RUSH: Let’s go to the audio sound bites. First, Larry Sabato was on America’s Newsroom yesterday with Martha MacCallum. They had this exchange about the Delaware race. Christine O’Donnell is the subject here. Here’s the exchange.
MACCALLUM: Rush Limbaugh speaking out in favor of Christine O’Donnell and then on the other side of the fence you have Dick Armey and Chris Christie, the governor from nearby New Jersey, backing Mike Castle. And as you clearly point out, this is a question of maybe pragmatics versus ideology but Christine O’Donnell might say, ‘Look, I surged in recent weeks. Wait until you see what I can do if I get the nomination. I’m going to turn the whole ball game around.’
SABATO: I think you will see most nonpartisan analysts, if she wins the nomination, move that seat from ‘leans Republican’ to ‘leans or likely Democratic.’
RUSH: My point is with Castle or a Democrat, it doesn’t matter. You’re gonna get the same votes. You’re not gonna get any fundamental change. So voting for Castle is like voting for Biden, like voting for a Democrat. This automatic ceding of the race, though, is all about giving up just because Christine O’Donnell wins. ‘Yeah, Rush, 25 points down, she can’t make that up.’ In this year? Conservatism not worth fighting for? With what’s at stake here? I guess it boils down to the fact that professional Washington just does not see this administration and the status of the country the way we outside Washington do. Professional Washington, ruling class, whatever you want to call ’em, they don’t see the country as founded on the precipice. They don’t see the country as founded on the cliff with Obama and the Democrats, you know, we’re in the car, and Obama and the Democrats are shoving us off of it. They don’t have to look at it, they don’t see it that way, nothing could make ’em see it that way, I guess. But we all do. It’s why there’s a Tea Party. It’s why the independents are surging away from Democrats in droves.
Here’s a statistic. Now, in 2008, you could turn this around on me if you want. Well, I know some of professional Washington thinks that the country’s on the cliff if conservatives win. Even some people on our side do. But that is because conservatives want to deemphasize Washington in everybody’s lives. That’s really the root of this. People want to maintain Washington’s prominence and power, energetic engagement, energetic aggressive executive working for the benefit of the people and so forth. The whole surmise is that people are incompetent, can’t deal for themselves and need an energetic, involved, engaged executive and government to do all this. Now, in 2008 Castle beat his Democrat opponent 61 to 38%. Now, that was in an election in which the Democrats were winning in a landslide. But there wasn’t a real Republican in that race. I mean Castle’s got an R by his name, but there’s no conservative in that race. So Castle wins 61 to 38%, big whoop. At this stage of the game it’s obvious to some of us that not every Republican is worth electing. It’s not about party loyalty here. It’s about ideological fortitude and belief. That vote, that 61 to 38% shows me there’s room for conservatives in that race. I mean O’Donnell doesn’t have to win by 30%. She doesn’t have to beat some no-name Democrat by 30%.
Why do we need Mike Castle in the Senate? We already have Olympia Snowe there. We have Susan Collins. We got enough Republicans willing to sabotage the conservative position. Why do we need another one in there? We don’t. A vote for Castle — and I don’t mean to focus on this Delaware race. I’m focusing on it because it seems that so many conservative Republican media people have drawn the line in the sand on this race. I don’t know if you read the conservative blogosphere, but I mean it’s getting vicious out there. I got a note from one of them. I got back from my vacation, I was minding my own business, bothering nobody except Hank Haney on the golf course by not being able to follow through on his instruction, I get back and I get this note about, ‘Well, where do you come down on this O’Donnell and Mike Castle race?’ So I start looking into it, and I was struck by the line in the sand that’s been drawn by Republicans here against O’Donnell. I said, ‘What’s wrong with this woman? Why is there such vitriol aimed at this woman? When Mike Castle voted for an investigation of Bush for impeachment, when Mike Castle is akin to an Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins,’ I didn’t understand it.
The more I read, the more I found out they didn’t like her because she sued some think tank, because she’s had problems with the IRS, which, to me, is a resume enhancement. A lot of people have problems with the IRS. That means she can relate to people. There is nobody with a clean-and-pure-as-the-wind-driven-snow past. So I started looking at this and what is the reason for the vitriol here ’cause I thought of all the people in the world for conservatives to start hitching their reputations to Mike Castle, it didn’t make any sense to me. I mean I know who Castle is. I don’t endorse people in primaries. I don’t get involved in this sort of stuff. I’ve told you why. Politicians come and go. I’m here forever. I’m not going to endorse somebody that might two weeks from now do something stupid that I’m going to have explain when I have no control over what they’re going to do, especially in primaries. But I was still curious why there was real vitriol aimed at Christine O’Donnell. When I looked at it, I couldn’t find one criticism of her on policy. I couldn’t find anybody question her legitimacy as a conservative. I found people looking at her baggage, making fun of her for being a woman. The machine is mad at her.
The Republican establishment is losing. Bennett lost, they’re ticked off about that. Murkowski lost in Arizona, they’re ticked off about that, and so this is the line, they’re not going to let Castle lose, the Republican Party is moving in, ‘Look, these Tea Party people are taking out our chosen ones. Murkowski, we’re not going to let this happen. Palin’s taking them out, Palin’s endorsing everybody against us, so Murkowski loses, Bennett lost, I’ll be damned if we’re gonna lose Castle,’ they said. I said, ‘Why?’ I always thought these people were conservatives. They’re not conservatives like I am. I always thought we’re on the same team. But we’re not on the same team, obviously. Well, we’re on the same team, but we got different strategeries as to how to win. They’re content to get to the Super Bowl. I want to win it. They’re content to say that they got there.
I kinda got into this late in the game because I was asked my thoughts on it. And the reason, of course, I was asked my thoughts, ’cause, you know, I am the conservative godfather in a lot of people’s minds, so what I say… (laughing) By the way, I’m not the conservative godfather. What I said did not change any of these people’s opinions. So the line’s been drawn. It’s clearly an establishment versus upstart mentality. I just take it back to Mr. Angelo Codevilla in his piece in the American Spectator which has now been expanded into a book called The Ruling Class and the Country Class. But you know, a vote for Mike Castle to me is not saying ‘hell, no’ to Obama and the Democrats. And right now that’s all that matters to me. Hell, no! Party of ‘no,’ damn right, we’re the party of ‘damn no.’ We’re the party of ‘hell, no!’ We are the party that’s gonna save the United States of America. We are the party that’s not going to willingly participate in the upending of this nation as founded.
Now, that may happen but it ain’t going to happen with us. We’re not going to be on the side of people doing this, and a vote for Mike Castle or Lisa Murkowski or Bennett or any of these people, in the northeast if the Republican Party is behind ’em, the odds are they’re not conservatives. And we need more Chris Shays in there. The Republican Party needs a presence in the northeast. The Republican Party needs liberalism on the run. The Republican Party needs to recognize and get behind this conservative ascendancy. I told these people at the dinner party on Saturday, ‘You know what amazes me? We had two terms of Ronaldus Magnus, eight years of prosperity, launched 20 years, 25 years of prosperity after that. We have had history lesson worldwide after history lesson domestic of the failures and the danger posed by liberalism, and yet we still don’t see it? We have people on our side saying the era of Reagan is over? As I say, Fidel Castro, Cuba, firing 500,000 state workers. There is no private sector for these people to get a job. They’re not going to get rice cookers. They’re gonna get zilch. What are they going to do? Hello boat lift number two. What are they going to do? Why doesn’t Castro just raise taxes and increase spending like we’re doing to come out of our economic problems, why doesn’t Castro do that?
Why are not the proscriptions Obama’s trying being tried by every other country in the world that’s having trouble? Why are we the only civilized country in the world willingly, knowingly going down the path of our own self-destruction? The Germans are trying to stop themselves, the Brits, God bless them, are trying to stop themselves. It may be too late. A lot of western Europe is trying to stop themselves. Iran is nuking up, and our country points fingers at Israel? Come on, folks. You know, this is not the ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ‘Hey, the Democrats won the election and they get their nominees’ year. This is far more significant than that. And the issue here is not preserving the Republican Party. If the Republican Party is not interested in preserving the country, then what good is the Republican Party? And if the Republican Party nationally does not see where we are as a country, and where we’re headed, what good are they? It means their reason for winning is not the same as ours, is it? (interruption) Well, that’s what I’ve been saying. I’ll guarantee you what’s gonna happen. This is all gonna lead to a third party and do you know what’s going to happen then? The Republican Party is going to be the third party. The Republican Party is going to be the minority party. This Tea Party bunch, whatever it is, if it leads to a third party, the present-day Republicans are going to be the one with 10%. They’re going to be the genuine third party.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Steve in Newark, Delaware, I’m glad you waited. You’re next on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: God bless you, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: I’ve been listening to you since you had the show on when I was in middle school.
RUSH: Truly a Rush Baby!
CALLER: And I have to say, Castle lost my vote shortly after Obama won, when the gasoline prices were going up and Congress was holding his feet to the fire about the offshore drilling.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: And I was waiting on him at a restaurant and I said, ‘Keep up the good work. You Republicans are doing a good job.’ He just huffed at me.
RUSH: Wait a minute. You were a waiter at a restaurant and Castle was in there?
CALLER: Yep. Delaware is a small state. Anybody can win. They can knock on all the doors between now and Election Day.
RUSH: Yeah, but wait a minute. I want to make sure I understood. You said gasoline prices were going up.
CALLER: Yes, right after Obama won and the Republicans were giving the Democrats a hard time.
RUSH: And Castle was doing the right thing, you thought?
CALLER: Well, I thought he was. I thought he was part of the Republican Party. When I told him to keep up the good work, you could just tell he just rolled his eyes and huffed.
RUSH: Really? He just rolled his eyes?
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: How do you take that? I’m not quite sure what happened here so I’m trying to get your opinion.
CALLER: Well, I think Northeast Republican Party’s got complacent when they were the majority and they relied on these old dinosaurs, these war horses. And as they’re a slowly leaving the political arena, they’re not replacing them. There’s no program to groom the next leadership.
RUSH: So your point is Delaware is a small state.
CALLER: Delaware is a small state.
RUSH: Did Castle roll his eyes at being complimented as a Republican? Is that what he’s rolling his eyes at?
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: Oh, he was embarrassed to be lumped with the Republicans doing a good job?
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: That’s what you meant?
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: Oh.
CALLER: And it was my last year in college. I’m ready to jump in the scene. Every time I hit the RNC up or the state party, they’re tone deaf. They don’t listen to us.
RUSH: That’s too bad. Well, interesting story. You know, in Congress, Delaware has only one representative. That’s how small it is. The idea that somebody can’t come back from 25 points down in that state? We’re not talking California where you have to go out and spend gazillions of dollars to reach one-tenth of the population.
Bill in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, you’re next, on the EIB Network. Hello, sir.
CALLER: Hello, Mr. Limbaugh. Congratulations on your recent wedding, and thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: Listen, they keep saying that O’Donnell doesn’t have a chance in the general. She ‘didn’t have a chance’ in this primary, and she’s going to win today. And the other important fact is you need here in there now because she becomes a Senator the very next day, and that puts a nail in the coffin of the Democrats for getting anything through on a lame duck Congress. So that’s just my comments.
RUSH: All right. That’s your comments. I appreciate ’em. That’s a good point. At the outset of this they said she couldn’t win and just — was it yesterday or last night? Yeah, it had to be yesterday or last night, Monday, the Democrat polling firm out of North Carolina, Public Policy Polling, shocked everybody: O’Donnell’s up by three. It’s the first time she’d taken a lead in the race, in a race this guy says she wasn’t going to be able to win that one either. And she may not win this today, who knows? But it is a comeback.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Jennifer in Midland, Texas, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: It’s great to speak to you, Rush. Howdy from west Texas, land of the oil rig and the mesquite bush. I’m so glad to talk to you about this today. I’m very, very worried about what these Republicans are going to do to us when we put them back in power. They may be slapping themselves on the back because they think that they’ve got all this momentum behind ’em. They’re the ones that ran the cart into the ditch to start with, and now the American citizenry pulled the cart out of the ditch, gave them a fightin’ chance, and now here we are.
RUSH: Republicans, you mean?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: The Republicans are the ones that ran the cart into the ditch?
CALLER: They ran their own cart into the ditch.
RUSH: How? What did they do?
CALLER: Back during the Bush years, they were spending too much and we called ’em and called ’em and called ’em.
RUSH: Ah. Earmarks. Earmarks and all that.
CALLER: Oh, yeah. We said, ‘No amnesty. No amnesty. None of this, none of that. No more spending, we’re going into debt. You guys are forgetting your principles,’ and we called them and they just turned a deaf ear to this. They learned that they didn’t have to listen.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: And when we got outraged, we pulled together. There’s tea parties, there’s town hall meetings, there’s rallies, there’s this, there’s that, and we got a momentum going. And now what are they going to do with it? And I’ll tell you what my fear is. It’s kind of like if you’ve got this precious new baby, and for whatever reason you have to hand the baby to Uncle Lou. You gotta give the baby to Uncle Lou, and Uncle Lou drinks, and you just have to keep saying, ‘Please don’t drop the baby.’ I’m afraid they’re gonna waste this opportunity and then we’re going to be right back where we started or worse.
RUSH: Well, it’s hard to imagine it being worse.
CALLER: (chuckles) It can always get worse, Rush.
RUSH: Well, I know they say that. The direction we’re headed yeah, yeah, yeah. I fully get your point. (sigh) At any rate… (sigh) Look, let me digest all of this ’cause when you say that the Republicans spent too much, I’ve got I’ve got some retorts to that. I’ve heard the old earmarks excuse and there’s no question it played a role, but (chuckles) don’t forget: Earmarks alone were not enough to give the Democrats control of the House in 2006. It’s called Mark Foley. Earmarks? If the Republicans were gonna lose, Democrats wouldn’t need to spring Mark Foley and that garbage toward the end of the campaign.
Don’t… Republicans had a Republican president at the time. It’s kind of like the Republicans and immigration. If you have a Republican president who’s promoting all this stuff, it’s tough to mutiny against it. There are mitigating circumstances, and I’m not making excuses for anybody. I’m just trying to be accurate here in the historical record and recollection. But it doesn’t change the fact that a RINO is a RINO, and it doesn’t change the fact that RINOs are worse than Democrats ’cause they create this silly notion of bipartisanship. They give cover to Democrats. We’ve been there; we’ve done that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Mike, Billings Montana, welcome, sir. Rush Limbaugh program. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. I’m living proof that everything you said for the last two hours is absolutely perfectly true. I was elected, I ran in ’92 when the Rush is Right bumper stickers were out.
RUSH: Oh, yeah. Yeah, oh, yeah, I remember that. Yeah.
CALLER: So I went down and signed up to run against a 30-year Republican incumbent, and I lost my first election. I was ostracized. I was demonized by 40 votes. So I ran against him again and I won, and I was undefeated for ten years. And in those days it was apathy and complacency, and I didn’t know any better. I was a Vietnam vet, et cetera, et cetera, and I decided that if I wasn’t part of the solution I was part of the problem.
RUSH: What you mean you didn’t know any better?
CALLER: I didn’t know politics. I just had heard about it, et cetera.
RUSH: Oh.
CALLER: I just knew our state that I was born and raised in was going the wrong way.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: And I decided that I’d get in the fight just like I did when I decided to join the military. And the establishment turned on me like I was a plague. And that was too bad. I let ’em throw their arrows and do their thing and whatever, and then I started going to Pachyderm meetings and et cetera, et cetera, and the next election I won and I never lost one since. And I voted for term limitations and ten years later I accepted it gracefully and I was glad I did.
RUSH: And so you’re outta there?
CALLER: I’m outta there. But I watch it happening to these newbies, people who are trying to come in and make a difference, and it’s tough, but they gotta tough it up.
RUSH: I don’t think there’s any question about their toughness.
CALLER: I’m proud of the Tea Party.
RUSH: I don’t think there’s any question about their toughness.
CALLER: Hang in there, Rush, and send out those Rush is Right bumper stickers.
RUSH: Well, you know, they were so popular we don’t have any more.
CALLER: Can I print some more?
RUSH: Well, you gotta talk to our licensing division.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: We don’t just give those things away.
CALLER: Okay. Every time I’d campaign door-to-door and I’d see one of the bumper stickers I knew I wasn’t gonna get bit by the dog.
RUSH: I appreciate that, 1992, Rush is Right bumper stickers. You can still see them on cars.
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: ‘Cause the economy is so bad people haven’t been able to trade them in since.