{"id":29274,"date":"2008-05-12T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T03:50:32","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T03:50:32","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T03:50:32","slug":"want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/","title":{"rendered":"Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism!"},"content":{"rendered":"<section>\n<p>RUSH: On CNN\u2019s This Week in Politics, the host Tom Foreman was talking to Republican strategist Rich Galen, and they have this exchange about Operation Chaos.<\/p>\n<p>FOREMAN: Rush Limbaugh doesn\u2019t like Barack Obama and he always has something to say. Listen to what he was saying this week.<\/p>\n<p>RUSH ARCHIVE: We have done our part to expose Obama through our support of Operation Chaos, effectively using the Clinton campaign as our foil, and Obama and the Democrat Party are the weaker for it.<\/p>\n<p>FOREMAN: Well I don\u2019t know really in the end if the Democrats are the weaker for it, as much as Republicans may wish it, because the simple truth is what you\u2019re saying, McCain and Obama are going to be playing an awful lot on the same field, the field of the moderate, middle, the strength of the people who might go either way. That\u2019s going to be a tough battle isn\u2019t it, Rich? <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125111.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\" width=\"299\" height=\"414\" class=\"alignright\"\/>GALEN: This is a 50-50 country, and what nobody can figure out &#8212; and if they say they can, they are lying &#8212; it\u2019s a 50-50 country, and it doesn\u2019t take much to move that fulcrum and tilt it one way or the other.<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: (sighing) Pardon the sighing, ladies and gentlemen. It\u2019s just utter frustration. I love Rich Galen; I\u2019ve known him for a long time. But I really, frankly, get frustrated at all this talk, it\u2019s not 50-50, it\u2019s 40-40 with 20 in the middle. And you know the old rule of thumb in politics was for each party during the primaries, you go gangbusters here as far extreme to the left or right as you need to to get your base and get the nomination, then the old Nixon theory, and once you go to the general, you moderate and move to the center. And that\u2019s a formula, and the formula has been shown to be beaten. You can beat this formula. Now, the reason that people say that the formula is almost etched in stone, and they\u2019ll cite Reagan Democrats, for example. &#8216;Well, Rush, I mean here you had a bunch of people, Reagan Democrats, who crossed over and voted for Reagan.\u2019 That\u2019s the wrong way to look at it. Those Reagan Democrats were not undecided, they were not moderates, they were not independents, they were disaffected Democrats. They were Democrats upset at how far left the Democrat Party had gone, and they\u2019re still out there, and they\u2019re not voting for Obama in any of these primaries. They are voting for Hillary or they\u2019re voting for whoever, but they\u2019re not voting for Obama. <\/p>\n<p>Now, they are not independents. The way to attract independents is not to be independent. The way to attract moderates is not to be moderate, by definition. Again, I\u2019m sorry for the sighing. It\u2019s a sign of my frustration. But if you want to go get and win national elections, you simply articulate a clear-cut conservative agenda, and you\u2019ll pick up every one of these so-called, or enough of them, Reagan Democrats that are dissatisfied with pure, unadulterated liberalism. But you\u2019re not going to get \u2019em if you go get \u2019em by trying to be what they are, which is Democrat with a little conservative here, a little liberalism there. If those are the two choices, Democrats are going to stay with the Democrat Party. It\u2019s just that simple. So I don\u2019t know about you, but I get a little tired of hearing every year from the political pros in the Drive-Bys that all presidential elections are only about 20% of the population because that 20% of the population, the so-called independents, so-called moderates, they\u2019re the ones with all the virtue, right? They\u2019re the ones that are smarter than everybody else, they\u2019re the ones that are above everybody, and they\u2019re the ones that are not ideological, they\u2019re the ones that are not closed-minded. So you go out and you get those people. So 80% of the population is already accounted for, doesn\u2019t matter, we know 40% are going Democrat, we know 40% are going Republican, and so we all have to play around for this 20% in the middle. <\/p>\n<p>The way you go get the 20% in the middle is be rock-ribbed, staunch conservative. You contrast yourself with the members of their own party that they\u2019re already dissatisfied with. If you try to be like members of the other party and try to give them 50% of what they\u2019re getting from their own party &#8212; because I maintain that moderates and independents are Democrats. Because, by definition, if someone or some organization is not conservative, it\u2019s by definition going to be liberal, not moderate, not independent, it\u2019s going to be liberal, because liberalism is easy. Liberalism takes no intellectual application. Liberalism is all about how you feel. Liberalism is all about making yourself feel good about yourself while you don\u2019t solve diddly-squat. Liberalism is all about thinking you\u2019re better than everybody else. Liberalism is all about thinking you\u2019re smarter than everybody else. Liberalism is all about ignoring every failure of liberalism and asking instead for your good-hearted intentions to be examined and credited. <\/p>\n<p>So, by definition, these people are not moderates and independents. They\u2019re quite something else. You can attract them and get them because they\u2019re not that committed. All they need is a little leadership. All they need is a little guidance, confident, bravado, positive optimism, American exceptionalism. They want to hear about how great their country is. Most people don\u2019t want to hear how rotten we are. Most people don\u2019t want to hear what a sad-sack nation we are. Most people do not want to hear that we are to blame for every ill and bit of evil in the world. There are some that do, and those are rock-ribbed liberals and you\u2019re never going to get them. But don\u2019t cater to them; try to pick off a few of them here there. They are to be defeated. Anyway, I don\u2019t know what that\u2019s got to do with Operation Chaos, this 50-50 business, or 40-40 business, whatever it is. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RUSH: On CNN\u2019s This Week in Politics, the host Tom Foreman was talking to Republican strategist Rich Galen, and they have this exchange about Operation Chaos. FOREMAN: Rush Limbaugh doesn\u2019t like Barack Obama and he always has something to say. Listen to what he was saying this week. RUSH ARCHIVE: We have done our part [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"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":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism!  - 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:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism!  - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: On CNN\u2019s This Week in Politics, the host Tom Foreman was talking to Republican strategist Rich Galen, and they have this exchange about Operation Chaos. FOREMAN: Rush Limbaugh doesn\u2019t like Barack Obama and he always has something to say. Listen to what he was saying this week. RUSH ARCHIVE: We have done our part [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125111.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125111.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125111.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/\",\"name\":\"Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism! - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-19T03:50:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-19T03:50:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism!  - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism!  - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: On CNN\u2019s This Week in Politics, the host Tom Foreman was talking to Republican strategist Rich Galen, and they have this exchange about Operation Chaos. FOREMAN: Rush Limbaugh doesn\u2019t like Barack Obama and he always has something to say. Listen to what he was saying this week. RUSH ARCHIVE: We have done our part [&hellip;]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125111.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125111.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125111.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/","name":"Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism! - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2011-05-19T03:50:32+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-19T03:50:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/12\/want_independent_and_moderate_votes_articulate_conservatism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Want Independent and Moderate Votes? Articulate Conservatism!"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}