Posted on 11/08/2006 4:50:12 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
Republicans lost control of the House, and perhaps the Senate, because they abandoned their conservative principles and in the end stood for nothing, Rush Limbaugh said today.
In his Wednesday broadcast, America’s top talker said that until Republicans begin asking themselves what’s wrong with themselves they are never going to fix their problems.
When things go wrong, Rush said, "you must look inward and ask first, ‘What did we do wrong? What could we have done better? What mistakes did we make?”
Commenting that although Republicans lost, "Conservatism did not lose, Republicanism lost last night. Republicanism, being a political party first, rather than an ideological movement, is what lost last night.”
The Democrats, he said "beat something last night with nothing. They advanced no agenda other than their usual anti-war position. They had no contract — they really never did get specific. Their message was one of ‘vote for us; the other guys have been in power too long.’”
Rush further admonished, "There was no dominating conservative message that came from the [Republican] top and filtered down throughout in this campaign.”
He added that if there was conservatism in the campaign, it was on the Democratic side: "There were conservative Democrats running for office in the House of Representatives and in a couple of Senate races won by Democrats yesterday.” He cited James Webb as an example.
He also said it was conservatism that won fairly big when it was tried yesterday, but it was Democrats who ran as conservatives and not their GOP rivals. He added that the Democratic leadership had gone out and recruited conservative candidates because they knew liberals could not win running against Republicans in red states.
Rush quoted Thomas Sowell as explaining that the latest example of election fraud is actually what the Democrats did — they nominated a bunch of moderate and conservative candidates for the express purpose of electing a far-left Democratic leadership.
"The Democrats could not have won the House, being liberals,” Rush said. "Liberalism didn’t win anything yesterday; Republicanism lost. Conservatism was nowhere to be found except on the Democratic side.”
The root of the problem, Rush said, is that "our side hungers for ideological leadership and we’re not getting it from the top. Conservatism was nowhere to be found in this campaign from the top. The Democrats beat something with nothing. They didn’t have to take a stand on anything other than their usual anti-war positions. They had no clear agenda and they didn’t dare offer one. Liberalism will still lose every time it’s offered.”
Republicans, Rush said, allowed themselves to be defined. "Without elected conservative leadership from the top Republicans in the House and Senate republicans are free to freelance and say the hell with party unity.”
That leads, Rush said, to the emergence of RINOs — Republicans in name only.
Republicans in Congress, Rush explained, were held captive by the party’s leadership in the White House. They were put into a position of having to endorse policies with which as conservatives they disagreed.
"The Democratic Party,” Rush went on to say, "is the party of entitlements; but the Republicans come up with this Medicare prescription drug plan that the polls said that the public didn’t want and was not interested in. That is not conservatism. Conservatives do not grow the government and offer entitlements as a means of buying votes. But that’s what the Republicans in Congress had to support in order to stay in line with the Party from the top.
"It is silly to blame the media; it is silly to blame the Democrats; it is silly to go out and try to find all these excuses,” Rush said. "We have proved that we can beat them … we have proved that we can withstand whatever we get from the drive-by media. Conservatism does that — conservatism properly applied, proudly, eagerly, with vigor and honesty will triumph over that nine times out of 10 in this current political and social environment. It just wasn’t utilized in this campaign.”
Rush also blamed the failure to embrace conservatism on Republican’s fear of being criticized from those in the so-called establishment. Republicans, he charged, go out of their way to avoid being criticized, fearing they will be characterized as extremists and kooks.
As a result conservatism gets watered down, and the GOP loses the support of the nation’s conservative majority Rush stated.
Anything can beat nothing, Rush concluded, "and it happened yesterday.”
Yes he interviewed George Bush on his radio show last week and just asked him soft ball questions.
I realize he was trying to help GWB, but why is he waiting until now to voice his anger?
Who can forget the GOP's Bridge to Nowhere, that Bush refused to veto?
I still like Mitt Romney the best of the 08 candidates.
No spin necessary. The GOP lost because it did not advance conservatism or Republicanism. It ran a trade deficit, a budget deficit, and did not dent the debt. It increased spending across the board on a per dollar and as a percentage of GDP to all time highs. It kept and grabbed more control in Washington and did not devolve power as Republicanism stands for. They deserved to lose because they acted like Democrats for the last 6 years.
Lack of leadership is right. Almost every Republican president since I can remember has always been more active on foreign affairs than domestic ones. It was Newt's domestic agenda that got them elected, but once in power they forgot why they were elected. What, welfare reform? That was 8 years ago. Nothing since of merit or accomplishment.
Now we're gonna get James "F the Jews" Baker to come up with a new foreign policy because the GOP thinks this election was a referendum on Iraq? Nonsense, this election was a referendum on a lame, aimless congress. And this latest move has the potential to turn what could have been Bush's saving grace in the history books - success in changing the political landscape in the ME - into a loss. Like father like son? Too bad. I liked Bush and thought he would go down as a fairly good president with the right ideas on foreign policy, but James Baker is sure to screw that legacy up. What a shame.
I think the republicans lost a lot of races because the candidates were not that good. Santorum and Steele were very good candidates, but the rest of the republican senate candidates seemed to be running pretty weak campaigns.
And what I'm saying is if Hillary runs, she'll find a RINO to run as an independent to siphon the votes away from the GOP so she can get a plurality.
I also take particular issues with some of the emotional brats on this forum that flame these disgruntled people. That dog don't hunt at all for all that does is perpetuate the problem but gives them a moment of emotional gratification at the cost to our success. We can get the conservative machinery together where the base is re-energized and it will help for future success. Thanks..DN
Bingo!
Mike Pence is dull and boring..he has the personality of a turnip like Hastert...He means well but no charisma and we need that to get folks re-energized.
You want to know the worst thing about this election cycle? We have to see more of Nancy Pelosi on TV and hear her voice. Who is to be the Majority leader of the Senate? As I watched on South Park last night I guess the answer to my question is the same as the theme of last nights show. The Majority Leader and Speaker of the House contest is between a turd sandwich and a giant douche. Who will they choose? I am voting for turd sandwich!
Yes and they are also the ones who will hear a so called conservative dem get the border issue right and vote for the dem instead.
That is what folks on this board aren't getting. Sure we know there is no such thing as a conservative democrat but the average voter doesn't!
They pay attention 2 weeks prior to an election.
They don't check voting records.
And whether you like it or not those are the people we have to reach out to. Most people are repulsed by politics and avoid as much of it as they can and if we fail to get the message across to them it won't help us to blame them.
We have to get better at getting the message out and we need to find a Conservative Republican to do it for us for 2008!!!
I think Allen, at least, is dead meat -- three months ago, he was going to coast to a routine re-election, and he totally blew it.
Wow, I'm sorry...someone has been using your name.
Pssssssst...the imposter is back using your name again in defense of the LP.
You're going to have to take that up with the imposter.
Conservative Democrats?
Keep'em comin'
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