... How Far Rush Limbaugh Thinks the ‘Republican Establishment’ May Go to ‘Get Rid of the Tea Party’

www.theBlaze.com ^ | Dec. 16, 2013 | Jason Howerton

[cripplecreek]

I think they’ll do everything the democrats have done and more if they think they can get away with it.

[sickoflibs]

RE Are you supportive of the GOP’s new direction?

Be more specific

[Terry L Smith]

Louisiana Governor Piyush “Bobby’ Jindal is sacrificing the Republican contender to Mary Landrieu’s seat, for just this reason.

[Irenic]

No.

[stanne]

Rush is right.

what the GOP doesn’t get, even now, even after the loss Romney and Ryan got, even after watching Ryan turn on the military, vindicating all those who did not vote for him and his partner in wimpy sleazedom, Romney, is that the Tea Party will now most definitely NOT vote for another such dolt they present to them, at the expense of having even another Obama.

What difference would it have made?

Ryan is actually taking away promised and counted upon benefits to the military, placing this into some welfare category.

It is very bad

[sickoflibs]

Lets see, you want me to answer and then afterward you will tell me what the questions is.

Pretty silly game,

[cripplecreek]

Here in Michigan they’re going after Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio. Amash is flawed but head and shoulders above 90% of the GOP. Bentivolio is probably one of the best tea party types you’ve never heard of.

At the national level they’re trying to take down RNC committeeman Dave Agema who was elected by tea partiers over progressive Saul Anuzis. Tea partiers better get acquainted with the RNC in a hurry because that is where policy is made and its probably the easiest to change.

[freekitty]

Sounds like they are trying to create one big commie party. The Republicans know well they have no base except the Tea Party. They have no one else.

[CodeToad]

“Rush is pointing out that he’s stayed out of this fray. “

Actually, Rush jumped right in and stated exactly what was going on and condemned the eGOP for it.

Rush pointed out that the TEA Party is not a party at all but a “way of life” and you can’t kill that no more than you can kill Christmas.

Rush is a big supporter of the TEA Party and even went on to claim he is a “member”.

[gattaca]

Let’s see, beast #1 or beast #2, dems or repubs. Both big govt. I’ll pass.

[Irenic]

I have my answer already, thanks.

[CodeToad]

“Rush is pointing out that he’s stayed out of this fray. Which is the same as saying he’s now irrelevant.”

Stayed “out of the fray”? That is what you believe? Then explain the following transcript from yesterday:

RUSH: As you know, every year to one degree or another, there are attempts by the left to eliminate Christmas. If they could, they would totally eliminate it. They’re unable to do that, and they will never succeed, by the way, in eliminating Christmas from our minds, from our hearts, from our faith.

They will never succeed. All they can do is raise a ruckus about nativity scenes or other public displays, outlawing Christmas carols or not being allowed to say “Merry Christmas” but having to say “happy holidays.” They can do all of that they want. They can tinker with that all they want, but they are never going to prevent Christmas. They can’t. Christmas is. Christmas will happen. You can eliminate all the ancillaries. You can outlaw Christmas trees if you want. You can outlaw Christmas decorations. You can outlaw Christmas carols. You can do all of that. The left can try to do all that, but they are not going to stop Christmas. They are not going to end it, and they’re not even going to make a dent in it.

The thing to note about the so-called war on Christmas is who’s conducting it and why. And what is it about Christmas that makes them unable to, if not embrace it, to simply accept it? Okay, so they don’t happen to believe it. Move on. Celebrate something they do. Why must they spend their lives wiping it out? Why must they get rid of all visible signs? Because it makes them totally uncomfortable. Why does it make them uncomfortable? Why in the world would something that’s steeped in joy and love and giving make them so uncomfortable? Well, you and I all know the answers. Don’t even need to say it.

It basically comes down to the fact they’re threatened by it. They are threatened by a timeless, eternal devotion and faith. They are threatened by a timeless eternal set of values and morality. So threatened that they have to embark on efforts to erase the signs. And who knows. They may have various degrees of success in eliminating the signs, but they will never take Christmas away from us. They will never be able to erase it from our hearts. They will never be able to erase the joy, the values, the love that we all celebrate at Christmastime and try to the year around. They will never succeed in that, and I doubt that they will succeed in the other, but it won’t stop them from trying.

Now, you could draw an analogy, I think somewhat, if you wanted to analogize this to politics. The Tea Party is not really a party, in the sense that it’s not an acknowledged party with party papers and identification. The Tea Party is a way of life. Did you see the poll, Ted Cruz, the third most admired man in the world? Did you see that? Let me find it here quick, ‘cause it dovetails. I didn’t put it at the top of the Stack, but I’ve got it here somewhere and I think it’s world. It could be country.

Here it is. Senator Ted Cruz, it’s the world. The pope is number 23, Obama at 21, and Cruz is number three. It’s a Rasmussen poll. Who did you consider the most influential person in 2013? The pope is always up there. The president of the United States, no matter who it is, is always up there. Ted Cruz is the third most influential American. The way this is written, a question: Whom do you consider the most influential person in 2013? So I guess you consider people from all over the world since the pope is in it, and Ted Cruz is number three.

So let’s go back. Can’t take Christmas away from us. You can do all you want on the surface. You can take away all the signs, all the trappings, all the symbols, you can do that, but you’re not gonna take away Christmas. You’re not gonna end it, and you’re not gonna reduce the scope in which it’s celebrated.

Secondly, the Tea Party. The Tea Party is not a political party. It is a way of life, it’s a body of thought. It is large, and it is real. And you can have all of the donors muscling the Republican Party to oppose the Tea Party all you want, you can attack the Tea Party the way left attacks Christmas, but you are not going to get rid of the body of thought that’s represented by the Tea Party. And it is huge.

It is misunderstood by everybody inside the Beltway. Conservatives, so-called conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, inside the Beltway, they know enough to fear it, and they fear it greatly, which is why they, the DC establishment, are trying to do to the Tea Party what the radical left tries to do to Christmas: wipe it out, get rid of it, pretend it doesn’t exist, erase it.

Well, they might be able to defeat certain Tea Party candidates. They might be able to embarrass certain Tea Party representatives inside the Beltway, but they are not going to get rid of the Tea Party. In fact, such actions are going to end up building it. Keep in mind the Tea Party is a body of thought. The Tea Party is the ideals of the American founding. It is a large and sizable group of people, and they are not gonna be erased. They’re not gonna be whittled away. They might be outmuscled here and there in the strict political sense of fighting and battles, but the Tea Party is not going to be summarily dismissed despite what the people Inside Washington and the Beltway try to convince themselves that they are doing and succeeding in doing. It isn’t going to happen and all of this is gonna come to a head at some point.

I think the on-the-ground things that are happening in Washington, this budget, Obamacare, that body of thought represented by the Tea Party, I think is actually expanding. I think the number of Americans who are literally, in an informed way, totally opposed to what’s happening in Washington almost every day is a growing number of people. Now, it’s a different matter how to coalesce ‘em, put ‘em together in a voting bloc in the political sense. But strictly as a body of thought, they exist, they are huge, they are growing. Many of them were apolitical and are not involved in the political system at all, but they are terribly frightened inside the Beltway in both parties of the Tea Party.

Just like the left is trying to stamp out Christmas, they’re not gonna be — look at what they tried to do to Ted Cruz with this government shutdown and Obamacare, and he ends up being the third most admired man in the country, in the world, in a poll of Americans. Whatever the daily soap opera is, whatever the story coming out of Washington, you’ve got to keep the faith, as you do, you keep your faith in Christmas, you keep your faith in God. You have to keep faith in yourself as well.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: No, no, no. My only point is, I don’t care how hard they try: Among people who are legitimately in or make up the membership of the Tea Party, the left can throw everything in the world at ‘em they want; those people will never stop believing. The left cannot get you to stop believing in Christ. They can’t get you to stop believing in Christmas, no matter how they attack it. All they can do is shield themselves from whatever it is about it that makes them uncomfortable and feel unwanted and abnormal.

By the same token, they’re never, ever going to be able to make you stop believing in freedom, in liberty, in the concepts of entrepreneurism and the rugged individualism, limited government, all of that. They are never, ever going to be able to eliminate your belief in that. They are not gonna give up trying, however. There will be continued assaults primarily on leaders that identify and arise, witness Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin and others.

But they’re never going to succeed at it. As a result of this, they’re gonna be shell shocked, now and then, at election time — and this is not blind faith, folks. This is a fundamental belief, actually, that is informed by a lot of faith. I’m not denying that. But primarily, I’m a true believer, and I’m a true believer that this kind of decency and goodness will eventually triumph. That’s why we hang in. It’s why everybody’s hanging in, not phoning it in or checking out.

[Rum Tum Tugger]

where do they think a “new base” will materialize from?

Exactly!

[CodeToad]

Same here. D&R. Nothing different between the two. The Republicans didn’t vote for ObamaCare but they are doing nothing to defund it, repeal it, or touch it in any way. They are now complicit.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Compassionate Conservative Dems, of course.
(I need to barf)

[Georgia Girl 2]

I believe that Tammy Faye has poured gas on the Tea Party fire and we are going to see conservatives take a lot of seats in 2014.

In GA we have RINO Chambliss retiring and Dr. Paul Broun a hair on fire conservative running for that seat. I feel pretty sure he will win and in 2016 we are going to primary Isakson our other RINO senator.

Too much booze has made Boehner brave. I don’t think he has the votes in the House for Immigration/Amnesty.

[cripplecreek]

Rush Limbaugh has been right on this for a while. Here he is from 2011.

RUSH: Well, every poll I've seen of Republican primary voters, he can't crack 30 percent. It has been curious. And you look at it from the reverse, 70 percent of Republican voters want somebody else. This is why we have the phenomenon of the "Not-Romney." Bachmann was the "Not-Romney" for a while. Herman Cain was the "Not-Romney." Now Newt is the "Not-Romney." I think it boils down to something that's not complicated at all. Republican primary voters are conservative. They don't believe that Romney is. They believe that he will stick a finger in the air and moisten it and see which way the winds are blowing and try to get in that direction. They remember that Romney said he believes in global warming and he believes that man is causing it. Well, conservatives don't believe that. They believe it's a hoax. Conservatives know that the whole story of man-made global warming is a hoax. And they're not going to get excited by a candidate who is trying to gain favor with non-Republican primary voters by articulating that stuff.

Here's the big problem, Greta, for the Republicans. And I am a lone wolf on this. The rule of thumb in elections, both parties, 40 percent are going to vote Democrat automatically, whatever you do, 40 percent are going to vote Republican, automatic, no matter what you do. And in the middle, who do we have? The precious, God love them, independents and the moderates. And they are the targets. They are the focus of every election. And our brilliant campaign consultants tell our candidates they are the ones that know how to go get a majority of those independents. And we have, as Republicans, put ourselves in prison to this whole silly notion that you only win elections by moving to the center and getting great independents. Fine and dandy, but if you squander your base in the process, you haven't a prayer.

The Republican Party is trying to do something in this primary that is unprecedented. They're trying to split the conservative vote and win the primary with a moderate, with Romney. It's the other way around. You consolidate your base and then you move to the center in the general. The Republican establishment has decided they don't want any part of conservatism. And this is really not new. People are surprised to hear this, but the Republican Party formative event with conservatism is Goldwater's landslide defeat. That's what they think of when they think conservative. They don't think Reagan. They think Goldwater.

They believe what the inside-the-Beltway philosophy is about conservatives. They're racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe, Southern hayseed hicks. They're pro-lifers. They're embarrassing to have to go to the convention with them. And they're just embarrassed to have those kind of people in the party. They're dumb. They're not erudite. They're not educated in Ivy League schools. We'll take their votes on election day, but we really don't want to hang around with them. We don't want anybody in Washington thinking that we're really that close to them and aligned with them. So in the process -- you know, it's a very sophisticated electorate. The Republican primary voter can sense that the Republican Party really doesn't like them, really doesn't want them, thinks that they are the route to defeat. That's the problem in a nutshell. The Republican establishment thinks that a conservative nominee is the route to defeat because they think Goldwater landslides are going to happen because they believe what the popular misconception the left has created of conservatives -- they think everybody thinks that.

Rush Goes On the Record with Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren

[NELSON111]

>>>If this results in a liberal takeover, so be it.

DITTO. This reminds me of so many FR debates in the past...."we have to hold our nose and vote..." blah blah blah.

My point THEN is the same as now...if it takes LOSING for the GOP to understand that its base wants conservatives...SO BE IT.

I'm DONE supporting an (R) because of the "R". If that means Nancy is speaker...so be it. Let them CRASH it...and let secession begin. It is probably the ONLY way out at this point.

[CodeToad]

Good point. Rush talks about this subject often, so anyone that claims he has skirted the subject has never listened to his show. Of course, many Americans have grown arrogant in that they always seem to know everything about things they have no personal experience with.

[CodeToad]

“”I’m DONE supporting an (R) because of the “R”. If that means Nancy is speaker...so be it. Let them CRASH it...and let secession begin. It is probably the ONLY way out at this point.

Ditto your dittos! I feel the same way.