RUSH: You are listening to the sound of one man thinking. Me. Your guiding light, Rush Limbaugh, America’s Real Anchorman, America’s Truth Detector, show prep for the rest of the media and general all-round good guy here at the Excellence in Broadcasting Network and another busy broadcast day straight ahead.
Golly gosh, folks, I love it. All heck is breaking out in Michigan. You’ve got Santorum doing his own Operation Chaos. You’ve got the Democrats doing their own Operation Chaos. Everybody is making a move to get the Democrats to vote in Michigan. Romney… (laughing) I gotta be very careful here. Romney is crying dirty tricks. Romney is not happy about these robo-calls. Romney is not happy that Santorum — no, wait — it’s Santorum that’s not; somebody’s not happy that somebody’s playing tape. (interruption) Yeah. No, but somebody’s playing audio of Santorum endorsing Romney. Romney did that, remember, in some of the robo-calls, I think. Oh, yeah, it’s going nuts.
Folks, the greatest story. Obama wants to cut health care for the military. I want to reiterate for you, it really probably isn’t going to matter who we nominate. And now Dick Morris is joining that chorus, and you have heard me say over and over again that I think Obama’s gonna be the issue. I think this country is poised to send Obama packing in November. The strategy that Santorum is pulling off, he’s targeting the Reagan Democrats, that’s what he’s doing. Remember those old Reagan Democrats? I think it’s kind of smart strategically. We’ll get into all this in great detail as the program unfolds before your very eyes and ears.
I got a lot of frowns on the other side of the glass when I mentioned that Obama wants to cut health care for the military. Bill Gertz had the story yesterday at a website, FreeBeacon.com, and I think he started it. “The Obama administrationÂ’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workersÂ’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to US officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in ObamacareÂ’s state-run insurance exchanges.”
Nothing is working out as they had it planned on paper. As we mentioned yesterday, the high-risk enrollments, hardly anybody’s signing up and those premiums and costs have more than doubled of what Obama projected. And the high risk, of course, is the preexisting condition aspect. A cardinal in Chicago has said they will shut down Catholic hospitals rather than provide birth control pills and abortifacients. They will shut down Catholic hospitals and schools. Folks, the landscape out there is such that it differs dramatically from the daily landscape that is portrayed by the Drive-By Media. (interruption) Well, yeah, the Democrats would get what they want with churches shutting down. Obama would get what he wants with the churches shutting do. Snerdley said, “Well, that just delivers Obama a win.” Nah, people are fighting back, is what it means.
Telephone number if you want to be on the program, by the way, 800-282-2882, and the e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com.
Now, let me tell you something. Yesterday we played the sound bites. Snerdley just asked me if they’re gonna blame me for Michigan. Of course they will. Yesterday we had all those sound bites that I destroyed the Republican Party, and I looked today, and it’s still functioning. They still have their websites and we still got candidates running for office. One of them is gonna win in Michigan, and one of them’s gonna win in Arizona, and then one of them’s gonna win Super Tuesday, majority votes there. It looks to me like the Republican Party is still functioning, despite my best efforts to kill it.
David Brooks — I haven’t read it. I’ve had three people send this to me as though it matters. David Brooks, New York Times. This is the guy who saw the crease in Obama’s pants and concluded that he was the most qualified to be a great president because of that. I kid you not. If you have not heard that before, and you think I’m joking, I’m not. David Brooks of the New York Times, the house conservative there actually wrote that. And I’ve had three people today, “Look at Brooks.” I don’t care. Brooks has never defined the conservative movement. He’s never defined the Republican Party, and he finally realizes it, and that’s what his column’s about today. He says the kooks have taken over the party, the Tea Party, the right wingers have taken it over, it’s over, it’s finished. If I have time I might spend some time on it, but it’s certainly not a priority. What is? This next story.
This next story is hilarious, from TheHill.com. This story has everything. Here’s the headline: “GOP Frets RomneyÂ’s Conservative Tack Could Hurt in November General Election.” Now, stop and think of that. GOP, that would be the establishment. The Republican establishment is now sitting out there fretting, worried that Romney having to sound like and speak like a conservative, will hurt him in the November general. Remember what I pointed out a long time ago, the Republicans decided with Romney to run in the primary a moderate first, to try to secure the nomination with a moderate candidate rather than a conservative candidate, but it hadn’t worked. So now Romney’s having to sound conservative, and the report is that the Republican establishment is really fretting about this.
But that’s just the headline, that’s just the opener. The story’s by a guy named Cameron Joseph. “Republicans are worried that Mitt RomneyÂ’s increasingly conservative rhetoric on a number of hot-button issues could hurt him in the general election. Their fear is that while RomneyÂ’s position on matters like immigration, collective bargaining and social issues could boost him among conservative primary voters, thereby getting him the nomination, it could come back to haunt him with swing-state voters during the general election.” And then they quote GOP strategerist Ford O’Connell. I ask you, I have been in this business for longer than 23 years. I have been following party politics for I can’t tell you how many years. I never heard of Ford O’Connell until today. Have you, Snerdley? Have you, Dawn? You, Larry? Brian, never mind.
I said, “Who is this guy? Who is Ford O’Connell?” A whole story in TheHill.com is based on what Ford O’Connell says. So I endeavored to find out. And, by the way, don’t misunderstand, I’m not putting down Ford O’Connell. It’s the story here. What has happened here is that The Hill found a single person who nobody’s ever heard of to tell them what they already think, and then they made a story out of it. Mr. Ford O’Connell, you always gotta distrust guys with two last names. You ever noticed that? Ford O’Connell, according to his own biography, has appeared on Fox, CNN, and other news outlets. Well, that seals the deal right there. This guy’s been on Fox. He’s been on CNN and other news outlets. He worked for the McCain-Palin campaign and he is the founder of ProjectVirginia.com, winner of the 2010 Reed Award for “Best Use of Twitter.” And that’s who he is, that’s it.
So TheHill.com found this guy to tell them exactly what they want to hear: Romney is having to sound conservative. That wasn’t the plan. Having to sound conservative during the primaries. It may work in the primaries, but it’s gonna kill us in the general, oh, no! They’ve run the story based on this. The Politico, also weighing in on this, says they never heard of this guy, Ford O’Connell, and they make fun of him, The Politico does, for his shameless self-promotion. So whole article, and I could entertain you for days with it, but the whole article buttresses what I have been saying all along, that the GOP is scared to death of conservatism. (gasping) Just worried, and even the utterance of conservatism from the presumed front-runner poses problems in the general. And The Hill claims Republicans are fretting over Romney’s anti-immigration and anti-union positions, and to make their case they cite this strategist who won an award for using Twitter. That’s his big claim to fame.
The Hill also cites in the story a polster of Hispanic opinion for Latino decisions who is undoubtedly a supporter of amnesty for illegal aliens. And then The Hill cites a nonpartisan pollster, so three people nobody’s ever heard of, and this nonpartisan pollster is also the top lobbyist for the Michigan education association, which is a public sector teachers union, so he’s not nonpartisan. And then The Hill goes out and cites another Democrat, Representative Charles Gonzalez, Democrat, Texas, who’s practically an avowed communist, if you know him, and we’re told that these are the top Republicans who are worried over Romney’s increasingly conservative rhetoric. I mean this is a pathetic excuse for journalism, even for TheHill.com.
But it’s out there, and I just had to laugh when I found out who Mr. O’Connell is. And again, don’t misunderstand. It’s not to put down Mr. O’Connell. I mean all power to him, he got his name in The Hill. He got his name on this show. I’m sure it’s his big day. But the idea that he speaks for the Republican establishment, The Hill implies that he’s deeply connected, and for all we know, he could be, but I don’t know how many people have actually heard of him. So they’re all worried. They’re worried about a lot. They’re not just worried about Romney sounding conservative. Santorum is supposed to be long gone.
These social issues were supposed to have killed Santorum two weeks ago. (interruption) Don’t argue about that, Snerdley. “When did Romney sound conservative?” No, don’t argue about that, Snerdley. That’s beside the point. It’s a distraction. (laughing) We’re going to a take a break here, but we’re gonna get into what is happening in Michigan, complete with the audio sound bites about the Operation Chaos going on or the copycat Operation Chaos. Santorum’s doing his own version of it; the Democrats are doing theirs. Romney’s upset. He thinks he’s being unfairly attacked. A lot of Republicans say, “Well, how does it feel? You started this back in 2004 going after Huckabee and McCain, and so forth.” (sigh)
Here’s a headline from The Politico: “Romney Also Said He Voted in Dem Primaries to Influence the Race.” He’s done that. “The Romney campaign has been denouncing Democratic efforts — and now those by Rick Santorum — to get Democrats to vote in Michigan’s open primary. Mitt Romney himself called it a “new low” in politics in a round of TV interviews. … Yet Romney himself gave a similar explanation in his last presidential run for why he crossover voted in the 1990s in Massachusetts” for Democrats. He’s done it himself. What has got him upset in Michigan, he has done himself, and ABC found the clip of him saying so.
The Daily Caller. Mrs. Clinton. Mrs. Clinton claims that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary. What is he famous for, Snerdley? Do you remember? (interruption) Right. He was the first to climb Mt. Everest. And Hillary Clinton was in Chicago one day and she claimed that she was named after him and the only problem was that nobody knew who he was when she was born. He hadn’t climbed Mt. Everest yet. His fame had not stretched beyond his home country, so it was clearly a lie. Nobody knew who Edmund Hillary was when she was born. Well, the Toronto Star is reporting that Romney has been telling a similar story in Michigan that probably when he was four or something like that, he attended the Golden Jubilee, which was the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the automobile
He remembers it. When he’s in Michigan he tells audiences he remembers the Golden Jubilee; he was there. The problem was, according to the Toronto Star, it would have been impossible, because it took place in 1946, nine months before Romney was born. He couldn’t have been there. He wasn’t even conceived. He was a thought. So the Daily Caller has found a Hillary version of a story Romney is telling while in Michigan. I’m just telling you what’s out there, folks, because you’re gonna hear it elsewhere if I don’t mention it to you. As you know, Romney is crying foul over Santorum’s robo-calls. Romney is saying it’s “a new low in politics” for his opponent to be doing robo-calls to Democrats and ask them to show up in the primary and vote for his opponent.
ABC’s The Note has found a story where Romney chided Newt for being upset with him for all the super PAC ads in Iowa in January where Romney told Newt: There’s no whining in politics, you gotta grow up, you gotta face it, you can’t keep crying about this. I had nothing to do with those ads. So… (laughing) And then, on the other side, you got people tearing into Santorum for being a priest in disguise, who wants to totally bastardize separation of church and state; that he’s not even a Republican, he’s a theologian! He wants to establish a theocracy. Folks, they’re throwing it all up against the wall. The thing is, this time a lot of it is sticking.
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