RUSH: Let me tell you, I mentioned this yesterday, I mentioned this some time ago. There are rumblings in the Republican establishment of a brokered convention now. There is unsettledness and disquietedness in the conservative establishment, quote, unquote, in the Republican establishment, quote, unquote.

Both camps have prominent people who are unhappy with the way all of this is shaking out. And they talked about it on Scarborough’s show today on PMSNBC. For the conservative establishment it’s Newt. “Oh, no, we don’t want Newt. We gotta do something about Newt.” For the Republican establishment, they’re getting a little queasy about Romney. I think the term is brittle. That’s the term Scarborough used, that the establishment is concerned about what a brittle candidate Romney is proving to be. It’s said to be scaring the Republican establishment. It’s something I said back on January 11th, the day before my birthday. There was a Jonah Goldberg column in which he mentioned the possibility of a brokered convention, but according to Scarborough, top conservative leaders, the Republican establishment, want to keep Newt in the race so they can get a brokered convention where they can pick the nominee.

Now, the Republican elite is not conservatives. There are two different establishments that we’re dealing with here, I think, the conservative establishment, the Republican establishment. There is some overlap. But the scuttlebutt is — and it was on the “Morning Joke” show today — the scuttlebutt is keep Newt in this. Keep everybody in this. Don’t let this nomination get decided in Florida. Keep it going ’cause nobody’s happy right now. I wonder how many of you, “Yeah, yeah,” agree with that premise, “Yeah, yeah,” this is something unsettled, something not quite right here. So there’s that scuttlebutt.

Then we had the Marianne Gingrich interview last night on Nightline, and what a thud. It was a dud. And I asked a lot of people to watch this and share with me their feedback, and beyond the clip that ABC aired yesterday… this is why they didn’t air any more clips than what they gave is there wasn’t anything. I think it was kind of pathetic. I actually felt a little sorry for her. She’s being exploited, I think probably willingly, if there’s such a thing. But there wasn’t any bombshells. There was nothing new that came out of this thing last night. So the fallout, the damage, no news. I don’t think there’s gonna be anything any more damaging to Newt than there was yesterday when it all happened, when it all came out.

How many ballots were there in that convention before they settled on Gerald Ford? Well, I know, they didn’t like that process because it left the people out. It was all the power brokers, the cigar chompers — sorry — champers, (laughing) the smoke-filled room guys. I don’t know. (interruption) Too white male dominated, of course. The rich people, too white male dominated. The minorities, the average Americans, the poor, the middle class, the offended, the thirsty, the hungry, they were all left out. I think the last winning nominee produced by a brokered convention was Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, brokered convention. Yeah, on the Democrat side. That’s absolutely correct. That’s what I’m told, anyway. Subject to change, as so much always is.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, for all of you people excited out there about the possibility of a brokered convention, there’s just one thing standing in the way of that. You know what it is, Snerdley? What is the one thing that stands in the way of a brokered convention? (interruption) There aren’t any brokers! The rules are that delegates are pledged to candidates after the primaries in each state. In some states it’s winner-take-all; in some states it’s proportional. But there aren’t any brokers. Who are the brokers? Who are the people who are gonna go into the smoke-filled rooms? Who the hell smokes, anymore? We’re a nation of frigging wimps! How can you have a brokered convention with no smoke-filled rooms? How can you have a smoke-filled room with people afraid to smoke a cigar?

So the fact that you can’t smoke cigars is a reason why there won’t be a brokered convention. The fact there aren’t any brokers, it really… How many states have party leaders that could overthrow this? Who? Do you realize somebody would have to come along and say, “You know what? We are gonna throw away every rule that we have set up — and all the money that you candidates have spent under the old rules, in all these primaries, forget it. You’re not getting it back. What’s done is done.” We don’t like brokers anyway, anymore. They’re on Wall Street. Right? We hate brokers. (laughing) “It might work in Mitt’s favor.” So, anyway, what I find interesting about it is now there’s some unsettledness. It’s like Krauthammer said the other day on Fox, “You know, Mitt really can’t explain conservatism.”

Really? When did that realization hit?

Then Jonah Goldberg’s piece, “Oh, gosh, not happy out there. Oh, gee. Uh-oh.” There is this little fear out there (again, what’s the word?) that the Republican establishment is frightened at what a “brittle” candidate Romney’s proving to be. So there is some panic, and there’s panic on the conservative side. There are a lot of conservatives that are just panicked about Newt winning this, like there are conservatives ecstatic about it. (laughing) It’s like I said yesterday: “Hey, Herman, what are you doing, buddy? Nobody had any evidence. Come on back in! (laughing) Sarah? (laughing) Sarah, is it cold enough for you up there in Nome? Come on down. Governor Christie, you want to rethink this?” (laughing) There are dreams. People in the conservative Republican ranks are starting to have dreams now. Not everybody. Some are ecstatic. I don’t know.