RUSH: Paul in Fargo, North Dakota. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Rush! RUSH: Hey!
CALLER: My God, you have made this my birthday now, sir. I’ve been participating with you for about 20 years now, and one of the things that strikes as far as what a conservative mind is, is just simply simplicity. Any complication is just a window for like ten other distractions, and I think that’s where we’ve gotten to with this whole navel-gazing over why we lost this election with Romney and what is a Republican these days. I think the lesson that we haven’t learned is that this is what happens when you compromise. Nobody liked the guy. So, I mean, it was quite simply said that — RUSH: Wait. When you said, “Nobody liked the guy,” you mean as somebody to vote for? CALLER: Yes. Oh, he was a nice guy! Yes, but I see him as he wasn’t establishment Republican, and he definitely was no Tea Party Republican. What he was is, you know, a compromise. So, of course, I mean, everyone of any stripe had reason to sit home… I almost feel like any vote that he got was almost a pity vote.
RUSH: Really? CALLER: Yeah. Does that make sense, sir? RUSH: Almost any vote he got was a pity vote? They felt sorry for him?
CALLER: Well, either one of those extremes. Look at what we’re up against? Liberalism is no small creature. I think it was very much demanded of us to get almost as extreme. I think we just totally kissed that away with trying to draw lines between the extremes, to compromise. RUSH: Well, in the sense that Romney was a compromise candidate, what do you mean? CALLER: He wasn’t a conservative. He wasn’t somebody that the Tea Party stood behind. I guess I even kind of used that word “Tea Party” a little too much. I don’t know if I like it because we’re all people. But he wasn’t of a conservative mind-set — and he definitely wasn’t of, like, a Rockefeller or McCain mind-set, either. RUSH: No. Now, it’s interesting. The Republican establishment didn’t view him this way. You go back to 2008. CALLER: Yeah. RUSH: The Republican establishment was firmly behind McCain and were gonna do whatever it took to make sure that McCain got the nomination. He was guaranteed to lose — even though McCain, prior to the “fiscal crisis,” quote/unquote, was actually leading marginally in the polls. But I think McCain was destined to lose. The Republican Party is hell-bent on not nominating a conservative. CALLER: What it comes down to is the Republican Party has lost sense of what it was that we stand for. I don’t understand what a Republican is these days, if all they are is just another version of a liberal. RUSH: Well, now you’re navel-gazing. CALLER: Am I? RUSH: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. I’m just kidding you. Look, I’ve gotta take a break here. I just looked at the clock. But I know what you’re saying. It all combines into a losing proposition, is the bottom line, and it’s so simple. You’re right, the simple answer is conservatism. It does win, every time. The American people, we talked about this earlier in the program. If you weren’t with us, folks, it’s amazing. There’s a story in PJ Media today. It’s actually a poll taken at TheHill.com. They ran a bunch of policy and solutions to problems by people that were conservative ideas and conservative solutions, and by 55 to 60% in these polls people overwhelmingly supported ’em. Then they found out, then they were told that the ideas were supported by Republicans, and they ran the other way. They outlined a Democrat senator’s proposal, Patty Murray, they outlined her proposal, it drew 28%. The liberal idea got 28%, the conservative solution, 55 to 58%, but when people found out that it was Republican, they ran the other way. So it’s not the ideas, is the point.