If you listen to the Washington DC bureau of the Chicago Tribune you couldn’t help but think that the conservative right was falling apart from the inside out.

Tribune writer Frank James was apparently able to pull himself away from checking Sarah Palin’s underpants receipts from Victoria’s Secret and typing his story with one hand to write a piece quoting Mort Kondracke.

James seems to relish in reporting that Kondracke recently wrote a column for Roll Call, a DC newspaper for which Kondracke is executive editor, calling for conservatives to “fire Rush Limbaugh and his ilk” as the national voice of the conservative movement.

Calling Kondracke a Republican, James goes on to state that calls for Limbaugh’s removal have happened in the past but to no avail. “Maybe this time will be different” said James.

It is apparent that Mr. James has spent too much time checking Palin’s expense report to have seen Mort Kondracke on his regular appearances on Fox News, or perhaps he doesn’t know what channel it’s on having never seen it. Anybody who has watched the discussions involving Kondracke knows that he is far from a Republican. Mort Kondracke is an avowed centrist who supports just about any fence sitter from either party. He regularly gets his fanny handed to him in the closing segment of the Fox News show because he frequently misstates actual events to support his ill-conceived hypothesis.

I don’t dislike Kondracke. As a matter of fact there are times when I actually feel sorry for him going up against such bright minds as Charles Krauthammer and looking completely foolish. The argument Kondracke uses in his column to oust Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham are equally as embarrassing.

In his article titled “First Steps to GOP Recovery” Kondracke makes it sound as if the conservative movement in America has lost its relevance and is headed for a bleak and painful death. Then again he said the same thing about the liberal wing of the Democratic Party a few years ago. That, of course, was before the Democrats were able to elect the most liberal President in the history of the country.

Kondracke notes that Republicans lost minority and Latino voters this past election without taking into consideration the fact that a minority was running as the Democrat. As I’ve said before, the Republicans could have run Abraham Lincoln against Obama and lost minority and Latino votes. The story also goes on to show just how ridiculous supposedly smart people can be when they think that by silencing the messenger they will silence the message.

If conservatives didn’t agree with the ideas of these commentators they wouldn’t support them. Limbaugh is the most listened to radio host in the country; Seam Hannity has his national radio show along with his now solo one hour show on Fox News television. Laura Ingraham has a nationally syndicated radio show and according to tracking polls is the 5th most listened to personality on the radio. Limbaugh alone makes tens of millions of dollars every year from advertisers looking to get a piece of the Limbaugh pie. These people are not paid by tax dollars. They are all paid by advertisers because they have huge audiences. Does Mort think that by pulling them off the air the audience’s viewpoints will magically change?

The whole thing would border on the preposterous if Kondracke actually believed it, but I have some serious doubts about his sincerity. I think it is far more likely that Kondracke saw an opportunity to get his share of national attention and sell more newspapers. And to that end he was probably successful.

Why would I doubt Mr. Kondracke’s veracity?

Here is a look at the headline from the piece he wrote today – “Believe It or Not, Rush Limbaugh Was Right on Stimulus”.

I’m guessing Mr. Frank James and the Washington DC bureau of the Chicago Tribune missed that one.

They’re probably busy with inspecting Panty-gate receipts again.