Why do you think he said it? He had committed not to make a formal endorsement during the primaries. My impression is that he has never endorsed during a primary, but I couldn’t say that for certain because I don’t listen to him all the time.
He warmly praised Romney after his religion speech. He announces that Romney is the one of the three candidate remaining who embodied conservative ideals.
If you look at the substance of what Rush said, it is very positive for Romney, and singles out Romney as the one person who embodied Rush’s ideals. If you want to split hairs over whether that is an “endorsement” or not, and hysterically accuse people of lying if they think it does constitute an endorsement, have at it.
As for me, these are the last keystrokes I’m going to waste on this discussion.
I think Rush said "I stress again here: I am not endorsing anybody" because he meant it. I think he said it because he didn't want people like you going around falsely claiming endorsement. Fat lot of good it did him.
You say that he "warmly praised Romney after the religion speech." I know you didn't do it deliberately, but your choice of words is misleading. What Rush did was praise Romney warmly for the religion speech, NOT for Romney's politics. When Rush made the three legs speech that you and others are so eager to interpret as an endorsement, he used the word "probably" and the word "embody" instead of "certainly is" and "upholds." He was very ginger in how he worded it, deliberately ginger, and furthermore, the three legs speech, if you examine it, was about how the other candidates were not even attempting to "embody" all three legs of conservatism. Be HONEST about it, for crying out loud! That's all I ask and all I rightly expect.
I'm a writer and I pay very close attention to word choices because, as Rush often says, words mean things. When Rush said "Folks, there was only one conservative on the stage last night and that candidate was Fred Thompson," there was no "probably," no "embodies conservatism," no careful phraseology so as to negate any accusations of having made an endorsement, and no reminder at the time to listeners not to mistake his words as an endorsement.
And indeed, we Thompson fans had high enough standards of ethics and truthfulness that none that I recall ever made the claim that Rush "endorsed" Fred. They didn't because it would have been a lie.
Romney people are lying when they say Rush "endorsed" Romney. ACCEPT IT, because it is the truth. Instead, you take very clear-spoken words -- "I stress again here: I am not endorsing anybody" -- and rationlize them into really being Rush's way of saying, "I endorse Romney."
Come on. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.