{"id":8505,"date":"2014-08-27T16:24:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T16:24:18","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-08-27T16:24:18","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T16:24:18","slug":"can_anybody_find_the_gop_campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/08\/27\/can_anybody_find_the_gop_campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Anybody Find the GOP Campaign?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

RUSH: There was a story — I intended to already be into my media Stack here<\/a> \u2019cause it\u2019s great, but something just struck me. I didn\u2019t go into detail on it yesterday. I intended to, I just didn\u2019t get to it. There\u2019s another thing I didn\u2019t get to yesterday. There\u2019s a bunch of polling data out, and I saved it for today, that American people and African-Americans think race relations are worse today than since Obama was elected, and even an Obama pollster is admitting this, and I\u2019ve got the sound bites. <\/p>\n

But there was another story yesterday that I touched on, spent a modicum of time on, but I didn\u2019t delve into it. That is that Larry Sabato<\/a>, who is the political scientist extraordinaire at the University of Virginia, alarmed many on the Republican side by saying (paraphrasing), “What wave? I don\u2019t see any evidence of a Republican wave election victory.” Everybody\u2019s been talking about it under the assumption that things are so bad, that people are so fed up that they\u2019re gonna automatically vote for Republicans. That they\u2019ll keep the House. That they\u2019ll pick up enough seats in the Senate to control it and maybe even blow it out. <\/p>\n

And then Sabato came along yesterday and said, “What wave? I don\u2019t see any wave.” And then that caused Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot<\/a> at National Review Online — it\u2019s a blog post — Geraghty said, “Where\u2019s the polling data on these Senate races?” There isn\u2019t any polling data out there on these Senate races. No wonder nobody\u2019s talking about the wave. The media\u2019s not doing any polling data on all of these Democrat seats in the Senate that are vulnerable. There\u2019s no polling data. That\u2019s why there\u2019s no report of a wave; the media has stopped polling it. <\/line><\/p>\n

Why would they stop polling? Because they don\u2019t want to report the results. Why wouldn\u2019t they care about that? Why wouldn\u2019t they want to report the results? Because the results apparently would not advance the Democrat agenda. You see, polling is not anything related to news. Polling is the creation of news. Polling is all part of advancing the Democrat Party agenda. Polling is designed to either uplift the psychology of the public or to depress the psychology of the public, and in our case, most polling, there are exceptions, but most reports of poll results are designed to depress you.<\/p>\n

They are designed to spirit dispirit you. They release a poll that shows you the exact opposite of what you think is going on in the country. For example, Pew did it the other day. Pew released a poll<\/a> which said that most Americans don\u2019t have the slightest problem at all with Obama playing golf so much. Doesn\u2019t bother most Americans at all. It\u2019s not even on their radar screen. <\/p>\n

Now, you\u2019re supposed to see that, and you\u2019re supposed to get depressed. And the way you\u2019re supposed to get depressed is you\u2019re supposed to say, “My God, what a dumb bunch of people in this country. They don\u2019t even care. Oh, my God, the president\u2019s checked out. He\u2019s out playing golf and they don\u2019t care?” And you\u2019re supposed to get depressed and think it\u2019s over and that you have no choice of your side prevailing or winning. <\/line><\/p>\n

Or by the same token, if they\u2019ve got some polling, if they did the poll on any of these Senate races where Democrats are vulnerable and if the polling data showed that the Democrat incumbents in heap big doo-doo, they don\u2019t want to report that poll because they don\u2019t want to depress the Democrat turnout. They don\u2019t want to psychologically attack the Democrat base, and, by the same token, they don\u2019t want to uplift you. <\/p>\n

So they\u2019re just not doing any polling. And that\u2019s why Sabato says, “I don\u2019t see any evidence of a wave.” Now, he wasn\u2019t talking about the fact there wasn\u2019t any polling; that was Jim Geraghty. But let me ask you a question about this. I have been really — and I know you have, too — profoundly frustrated and puzzled by the utter absence of any push-back by the Republican Party. There\u2019s none. We\u2019ve talked about it, and I know you are the same. I have been entirely, totally perplexed that the Republican Party has yet to take advantage of the best opportunity they\u2019ve ever had to contrast who they are with what the Democrat Party is and has become. <\/p>\n

Back in the early nineties, when I would do this show, I would talk about the Democrats and liberalism, and I would say to you in the audience, “If we don\u2019t stop it, then X is gonna happen.” It was always a theoretical warning. It was always sounding the alarm. “Hey, folks, let me tell you something. If this doesn\u2019t stop, let me tell you where we\u2019re gonna end up.” Well, we\u2019ve ended up there. We\u2019re no longer talking theory. We don\u2019t have to rely on predictions of what\u2019s gonna happen. We\u2019re living it. And yet the Republicans remain silent. The Republicans do not offer one ounce of push-back, and in many cases, such as immigration, amnesty, they attempt to glom on and seek the same position the Democrats have. <\/p>\n

So in the absence of any polling data and in the, therefore, absence of any prediction all of wave election, can you recall seeing — and maybe I\u2019m wrong, \u2019cause I don\u2019t live in every city, and I don\u2019t watch TV commercials in every city, and I don\u2019t watch local TV anyway. So I need to ask you, have you seen any commercials run by any Republican candidates or the Republican National Committee that spell out what the Republican agenda is? <\/p>\n

Have you gotten the impression, have you, by virtue of paying attention to the news and watching television, reading the newspaper, whatever, have you seen any Republican messaging? Have you seen the chairman of the RNC or anybody, potential presidential candidate, I don\u2019t care, anybody define what the Republican Party stands for at this moment? Have you heard anybody say, “We have got to stop the spending”? Have you heard any Republicans say, “We\u2019ve got to reduce the deficit,” the national debt.<\/p>\n

Have you heard any Republicans say, “We have got to continue to repeal Obamacare”? Have you heard any Republicans say, “We have got to secure the border and we have got to stop this wanton invasion of illegal alien children”? Have you heard any Republican stand up and say anything in opposition to what\u2019s going on now? Have you? I haven\u2019t. It\u2019s, to me, striking. And yet the Republicans, people talk about a wave election, how is that going to happen? Are they sitting there really believing that the only or the best thing to do is to shut up and don\u2019t become targets and let the Democrats commit harakiri and, come November, people will vote Republican automatically \u2019cause they\u2019re so fed up with the Democrats? Is that what the thinking is? <\/line><\/p>\n

Is it they are so afraid of presenting any alternative agenda, because they\u2019re gonna be attacked as racist or criticizing Obama, which means racist, are they so PTSD\u2019d that they are even wary of presenting an alternative, offering a contrast of spelling out their own agenda and what they stand for and what it will mean for the country if Republicans win the Senate? Have you seen anything that says how it\u2019s gonna change? Have you? <\/p>\n

Now, you may talk to people you know in an individual congressman\u2019s office and they may tell you, but have you seen any national messaging? Well, I haven\u2019t, either, but I just I needed to ask. As I say, I don\u2019t live everywhere, and I don\u2019t watch local TV everywhere, so I don\u2019t know what people are seeing. But I can tell you my sense is — I mean, I do omnivorous and voluminous reading, and I don\u2019t see anything that is in any way representative of a Republican agenda. I don\u2019t see anything out there that voters can see and consume that does explain to them what will change if the Republicans win, how it\u2019s gonna get better, how all of this that most everybody disagrees with is going to be brought to a halt. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s gonna change? How is it gonna be better? What are we gonna do? I don\u2019t see any of that. So the discussion that Larry Sabato brought up of a wave election and how he doesn\u2019t see any evidence of it, you may not even need polling data to explain why there is no talk of a wave election. Granted, you would need it, but you also don\u2019t see — I don\u2019t — any Republican agenda that tells voters why they should vote for Republicans, how it\u2019s gonna get better and improve. I don\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right, now. In the midterms in 2010, there also was not a coordinated Republican message or agenda. The Republicans were still in shellshock in 2010, and the midterm sweep in 2010, the Tea Party, I think that shocked everybody. They retook the House. I think it just bowled everybody away. What was interesting about it was it was a total anti-Democrat and anti-Obama vote, \u2019cause the Republicans, they didn\u2019t have an agenda.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t have a candidate that could cause people to rally around the party or him or her. It just happened. And maybe they\u2019re relying on the same thing. Maybe they\u2019re relying on just an attitude, the attitude of, “If you think you\u2019re gonna win, you\u2019re gonna win.” It\u2019s a midterm election. It\u2019s far different turnout than a presidential race. But then, on the other side of that, there\u2019s 1994 and the Contract with America.<\/line><\/p>\n

After the first two years of the Clinton administration there was a full-fledged agenda that was put forth nationwide. All those House races essentially became national, rather than local district races, and in every House Republican district, the candidate talked about what he was gonna do on these national issues. They swept. They took the House back for the first time in 40 years. <\/p>\n

But I do. I just think that there\u2019s a little bit… It\u2019s not a little bit. There\u2019s still a lot of fear about saying anything against Obama no matter what. They still think people are gonna rip \u2019em for it and blame them for it. So maybe they\u2019re just doing the Hillary thing. You know, the more she talks, the more people dislike her. The more silent she is, the better her numbers are. Maybe the GOP thinks it\u2019s the same way. <\/p>\n

But isn\u2019t it ironic? The GOP, despite everything, is still depending on the Tea Party for a huge wave victory in November.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Chris in Jacksonville, Florida. Welcome to the program, sir. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Good morning, Rush. Longtime listener, first-time caller. I\u2019ll try to be succinct. I wanted to call and say that I concurred with your opening assessment because due to my assessment, the establishment Republicans\u2019 desire is for power over improving things. They\u2019re taking conservative voters for granted because they know that voters know that they\u2019re the only choice between them and sane Democrats. They aren\u2019t trying to inspire and motivate. Romney\u2019s advisors had him play it safe, and Boehner went on a national program, Leno, and said nothing (unintelligible) conservative ideas. So they\u2019ve got a history of doing this type of thing, which is exactly what you said.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, that\u2019s the thing. They don\u2019t have a history. I mean, recent, yeah. But in the not-too-distant past, the Republicans were unafraid to present an alternative agenda and they had some people who could do it well. It is really… You might trace it to the Bush years, George W. Bush and that administration choosing not to respond to any of the criticism. But they still announced their agenda.<\/p>\n

They still were pretty public about what they intended to do. Look, there\u2019s a piece by Chris Cillizza today in the Washington Post (I think it\u2019s today) and he addresses this, and he talks about the positive implications of thinking you\u2019re going to win, specifically in midterms. If the attitude is that positive, if you think you\u2019re going to win, it has some sort of an impact on voters and sometimes it\u2019s enough to carry it. <\/p>\n

And there\u2019s also basically a Pew poll. It\u2019s not really a poll. Yeah, I guess you\u2019d have to call it a poll. It\u2019s a survey. The upshot of it is that the electorate seems to be in the identical frame of mind that they were in 2010, maybe even more so anti-Democrat than they were in 2010. So it could well be… I\u2019m not defending \u2019em. I\u2019m explaining. It could well be they see this, and they just made a calculated decision: Speaking would upset the applecart and shut up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: There was a story — I intended to already be into my media Stack here \u2019cause it\u2019s great, but something just struck me. I didn\u2019t go into detail on it yesterday. I intended to, I just didn\u2019t get to it. There\u2019s another thing I didn\u2019t get to yesterday. There\u2019s a bunch of polling data […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"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":"\nCan Anybody Find the GOP Campaign? - 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:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2014\/08\/27\/can_anybody_find_the_gop_campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Can Anybody Find the GOP Campaign? - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: There was a story — I intended to already be into my media Stack here \u2019cause it\u2019s great, but something just struck me. 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