{"id":3954,"date":"2016-03-11T17:45:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T17:45:23","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2017-06-21T11:19:39","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T15:19:39","slug":"endorsements_drown_out_the_debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/03\/11\/endorsements_drown_out_the_debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Endorsements Drown Out the Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, man and what a day this is gonna be! I can just sense it. I mean, we\u2019re literally loaded with exciting things here to talk about. I can\u2019t wait to get into all of it. I don\u2019t know what to start with first. But whatever it is that interests you, hang on, because we will get to it today before this program expires in three hours. Telephone number, 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program, and the e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com.<\/p>\n

Open Line Friday means rank amateur callers can talk about whatever they want to talk about. That\u2019s the career risk. Lovable rank amateur callers. Okay, the two endorsements. National Review has officially endorsed Ted Cruz<\/a> this morning, and their piece, their editorial endorsement, is posted at National Review Online or soon will be; I think it\u2019s out now. And I think I got word that Phyllis Schlafly and Ed Martin (who is the president of the Eagle Forum) will endorse Donald Trump today at a noontime rally in St. Louis.<\/p>\n

<\/a>I don\u2019t know if Trump\u2019s gonna be there or not. (interruption) What debate? (interruption) There was a debate last night? I didn\u2019t know there was a debate. I saw the Trump press conference this morning where Ben Carson and — there was a debate last night? Really? Well, whatever happened in the debate last night, it\u2019s old news because Carson endorsed Trump today and he was all over TV for an hour. Again, Trump hijacks cable news for yet another hour after the debate last night with the Carson endorsement today.<\/p>\n

Now, there are a lot of people, folks… You can\u2019t win for losing if you\u2019re these guys. The debate last night was civil, and the media was disappointed. They were unhappy. They expected Cruz and Rubio to go for broke and maybe even Kasich, although I don\u2019t know what kind of expectations there were. But this was it for Rubio. “You gotta go for broke! You gotta go in there and practically do everything but fisticuffs,” and nothing happened. It was perhaps one of the most substantive debates yet, and it did not surprise me at all.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re Cruz, and if you\u2019re Rubio, and you have any ability to look at recent history, you have to understand one thing: Going after Trump or going after his supporters — trying to tell his supporters they\u2019re making a mistake — is not the way to do this. Hello, Mitt Romney. How did that work out for \u2019em? Romney gives a nationwide speech saying that Trump is this or that — reprobate over here, reprobate over there, lying skunk. He doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about, he has no experience, he\u2019s a rascal, he\u2019s coarse, he\u2019s not presidential.<\/p>\n

What happened with that?<\/p>\n

And Ted Cruz unfortunately said something that he\u2019s walking back about Trump voters being low-information. I know what he was trying to say. But he\u2019s walking it back. We\u2019ve had Rubio try his turn going after Trump and Trump voters in the debate. How did that work out for \u2019em? It didn\u2019t. National Review with a full issue devoted to warning people about Trump<\/a> and how you people supporting Trump make a huge mistake and you better change your mind. You better change your mind now. Trump\u2019s stupid.<\/p>\n


\nHe doesn\u2019t know anything, and he\u2019s worse than somebody doesn\u2019t know anything \u2019cause he thinks he knows everything. It\u2019s a risk the country can\u2019t afford, they\u2019ve thrown everything, and it hasn\u2019t done anything but maybe solidify Trump\u2019s support. I just… I think they realized last night or during the day yesterday before last night that you don\u2019t take Trump\u2019s votes away by criticizing him. The media desperately wanted this. The media wanted the fight after all of this.<\/p>\n

You know, and you can\u2019t win with \u2019em. When they get the fight — when you get the small hands, you get all that stuff — they whine and moan about how unpresidential it is and what a disappointment is. Then we get a solid, substantive debate… Well, I have to tell you. I think even Kasich made a couple of good points last night. I think Kasich made his case for postmaster general unlike I have ever heard anybody do it. Rubio was on fire. You know, I watched Rubio last night.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking, “Man, if you just would not have gotten sucked into that Gang of Eight, \u2019cause you\u2019re never gonna live that down.” But that performance of Rubio\u2019s last night was one of his best. Ted Cruz was on fire and once again demonstrated that there isn\u2019t anybody with a more commanding presence and knowledge of the issues, and particularly the things that need to be fixed, the directions that need to be changed, the reasons this country\u2019s in trouble. Cruz was just on fire. And, of course, Trump got his accolades.<\/p>\n

Because he apparently (according to Luntz focus group afterward) appeared presidential, didn\u2019t insult anybody, didn\u2019t attack anybody. So when you look at all four performances, it was solid. I thought last night was a tremendous example of the potential of the Republican Party. And even Trump with his opening remarks about, you know, to the Republican establishment or whoever, you know, be open to what\u2019s happening here.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Again, a reminder: A couple of endorsements today: National Review with a big endorsement of Ted Cruz, and Phyllis Schlafly and Ed Martin of the Eagle Forum have endorsed Trump. They will do so in St. Louis. In about, I guess, an hour or an hour and a half. Trump is due there for a rally. So he must have finished up with Carson. The Carson endorsement happened last night, made official this morning. They did a one hour press conference, hijacked cable news again, making the debate old news. That\u2019s not accidental that these people have that sensitivity.<\/p>\n

I mean, they know very well the media is gonna stop everything to cover \u2019em. So this endorsement with Carson has probably been planned for a while. If nothing else, it\u2019s an insurance policy against a bad debate performance. If you do a bad debate performance, go out, say, “Big news!” Carson, who you\u2019ve insulted, is gonna do a 180 and endorse you. That will start a brand-new news cycle. Leave the debate out of it. That becomes brand-new news and the debate becomes old news. This is not accidental. There are…<\/p>\n

You know, Trump himself or somebody up there, I mean, they\u2019re playing the media like Stradivarius. They just are. You know, folks, can I tell you something else? For all of you people trying to understand that, do not discount that. These people that are fed up with NAFTA and trade and trade deals and unfairness, the Trump supporters? They\u2019re sick and tired of losing to the media, too. They are fed up with getting skunked — with their guys, their party, getting skunked. Be they conservatives or Republicans.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re embarrassed, and they\u2019re tired of the media just — without very much effort — being able to destroy things they believe in, destroy people they believe in. Here comes Trump playing the media like a Stradivarius. Don\u2019t discount that as a factor. (interruption) No, no, no, no. I\u2019m just explaining. Can I not explain something without being accused of something? All I\u2019m doing is explaining.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I want to get to the audio sound bites from the debate last night… No, I take it back. The debate didn\u2019t happen. Well, it did, but it doesn\u2019t matter. Debate\u2019s old news because Ben Carson and Trump appeared today at Mar-a-Lago where Carson made it official that he was endorsing the Trumpster.<\/p>\n

CARSON: Some people said, “But, well, you know, he said terrible things about you; how can you support him?” Well, first of all, we buried the hatchet. That was political stuff. And, you know, that happens in American politics. The politics of personal destruction and all that is not something that I particularly believe in or anything that I get involved in. But I do recognize that it is a part of the process. We move on because it\u2019s not about me; it\u2019s not about Mr. Trump. It\u2019s about America. And this is what we have to be thinking about. I have found, in talking with him, that, you know, there\u2019s a lot more alignment philosophically and spiritually than I ever thought that there was.<\/p>\n