Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
Posted on 05/17/2007 7:26:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Rush Limbaugh, the most-listened-to radio host in the U.S. and America's No. 1 voice for conservatism, says he alone has the power to select the 2008 Republican nominee for president at this point, but he's avoiding promoting one candidate over another so as not to sound like a "cheerleader."
Limbaugh's remarks came today during his analysis of last night's GOP presidential debate in South Carolina, as a caller urged Rush to throw his support behind Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, as the caller claimed Paul was the most conservative of the field of candidates.
"I don't think Congressman Paul has a snowball's chance," Limbaugh said.
"You have the power yourself to make him the Republican nominee," the caller responded.
"That is very true, and that is why I must exercise this power responsibly, not as a cheerleader," said Limbaugh, "which is why I'm not picking a name right now. I alone have the power to move the [Republican] base."
Limbaugh continued:
The exercise of my 'power' – it's not something I'm really conscious of on a daily basis, but it would be foolish and silly for me to deny that I possess it. But the primary effort in the usage of my power is to educate and inform as many people as possible so they get in the arena of ideas and eventually go vote. Because I believe in ideas and ideas triumph, and when elections are won, I want them to be won on ideas, not labels and other things that are devoid of substance. ... But I did want to make note that I finally have now acknowledged what everybody knows, and it is one of the reasons that I am the biggest target of the American left simply because of that power. This is a power, my friends, that could be used for good or evil. I choose to use it for good. ... It's the elephant in the room. Why deny it? That would be false humility, and there's nothing that grates on me more than a person that engages in false humility and tries to laugh it off. ... I'm not going to sit here and deny what you all know.
Rep. Ron Paul
Paul was in the limelight during last night's debate as he was confronted by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who objected to Paul's suggestion that prolonged U.S. presence in the Middle East was a contributing factor to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. ... We've been in the Middle East," Paul, an opponent of the Iraq war, explained. "Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting.
"They are delighted that we're over there because Osama bin Laden has said, 'I'm glad you're over on our sand because we can target you so much easier.' They have already now since that time they've killed 3,400 of our men and I don't think it was necessary," he continued.
Republicans on stage at University of South Carolina
Giuliani interrupted: "That's really an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of Sept. 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I have ever heard that before and I have heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11. I would ask the congressman withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn't really mean that."
Paul stood by his remarks.
"Politics is perception, the perception of what he said is not good for him," Limbaugh said today. "You're not going to be able to clean it up."
Limbaugh also discussed why Paul was at the top or near the top of many interactive polls, explaining the congressman has many loyal supporters who are "spamming" Internet surveys with their votes for Paul. He also says media outlets are being flooded with messages from the Paul campaign.
WND has been among the news agencies deluged with Paul material, including this e-mail today:
C'mon now, according to all polls taken after both debates, Ron Paul is clearly a favorite of the American people. He has either won every poll I've seen, or come in a very close second!
What's a guy got to do these days to get some media coverage? besides having millions of dollars of special interest money, that is.
Think outside the box a little bit, and rise up out of the status quo, because if you don't, people are going to keep flooding to the Internet for there [sic] information.
The people want REAL changes now, and Ron Paul is the only candidate with enough courage and vision to bring it about.
Thanks for listening, a VERY concerned citizen
Limbaugh said Paul leans toward Libertarian views that the U.S. does not belong in the Middle East, which Limbaugh called "not realistic."
Rush should keep quiet about his choice. After all, it didn’t turn out so well for Simon Cowell.
You remember how the white house had all these guys over just to shut up the base on immigration...
Doesn’t it stand to reason that a radio host who has anywhere from 15-23 million listeners per week just might have an influence?
You must not have been listening. It was his typical ‘tongue-in-cheek’.
WOW!!! I like Rush but he is way overstating his power.
As usual, this article misrepresents what he said on his show. I heard the whole thing.
On the first day he dismissed that he had such power, and on the next he conceded (tongue in cheek) that he did.
I hope Rush was being tongue-in-cheek. Sometimes he is very skillful about pulling the legs of his audience.
I don’t think he has an unrealistic view of himself—he sounds like he was just going along with the caller.
But in case he wasn’t, he would be wise to remember the old adage—the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
The Fox News poll showed Ron Paul being the “victor” of the latest debate...please. What that tells me is that the poll was flooded by DUmmies, Code Pinkers, and other run of the mill liberals.
There is no way in hell Rush should get behind this nutburger, Ron Paul.
The drug-addicts downfall didn’t humble him, did it?
Yikes....lighten up people. He was being Rush....it was funny.
Is Rush assuming that his 20 millions listeners cannot make up their minds on who they vote for as a Republican nominee without his influence?
This is pretty dumb. Rush is usually too smart to say or believe this sort of thing.
Yes, he has a good deal of power to influence the nomination process.
No, there’s no way in hell he could give the nomination to Ron Paul or to any of the minor candidates, even if he tried. And if he tried to give it to a loser like McCain, he would lose a lot of his credibility.
IMHO, Duncan Hunter is the best of the minor candidates, yet I doubt whether Rush could push him over the top unless the situation changes in ways I do not expect. I like Duncan Hunter very much, but he’s just not on enough radar screens yet. He’d be a good VP, which would give him future visibility.
OK, good to know. Thanks for the info.
OK, I posted too soon. It didn’t sound like typical Rush if it was serious, but you can’t tell if it’s a joke unless you hear it.
Seriously, Rush could make the difference in a close race, let’s say between Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. That would be the time for him to step in, one way or another.
That was random!
I think he’s got a point on Ron Paul. As a local conservative radio host pointed out, Ron Paul is the Evil Elf of the GOP.
The only way either Ron Paul or the Evil Elf have half a chance of being president is if they run against each other. But then a third party candidate would probably win.
Sorry I can’t remember the Evil Elf’s real name right now but he’s the one with the Spock hair and tries to introduce...Kuncinich, Dennis Kucinich, the Evil Elf.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
Exactly. It was tonque and cheek as he was playing off a caller. Sheesh!
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