{"id":14750,"date":"2012-08-28T18:54:50","date_gmt":"2012-08-28T18:54:50","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-08-28T18:54:50","modified_gmt":"2012-08-28T18:54:50","slug":"paul_ryan_and_the_battle_for_the_gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2012\/08\/28\/paul_ryan_and_the_battle_for_the_gop\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Ryan and the Battle for the GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Here\u2019s Mike in Salt Lake City. Mike, glad you waited. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Thank you, Rush. God bless you.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Love you, brother. Dittos to you. I\u2019ll keep entering the Two If By Tea<\/a> contest because I didn\u2019t win the last one. You never called.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, but there\u2019s always the next one. And, by the way, since you bring this up, we have a couple of barn burners before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Good.<\/p>\n

RUSH: A couple more sweepstakes, so hang in there. Be tough.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, that\u2019s the only way I\u2019m probably ever gonna meet you. That\u2019s my goal. You\u2019re one of my heroes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I thank you very much, sir. I appreciate that.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

CALLER: First two hours I\u2019m admittedly a little confused. Why would Romney choose Paul Ryan and then do this at the convention? Paul Ryan, like Sarah Palin four years ago, I mean they\u2019re energizing the conservative base, they couldn\u2019t contain the crowds. I thought Romney did partially at least bring conservatives along like me, but how much do you think Romney is in on what\u2019s going on and where\u2019s Paul Ryan during all of this?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, what he\u2019s talking about, the rules games that the RNC is playing right now with delegate selection at future conventions. First as to how involved Romney is, man, I don\u2019t know. All I know is that the presidential nominee is the presumptive head of their parties. Right now the Republican Party is Romney\u2019s. He runs it as has been the case since he secured the nomination. Now, how intimately involved he is in this, I wouldn\u2019t have slightest idea. But he\u2019s gotta know it\u2019s going on, and he\u2019s got to approve it, unless he has no control over his aides and they\u2019re just running around on their own. <\/p>\n

As for Ryan, Ryan\u2019s on the campaign trail. You talk about a full plate, Ryan has one of the primary responsibilities in this campaign. He\u2019s not even at the convention yet. I wouldn\u2019t expect Ryan to have anything to do with this. Maybe he is working behind the scenes after he found out about it. These are things we don\u2019t know, but he\u2019s pledged loyalty to Romney. That\u2019s what you sign on for when you are the nominee. He chose Ryan for the exact reason that you said. Look, with all of this going on, there\u2019s one thing, folks, that I have no doubt about, and that is that Romney does want to win. He\u2019s not in this as a placeholder. He\u2019s not trying to pad his resume like maybe Senator McCain was. I think Senator McCain was satisfied just to have been the nominee. And if he\u2019d have won, it would have been icing on the cake. <\/p>\n

I think Romney is in this to win it, and I also think that Romney is in this to make real substantive reforms and changes after he wins it. I don\u2019t doubt that for a minute. But this business with everybody shows up united in Tampa, and they start playing these games with convention rules while the convention is just kicking off, man, it\u2019s dispiriting to a lot of people, and it angers everybody. I wish that I could tell you more about this and explain to you why it\u2019s happening any more than I already have. I know why it\u2019s happening, and that isn\u2019t anything new. The Republican Party is not a Conservative Party at its leadership levels. It just isn\u2019t. It wasn\u2019t when Reagan became the nominee in 1980<\/a>, and it didn\u2019t become conservative when Reagan was the president for eight years. So there\u2019s nothing new here, attitudinally. What\u2019s new here is this strategy and the timing trying to implement this. Anyway, Mike, I appreciate the call. <\/p>\n

This is Kathryn in Atlanta. You\u2019re next on the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hello, Rush. I was listening to you talk about all these little negative ads that are gonna come out, and you\u2019re talking about how they\u2019re gonna play Katrina footage over and over. I hope they remember to play the snakes. There were snakes everywhere. They will probably say they\u2019re out there now. And then I hope that they show the looters, how they looted everything they could get their hands on. We\u2019re not gonna win this if we fight the way they do. Mrs. Romney, they could show that she donated a kidney and a lung while she was raising those boys. It\u2019s not gonna change the outlook of most of those people that are not even gonna vote for us. So that\u2019s all I was thinking about. I just hope you just stick to your guns.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: I have no choice but to stick to my guns, because my guns are my heart.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, you know, I think it\u2019s like we\u2019re preaching to the choir sometimes, a lot of us that listen to you, but just give us something, you know, that we can take to our —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, about that, this is a common effort, a frequently used effort by critics of this program to say that it\u2019s inconsequential. There\u2019s Limbaugh, just preaches to the choir. And then in 2002, after the midterm elections, which the Democrats thought they were going to win and were stunned — that was the Wellstone memorial — they could not believe that the Republicans gained seats in the 2002 midterms. At the time, the Senate leader for the Democrats was Tom “Puff” Daschle. And Daschle was so disconcerted and upset over the outcome that he went public with some of their research data that they normally do not divulge. <\/p>\n

And their research data showed that Democrats listen to Rush Limbaugh; and further, they do change their minds because of Rush Limbaugh. He went public with this. He was angry about it, and Daschle\u2019s favorite thing to say was, “We\u2019re concerned, Tim. We\u2019re very concerned.” And he went out at his postelection press conference and said, “I\u2019m very concerned. We\u2019ve got some very unsettling news from our experts, from our research experts.”<\/p>\n

So “preaching to the choir” does not explain the growth of this program\u2019s audience. It doesn\u2019t explain the Democrats\u2019 treatment of this program. It doesn\u2019t explain the critics\u2019 approach to me. So don\u2019t worry about that. Sure, there\u2019s a large choir here, but it expands. And the choir is made up of converts as well as people who\u2019ve always believed what they believe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Here\u2019s Mike in Salt Lake City. Mike, glad you waited. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Thank you, Rush. God bless you. RUSH: Thank you. CALLER: Love you, brother. Dittos to you. I\u2019ll keep entering the Two If By Tea contest because I didn\u2019t win the last one. You never called. 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