RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, there\u2019s so much out there that seems on the surface to be inexplicable. The problem in this country, as a majority of people recognize, I mean, look at this poll here. Look at this. It is a poll from the Pew Research Center. The bottom line: 81% of the people in this country are dissatisfied. Eighty-one percent are dissatisfied. Do you think they\u2019re dissatisfied with Ted Cruz? Do you think they\u2019re dissatisfied with the Tea Party? Do you think they\u2019re dissatisfied with the opposition to Barack Obama? The Republican Party obviously thinks so, but that is tantamount insanity.<\/p>\n
“A new poll shows more frustration with Washington over the government shutdown and risk of default, with the number of people satisfied with the state of the country plummeting to the lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Only 14 percent of Americans said they were satisfied with the way things are going in the US. … The survey also picked up a strong ‘throw the bums out\u2019 sentiment.”<\/p>\n
Now, of course, what this poll attempts to convince people of is that everything in Washington was fine and that everybody was happy with Washington until the shutdown. We were just robustly happy, and then the shutdown came, and whoever is responsible for that, why, everybody\u2019s really ticked off at them. That would be Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and the Tea Party. And, of course, the Republican and Democrat establishments are lined up that way, and that\u2019s what the polling data is attempting to establish.<\/p>\n
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\nThe fact of the matter is, a majority of people in this country have been dissatisfied for a number of years about the way the country is going, and you know and I know that the people in this country who are dissatisfied with the way it\u2019s going are not dissatisfied with the Tea Party. They are not dissatisfied with Ted Cruz or Mike Lee. They are the only opposition to what\u2019s been going on.<\/p>\n
I was trying to think earlier today, if ever in my life I could remember any major political party being so irrelevant. I have never seen it. I have never seen a major political party simply occupy placeholders, as the Republican Party is doing. There hasn\u2019t been any opposition, not any serious opposition. There may have been votes against this or that, votes against Obamacare. There may have been votes against the stimulus, but in terms of a package of policies, a package of principled beliefs, of opposition expressed daily by party leaders against what\u2019s happening in this country, there hasn\u2019t been. And I know why. And you do, too.<\/p>\n
The Republicans have been hoodwinked. There are two things that have happened. A, they are literally paralyzed because Obama is African-American. They are literally paralyzed. Before that happened, the Democrats and the media ran one of the most brilliant political tricks I have ever seen pulled off. That political trick convinced Republicans, and, more importantly, their brilliant moderate consultants, that criticizing any Democrat president would anger the independents. Remember that? Because the independents, God bless the independents, oh, my God, folks, the princes and the princesses of our culture. The moderate independents, the only reasonable people out there. The only open-minded, nonbigoted, nonclosed-minded human beings in America.<\/p>\n
Twenty percent of the voting population are independents, if you win them, you win everything. Ask Mitt Romney about that. He won big with independents. But his base stayed home. That\u2019s why we\u2019re here. Anyway. So the Republicans got hooked into this belief that any criticism would send the independents running to the mild-mannered, never critical, never extreme, never loud, never arguing, never bickering Democrats. So the Republicans agreed to tie one hand behind their back because of Obama\u2019s race. They had the other hand tied behind their back by this trick that got them to shut up, and really doubled down on that any criticism of Obama, \u2019cause now you\u2019re criticizing the first black president, that makes you a racist.<\/p>\n
So they\u2019re not gonna go there, not gonna be critical. It doesn\u2019t matter if he\u2019s president. It doesn\u2019t matter if he\u2019s transforming this country in ways it was never founded to be, doesn\u2019t matter. We can\u2019t criticize him \u2019cause they\u2019re gonna call us racists. And then you add to it the silly notion that any criticism would send precious independents running to the Democrats. Note that there was no behavior the Democrats could engage in that would send the independents running to Republicans.<\/p>\n
The Democrats can call Republicans hostage takers. They can accuse them of taking ransom. They can accuse them of being terrorists, and that doesn\u2019t bother the independents. But when the Republicans question Obama\u2019s Obamacare plan, “You racist pigs, how dare you!” And so the Republicans have been talked into halfway, and they agreed on the other half, to shut up. They have bought hook, line, and sinker that what the American people want is kumbaya. Everybody living together in a circle and loving each other and no acrimony, nothing but love everywhere. That\u2019s what everybody wants. And if anybody interrupts that, they\u2019re gonna pay.<\/p>\n
So the Republicans have done everything they can to try to make everybody like them, and what they\u2019ve ended up doing is creating one of the greatest political disasters I\u2019ve ever seen in my lifetime, simply because they failed to show up. Then when they finally did make a play of showing up, they didn\u2019t have the guts to stick with it. Undertake a partial government shutdown. Let\u2019s call it a slowdown. Undertake 87% shutdown the federal government for two weeks, and the endgame is that Dingy Harry gets to write the continuing resolution and the debt limit expansion and extension. And then after that two and a half weeks, all of it, the Democrat side, the Republican side blamed on Ted Cruz.<\/p>\n One guy did all this. One guy created all this havoc, one guy. If this one guy woulda shut up and never said anything, why, we\u2019d be what? In fat city? So the Republican establishment, the Democrat establishment, there is a full-out now — I want to warn you about this because, folks, we\u2019re gonna have to hang tough. You may think I\u2019m crazy here. We\u2019re gonna have to remain as best we can detached from that mess and stay bucked up, optimistic, of good cheer as best we can because there is an all-out assault now, not just on Cruz and Lee, and not just on the Tea Party, but on the conservative wing of the party. It isn\u2019t new. We\u2019ve spoken of it on many previous occasions. But now they\u2019re being fortified because now they all think they\u2019ve got all the ammo they need, and that is this last two and a half weeks was brought about strictly by the Tea Party.<\/p>\n The New Republic, a liberal journal of opinion, is telling David Frum that if the Tea Party really does that, you moderate Republicans are forever going to lose. You don\u2019t have a prayer of winning if you succeed in driving your base out. This is not the time to abandon Ted Cruz or Mike Lee, folks. I\u2019m not talking about sending the money, and I\u2019m not talking about anything traditional. I\u2019m just talking about in your hearts and in your minds<\/a>, \u2019cause you know they\u2019re right.<\/p>\n You know that what they attempted to do here was, I think, valiant. It\u2019s been an illustration of just how terribly wrong things are. There are plenty of opportunities for lessons to be learned here. Now, look, I\u2019m not living in a false reality here. I was thinking about this last night, too, while I was pondering if I can ever remember a greater political disaster in my lifetime, if I could ever remember a time when a political party just made a decision not to exist for all intents and purposes.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/RushBoehnerMcConnellWeCantWin.jpg\")
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\nSo now you\u2019ve got moderate Republicans who call themselves conservatives, like David Frum, suggesting that the greatest thing that could happen to Republican Party now is if the Tea Party just branched off and formed its own Conservative Party. You got moderate Republicans and some who call themselves conservatives suggesting, “You know what? You Tea Party people, why don\u2019t you just take a hike,” and even in the New Republic<\/a> today there\u2019s a column.<\/p>\n
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