RUSH: Here’s the item that I referenced a moment ago as being important and serious. It is obvious, it is more than obvious that Marco Rubio and John Kasich do not have a chance at being the Republican nominee, no matter how the nominee is chosen. It’s pretty obvious. So the question then becomes, ‘Why are they still in the race?” Now, some people might say,
Well, Kasich, you gotta understand he’s gotta stay until Ohio. It’s his home state.” Okay, so it’s about him. You want to admit that it’s about him?
Kasich is staying in because it’s good for him. Yeah, we want to talk about sullying the process? Rubio? Why’s he staying? He can’t… He’s not gonna win the delegate fight. Now, there might be a case that could be made that if we get to this so-called convention that the establishment could find a way to make Rubio the nominee. But I’m telling you: If they try that with a guy that has zero delegates (he had zero delegates yesterday), and if they try to put a guy on the ticket, the top of the ticket with zero delegates or 10 or 15 or whatever, there’s gonna be utter chaos.
Yeah, I can’t see that happening. So why is Rubio staying in? When there’s no way he can win it, why is he staying in? Okay, is the reason he’s staying in to harm Cruz because there’s personal hatred, professional rivalry, personal dislike? You ask the question of both Kasich and Rubio: Why are they in? At this point in time, now. I’m talking about last week, the week before. Today, after yesterday’s results, are they staying in just to hurt Ted Cruz? Well, I don’t know, but if they are, is that what we want? (interruption)
You shaking your head no. Why are they staying in? If… (interruption) Wait just a second. (interruption) Wait just a second. (interruption) Wait just… (interruption) Snerdley just said, “Rubio can’t quit before he faces the voters of Florida.” There are a lot more people today than on Monday saying that Rubio could do real permanent damage to his political career if he stays in and gets schlonged. Well, not just quits. But if he quits and throws his support, like Fiorina, there’s a way to salvage this, is the point. If he quits and goes home, yeah. But he’s not gonna quit…
Look, I gotta take a break here because, as always, right when I’m getting to the payoff, we gotta take a break, so hang in there.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Folks, I was just telling Snerdley, 9:30, 10 o’clock this morning, I’m going through show prep and I’m putting this all together, and I’m just absorbing everything. I’m not making any calculations, and I’m not adding delegates or any of that. And, at the time I’m thinking about it, here’s Kasich and Rubio and they’re both hopeless in terms of their own chances to win. And the little, I don’t know, flash in my mind that said Ted Cruz can win this.
The delegate spread right now is only a hundred delegates or something like it, and if you go to the delegate count for the last week, the delegate count for the last week, Cruz has won 125 and Trump has won 124. Now, don’t misunderstand. It’s a long shot, and I really can’t… I’ve not studied it. I can’t present to you or lay out a scenario by which it happens. It was just a gut reaction, instinct to everything I was absorbing at the time.
And it’s why I started pondering this interesting aspect here that Rubio and Kasich have no prayer, yet they’re staying in. And in both cases, you’d have to say they’re both staying in for personal reasons. Kasich’s staying in for his own state of Ohio, even though he knows he has no prayer. And, by the way, isn’t it true that the only way anybody on the Republican side other than Trump has a chance is if there is unity on the anti-Trump side of this? If that doesn’t happen — and it’s arguable that it will.
I mean, Cruz is a polarizing figure, as we all know. But if they’re staying in just to hurt Cruz, if Rubio is staying in just to hurt Cruz, it wouldn’t surprise me there’s animosity there, and ditto Kasich. If the primary reason they’re staying in is not just to get through their home states and do well so they have bragging rights or what have you, okay. But if they’re in this specifically to hurt Cruz, doesn’t that kind of argue against what we’ve all been told is the purpose of this whole process? Because if the party coalesces behind Cruz…
The Politico has a story today about how the party’s tiptoeing and they’re not really crazy about it. Carly Fiorina did it today, endorsed Cruz, a great stem-winder speech of an introduction for Cruz down in Miami. Cruz was not supposed to do anywhere near as well as he did in last night’s or yesterday’s elections. He actually expanded beyond his appeal to evangelicals. So, anyway, it’s something to think about as to when these two guys get out and what they do.
‘Cause, look, all of this is academic if Trump does win Florida and Ohio. Then it’s pretty much it, isn’t it? I mean, not officially, but Illinois… Yeah. So, anyway, it’s pedal-to-the-metal time.