{"id":11306,"date":"2013-09-25T16:22:40","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T16:22:40","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-09-25T16:22:40","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T16:22:40","slug":"ted_cruz_is_fighting_for_freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/09\/25\/ted_cruz_is_fighting_for_freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Ted Cruz is Fighting for Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: So Harry Reid wants to play the role of Grim Reaper, and he did. He looked just like the Grim Reaper. He walked in there and he shut Ted Cruz<\/a> down at 12 noon. And that is after asking Ted Cruz to yield for a question from McCrazy — uh, McCain, for 15 minutes. They wanted McCain to get in there and start debating party politics. But Cruz would have none of it. He shredded the guy from Illinois. I\u2019m having a mental block. Yeah, Dick “Turban.” He shredded Turban even after 20 hours of this. You know, folks, I could go for 21 more hours just with the health care stack that we\u2019ve got today, about the absolute disaster this is. <\/p>\n

Anyway, greetings, and welcome. Rush Limbaugh behind the Golden EIB Microphone. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If things pan out as planned now, we will have Senator Cruz on this program<\/a> in one hour. The way this worked out, we put it together this morning. The phone rang, we said, “Sure.” At that time it was thought the filibuster would end at noon, and an hour to decompress and so forth and be here at one o\u2019clock. And then we got word that, “Hey, it may go on past noon and can the appearance time float.” We said, “Sure. We\u2019ll be glad to float with you.” And then Dingy Harry did the Grim Reaper act and shut this thing down at 12 noon after 21 hours. <\/p>\n

At that point it became I guess etched in stone that Senator Cruz will be here, barring something — I mean, this is such a fluid situation — barring something unexpected, he will be here at one o\u2019clock. Boy, folks, if this doesn\u2019t embody everything that a number of us have been trying to say and inform everybody about the Washington establishment, the Republican establishment: In these 21 hours, even the hours leading up to it, the criticisms of Ted Cruz from his own party; the attempt to ruin him and mock him in his own party and from the so-called conservative media. And then of all places Fox News trashing all over this, and Fox News essentially blaming me and other conservative media for making Ted Cruz what he is. <\/p>\n

Brit Hume, of all people, essentially said that Ted Cruz is who he is because he\u2019s being pressured by people like me. And left to his own devices, Cruz might not be doing this, is the implication. He didn\u2019t actually say that. I was literally stunned watching this. The fact that, even after 21 hours, even at the beginning of it, they cannot at least admit that this is who the man is. He doesn\u2019t need any advisers here. He doesn\u2019t need any pressure. The man is not a coward. Ted Cruz isn\u2019t afraid of anybody. The real question is, what is the Republican establishment afraid of? What are some of these conservative media types at Fox News afraid of? What is the Washington establishment on the Republican side afraid of? Government shutdown, losing elections, what do you guys think you\u2019ve been doing? <\/p>\n

Did you look at how many Republicans didn\u2019t show up to vote for Mitt Romney in 2008? Do you realize that if the Republican Party base had turned out, Obama would have been defeated? Why didn\u2019t it happen? When does fighting for freedom backfire? Explain that to me. Because that\u2019s what this is. I guess some of these establishment types in Washington, regardless of party, I don\u2019t think they really understand. I think there is such a divide in this country, it is so wide, that some people in politics, it\u2019s their business to understand these things. They don\u2019t even know what really is going on. I just heard Michael Barone say, “Well, this is nothing but theater. All Ted Cruz has done is engage in something that\u2019s impossible.” <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not theater. This is real. This is about freedom. I know to a lot of people that sounds corny. “Freedom, come on, Rush, our freedom isn\u2019t threatened.” Oh, but it is. In ever so small, incremental losses, it is. It\u2019s what Obamacare is all about. It\u2019s precisely what Obamacare is all about, the loss of individual freedom, the loss of free markets. Ted Cruz is fighting for freedom in the greatest tradition of American freedom fighters. And how did so many Republicans manage to miss that fundamental American lesson? Mark Steyn on this program made a good point, I\u2019m going to paraphrase it. But he essentially said that our system doesn\u2019t need the smartest, the best elected representatives because the people can take care of it with popular uprisings. The people! <\/p>\n

This is a country that is a representative republic. The people get what they want here. What Ted Cruz is attempting to do is marshal the support of the American people. It\u2019s in the greatest traditions of the American founding and the entire existence of the country. He\u2019s simply trying to marshal and motivate the public that already opposes Obamacare in such a way as to send a message to Washington that this is not what\u2019s wanted because Washington isn\u2019t listening. How did Republicans manage to miss this? I\u2019ve been asking for I don\u2019t know how long. You look at polling data on Obamacare, and any other issue, but we\u2019ll stick with Obamacare. The numbers are striking. <\/p>\n

The number of people, the percentage of Americans that actually support this, the last poll I saw last week is 12 to 26%, depending on the poll. Twelve to 26%, and the Republican Party wants to align with that segment of the population. Well over 50% of the American people doesn\u2019t want this, and the Republicans say, “Well, we can\u2019t do anything about it. The law is the law. It\u2019s the law of the land.” Well, so was slavery one time the law of the land. These arguments are made by people that do not want to roll up their sleeves or have too much invested in Washington continuing to function as it does. <\/p>\n

Ted Cruz was doing exactly what he was elected to do. Ted Cruz was elected in Texas to do exactly what he did in this filibuster, and, by the way, what he has been doing since he arrived. He\u2019s one Republican who is doing exactly what he was elected to do. And contrary to people who claim that he\u2019s motivated by fear of talk radio, go back and look at Ted Cruz\u2019s campaign in Texas, and you\u2019ll see that he\u2019s doing exactly what he said he was going to do. He\u2019s doing exactly what he was elected to do. He\u2019s fighting for free markets. He\u2019s fighting for individual choice. He\u2019s fighting against statists and statism. He\u2019s fighting for the American people, even those who don\u2019t know that he\u2019s fighting for them. <\/p>\n