{"id":16322,"date":"2012-03-08T17:35:42","date_gmt":"2012-03-08T17:35:42","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-03-08T17:35:42","modified_gmt":"2012-03-08T17:35:42","slug":"the_nudging_of_mitt_romney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2012\/03\/08\/the_nudging_of_mitt_romney\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nudging of Mitt Romney"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: There was a column by Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal (it\u2019s some months ago now<\/a>) and I\u2019ll never forget this piece. Henninger writes really brilliant stuff pretty consistently. And in that column some months ago, he made the observation that Mitt Romney, a good guy, was always going to have to be nudged to conservatism; was always gonna have to be nudged to the right as he navigates his way through the Republican primaries. I think Henninger has been borne out; his piece is accurate. Romney has become a better debater.<\/p>\n

But the real evidence of Henninger\u2019s — I don\u2019t know if it was desire, but certainly his prediction — came in the form of a revised tax plan that cut taxes across the board. Romney initially announced the tax cut plan. There were some people that complained that it contained the language of the left, the 99% versus the 1%. Romney reacted to it. He has also reacted, he\u2019s changed in a proper way his announced support to the minimum wage. When he did that, there were people that rose up and said, “No, no, no! The conservative position on minimum wage is not what you said,” and he changed it. Now, some people are saying this is evidence that Mitt Romney can be nudged to the right.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also evidence that he\u2019ll change his mind. And if it goes one way, it could go back in the other direction, too. And this is one of the fears that people have. So now that Romney has embraced supply-side tax policy, what\u2019s left? Well, he\u2019s promised to “Cut, Cap, and Balance” the budget. He\u2019s been pretty strong on immigration. The obvious issue is Romneycare. That\u2019s the elephant in the room for Mitt Romney, and he knows it and everybody on his team knows it. Every Republican primary voter knows it. That\u2019s a burr under the saddle for all conservatives, and Romney has been resistant to pressure to criticize his creation. That\u2019s the one thing that he has not shown any flexibility on.<\/line><\/p>\n

To that end, there are two good pieces in the Wall Street Journal that will keep the pressure on Romney. Daniel Henninger is back. Henninger traveled to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He watched Santorum<\/a> deliver a 35-minute speech that focused on the unfriendly ties between personal freedom and Obamacare. This has been Santorum\u2019s theme: Freedom and how it is at stake. Freedom as we know it, freedom as it is defined in the Constitution and our founding documents. And Santorum <\/a>is right on the money to focus on freedom and how it is being lost little by little, and in some cases by big gulps. So it\u2019s a good theme for Santorum, and these two pieces in the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Henninger writes that he watched Santorum deliver this 35-minute speech that focused on the unfriendly ties between personal freedom and Obamacare, and here\u2019s what he concluded. “Rick Santorum should stay in the race, repeating from now till summer the perverse link between the Obamacare mandate and the American idea of freedom. It looks like the best argument the GOP nominee will have for a win in November.” It resonates with Americans. It does hit Romney where he\u2019s vulnerable. On the same subject in the Wall Street Journal, Paul Gigot, who\u2019s the editorial page editor, reports on an exit poll in Massachusetts about Romneycare.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a brief excerpt of Gigot: “The exit poll asked voters their opinion of the ‘Massachusetts Health Care Law,\u2019 with the options of Did Not Go Far Enough, About Right and Went Too Far. Remarkably, 51% said the bill went too far, while only 37% said it was about right, and 6%,” a very small number, “said not far enough.” Gigot writes, “Granted these are GOP primary voters, who are largely conservatives. But the result reveals how unpopular government-mandated health care is, even in its Massachusetts birthplace. Mr. Romney says during debates that Romneycare is popular in [Massachusetts], and that\u2019s true among all voters. But the exit poll shows why the health-care bill continues to be a political liability for the former governor in the GOP primaries.”<\/line><\/p>\n

So you can see why Santorum has honed his message to focus on Romneycare, to focus on freedom. Santorum\u2019s done his homework. He has (I don\u2019t know), I guess, an intuitive feel that that\u2019s what\u2019s needed in the contest, \u2019cause he knows the American people — and the number is well over 50%, in some polls to get close to 60% — want Obamacare repealed. A vast majority of the American people understand full well what life in this country will be the moment that thing is fully implemented. They know in their collective guts that it\u2019s a freedom-killer. They know that it\u2019s going to bankrupt the country while destroying the doctor-patient relationship.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing, nothing of any consequence that is an improvement or is any good in Obamacare. Not with 2,700 pages or 2,200 pages. Not with all the times the phrase “as the secretary shall determine” is repeated in this legislation. So what Santorum has concluded is that defeating Obama and repealing Obamacare is the key to the country\u2019s survival as found. Obviously the American people want a leader they can trust and who will carry their message, fear, and anger, whatever, all the way to November. Now, if you watch the debates, it\u2019s pretty clear that Santorum appears to know it pretty well. He understands its intricacies, and he\u2019s out telling people that Romneycare is a liability.<\/p>\n

And if Romney doesn\u2019t find a way to deal with it to the satisfaction of Republican conservatives, he\u2019s gonna take body blows all the way to the nomination, convention, or what have you. Now, I don\u2019t know. People ask me how I think this is gonna turn out. And you know as well as I do. The conventional wisdom is that this is over. It\u2019s gonna go on, but it\u2019s over. The comparison I read yesterday was that Romney\u2019s winning like Dukakis did in 1988. “He\u2019s winning, but there\u2019s not any big rah-rah attached to it — and he\u2019s not winning as a strong, dominating victor but just plowing ahead.” So I don\u2019t know. Conventional wisdom is that while it\u2019s gonna go on a long time, that Romney is the nominee.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just telling you that\u2019s what the conventional wisdom is. It may well be, folks. I don\u2019t know. Time will tell. Santorum may have started his surge a little too late here. We\u2019ll see. A lot of it depends on how long Newt decides to stay in. But this is why the primaries are helpful to the party\u2019s eventual nominee. They\u2019re warned, they\u2019re told, they are shown their weaknesses. They\u2019re given the chance to learn and adjust. I\u2019ll take you back to Henninger who pointed out months ago that Romney will be forced to be nudged to the right. He\u2019ll not get there on his own, was Henninger\u2019s point. But it\u2019s been demonstrated that that kind of pressure can get Romney in that direction.<\/p>\n

Now, there is a piece that ran in The Daily Beast yesterday. Let me quote to you from it. The Daily Beast is Newsweek. It\u2019s not a conservative publication. “Consider this…” This is their statistical investigation. “[I]f Mitt wins every remaining all-or-nothing state but one, and half of the remaining proportional delegates, he would likely still fall short of the magic nomination number of 1,144…” Let me repeat that again. This is what they say The Daily Beast. If Romney “wins every remaining all-or-nothing state except one, and half of the remaining proportional delegates,” he\u2019s still gonna come up short.<\/p>\n

That “would force him to rely on unpledged delegates.” That\u2019s the Republican version of the super-delegates that Obama needed in 2008 to beat Hillary. “[T]he delegate math,” according to their calculations (this is not gonna be good news for Axelrod and the Obama fundraisers) “shows that the earliest this contest could be over is May — and the latest, Utah in late June or even August in Tampa.” They say here, “Unless Santorum, Gingrich, or Paul can be prematurely pressured out, this contest will go on. Momentum drives the storyline, but math drives the delegate count, and that may be all that matters in this year\u2019s proportional fight for the Republican nomination.”<\/p>\n

Now, that\u2019s just one take, but that\u2019s the second place that I\u2019ve seen that this thing could go on until May. I\u2019m gonna double-check on this math, find out if it\u2019s right, that if Romney wins every remaining all-or-nothing state but one and then half of the proportional delegates, he still is not over the top, then the math would be right, if it works out, it will go on to May, or maybe longer. And a lot of people, “Oh, gosh, we gotta wrap it up, Rush, with all the dirty laundry being aired.” I\u2019m not convinced of that. The longer this goes on the longer Obama can\u2019t attack our nominee because we don\u2019t have one. You\u2019ve heard \u2019em salivating over what they\u2019ve got waiting for Romney. We\u2019ve had the sound bites. This week, previous weeks, they\u2019re bragging about the opposition research they\u2019ve got on Romney. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s gonna be brutal. It\u2019s gonna be like nothing we\u2019ve ever seen. They can\u2019t wait to unleash it. They\u2019re out there saying there\u2019s no way Romney can stand up to it. But they can\u2019t deploy it until Romney\u2019s the nominee. The longer Obama is delayed, along with his sycophants in the media from attacking our nominee, the better. I also happen to agree with this notion that the longer this thing goes on and the longer it takes for the realization to sink in that conservatism is what will be the deciding factor whether we win or lose, that that\u2019s good, too. We\u2019ll see. <\/p>\n

<\/a>Now, there are of course differing points of view. One of them is Senator McCain, who was on Face the Nation on Sunday. And McCain said, (imitating McCain) “Look, the longer this goes on, the worse our chances are. I mean, I have to tell you, it makes me very, very worried about our chances to win in November the longer this goes on. I don\u2019t like it. I don\u2019t like it one bit. Full speed 360.” So both points of view there. Of course the establishment\u2019s worried about this. This isn\u2019t what\u2019s supposed to happen at all. This was supposed to be over before it started, really. Splitting the conservative vote was supposed to guarantee victory for Romney. It hasn\u2019t worked out that way. <\/p>\n

So that\u2019s the latest take on this and where we all are. These two Wall Street Journal pieces, and the Wall Street Journal you would have to say would be inclined to be in the Romney camp. You got two pieces here pointing out the big problem still remains Romneycare, being nudged to the right. No, I don\u2019t think Romney can denounce it now, he can\u2019t renounce, he can\u2019t go back. It\u2019s too late for that. So he\u2019s got a different challenge with it. What Santorum is learning is that he\u2019s got a theme now. All he\u2019s gotta do, not a multiple faceted message, but just one or two things, and one of them is freedom and Obamacare, and it\u2019s resonating.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: The longer the primaries go on, the longer Romney will have to sound conservative. Maybe it will become a habit. And I want to stress, I\u2019ve not picked anybody. Nothing\u2019s changed. None of this represents a preference or a choice. I\u2019m looking at what\u2019s out there and I\u2019m telling you what\u2019s out there, pure and simple. Nothing more. So far Romney has 52% of the delegates. He only needs 48% of the remaining delegates. It\u2019s eminently doable. The conventional wisdom is it\u2019s over, it\u2019s just gonna take some time. And that\u2019s what the math indicates. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: There was a column by Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal (it\u2019s some months ago now) and I\u2019ll never forget this piece. Henninger writes really brilliant stuff pretty consistently. And in that column some months ago, he made the observation that Mitt Romney, a good guy, was always going to have to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Nudging of Mitt Romney - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2012\/03\/08\/the_nudging_of_mitt_romney\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Nudging of Mitt Romney - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: There was a column by Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal (it\u2019s some months ago now) and I\u2019ll never forget this piece. 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