RUSH: To the phones, Sue in Irvine, California, nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. It’s a privilege to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: I’ve admired you for years, but I have to admit, I’ve got a little problem, a little question. I’m afraid that your Operation Chaos is affecting the Republican Party in a negative way.
RUSH: How so?
CALLER: Well, I realize that John McCain wasn’t your candidate, and he wasn’t my candidate. But he’s our candidate, and I think you spend too much time criticizing him and making fun of his voice, and I’m afraid you are maybe affecting Republicans who may be on the fence. You’re making him sound like he’s just like Obama, just like Hillary, and when it comes time to vote, there are going to be too many people who are gonna say, ‘Why should I bother to vote? They’re all alike.’
CALLER: Well, I understand he says some of the things that we don’t approve of, but doesn’t he ever do anything that you do approve of, that is positive? Because there’s going to come a time when we all have to make a choice at the polls, and you keep tearing him down and pointing out all the bad things that he does, and which you disagree with.
RUSH: See, I’m ‘tearing him down’ by pointing out what you just called the bad things that he does. Am I supposed to ignore those? You know, I made a speech over the weekend at a super-secret location, to a super-secret bunch of people. The speech is off the record. Since I gave the speech, I can talk a little bit about it. During the speech itself, I spoke up for conservatism, and I said to the group like I’ve said on this program, ‘I am befuddled. The Republican Party has three recent examples of how to win huge landslides and change the direction of this country: two landslides in ’80 and ’84 and taking over the House in 1994, and the party has abandoned it for whatever reason, and now we’re seeking to expand our party by becoming like liberals and Democrats.’ I said, ‘I’m an American first, a conservative second, and a Republican third.’
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: And I gave some of the criticisms to go to group of Mr. McCain that you’ve heard me give on this program. Then we all sat down and had dinner. After dinner during the Q&A some voice in the crowd when I was answering a previous question, said, ‘Get over it,’ which is essentially what you are asking me to do in a politer way.
CALLER: No. No. No, no, no, I’m not. Not at all.
RUSH: Well, there’s a… I want to finish the story. This guy said, ‘Get over it,’ and I came as close to losing it as I have in a speech to a friendly crowd. I said, ‘Get over it? You’re asking me to get over my principles! You’re asking me to get over what I think is best for this country. You’re asking me to get over what I think needs to be done, and that is liberals need to be defeated and not joined and not appeased,’ and I had my napkin in my hand and I threw it on the floor, and I sort of didn’t shout, but I was pretty loud and muttering an obscenity, and I kept going. It’s frustrating.
CALLER: I know it is.
RUSH: It’s frustrating as hell!
CALLER: Do you think that he is going to change because these things that you say?
RUSH: No! He’s 70 years old. He’s not going to change anything.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: He’s John McCain. He’s smarter than everybody. He’s not going to change anything. I’m not trying to get him to change.
CALLER: You think that the Republicans are going to go for all of this, and rush to the polls to vote for him because of all this?
RUSH: Because of all what?
CALLER: Because of the way you’re talking about him?
RUSH: No. I think if he doesn’t get Republican votes, it’s because of the way he’s talking.
CALLER: I thought we wanted to win.
RUSH: We do.
CALLER: Okay. And you say that all this is helping him.
RUSH: Uhhhh.
CALLER: You said it is.
RUSH: Well, I hope it is, in a roundabout way.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Look, let me put it to you the other way, Sue. If I were to come out and endorse Senator McCain, if I just threw my principles to the wind and came on this show tomorrow and said, ‘You know, I’ve rethought this, folks, overnight. I don’t think there’s anything better we can do. Senator McCain, he’s my guy,’ and I started singing his praises, A, I’d lose my audience, but B, all the liberal Democrats, independents who are going to vote for him would scram, if they think that I all of a sudden like him. The worst thing I could do is come out and endorse the guy. In fact I got an audio sound bite saying so. You want to hear it?
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: I want you to hear it. Let’s start with 24. This is Alexandria, Virginia.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Fox 5 Washington correspondent Patrick McGrath spoke with Edward Pritchard, a McCain classmate in high school, and Pritchard, the friend of McCain, said this about McCain.
PRITCHARD: I am more of a Democrat than I am a Republican. So if John were what Rush Limbaugh wanted him to be, I couldn’t be for him. I mean, I just can’t be for a extreme right-wing Republican, but we all know John is not. I think it makes him a much stronger candidate, his ability to get middle-of-the-road voters.
RUSH: There you have it. So, this guy who wants to vote for McCain. He’s is a Democrat.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: If I came out supporting McCain, this guy might think about it and go the other way.
CALLER: No, no. That guy probably will stay home or vote for a Democrat. He might not vote at all.
RUSH: Maybe so, but the point is he won’t vote for McCain if I turn around. If this guy thinks I’m supporting McCain, this guy is not, because he thinks I’m a far right-winger. See, this is what bugs me. We gotta go out and we win with the middle-of-the-roaders? Do you know what happens to people in the middle of the road? They get run over. You know, this whole thing is mind-boggling to me! The recipe is there for how to win with (sigh).
CALLER: We need another candidate and we’re not going to get one, so…
RUSH: No. That’s so very true.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: But you want to hear…? I’ll throw you a bone out there, Sue.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: I also told this group this Saturday night, the super-secret in the super-secret location. It’s going to be tough, because McCain’s who he is. Nobody tells him anything. Which is fine. I, by the way, have no problem with that. I don’t like all these people got advisors with 15,000 pieces of advice every day. I like a guy who knows what he’s going to do regardless of if I disagree with it or not. But he’s promised to extend the Bush tax cuts.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: He’s promised not to raise taxes.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: Promised to keep the capital gains rate where it is. We need to get that in a blood oath, no matter what. I don’t care what the calamity. Mars —
CALLER: He has to have a little help from Congress.
RUSH: Well, see? See?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Now you’ve opened a new can of worms.
CALLER: Well… (chuckles)
RUSH: But —
CALLER: That’s the way it goes. You can make all the promises in the world, but if Congress —
RUSH: No, promises. No, no, no, no, no. I’m running out of time. Let me clarify this after we come back after the break.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: If you can’t handle the truth, you’re going to go nuts here. Look at this headline: ‘GOP Looks to McCain Democrats,’ and, of course, the Republican Party is just thrilled pink here because ‘recent polling data in March suggests that McCain’s cross-party support surpasses that of either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton,’ and the Republican Party thinks that is great news, and that just makes me outraged. It just makes me livid. The Republican Party thinks it’s great we’re attracting so many Democrats.
‘Rush, are you against Democrats voting for Republicans?’
‘Yes, if they’re coming over and voting for us because our guy makes ’em think he’s one of them. If Democrats are voting for a guy who thinks he’s voting for a Democrat who calls himself a Republican, yes!’
‘But, Mr. Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, your hero, he had lots of support from Democrats.’
‘Yeah, but they came across as conservatives. They joined the Republican Party because they were conservatives, Mr. New Castrati.’
‘I don’t like that name that you call us, Mr. Limbaugh.’
‘Well, then start saying your S’s right and maybe I will stop calling you the New Castrati.’
‘You’re making fun of the way I speak now?’
‘Yes! You keep interrupting me.’
McCain is reaching out. Look, Sue in Irvine, I know you’re there. McCain is reaching out to liberals and Democrats. And it’s a damn good thing that he can win over a few of them, because every time he does that — every time he opens his mouth in a way to attract liberals and Democrats — he loses more of the Republican base. It’s not ’cause I’m saying anything. It’s because he is. If he wants to campaign on global warming to where he’s indistinguishable from Obama and Hillary, or Algore; if he wants to campaign on closing Guantanamo Bay, if he wants to campaign on punishing the oil companies, and then if he loses the presidential election if he wants to, that will be why. I assure you that if McCain wins, he will say it was because of him and his agenda. You can’t say if he wins it’s because of him but if he loses it’s because of me. (sigh) In fact, James Taranto at the Best of the Web had an analysis yesterday. It’s right on. It’s what I’ve been saying here. The way this is headed… (sigh) This is why I said going into the break, I’m depressed. Because McCain has said he’s going to hold the line on taxes. He’s gonna extend the Bush tax cuts. He’s not going to raise taxes. We need that in a blood oath, to us, to his supporters, to his base, Republicans.
But, there is this problem. Democrats may expand their majorities in the House and the Senate. Presidents like to get things done. Getting things done these days is defined by passing legislation. The Democrats are going to set the agenda on legislation, because they’ve got the majority. You got a Republican president who likes working with them. (laughter) So then we’d have to rely on a veto of any tax increase. I know that for those of you who are worried about the prices at the gas pump and the grocery store, capital gains and taxes, they don’t relate to you right now. You’re not interested in that. Capital gains tax cuts and I’m interested in it because it represents economic growth. It represents the way out of this economic malaise that people think that we’re in. But if he’s not going to veto some of their legislation… Oh, jeez, we’re screwed. It’s just not necessary. I mentioned also at this speech on Saturday night, and I’ve mentioned on this program. McCain almost quit the Republican Party in 2001. He was fed up over what happened at the South Carolina primary in 2000. He’s the one that approached John Kerry (the haughty John Kerry) about being his VP candidate in 2004. And, of course, when I say this, some people say, ‘Prove it!’ Prove it? It’s everywhere, but okay. Sidney Blumenthal may not be the best of sources for people, big Clinton operative, loyalist. Sidney Blumenthal, this guy is… Let’s just call him grassy knoll. This guy… It’s indescribable. Anyway, he was at Barnes & Noble bookstore somewhere, and said this. This is web audio. He said this about McCain.
BLUMENTHAL: Although he doesn’t want to talk to reporters about it now, there was a time — and I was privy to some of those who were, uh, involved, um, — did conduct, uh, negotiations through third parties about whether or not he would leave the Republican Party and become an independent more or less aligned in the Senate with the Democrats.
RUSH: It was happening about the time Jim Jeffords jumped — then you have 2001, 2002 — and then Blumenthal continued with this.
BLUMENTHAL: I think where Republicans as a whole, even those that are suspicious, many of them, of McCain, uh, and have been angry at him in the past, uh, are much more disciplined as party members than Democrats are. So, uh, I think Republicans, uh, will rally behind their candidate, uh, to a greater degree than people might recognize, uh, right now. So I do not think, uh, this will hurt him. And, uh, if I were advising McCain right now, I would say, uh, he’s slightly overreacting to his conservative base. I — I don’t think he needs to do that so much. I think they don’t have any choice right now.
RUSH: That’s for damn sure. There is no choice. Take your pick of the three.
(playing of McCain spoof)
RUSH: That’s ‘white comedian,’ well known ‘white comedian’ Paul Shanklin, as John McCain and Should I Stay or Should I Go?