Why Does GOP Want to Get Along?

RUSH: To the phones! Justin, 18 years old, in Las Vegas. Welcome. It’s great to have you on the program, Justin. Hi, Rush. How are you doing?

RUSH: Fine, sir, thank you.

CALLER: All right, now. I’ll just get to my question. I’m just a little aggravated on why aren’t Republican representatives standing up for conservative values against Democrats? Because the way I see it, the people who elected them elected them for the reason to speak for us. And what amazes me is no one is. No one is standing up for what I believe in or what anyone else who I talk to believes in. They’re all just being quiet because I guess.

RUSH: There are some who are standing up. I could give you some names. Most are in the House of Representatives. But I know the Republican Party does not have a single figure that stands up and represents the values, things that you think are important. I agree with you. And your question is one that a lot of people have asked. You’re 18 years old, and you have called the right place to have your question answered, why don’t…? You’re essentially saying, ‘Why are the Republicans so eager? Why does it appear they want to get along with the Democrats, right?’

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Well, the Republican Party right now is divided into (let’s just make it simple) two groups. It’s a little bit more complicated but we’ll make it two groups.

CALLER: All right.

RUSH: The one group, the people you’re talking about, the moderate Republicans. They’re called country club or blue-blood Republican, liberal Republicans. They’re not conservatives. And the other group is the conservatives in the Republican Party, and the conservatives now are fractured. In the conservative media, there’s an argument going on over what conservatism is among people. We’ve even got some of our conservatives joining the blue-bloods in trying to gain the approval and get along with Democrats, and the Democrats and the liberals in the immediate media. Now, the answers to this are psychological. They’re not political except in one way. There is a political attachment here in this answer but the main thing, it’s just psychological. Washington is a town, Justin, run entirely by Democrats in business, political and (very importantly) social. It’s being invited places, being considered part of the in crowd, not being considered an outsider. They are the dominate party, they are the people that lead and we have some weak-kneed and some linguini-spined people that want to get along with them simply because it’s easier.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: Now, the political aspect of this, even when… You’re too young to remember, but Ronald Reagan was conservative. He won two landslides. He got 58.8% of the vote in his reelection in 1984. Even then the Republicans that you are noticing today didn’t like Reagan. They didn’t have the courage to stand up and say so because they had no way… I mean, it would have been foolhardy. But they were embarrassed of him. They were embarrassed of him, thought he was a dunce and everything else. These people are more interested in losing but still sharing power than they are doing what it takes to win, because winning requires confrontation, and they don’t want that. But the real political thing here, Justin — and I’m not exaggerating this. The thing that causes the biggest fissure in the Republican Party between these blue-bloods I’m talking about and the conservatives you wish would stand up and represent you, is the issue of abortion.

Now, the issue of abortion is referred to as ‘social issues.’ The blue-bloods will say, ‘We’ve gotta get rid of these people who care about the social issues. The social issues are killing our party,’ they think. The translation of that is they think that the pro-life voter, the evangelical Christian, is the death knell of the party, and they’re embarrassed by them. They don’t like going to the Republican convention and having so many of them there. Their wives are constantly nagging them about this, and they wish their wives would shut up about abortion, just get rid of the Christians. Just get rid of the ‘social issues’ is the code word there for getting abortion out of the Republican Party platform. And that’s, in a political sense. That’s one of the primary reasons that the party is divided, and it’s considered enlightened to be a pro-choicer and understand that it’s a woman’s right to choose. And Republicans can gain a lot of friends and a lot of respect in Washington from Democrats by occupying that position. So there’s your answer. I’m happy to have been able to provide it for you. I’m glad you called.