By the time you read this, a lot of ink and air time will have been spent on this Politico article suggesting that the Republicans tremble when conservatives like Rush, Hannity, Beck, or even me says something.

Eric Cantor went on the record saying, “We need more voices.” I and everyone else I’ve talked to read that as being critical of the present voices, but his office tells me that “The question was does Rush, Beck, and others hurt, and Eric’s point was we need their voice and others. And he furthered that in the same quote by saying the party in power is trying to demonize voices, yours, ours, Rush’s, And no matter whom, we shouldn’t let them.” Good to hear, but it really didn’t read as a defense the way it was presented by the Politico.

In fact, what the GOP needs right now is leadership. Talk radio and places like RedState are filling a void because the GOP is behaving spectacularly crapulently. Lindsey Graham is collaborating with cap and traders. Pete Sessions and the NRCC are throwing their money down the rat hole that is the Scozzafava campaign. John Cornyn tries to shut out conservative hispanics in favor of squishy, but well tanned governors. The strategy is to be more like the Democrats. It is disappointing.

A question for those who want more voices — what should they be saying?

It is true the Republican brand still sucks. But “conservative” is becoming quite popular. The message of freedom and liberty still resonates. What the Republicans really fear is loss of control. They do not like that conservatives from outside the Beltway are more and more in the drivers’ seat.

But there is more to this story. This is something ignored by most people today. This story is, whether intended or not, a coordinated hit out of the White House. We know the Politico does this. It runs as full stories the hit jobs of the various parties.

And not only do we see the Politico running this as a hit job for the Democrats, but we see a few Republicans willing to go on record as useful idiots.

I have the hardest time believing this is anything less that a coordinated hit against the GOP in an effort to break their unity on health care.

Watch the time line.

It became obvious last week that despite Harry Reid’s story to the contrary, the Democrats did not have the votes for the doctors’ bailout. Conservative activists rallied and the GOP stayed united.

So yesterday, the Politico runs this first part of its two part series on how Obama intended to marginalize his critics.

Obama aides are using their powerful White House platform, combined with techniques honed in the 2008 campaign, to cast some of the most powerful adversaries as out of the mainstream and their criticism as unworthy of serious discussion.

Last night, playing right into this article, Obama takes the stage and says the GOP does as it is told and Democrats are independent operatives.

Then comes today and the second part, after Obama, via the Politico builds the initial ground work.*

Some Republicans — the reasonable ones — think Rush, Hannity, Beck, etc. are not worth listening too. Sweet Lindsey who is snuggling up to the French Looking John Kerry. John McCain who is still bitter conservatives did not fall down and worship him like the Democrats did to Obama. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Also today, Harry Reid claims he has the votes for a public option.

This is all coordinated. Harry Reid does not have the votes. And Obama is now determined to split the GOP. The best way to do that is to play to their vanity — accuse the Republicans of being Rush Limbaugh’s boot lickers. How do they prove otherwise? They vote for the public option and prove they aren’t tools of tea party activists, talk radio guys, and RedState bloggers.

The added benefit here is that Obama distracts from the fact that he cannot hold Democrats together. They can be called “independent” while the GOP, with the Politico’s help, gets cast as trembling slaves afraid of their master.

I wonder how the Politico likes being used. More importantly, I wonder who the Republicans in today’s hit like being useful idiots for Obama’s agenda.

*Note that the Politico has a Bob Michel quote. He’s dead. Been dead for a while. Tapscott’s take on that is best.