{"id":383653,"date":"2021-02-26T16:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T21:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=383653"},"modified":"2021-03-01T16:46:13","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T21:46:13","slug":"rushs-analysis-of-his-cpac-speech-was-the-best-analysis-of-his-cpac-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2021\/02\/26\/rushs-analysis-of-his-cpac-speech-was-the-best-analysis-of-his-cpac-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Rush\u2019s Analysis of His CPAC Speech Was the Best Analysis of His CPAC Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

TODD: We played this clip twice of Ron DeSantis briefly honoring<\/a> Rush at CPAC, a beautiful statement from Governor DeSantis, who\u2019s done an incredible job as governor. So, here\u2019s the Maha himself, remembering this decades-ago CPAC speech<\/a> where he talked about going beyond policies to persuade and speaking about our principles.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"RUSH AT CPAC: 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?<\/p>\n

CROWD: (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\u2019d 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,” 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?” “Okay, they say we need a health care bill? Fine. We disagree with yours; we\u2019ll do our own.”<\/p>\n

Why? Did we come up with the idea of a health care bill on our own or are we reacting? 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

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. 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. In fact, the real beginning of this was I remember when I really idolized George Will and William Buckley.<\/p>\n

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 when the family\u2019s gone it to bed and you ever take stock and feel proud about what you\u2019ve done and the influence you\u2019ve had?”<\/p>\n