RUSH: This is Dennis in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hi, Dennis. You’re on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush, how you doing? I can’t believe I’m talking to one-fourth of a perfect golf foursome. Hey, I wanted to make a couple points here. I’m just afraid our guys have already caved. I don’t think they really understand what liberalism is. To your point about true conservatism. I think that at one point our senator was a true conservative, but when he goes on MSNBC with Chris Matthews and Joe Klein and starts talking about all options are on the table, it really bothers me.
RUSH: You’re talking about Tom Coburn?
CALLER: Tom Coburn, yeah, the senator from Oklahoma. When was the last time we saw any of the liberals on any of the talk shows talking about spending decreases?
RUSH: Well, look, your instinct on this is right. The Republicans right now, Dennis, are shell shocked. The Republicans really thought that Romney was going to win the election, and I think they thought it was going to be fairly sizeable, not landslide, but there were a lot of people that thought Romney was gonna win. As a result, the Republicans are now shell shocked. They are believing that every core principle they have has been rejected by a majority of the American people. And the politician’s job is to get reelected first and to spend money second. That’s their job.
So that’s why you’re hearing from the Republicans all the things they think they’ve gotta do in order to get the votes that they lost to Obama. They gotta do get the illegal immigration vote, that’s amnesty. They’ve gotta get the welfare state vote. That’s supporting bigger government, welfare. There’s no impetus right now in the Republican Party to buck up and to embark on an educational process to the American people. It’s just not how Republican politics works. The Democrats, by comparison, when they lose, you never ever hear a single Democrat say, “You know what? Maybe we’re gonna have to abandon amnesty. You know what? Maybe we’re gonna have to abandon our pro-abortion position.”
They never ever publicly or privately say anything like that. Their objective is to conduct an even more fervent assault on the voters for voting against them. So that’s just where we are. Of course there isn’t going to be entitlement reform. My question would be, A, why does anybody think there will be? Who won the election? Barack Obama and the Democrats. Do they believe in entitlement reform? No. Do they think that the entitlements should be made smaller and that government should get smaller? No. Who lost the election? The Republicans. What power do they have? They have the House of Representatives, and that’s it. They don’t have the Senate. They don’t have the White House. They’re not looking at their position as being in any way, shape, manner, or form one of strength.
“What do you mean, Rush? The parameters of the deal were gonna be entitlement reform.”
Parameters of what deal? The so-called balanced approach? Who is they? Okay. So Obama and the Democrats said the fiscal cliff, get a balanced approach, and balanced means we’re gonna have some spending cuts along with revenue enhancements. Right. Well, I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word the Democrats say, particularly when they start talking about balance or spending cuts. They may say it, they don’t believe it, and it isn’t going to happen. Not the current configuration. Not with Obama and the White House. Not even three weeks after winning. Why in the world does anybody think Obama’s gonna give anything away three weeks after winning the election? Why does anybody think Obama is in a weakened position after winning elections? Why does anybody think that we are in a more powerful position after losing the election?
So what are we gonna do? Well, we can do our best to hold tight on no tax increases. But I see Republicans here and there say, “Yeah, we’re gonna have to look at the revenue side of things, there’s no question about that.” Yes, there is a question about that because the revenue side of things isn’t the problem. The spending side of things is the problem, but we didn’t win, folks. The people that believe in no limits on spending did. The American people don’t want any limits on spending.
