{"id":37684,"date":"2011-03-08T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T23:57:55","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-02-26T12:45:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T17:45:44","slug":"cpac_speech_principle_not_policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2011\/03\/08\/cpac_speech_principle_not_policy\/","title":{"rendered":"CPAC Speech: Principle, Not Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
RUSH: This is my CPAC speech, February 28, 2009. I mentioned this yesterday, and I want to revive it today. I told the crowd, the assumed throng, that we\u2019re gonna hamstring ourselves if all we do is stay focused on policy.RUSH ARCHIVE: From the standpoint of what we have to do, folks, this is not about taking a policy or a process that the Democrats have put forward and fighting over it around the edges. If we\u2019re gonna convince the minds and hearts of the American people that what\u2019s about to happen to them is as disastrous as anything in their lives in peacetime, we\u2019re gonna have to discuss philosophy with them. We are going to have to talk about principle. Because our principles are not present in what\u2019s happening here. So where the hell do we go to compromise what we believe in when our principles are not theirs; our principles are just the opposite of what is happening? (applause)<\/p>\n

RUSH: I was in a longer rant here about this whole notion that everything focuses on policy. And remember, now, at this point in time we just got shellacked and I\u2019m the only guy not willing to cave and give in and try to get along and mitigate the damage. I\u2019m out there saying, ‘I hope he fails,\u2019 and everybody\u2019s having a cow over that. And I\u2019m saying, ‘Why do we accept their policy premise and then negotiate around the edges? Why do we accept that there must be a health care bill?\u2019 Okay, they say we need a health care bill. ‘Fine. We disagree with you, we\u2019ll do our own.\u2019 Why? Did we come up with the idea of a health care bill on our own or are we reacting?<\/p>\n

Same thing with all the other policies. So if we get caught up in policy, they\u2019re gonna win all the time because they\u2019re the ones that have this never-ending policy agenda, — and we\u2019re always gonna be on the defensive. And where do our principles and where does our philosophy tie in when all we\u2019re doing is discussing policy after policy after policy.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Newport Beach, Florida, and John. Hello, sir. You\u2019re next.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Rush, it\u2019s good to talk to you. Longtime listener, first-time caller.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.<\/p>\n

CALLER: The problem with (unintelligible) attack is policies \u2019cause he can change his policies in a second. I mean it gives him much too much wiggle room. He can do whatever he wants to do. He can say whatever he wants. He can be whatever anybody wants him to be.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, there is that, there is that.<\/p>\n

CALLER: The approach needs to be assessing his character. I would love to see someone set up a website and the message should just be, ‘Obama lies\u2019 and put on there every lie he has made in the last two or three years.<\/p>\n

RUSH: There may not be the bandwidth necessary to —<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re right —<\/p>\n

RUSH: — handle the website —<\/p>\n

CALLER: — I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER: One thing about this financial process that we\u2019re in, any time you choose to politicize a financial process, you ensure a deficit right off the bat. So this thing\u2019s got to be stopped. This debt process is continuing to really enslave our children in the future —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, I know. But, remember, now, it\u2019s all Bush\u2019s fault, and it\u2019s Republican Congress\u2019 fault, and it\u2019s Khadafy\u2019s fault. Do you believe that gasoline prices are Khadafy\u2019s fault? Honest to God, you read the State-Controlled Media and gas prices are expected to fall when the Khadafy situation is resolved one way or the other. By the way, the Saudis, God love \u2019em, our friends the Saudis can\u2019t make up the difference in Libyan oil that\u2019s lost because it\u2019s two completely different grades. Libyan oil, I believe, is the light sweet crude, high quality. The Saudis\u2019 is not of that type. So it\u2019s not a zero-sum game where the oil is concerned.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Alan in Louisville. It\u2019s great to have you on the program, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Rush, you talked about courage earlier. What frustrates me the most is why do we have wimpy candidates that will not tell it like it is? And, frankly, I don\u2019t understand why, because I don\u2019t understand what they\u2019re afraid of. You have the most popular radio show, Fox News is the popular network, Bill O\u2019Reilly has the most popular —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait, I explained all this this week: Getting an audience is a lot different than getting votes. You cannot get votes from people that hate you. People that hate you will watch you, will listen to you. You gotta keep giving the haters a reason to hate you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: But the polls all show that the country is center-right, and in my opinion probably more right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I understand that.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Democrats, when they campaign, they campaign to the right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I understand that.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Why do we campaign to the left? I don\u2019t… It just frustrates me to no end.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I wouldn\u2019t say they were campaigning to the left. What we\u2019re talking about this week is the people you\u2019re calling wimps (I\u2019m not gonna call \u2019em wimps) think it\u2019s safer to focus on policy differences rather than talk about philosophy. See, I think ideology ought to be part of a campaign. I just do. I just do.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I agree, a hundred percent.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019m not ashamed to be conservative. I\u2019m not ashamed to say I\u2019m a Reaganite. I\u2019m not ashamed to say that I am a constitutional conservative. But… (interruption) No, I\u2019m not a wimp. I\u2019m not saying these guys are wimps. I\u2019m saying that they\u2019ve got a strategy. They all, I think, believe Obama — we talked about the this today — is a universally popular, loved, liked guy. They think it\u2019s not gonna be productive to go after somebody who\u2019s well liked. My whole point is, he\u2019s not well liked, and he\u2019s not warm and cuddly. He\u2019s a cold, calculating guy. You know, and the mainstream media still gigantic. When you add up every newspaper in this country, and every local television station, they\u2019re still gigantic compared to Fox News.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been discussing all week, Alan, is the belief here that policy differences need to be the focus, from the current crop of candidates. They think that\u2019s the best way to go about it. ‘Obama\u2019s policies have led to current economic circumstances and will lead to even worse economic circumstances. Obama\u2019s policies will cause America\u2019s influence in the world to shrink. Obama\u2019s policies are causing a vast reduction of American exceptionalism, and more of it is going to,\u2019 blah, blah, blah. They just think that\u2019s the most effective way to communicate. (interruption)<\/p>\n

All right, a question here from the official program observer. What…?<\/p>\n

(interruption)<\/p>\n

Mmm-hmm. Snerdley wants to know if any of the current crop came to my defense during the flap over ‘I hope he fails.\u2019 No. But, Snerdley (sigh), nobody in politics did. A few media people did on our side, but nobody in politics came to my defense. I\u2019m sure they were sweating that out. I mean, they were sweating bullets on that. I guarantee you they were thinking, ‘Aw, jeez, what is he saying this for? Why is he creating this problem for us?\u2019 I\u2019m sure that\u2019s what the political class was saying that. (interruption) I don\u2019t think, Snerdley, that too many of those people even today think it was the right way to go about it. I don\u2019t believe… (interruption) I\u2019m dead serious.<\/p>\n

I think most in the political class today do not think it was, and probably still wish I hadn\u2019t said, ‘I hope he fails,\u2019 and most of them would not certainly pick up the banner. I could be wrong, but theirs is a different job than this one is, and I am the first to understand this. Getting votes is a far different prospect than getting an audience for a media program. (interruption) No, Snerdley, they don\u2019t think that! You know… (sigh) Here\u2019s what I\u2019m hearing, folks, in the IFB that you can\u2019t hear. Snerdley is saying my claim that I hope he fails is what was the icebreaker and opened up the avenue for the rest of our party to start criticizing him. (groans)<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how to say this. I don\u2019t quite know how to say this. See, I don\u2019t want to burst your bubble, but that\u2019s not at all how they look at that, nor do they look at me that way. They don\u2019t. The guys I\u2019m talking to do not look at me as an ally. They look at me as — and not just me. I think a lot of the conservative media. They don\u2019t look at me as an ally. They look at me as… (sigh) ‘Eh, keep that out of our way. How do we keep that out of our way?\u2019 It\u2019s not personal. I don\u2019t take any of it personally. One thing I have learned over the course of my life — not just in this career, but as a human being, one thing I\u2019ve learned — is you have to be honest about who you are.<\/p>\n

In fact, the real beginning of this was I remember when I really idolized George Will and William Buckley. When I first got a chance to meet them, I\u2019m sitting at home not having yet met them, and wondering about them, and I got a chance to talk to \u2019em, I asked them — \u2019cause I had my own impressions of them as being crucially important to the formulation of opinion in the country; having a great, great impact on policy events and so forth; and I remember, I asked them — about it. I asked George Will first. ‘Do you ever sit at home late at night, family\u2019s gone it to bed and you ever take stock and feel proud about what you\u2019ve done and the influence you had?\u2019<\/p>\n

And Will just pooh-poohed that, made it sound like it was sort of a silly question and said, ‘I don\u2019t think of myself like that at all! I\u2019m thinking about what I have to do tomorrow,\u2019 and Buckley didn\u2019t say that exact thing, but it was somewhat similar. I have people asking me that now — or, if they don\u2019t ask me, they treat me that way. And I do not think of myself that way. I think that most people out there look at me as a necessary evil. You know, I\u2019m there, and there\u2019s nothing they can do about it; so I\u2019m someone they have to maneuver around and accommodate for and allow for, but not be guided by. Certainly not! Ain\u2019t no way. I don\u2019t want to burst your bubble because you\u2019re sitting in there thinking that\u2019s how I\u2019m viewed by everybody out there.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that way. (interruption) It\u2019s not. It isn\u2019t that way. You gotta be honest about who you are. I don\u2019t care who you are and what you do for a living, whatever, you\u2019ve got to be honest with yourself about who you are. Who was it? Clint Eastwood! After he just shot somebody one of spaghetti westerns, he said, ‘A man\u2019s gotta know his limitations.\u2019 You can\u2019t… If you\u2019re gonna sit around and lie to yourself about how big you are and how important you are, you are headed for the biggest wake-up call that could crush you psychologically that you could ever face. That\u2019s why I have to laugh.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I kinda laugh at these people like… (sigh) You can tell. I don\u2019t care who it is, you can tell when somebody\u2019s really full of themselves and really thinks that they\u2019re ‘the cat\u2019s meow,\u2019 as my mom used to say. Then you realize their audience might be 500,000 people, and in the big scheme of things, nobody has ever heard of them, much less cares. But they\u2019re sitting there telling themselves how big and important they are. They\u2019re just living a lie. I\u2019ve always tried… (interruption) It was Magnum Force! That was the Dirty Harry series. It was not the spaghetti westerns. It was Magnum Force. Yeah, Eastwood as Dirty Harry.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: This is my CPAC speech, February 28, 2009. I mentioned this yesterday, and I want to revive it today. I told the crowd, the assumed throng, that we\u2019re gonna hamstring ourselves if all we do is stay focused on policy.RUSH ARCHIVE: From the standpoint of what we have to do, folks, this is not […]<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCPAC Speech: Principle, Not Policy - 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\/2011\/03\/08\/cpac_speech_principle_not_policy\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"CPAC Speech: Principle, Not Policy - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: This is my CPAC speech, February 28, 2009. 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