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RUSH: Now, Mitt Romney. Romney, as time goes on, looks presidential. He gets better as a debater. I think he was better last night than he was the previous time, but not backing away from Romneycare is a mistake. He's gonna have big problems with this.
I think Romney has an uphill climb to win Republican primaries, given the mood of the country, because Romney is in the position here of having to rely on mistakes made by others (in this case Perry) or Romney is going to have to rely on mistakes that he can force others to make. Now, Perry has weaknesses, they all do, but he carries himself as a conservative. You know what the attitude about Perry is? Let me tell you what it is. Right now, without taking a single phone call today I can tell you what the attitude about Perry is in conservative Tea Party circles. I'll betcha I'm right about this. "Get off this vaccine! Okay, I've heard it, I get it. He's admitted it was a mistake. Okay? And this immigration thing, fine and dandy, but I'll take Perry over Obama any day!"
That's what's going around out there. If you're a Romney fan, that's what you're saying about Romney. "I don't care about his health care! I'll take Romney over Obama any day." The others on the panel need their supporters to be saying the same things about them. Perry is not gonna back down on his immigration stance. The audience grumbles. You can hear them. The thing is, why does Perry appear strong when he sticks to his position on immigration and Romney looks weak when he sticks up for Romneycare? Because he does. Have you noticed that? Perry seems strong when he defends his positions; Romney doesn't; and I think that's probably because Romneycare is Obamacare no matter how many times Romney says states' rights or laboratory or test or what have you.
Each issue is a problem for the candidate because you just can't say "states' rights" and expect to be forgiven for unsound and unpopular decisions or policies. But now here's a key: Romney and Perry both get hammered for their records as governors. Having a record is tough. Just ask our man-child president who's trying to pretend that he doesn't have one. Obama is try to pretend that he doesn't have a record. He hasn't done anything. The problems were so bad, he inherited all this from Bush. It's worse than he thought. All he's done is good stuff. He doesn't have a record but Perry and Romney do, and that's why, on balance -- even during our candidates' worst moments -- they are hands down far superior to Obama.
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I mean that. They really ought to quit the Republican primaries and go over and challenge Obama. It would be far more interesting and they'd be far more at home with what they're doing. In neither case do you have warmth or even a lightness in their personalities. Herman Cain. People call here and say, "Why didn't you talk about Herman Cain?" I'll talk about Herman Cain. Herman Cain last night was on fire. When it came to the EPA, you know, the candidates were asked what would you do to clean the environment. He cited the EPA, you know what he said he would do? He would appoint EPA victims to run it. That is a fabulous idea!
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Romney's worried that Ponzi scheme scares seniors, but he's not worried that Romneycare scares Republicans. I'm gonna tell you something: In a comparison to those two, Romneycare scares Republicans far more than Ponzi scheme scares senior citizens. This is where political instincts come into play. Romney's defending the indefensible, which is Romneycare; and he's attacking the concept of reforming Social Security because he's saying (paraphrased), "Don't even bring it up! We can't win elections by talking about Social Security." This is not, by the way (I continue to stress here) a pro-Perry comment right now. I haven't endorsed anybody. Don't want anybody to misunderstand here. I just think Romney needs to step back and take a look at these issues through a conservative lens.
There's no political opportunity in taking on positions that sound a lot like what opportunistic Democrats would say. Not in a Republican primary. Now, Romney is not that, but that's the vibe that he's putting out right now. Any time you start doing anything that looks like you're pandering to the media, you're running the risk here of turning off Republican primary voters. Reform programs that are structured to fail are not good programs. We need to end programs that are hostile to individual liberty, and this is something every Republican ought to be able to agree with on that stage and in these debates.
Didn’t I say between the lines? Yes I did.
"Romney's worried that Ponzi scheme scares seniors, but he's not worried that Romneycare scares Republicans. I'm gonna tell you something: In a comparison to those two, Romneycare scares Republicans far more than Ponzi scheme scares senior citizens. This is where political instincts come into play. Romney's defending the indefensible, which is Romneycare; and he's attacking the concept of reforming Social Security because he's saying (paraphrased), "Don't even bring it up! We can't win elections by talking about Social Security." This is not, by the way (I continue to stress here) a pro-Perry comment right now. I haven't endorsed anybody. Don't want anybody to misunderstand here. I just think Romney needs to step back and take a look at these issues through a conservative lens."
If most people could even write the way Rush talks extemporaneously...the people that hate Rush hate him because he's smug, not because he's wrong...