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RUSH: Joyce in Pittsburgh. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hello — and Steeler dittos to you, too, Mr. Rush.

RUSH: Thank you very much.

CALLER: Something was bothering me listening to, you know, both yourself and other commentators talking about how the Republican Party is being warned against going after Obama. We had that same problem in the 2008 election. McCain wouldn’t go after him, wouldn’t attack Reverend Wright, wouldn’t attack Bill Ayers. Where does it get us? Sarah Palin wanted to go after him with a heartbeat. She was ready. (chuckles)

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: And where did it get us? We need someone that’s not afraid to go after, be we need a Michele Bachmann or a Rick Santorum, heaven to Betsy. (chuckles)

RUSH: Well —

CALLER: I think with that kind of zealous reaction, bring him down! (chuckles)

RUSH: Well, your complaint needs to be registered with the Republican establishment. I mean McCain wouldn’t even say Obama’s middle name. Now, I’m gonna tell you: Fear is the biggest killer that’s out there, and the Republican Party runs around in fear, and they run around in a constant mode of defense. Like I have been saying this week: Nobody ever won anything defending it.

CALLER: No. I mean, we’ve gotta take it to ’em, and that’s the —

RUSH: I think know I know the vote —

CALLER: — thing Herman Cain was going after.

RUSH: Well, but look, you remember, it was just last week where Yahoo News somehow got an invitation to a conference call the Republican National Committee was having with a polling group, I think the Tarrence Group, and they were seeking advice on how best to go after Obama. The Tarrence Group, the polling group said, “Don’t attack Obama personally! He’s personally very well liked. In fact, people even feel sorry for him.” But where this really stems, where this really comes from is the idea that every election is won by whichever party gets a majority of the precious undecideds, the independents.

Here’s the rule of thumb: 40% of people vote automatically vote Democrat, 40% of the people who vote automatically vote Republican. So both parties figure by default they’re gonna have their base. By default their base is gonna vote for ’em. They can test the 20%. Now, the consultants who live for this — this is their life, they make their living advising candidates — they all sell themselves on the basis that they know how best to get a majority of the independents. So, year after year, cycle after cycle, candidates who turn over their campaigns to these experts, the consultants, believe it. Romney said so! Romney said it yesterday. We played the sound bite.

Now, this is all fine and dandy, except, if you don’t shore up your base, if you don’t get all of your assumed base (your 40%) then you could get all the independents, and you are still up a tree. The fastest way to lose the Republican base is to insult them, to take ’em for granted, or to make it sound as though you really aren’t one of them. I think there’s a big danger here — and the Republicans, you know, your specific complaint: Republicans have been told over and over, they believe it, that criticizing Obama, the independents don’t like it. They hate it and they’re gonna make tracks fast to the Democrat candidate, and they believe it. That’s why McCain wouldn’t criticize him. It’s maddening, because it’s so wrong, but that’s what they believe.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I just sent the video clip up to Cookie. It’s from the New York Times, the headline: “Romney Warns of Nominating ‘ZanyÂ’ Gingrich — Mitt Romney is sharpening his warning to Republicans about the consequences of nominating Newt Gingrich, declaring in an interview on Wednesday: ‘Zany is not what we need in a president. Zany is great in a campaign. ItÂ’s great on talk radio. ItÂ’s great in print, it makes for fun reading,’ Mr. Romney told The New York Times. ‘But in terms of a president, we need a leader, and a leader needs to be someone who can bring Americans together.'” We don’t need zany. Yep, zany is great in a campaign; zany is great on talk radio; it’s great in print, makes fun reading, but it’s not good in a president. We don’t need zany in a president. That’s Romney. And the New York Times, of course, is gleeful to report this.

Mark in Pennington, New Jersey. Welcome to the EIB Network. Great to have you here, sir. Hi.

CALLER: Hey, Rush, how are you?

RUSH: Very well. Thanks very much.

CALLER: Yeah, my point real quick is that I’m one who’s supporting Newt right now but I’m waiting for Rick Perry to show up.

RUSH: Well, you know, a lot of people are. It’s been discovered that Perry had back surgery not long before he entered the campaign and that it affected him in the debates, it was distracting, he was in a lot of pain. It’s not Perry making a big deal out of this. He’s not offering it up as an excuse, and it’s not being widely reported, but there are a lot of people, there are a lot of people — and I’ll tell you, by the way, as this Newt and Romney thing disintegrates, and that’s what’s happening, it’s deteriorating, it is. And we’re learning all kinds of things. Newt came out today and I’d forgotten this, that at one point had said wonderful things about Andy Stern, in a book.

Andy Stern, SEIU Union Leader, wrote the piece in the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago how great China is. Newt Gingrich wrote praising the forward thinking of a guy like Andy Stern, just loved him. Newt Gingrich did that, just like he sat on the couch with Pelosi, Newt Gingrich wrote favorably of Andy Stern of the SEIU. I’m not making it up, yeah, I’ve got it here in the stack somewhere. Absolutely did, and we had the sound bite from Romney, “I’m not a partisan Republican, I’m a moderate.”

I guarantee you there are a lot of people who hope somebody like Rick Perry comes back alive or hope that something happens in the Hawkeye Cauci that would launch Santorum or Bachmann. I guarantee you, there’s a lot of people saying the same thing either about one of the three. And there’s also a lot of fear that Ron Paul’s gonna win Iowa on the basis that he’s out there saying he wants to cut a trillion dollars from the budget. And people are ignoring the tinfoil hat foreign policy this guy’s talking about. They’re ignoring that for now. So, folks, this is nowhere near over. I know the polls make it look like it’s a two man race, but it isn’t yet. We have not had a single vote cast.

It was in Newt’s book, Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works, Gingrich praised Andy Stern. I don’t know what the date of the book is. But what he said was, “Andy Stern, the head of the Service Employees International Union is the union leader who probably best understands the challenge of the world market and the need to make American union members productive in the face of world competition. Sadly, he is a distinct minority among union leaders.” Newt wrote that about Andy Stern, who is a communist. Newt wrote it in his book. This is a classic — it’s like Romney saying, (paraphrasing) “Oh, yeah, world’s getting a warmer, and, oh, yeah, I believe people are responsible for it.” That’s what I meant. Maybe disintegrating or deteriorating is the wrong term to describe what’s happening, but both these guys, Romney and Newt are being flushed out in the course of the campaign here. It’s why I said yesterday, Santorum, Bachmann, Perry are all out there, and a lot of people are hoping that one of them, second chance, catches fire. It was the same book where Newt said that FDR was one of the greatest American presidents.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, one thing about this Andy Stern business: Newt’s aides have made it clear that Newt now realizes he got the wrong impression about Stern and that he disagrees with him very strongly. Now, that’s what they’re saying. Newt didn’t realize it. He got fooled. He got the wrong impression about Stern. Stern coulda lied to him totally when they met, but it’s still a problem. I know. It’s still a problem. Why do you sit on the couch with Pelosi? This is a problem that Newt always has, and it’s this book (the book came out 2009). It’s this book that he said FDR was the greatest president twentieth century — and Reagan was president in the twentieth century. Ronald Reagan was also president twentieth century, but Newt says FDR was the greatest president maybe ever. I’m not sure the characterization. Certainly the twentieth century. Then Mitt’s out there. We have the Mitt quote. We have it. We have the audio now. This is the interview in the New York Times where Mitt’s talking about “zany.”

ROMNEY: Zany is not what we need in a president. Uh, zany is great in a campaign. Uh, it’s great on, uh, — on talk radio. It’s great in the print. It, uh, makes for fun reading. Um, but in terms of a president, we need a leader, and a leader needs to be someone who can bring Americans together.

RUSH: Yeah. So there you have it: “Zany is great on talk radio”. A swipe there, wouldn’t you say? A little swipe at talk, a little swipe at print. I think he threw the print in just so he wasn’t being accused of focusing only on talk radio. Here’s Randy in Dallas. Randy, it’s great to have you on the EIB Network, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush. Longtime listener. I actually started listening to you when I was riding around with my granddad as a kid.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: We just moved to Dallas. My wife had looked for a job for probably seven months, and finally a job opened up, probably no thanks to Obama. But just looking at the candidates that we have today, I’m 32 years old. I feel like, you know, Romney is kind of like the counselor that you can never get an answer and it’s always your fault. He seems like he’s doing it for the better of you and not for the better of the country is the way he comes off to me, and then we have Gingrich that he just seems like he’s whatever way. Like he takes his finger out and licks it and waits for the breeze to determine his answer.

RUSH: You think Newt’s a populist?

CALLER: At first when I first watched the debates, I really liked Gingrich. You know, he had an answer for everything. But then the more research I’ve done the more it really depends on which way the wind’s blowing that day. That depends on which way he goes.

RUSH: All right, well, you’re describing a populist. Mitt describes him as “zany.” I want to know, by the way: Who on talk radio is zany? Who’s he talking about? Who’s “zany” on talk radio? Clowns are zany.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I am not jamming or ripping on Newt! I’m simply saying what’s out there. People just… Folks, this is why I don’t endorse people early. I really don’t.

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