RUSH: So three million Republican voters stayed home on Election Day. Three million predominantly white voters stayed home. The media is all over the place with the fact that the Republicans lost “the white vote.” They can’t get the white vote. They did lose the white vote, but Democrats didn’t get it. They just didn’t show up, and it wasn’t voter suppression that didn’t turn ’em out.

What would be the reason that three million voters didn’t show up? Let’s go through the possibilities. It could be that there are a number… We’ve talked to ’em. We’ve had ’em call. We got ’em, in fact, on hold. A number of Republicans are tired of moderate nominees. They’ve sent the Republican Party money for years and said, “To hell with it. If you’re gonna eschew conservatism, I’m not giving you any money, and I’m not voting for you.”

We’ve heard them call here and threaten this, and never believed ’em. We could also have some evangelicals in that group that said, “You know what? I’m tired of the Republicans not reaching out to me. I’m tired of making fun of me. I don’t like Mormons.” Who knows what it is? You could have any number of reasons why these three million don’t show up, but they are the difference.

If these three million had voted, Romney’s popular vote total would have beaten Obama’s by 180,000. I don’t know what it would mean Electoral College yet, that hasn’t been analyzed, but this was not an election lost because of demography. It wasn’t an election lost because we lost the women vote or Hispanic vote. We didn’t turn our vote out. It’s just that simple.

Could it be, ladies and gentlemen, that three million Republicans sat at home because they didn’t see enough of a conservative campaign? These are the things that have to be pondered while the party beats itself up over amnesty and single women and contraception. But I’m just gonna tell the Republican Party right now: If you think that the only reason you’re not winning presidential races is because you’re not for amnesty and ’cause you’re not for abortion…

If you change to that, if you moderate or modify your positions, you’re gonna cease to exist because those who are with you are gonna abandon you. I’m not… (interruption) No, I’m not trying to sound threatening. I’m trying to be helpful. In fact, that’s my middle name. That’s all I ever try to do is help, anybody. I always said this was gonna be a turnout election. Now, I don’t want to be misunderstood, either.

I’m not saying that the Republicans couldn’t do a better job with some of these minority voters, but you better understand why they’re not voting for you. In terms of the Hispanic vote, it is not because of immigration policy. Hispanics are voting for Democrats because of the same reason any other people vote for Democrats. They’re the party of free stuff. They are the party of Santa Claus.

Boy, folks, I can’t tell you the grief I’m getting from the left over that comment. It must have hit home. Because everybody understands that. You don’t need a position paper with all kinds of footnotes and stuff to explain the Democrat Party. Just say, “Yeah, Santa Claus. We’re outnumbered by people who vote Santa Claus.” And it’s like a veil has been lifted and they want to close it. They don’t like us to see it that way.

You think I’m exaggerating? Under Obama, the welfare rolls in this country increased by 32%. Food stamps? There was a 71% increase in the number of people on food stamps. We can’t deny what’s happening here, to and in our country. Bear in mind Barack Obama removed the work requirements from both of these programs. I’m gonna say this again so that nobody thinks I’m just glossing over it, ’cause I happen to think that it’s important.

The Republican convention.

You look at every minority that we put in a prominent role at that convention. Every one of them, every one of them had reached a pinnacle of their chosen careers. They were brilliant, articulate. They were dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. They were great representatives of the American way, and they all had a common story. They all achieved what they achieved, and they did it by hard work.

Every one of them had an up-from-nothing story. I’m sorry if you heard this yesterday and you think it’s repetitive, but it needs to be said over and over, because there are lessons to be learned from this. Because after that convention… I heard people on Fox yesterday saying, “Why didn’t it work? Why didn’t the Republican convention work?” Doug Schoen said Republicans didn’t show inclusiveness.

“Why didn’t it work?” is a great question. Why don’t Republicans…? Marco Rubio, Allen West, Mia Love, Clarence Thomas. The list of highly achieved, accomplished, great-moral-character Republicans who are minorities is endless. Why doesn’t it attract any of the black vote? Why doesn’t it attract any of the Hispanic vote? There’s a reason. There are answers to this.

Why doesn’t it work?

You gotta have courage to face the truth of the answer. Under Obama, welfare rolls increase by 32%. Food stamp participation shot up 71%. There are 47 million Americans on food stamps. Obama strips the work requirement out of both. We have 23 million people unemployed in this country. They all have, for the most part, a telephone, a place to live, a flat screen, a car, and they’re eating.

That’s not the way people lived on unemployment, say, in the Great Depression or say in the 1970s, even. You had to find a job if you wanted those things. You don’t have to now. And when a party presents hard work as its route to success and the other party’s presenting Santa Claus, what is going to win? Santa Claus is free stuff. The other side is stuff that you work for and earn. This is where the country is. It’s not sour grapes.

This is an honest appraisal of where we are, and we are slowly becoming outnumbered in this way by these demographics, which count. As to immigration, again: We are not not getting the Hispanic vote because of our immigration policy, because Hispanics are not voting for Democrats because of their immigration policy. That is not why. Why do the unions not oppose illegal immigration? Because their jobs are not threatened by it.

And why is that?

You can answer that yourself.

The Democrat Party needs a permanent underclass. It needs an underclass of people who aren’t working, who get the benefits from Santa Claus so that the Democrats will continue to get a decent number of votes from that voting bloc. And as people start working and become self-sufficient, they need the Democrat Party less, and so those people — if they abandon the Democrat Party — need to be replaced. Hello, illegal immigration.

Folks, it is what it is.

We didn’t lose the election on Tuesday because we’re pro-choice or pro-life; we did not lose the election because single women hate us and don’t like us. That’s not why we lost. We might not be getting a majority of those votes, but when three million of our own people don’t show up, it doesn’t matter who on the Democrat side we’re not getting. I want to take you back to this program and me on January 6 of this year.

We were in the middle of the Republican primary. And, at the time, the Republican/conservative media was talking about “electability. “Who are we gonna nominate? Who can win?” I raised my hand, and I said, “You know, the Democrats did this. Remember back in 2004, going into Iowa, they thought Howard Dean was the nominee.” He was leading every poll.

He cleaned it up, and in Iowa he got wiped out. The Democrats panicked, and they went to John Kerry, because they said, “Well, of the people we have left, he’s the only one who’s electable.” And what happened to him? So let’s go back, shall we? Because I want you to listen to this knowing that there are three million Republican voters that stayed home. They didn’t vote. We don’t know why yet. All we can do is speculate.

RUSH ARCHIVE: It’s time to strip this bare. I have just alluded to this. I’m gonna tell you again. This whole business of “electable,” I’ve been hearing about it for weeks, months. We all have our circle of friends. I too have a circle of friends. Contrary to what you think, my circle of friends are no smarter than you. They’re no smarter than anyone else. Just because they’re my friends doesn’t mean they’re smart.

They’re not stupid, but I’m saying is they’re just like anybody else. This is the point. That’s a good thing. I get frustrated at this “electability” business. That’s how the Democrats chose John Kerry, by the way (who served in Vietnam). When Howard Dean failed in 2004 in Iowa, they panicked. “We’ve gotta get somebody who can win!” They thought Kerry could.

This “electability” reason to nominate somebody is flawed from the get-go because the reasons that people think somebody can win are flawed, as evidenced by what I just told you. Let me tell you something, folks: I wouldn’t have one ounce of doubt about Rick Perry. I’ve been hoping Rick Perry would catch fire, but I have people in my sphere who don’t want to vote for Perry (and largely they’re women) because he sounds too much like Bush. He’s too stupid. He’s too hesitating in his speech and Obama will clean his clock in a debate.

I look at ’em and I scratch my head.

“Have you looked at what he’s done as governor? Do you looked at what his tax policy is?”

“I don’t care! He embarrasses me.”

“Okay, fine. Let’s move on. What about Santorum?”

“Too extreme. Cares too much about abortion.”

“Okay, let’s see… How about Cain?”

“He can’t talk, either.” This what people around me say. “He can’t talk either.”

“Okay, what about Bachmann?”

“She’s too shrill, she’s too short, she’s a woman! She’s only been in Congress for five years. She doesn’t have a prayer.”

“Okay, write her off. What about…? Let’s see… How about Huntsman?”

“He’s a phony! Plus the guy worked for Obama. He was ambassador to China! Come on. Let’s be serious. This guy’s not a conservative!” You get to Romney and these people all said, “Now, there’s a guy who sounds smart. He’s seasoned. He’s been at this for a number of years. He’s composed, he looks good and he could beat Obama in a debate.”

And in every one of these instances, folks, what’s been frustrating to me is not one reason rooted in policy has been cited as a reason to support or not support somebody. It has been very frustrating to me to see how surface — how “undeep,” if I may use that term — people are about this. I know why it’s the case, but it still burns me.

RUSH: That’s January 6th of this year. I was recounting my frustration listening to my friends tell me why none of the Republican nominees had a prayer, why they wouldn’t support them, and in no instance was anybody rejected because of policy. And in no instance was anybody supported because of policy. It was all about who they thought could and could not win.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Livonia, Michigan, here on the Rush Limbaugh program. Ken, great to have you back. I know you’ve been on the program before. You’re the only guy — no, there’s a woman from Livonia that calls, too.

CALLER: Well, Rush —

RUSH: So I know you’ve been here before.

CALLER: Yes. And I appreciate it. I appreciate you took my call. Rush, the establishment Republicans just don’t understand us voters out here. Now, I’m a conservative, I’m a constitutionalist, I believe in the traditional view of marriage, and I’m also pro-life. I’ve always voted, up until now, Republican. But I’m telling you, Rush, and I’m telling all those Republicans out there that don’t get it, I will not vote for another moderate. If you want to lose my vote, all you have to say is, “I’m willing to reach across the aisle.”

RUSH: Can I ask you a question? I want you to be very honest with me on this.

CALLER: Sure.

RUSH: This is not a trick. This is for my own edification. I noticed, I pointed out to Kathryn, the last two weeks of this campaign — it might have been the last three weeks — but Romney started focusing on and using that phrase, “Reaching across the aisle.” Now, were you with Romney at any point in this campaign and then decided not to vote, or were you always opposed after Romney got the nomination?

CALLER: I was opposed to Romney because I knew he was a moderate from the beginning. I knew not only Romney, but other Republicans —

RUSH: How could you do this, though, knowing full well what the alternative was. Mitt Romney isn’t the problem. Mitt Romney would not have been the problem. How could you essentially vote for Barack Obama?

CALLER: I did not vote directly for Barack Obama, but I understand what you’re saying. I cast a vote, Rush, I knew my candidate couldn’t win for the Constitution Party candidate only because there again, what do the Democrats have to offer? The destruction of our country because they’re statists. Now, if you’re gonna tell me you’re a Republican candidate, that you want to reach across the aisle, you, like John Boehner, want to go and play golf with the president, I can’t support you in that case, Rush.

RUSH: No matter what?

CALLER: No. Because we’ve seen the destruction to our country that has occurred, and —

RUSH: Yeah. We have and you know, you know now, we got four more years of it, or at least two. This could have been arrested. There is no comparison, Mitt Romney to Barack Obama. Look, I know you’re part of the three million that stayed home, and I understand the principle involved. I do. Let me ask you, and there’s no way you can know, I just want your opinion. Of the three million Republican voters that stayed home, do you think most of them are like you, that they are just dissatisfied that the Republicans nominated what you thought was another moderate?

CALLER: Yes. I really believe, since from our point of view, the moderate is not going to fix the problems that our country needs to have fixed, but continue along the same lines. Yes, I think that as long as —

RUSH: Romney did not want to continue these policies on jobs, government spending, and all this sort of stuff. Did you not believe him when he said what he said about creating jobs and reducing government and so forth? You didn’t believe him?

CALLER: Well, Rush, the last four years, for example, every time the debt ceiling was hit, the Republicans, unfortunately, voted to raise it again. We need to get conservative Republicans in Washington. And if the Republican Party wants the vote, the support of conservatives like myself, they’ve gotta get conservatives to run. If they don’t want to win the White House, if they don’t want to control Washington, then just keep doing what they’re doing.

RUSH: So you engaged in a protest vote, essentially, and you did so in sufficient numbers that you have secured the reelection of somebody truly destructive of the traditional, as founded, American way of life. How do you live with that?

CALLER: Well, because I feel —

RUSH: Because you’re making the perfect — it wasn’t on the ballot this year, the perfect one wasn’t on the ballot.

CALLER: Well, Rush, I think that the way the three million people looked at it, a moderate Republican will still lead our country over the cliff. Not as quickly, not as fast, but over the cliff. If we’re gonna be going over the cliff at a hundred miles an hour, which is under Obama, or 70 miles an hour, which is under a moderate Republican, we’re still going over the cliff.

RUSH: So you just want to get it over with?

CALLER: Well, I want us to get the Republican leadership to wake up, and we’ve gotta get conservatives.

RUSH: Ken, I hate to tell you, but that’s not the message they’re taking from this election, as you know, if you’ve been listening to the program today. They know that three million didn’t show up. If they come to believe that the three million didn’t show up because they don’t like moderates, they’re just gonna get mad at you like the Democrats get mad. At least what I’ve seen so far on TV, and read, and is coming from the so-called conservative media, the Republicans think they goofed up by failing to get the Hispanic vote and the single women vote. They think they goofed up on the demography side, which tells me that you’re gonna continue to be pretty unhappy with the direction they go.

CALLER: Well, the establishment of the Republican Party has unfortunately been in Washington too long —

RUSH: Well, I’m just gonna tell you, look, I understand what you’re doing, but you gave us Bill Clinton, and now Barack Obama. Your vote is your vote. I understand. I saw this figure, I saw this three million didn’t show up. I saw it yesterday morning. It didn’t register. I even mentioned it at the beginning of this program. It didn’t register ’til last night when I compared it. Had you guys all shown up, Romney would have beat Obama, popular vote, by 180 thousand. Those are hard numbers, real hard numbers. I don’t know what it would have meant Electoral College-wise. Anyway, I gotta go. Ken, thanks for the call. Back after this.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: If there’s a 70% chance of curing your cancer, but you hold out for a hundred percent, is that what you would do? Or would you go for the 70% chance? Takes all kinds.