a corner. The forces arrayed against us - the media, the government, big business and, last but not least, the apathy and stupidity of the American people - are so powerful that if you don't play along, like Rush and Sean and Laura, you end up trying to get your message across by begging people to favorite your videos on YouTube. This is especially true when you're addicted to calling blacks monkeys with excrement in their hair, and saying a lot of other things which hack away at your potential audience like a butcher with a cleaver.
It's not an easy question, and there are no easy answers.