Both Establishments in Santorum Panic

RUSH: Well-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l. How about this, ladies and gentlemen? It looks like the establishment Republicans are very worried that Romney cannot win, even if he is nominated. They're very, very worried that, even if Romney is nominated, he can't win, yet they continue to push him. There are a bunch of pieces.

By the way, greetings. Great to have you here on Presidents Day. Yes, I know it's a holiday. I did not get deceived by the staff, as I announced on Friday. I was given the option, I was told that today was gonna be Presidents Day and I said I'm coming in anyway, 'cause there are gonna be a couple of days next month that I've gotta take off for a charity thing, so I figured I'll show up today, 'cause when we get to around July or August, it's gonna be intense, what with the election and everything.

But, at any rate, it was fascinating to read blog after blog and news story after news story. The establishment Republicans are scared to death. If Romney loses Michigan, his so-called home state, if Romney loses Michigan... In fact, I don't know if it was a blogger or an actual news network, they talked to an unidentified Republican leader, might have been a Republican Senator, might have been somebody in the upper ranks of the party, not sure which, one of the two. They actually said that if Romney loses Michigan, the party is gonna have to get in gear and try to find somebody else that they can nominate at the convention, 'cause they don't want Santorum and they don't want Newt, and they don't want Ron Paul. They don't want anybody else. They don't want Rick Perry. They don't want anybody else that's come before.

I mean, folks, they're salivating over Mitch Daniels. They're salivating over trying to change Jeb Bush's mind. Oh, yeah. But, no, look here. In the mood I'm in it's funny, but it's actually very irritating. Here you have the Republican establishment which, by virtue of this admission, that if Romney loses Michigan they think he's gonna lose the nomination. And that means it's time to ditch everybody and go find somebody else. That is a tantamount admission that they don't care what their own voters are saying in all of these primaries, in all of these elections. We are seeing the Republican establishment force a candidate down the throats of the Republican base. The Republican base is obviously saying from primary to primary to primary they're not really sure, really not all that sold on, Romney. And so the establishment, "Oh, well, okay, well, we gotta find somebody else you don't like that might be able to win it," which is what it boils down to.

They are saying, depending on where you go, certain bloggers, certain Republican Party officials, high-ranking elected Republicans are saying that the reason this is happening, the reason that Romney doesn't catch hold, the reason Romney's not getting any traction, the reason Romney's not running away with this, is because of the conservatives who have been challenging him. And they think none of these conservatives can win. Santorum can't win because he's too conservative. Santorum can't win because he's too big a spender, according to Romney and Paul. The Tea Party needs to stop making demands of Boehner and company. The conservatives are screwing everything up. The Republican establishment is essentially saying that the conservatives are screwing everything up, making a mess of this. That if it weren't for the conservatives, which is just the party, if it weren't for the conservatives, Romney would have had the nomination sewn up by now, damn it. If it weren't for the conservatives, all this would be done and everything would be hunky-dory. It's funny. It is breathtaking to watch.

There was a piece over the weekend and I wish I'd printed it out. I didn't, because there were many, and they all say the same thing, but I wish I had that one piece in front of me to go verbatim. Don't anybody try to find it. It's not necessary. But it was hilarious. This official of the Republican Party, unnamed, blatantly saying that if Romney loses Michigan, that they're gonna have to go back to the drawing board and find somebody else and not broker a convention, can't really broker one, but try to manage what happens at the convention to stop all this. And you know what's really scaring them? It's so predictable. What's scaring them is that Santorum is coming out and he is unabashed being honest and truthful about his beliefs when it comes to so-called social conservative issues. And they are in a panic.

Ever since 2008, well, before that actually but in this modern incarnation, since 2008 the Republican establishment has had as its primary objective to rid the party of the dominate influence of social conservatives. And now look what's happened. (laughing) Look at what's happened. The base of the party is basically telling the establishment, "Sorry, we don't hear you. We are who we are, and we are this party."

"If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate," said the unnamed Republican senator who hadn't endorsed anybody, who requested anonymity, 'cause it ostensibly is his home state, dad was governor there and all of that. So as the program unfolds we will be talking about this in great detail. Audio sound bites, Santorum yesterday on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer. James Taranto at Best of the Web today at Wall Street Journal, the blog, has a really good post on social conservatism and what it means in terms of winning to the Republican Party. The regime now, the Obama regime is in the middle of thinking they'd better retool for Santorum, as opposed to gearing up for Romney. And, of course, they think they're gonna be sitting pretty because of the social issues.

But let's not forget, it was their guy, Barack Hussein Obama, mmm, mmm, mmm, who tied Jesus Christ to his policies a couple of weeks ago. It was the National Prayer Breakfast, he equated Obamaism with Christianity and said basically what he's doing is what Jesus would do. So there's that. We'll get to that in due course as the program unfolds. In fact, I'll tell you how big this is. When I did show prep, putting it together this morning, it just evolved. There is a Santorum stack here based on all this, so much that I had to separate it from the primary stack. And Dan Balz had a piece Saturday in the Washington Post, "Is Rick Santorum Too Conservative to Win in November?" And what that headline really means in the Washington Post is this: "Is Santorum Conservative Enough to Actually Win?"

They're getting scared. As I've told you from the get-go, the left will always tell us what they fear. They'll show us. They'll demonstrate what they fear loud and clear. So this headline: "Is Santorum Too Conservative to Win in November?" You could actually make two headlines out of it, a headline and a subhead. The headline would be: "Is Santorum Conservative Enough to Actually Win?" The subhead would be: "Uh-oh, we never saw this coming." They thought, the establishments of both parties thought that they had dispatched the bitter clingers into a state of permanent irrelevance. And just the exact opposite has happened.

RUSH: It's gonna be an interesting week for Rick Santorum, because the kitchen sink and the devil are gonna be thrown at him, and how he deals with it will be fascinating to watch. I have my own suggestions and my own ideas which I, of course, will share with you (and thus with him through you) as the program unfolds today. Public Policy Polling is a very liberal polling group out of North Carolina. Their latest polling data out of Michigan shows Romney catching back up. How many...? By the way, they told us that Romney had to win New Hampshire 'cause that's his home state. That's next-door to Massachusetts!

Now Michigan is his home state. How many home states does Romney have? So now Michigan's his home state, and Romney went back to Michigan and he... (interruption) Well, he does. He has some vacation homes there. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with multiple vacation homes. There's nothing wrong with having multiple home states. (interruption) I do not have two home states. Okay, you're gonna count Sacramento then I've got three. I've got Missouri where I was born and raised and I got Sacramento, an adopted hometown.

And, of course, I lived in New York. So you could maybe say four, plus Florida. (interruption) Yeah, I divorced New York, but they won't get the message. They keep auditing me every year. New York is trying to collect alimony from me every year. I just had to submit to them the last three years of airplane records, 'cause they don't believe what I'm telling them a bout the number of days I didn't work there, which was zero! Don't get me distracted on that. I'm well focused here. We're gonna get to Santorum and the culture war and the devil and all the stuff is gonna be thrown at Santorum this week.

They are just squawking because the guy they promised it all to this time isn’t liked by the voters.

Anything they would do to tamper at this point will get them nothing.

Of course, I am not sure they will really care.

They are just squawking because the guy they promised it all to this time isn’t liked by the voters.

Anything they would do to tamper at this point will get them nothing.

Of course, I am not sure they will really care.

Please, spare me the GOP-E’s traditions! If Romney is the VeeP that would be viewed as a sellout by many; including myself.

To your comment on Reagan's pick for VeeP; look what choosing Mr “Read My Lips” gave us. If Romney is on the ticket that would be something that would make me write in for president. Same thing w/Christie ...the guy who, while running for governor, was asked about backing the 2nd Amendment; whereupon he contorted his copious jowls and snarled incredulously; “This is New Jersey!”

I will vote for Rick if he gets the nomination as long as he picks an acceptable VeeP; if not ...well I've held my nose and voted for the GOP “ticket” too many times. At this juncture I've earned the right to vote for a candidate I can agree w/and support. Besides, Santorum will lose to Obama just as McCain did.

I am not aware that Newt ever hinted he would want Romney for his VeeP ...in fact, I heard him hint quite pointedly he wanted Rubio ...whereupon Rubio stabbed him in the back and delivered the Cuban vote in FL to Romney.

If you have a link to evidence that Newt hinted at a Romney Veep offer please enlighten us all. For the record, if either Newt or Santorum should choose Romney as their VeeP I would “write-in” another candidate for president.

The Adelson rumor is likely something put out by the Romney camp. Rick is pretty solid on Israel and that's Adelson’s main interest in this campaign. It would be both counterproductive and stupid for Adelson to encourage Newt to go after Rick. In case you haven't noticed Newt has already said as of a week ago he is returning to keeping his campaign positive and focused on discussing issues; as he started out; until the Romney campaign declared war on him.

I don't know who you are or how long you've been on FR; nor do I give a tinker's dam; however, I defy you to find any evidence to your allegation that I am a hypocrite ...which makes that an ad hominem attack; which, as you know, is against FR’s rules. So lets stick to provable points and issues and avoid the personal attack BS.

Take care,

-Geoff

To your comment on Reagan's pick for VeeP; look what choosing Mr “Read My Lips” gave us.

Two terms of Ronald Reagan instead of a second term for Jimmy Carter?

I'm not thrilled with an (ahem) moderate on the ticket, but sometimes you have to make such moves in order to win. Not saying that is what is needed at this point, but it may become apparent that it is later in order to win in November. I would much rather have Mike Pence or Tom Coburn or Jim DeMint as VP if we can swing it. But if it takes a Romney or a Christie or a Daniels to pull in enough votes to get Santorum across the finish line, I can live with it.

If you put Romney or Christie on the ticket you will depress turnout and lose more base than you will pick up in "moderates." Further, what many people don't realize is that at this point in time “Independents” are comprised of many disaffected Conservatives who no longer wish to be associated w/the GOP. I am one of them. You will not win the South w/Romney or Christie on the ticket.

I don’t agree with some of your points, but I won’t belabor the issue. Hopefully, we won’t have to worry about it. Newt may be choice. I doubt if Pence or Coburn would pass muster. (They would make the heads of the media and too many liberal Republicans explode.) DeMint might slip in without too many heads exploding. But, if it isn’t Newt, I would guess that it would be someone who could tip the balance in a key state, like Rubio in Florida, Walker in Wisconsin, or Kasich in Ohio.

“...working to peal support, evangelicals, voters away from Santroum...”

Funny, I thought that the dems came up with this contraception issue to draw the evangelicals away from Gingrich to Santorum to help Romney.

“...working to peal support, evangelicals, voters away from Santroum...”

Funny, I thought that the dems came up with this contraception issue to draw the evangelicals away from Gingrich to Santorum, to help Romney and stop Gingrich.

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