{"id":4298,"date":"2016-02-02T19:16:43","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T19:16:43","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2016-02-02T19:16:43","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T19:16:43","slug":"rubio_is_not_an_establishment_moderate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/02\/02\/rubio_is_not_an_establishment_moderate\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio Is Not an Establishment Moderate"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

RUSH: I have to say one thing, one more thing, one more time. I do not like — and I\u2019ve got a Reuters story: “Marco Rubio Emerges Champion of Battered Republican Establishment.<\/a>” Another Reuters story, headline: “Republican Cruz Calls Iowa Win a Victory for Conservative Grassroots<\/a>.” I do not like, speaking for myself, I don\u2019t like this idea that Marco Rubio is all of a sudden being labeled as an establishment candidate. <\/p>\n

I know that Rubio\u2019s got the baggage of that Gang of Eight bill and I know that in many people\u2019s minds he\u2019s got the baggage of wanting to grant the current number of illegals citizenship. I understand that. But Marco Rubio is no moderate Republican centrist. I could sit here like anybody else could and try to make explanations for you for why he did the Gang of Eight. I\u2019m not even gonna try to put words into his mouth. I don\u2019t want to be seen as making excuses. I\u2019m just telling you, I don\u2019t see Marco Rubio as anything other than a legitimate, full-throated conservative. Nobody\u2019s pure, and nobody is ever free of making mistakes. <\/line><\/p>\n

I know Senator Rubio. It\u2019s like I was telling you last week: I know these people. I know that Senator Rubio in the Senate… In many ways, he agrees with Cruz about things. He\u2019s worn out with the Senate. The Senate… I heard this from Allen West when he left the House. I\u2019ve heard, “The incumbents, that\u2019s all they care about is being reelected. You go there to make a difference and you run into brick wall after brick wall after brick wall.” I don\u2019t think… You know, Rubio, I don\u2019t think he wants to stay there 30 years to break through the wall to get a committee chairmanship or whatever. <\/p>\n

I just don\u2019t like this idea that all of a sudden we\u2019re gonna make Rubio the establishment bad guy, as though Rubio is no different than the McCains and the Bob Doles and the Romneys and the others that have come along and been nominated by the establishment. He just isn\u2019t. He has not been talked out of his conservatism. He does not abandon it. He had the best end-of-the-evening speech of anybody last night. He had the best end-of-the-evening speech of anybody. And even the media was dazzled by the fact that he did it without a teleprompter. <\/p>\n