It's Up to Us to Win This Election and Mitt Romney is the Man We've Entrusted with the Task...

RUSH: Now, yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I spent practically the whole program discussing the state of the country, where we are, where we're going, what kind of country are we. And admittedly, a lot of people yesterday felt -- well, not a lot, but I had enough e-mails from people that made me realize I'd better come in here and set some things straight. Even Cookie said, "Are you giving up? Is it all over?" And this is the problem that you encounter. When you attempt to properly, honestly identify a problem -- I mean a problem, by definition, is negative, and when you properly identify a negative, a lot of people paper them over.

No, I'm not giving up at all, folks. Quite the contrary. The whole point of yesterday's program is identifying the problem. Here's what we're up against. This is what we have to do. The whole point yesterday, for example, Boehner had this quote. We had a caller irritated at Boehner who was asked about Romney. (paraphrasing) "Nobody is gonna fall in love with Romney." And I said, "Nobody's gonna fall in love with Boehner, either." The bottom line is we don't have anybody on our side that anybody's gonna fall in love with, and frankly that's fine with me. We don't want people falling in love with candidates. That's what people did with Obama in 2008. We don't want that.

We find ourselves in a unique situation here. We don't have the ideal nominee. There wasn't the ideal nominee this time around. But we do know something that trumps everything else and that is this administration must be dispatched on Election Day. We have to get rid of it. Regardless what Romney is, if Romney is less than a Reagan -- of course, everyone is -- if Romney is just somebody to occupy the Oval Office for four years while we put a stop to what's going on and try to reverse the direction of the country, it's all gonna boil down to us. (interruption) What are you saying? What's your reaction? No, it's not McCain, but my point is we conservatives do not have a Ronald Reagan running here. I don't want that to make people feel negative about what our prospects are.

What I'm getting to here is that it's up to us to do something about this. We are not big government people. We don't want to rely on other people to do things for us. We have to place our trust in elected officials, but to take ourselves out of the equation and to say that we play no role in this is a mistake. What I'm going to try do today is focus a little bit on the problems the Democrats have, 'cause they've got a myriad of problems. They are weighed down. Obama, as Krauthammer said yesterday, and I happen to agree with Krauthammer on this, Obama, by doing what he did yesterday with the Bush tax cuts is basically waving the white flag. He's basically surrendering on the whole notion that his economic answers work. That's really what he did yesterday. By extending the Bush tax cuts for 98% of the American people, he is tantamount admitting that his policies are failures. This must be said. This must be pointed out.

Now, if Republican elected officials aren't gonna point it out, we do, we will. But I happen to think that's a correct estimation, because, as I mentioned yesterday when I opened the program, Obama has been blaming the Bush tax cuts for all the problems he inherited. He has admitted that in three-and-a-half years he is unable to do anything about what Bush did, not able to fix it. He's admitting his incompetence. He's admitting yesterday that his policies are failures, and he's moving to the right, which I said yesterday and on numerous previous occasions, the Democrats always do this when it nears elections, when we near elections, when it comes to time to win them, what do they do? They move to the right, try to make themselves sound and look conservative, not in name, obviously, but lifestyle policy-wise. You won't hear any more talk of gay marriage, for example, that kind of stuff. That stuff's all out of the way.

You're gonna see Obama tacking to the right throughout this campaign while offering lip service as much as he can to his fringe kook base. Ninety-eight percent of the American people are going to now benefit -- here's another thing about this. Everybody keeps calling these the Bush tax cuts. They aren't tax cuts. They are the current tax rate. The Bush tax cuts occurred ten, 11 years ago now. That is the current tax rate. The Democrats want to continue to call them tax cuts as though they're always temporary and that we gotta get back to some norm. They're talking about the Clinton tax rates that we should get back to, which I've agreed to if we'll go back to Clinton spending levels. Clinton's budget in 1992 or 1993, $1.8 trillion. That's an Obama deficit now. And the Democrats talk about the Clinton years as magical and wonderful and filled with prosperity. Well, let's go back to 'em. Including the spending levels, which, of course, they won't do.

My point here, and I don't want to be misunderstood, is I'm simply trying to rally everybody. We are going to have to pitch in and do this rather than count on elected officials. We don't have an ideal nominee. We weren't gonna get one in this cycle. (interruption) What do you mean, I won't play the game? What game? What game am I supposed to be playing? Well, but that's not happening. Snerdley, you are falling prey to the game. You're succumbing to the conventional wisdom of what happens after a nomination is completed and so forth. Boehner said, (paraphrasing) "No, you're probably not gonna love Mitt Romney," and he went on and added his Mormon stuff. And my only point is we don't have to love these people. The objective here is to stop Obama. That's it, in its entirety. Romney is the vessel for that. He's going to benefit from that.

One of the central themes of yesterday's program was that a traditional campaign on the economy isn't gonna work because a bad economy has become accepted by way too many people. It's no longer something that creates a crisis mentality in a lot of people. Pat Caddell has a huge -- I mean this thing prints out to over 20 pages, if you include the comments, and I've got an audio sound bite somewhere here in the stack of him talking about it. His point is the Republicans don't know the great opportunity they've got here. They're blowing it by continuing to focus on the economy, and it's not about the debate of whether Obamacare, the mandate, is a tax or a penalty. It's a tax, and it's the biggest tax increase in the world. It's the biggest tax increase in world history. And that ought to be the focus on how to talk about Obamacare and the economy and Obama and his regime, his administration.

This tax, while he's trying to get credit for a tax cut, which they're now saying Obama is cutting people's taxes. He's not cutting anybody's taxes. He's leaving the current tax rates alone, not cut -- for 98% of the people. And again he's a sitting duck on this stuff because he's blaming these tax cuts for the last four years for the economic malaise this country is in. He's blaming those tax cuts. Now here he is extending them for the second time in his three-and-a-half year term. He's a sitting duck on this. He's a sitting duck on taxes because of what he did yesterday. He's a sitting duck on taxes because of Obamacare.

One thing that is universal, one thing that is timeless, and that is nobody wants to pay higher taxes, and when they find out how much a tax increase Obamacare is, it is the best way to go about, A, defeating Obama, B, repealing Obamacare. And we can get into the nuts and bolts of the actual things that are gonna happen with the implementation of Obamacare, but we've done that. But the thing that's new here is that thanks to the Supreme Court, it's just been called a tax. It's not even Obamacare anymore. It's ObamaTax. And it needs to be approached that way and it needs to be hit on that way and Caddell is exactly right in this. I'll share some of his thinking on it as the program unfolds before your very eyes and ears.

But the bottom has fallen out for Obama. I don't want anybody to think that the tone -- actually yesterday, folks, I must tell you, I felt great after the program yesterday because when you strip it all away, it was uplifting. It's what we all can be. It's what we all don't want to lose. We all know what the reason for this nation's greatness is. We all know why we're unique. We all know what American exceptionalism is. And we all have a president who doesn't believe in any of it; and, in my mind, it makes him a sitting duck. We've got serious problems taking place in the country, and I'm probably gonna detail some more of them today as show prep indicates here. I've got some more examples of it. So I just... I don't want to be misunderstood. Yeah, I was not trying to be negative, fatalistic, or anything of the sort. Just quite the opposite.

RUSH: Here's Pat Caddell, by the way. He was on Cavuto on Fox. Question: "The new poll puts the president ahead of Romney in 12 battleground states by two points. It's close, but he's surviving."

CADDELL: The fact that he is still even marginally ahead given the kind of month he had, says something about how well his campaign is doing, frankly, and how difficult his opposition is of (sic) keeping control of the initiative. The health care bill? He is the master distraction. He's been standing on quicksand since the court decision. Because the court decision made the mandate, which 67% of Americans oppose, into a tax. And he told them, "Oh, no, no!" It was not gonna be a tax. The Republicans cannot get their message. Instead, they're talking about trying to repeal the whole bill, which is a ho-hum thing, rather than even today saying, "Wait, Mr. President. You want to talk about taxes? We want to repeal ObamaTax, the health care bill."

RUSH: Now, if you read the entire Caddell piece, basically he says that the Republicans are blowing a big opportunity to talk about an issue called "trust." We can't trust Obama. Nobody trusts Obama. Hit it! Another thing he's pointing out is that this notion of "repeal, repeal," is falling on dead ears. It doesn't mean anything. It's been used for way too many months now. "Repeal this! Repeal and replace." Go for what's current! The Supreme Court just called it a tax. That makes it the biggest tax in the world. Go after this and put it all on Obama. It's made to order!

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, my staff on the other side of the glass here (I should tell you this), are still in a state of shock. In fact, if I weren't such a highly trained professional, I'd be distracted by what's going on in there. They are talking to each other. They are ignoring the program. They're not paying any attention to it attention to it whatsoever. They're talking to themselves, and I know they're talking about me, and they're talking about what I said about Romney. And they can't believe it.

They think that I've lost it, gone over the cliff, committed some sort of great political crime here because I dared say that there isn't a lot of love for Romney. I don't it. See, as the mayor of Realville, do I have to even explain this? All right, I'll give it a shot here. It's not a negative. There aren't very many political candidates that have that kind of passionate support. The last candidate who was loved in this country, for example, was Obama in 2008. And my point is: We don't want that.

We don't want blind, slavish attachment to people because we can make of them whatever we want them to be. My point in saying that Romney is not "loved" is only to illustrate what this election is about. Why were you not as irritated at me for saying what I said yesterday and the week before when I said, "Romney better understand the election is not about him"? It's the same thing. Saying people aren't in love with Romney is the same thing as saying the election is not about him.

In fact, I would think if anybody is gonna be offended is something it would be when I say, "Romney better learn the election isn't about him." All I mean is... Can I just be honest? Among our side, the conservatives, the independents -- everybody who wants there to be significant change in this country -- very few are running around saying, "We want Mitt! We want Mitt! We want Mitt." They're running around saying, "Get rid of Obama and the Democrats! Get rid of Obama and the Democrats!"

That is the animating thing of this election. That is the motivating thing of this election. Clinton was loved, and look how easy it was for him to mislead everybody. I don't like this notion that we fall in love with candidates. My point is we need to be adults about this. We loved Reagan and we still do. But Reagan was not a manipulative, insincere, conniving president. The love that people had for Reagan was a genuine love, not a celebrity idolatry. People loved Reagan deeply as a man, as a human being.

They loved his character, every aspect, policy, you name it. And we knew he loved the country. There was a profound respect. He wasn't the Celebrity of the United States. And those candidates are rare, is my only point. This election is about getting rid of the forces who are attempting to transform this country. No matter what... Let me try it this way: No matter what Romney is and no matter what he does as president, it ain't gonna be anything like this. Now, it might not be ideal, conservative-wise, but it's not gonna be anything like this.

Everybody on our side is oriented toward stopping this. The question is: How? I take you back to Michael Goodwin's piece yesterday. He said Romney's biggest problem is something he had no control over. He was born in a different era. He still thinks of American politics as it was practiced 30 and 40 years ago, and it's changed now. The economy, simply running on the economy is not enough. Too many people are accepting of the economy as it is. There isn't widespread outrage over it, because there's not a lot of pain attached to it.

Not as there has been to unemployment and similar economic distress in years past. What we love is the country. What we want to save is the country. And we are entrusting that task to Mitt Romney because he is the Republican presidential nominee. We are entrusting the task of stopping the direction this country is headed to Mitt Romney. This is a business decision. It is a full-fledged American, political, business decision that will be made in November, just as it was in the midterm elections in November of 2010.

Now, when you peel away all the phony poll sampling. When you consider the unpopularity of Obamacare. When you measure the mood of small business owners. When you look at the way Democrats are jumping off the Obama bandwagon (and more and more of them every day are jumping off the bandwagon and more and more are saying they're not going to the Democrat convention). When you consider the breadth and the depth of the results of the 2010 midterm elections.

When you consider the significance of Scott Walker's victory in Wisconsin. When you see the positive employment impact of Republican governors. For every Republican governor elected in 2010, the last 17 of them, unemployment is going down in those states. Unemployment is dropping in states that elected Republican governors. It is clear when you add all of that up. Those are individual items, but when you lump them together, when you add them all up, it is clear that a majority of likely voters are ready to replace Obama. I have no doubt that a majority of people are ready for this.

But Romney has to capture this momentum, and he has to bring home a victory. And the momentum is not attached to his winning the Republican primaries. It is not attached to him winning the nomination. There was going to be a Republican nominee. The momentum, the thing that needs to be gotten hold of here and ridden is the trouble the Democrats are in; the trouble Obama's in; the problems that they have that are the result of the disastrous policies they've implemented. That is the source of the momentum. It's all Obama. The election must be about Obama. It's got to be about the disaster that is Barack Obama and his administration. The economy is just one disaster. Obamacare is another disaster. They are inexorably linked.

There cannot be an economic recovery in the private sector with full implementation of Obamacare. Not possible. Because Obamacare has now been stripped bare, and everybody now knows, who is paying attention, what Obamacare is. It is a massive expansion of government, funded by the biggest tax increase the history of the world. That's what it is. And nobody wants it. A vast majority, 67% have been opposed to the individual mandate; over 53% have been opposed to the entire bill. There has never been public sentiment for this. There is no reason to act timid in opposing any of this. We're in a single elimination tournament, so to speak, one-and-done. A Republican loss in the House or the Senate or the presidency is game, set, and match.

We have to win all three, and then after that, we have to do the right things with the new power that we will have been entrusted with, or I should say they have to because we aren't gonna be there. If we lose the House, it's over. If we lose the Senate, it's over. If we lose the presidency it's over for the economy and for individual freedom. But the reality is, the truth is that the country is poised for a sweep of the series. A Scott Walker, Tea Party-style campaign is what likely voters want. There's an ABC/Washington Post poll out today. The sample has a 9% edge in Democrats, a plus nine. And it is of registered voters, not likely. Registered voters, which is meaningless. They sample 9% more Democrats than Republicans or independents. And in this poll Romney is tied with Obama in registered voters. That means Romney is way ahead in likely voters, which is why the Washington Post is not publishing a poll of likely voters.

RUSH: One slight correction. I erred when I said that the Washington Post sampled more Democrats than Republicans and independents. They sampled 33% Democrat, 36% independent, 24% Republican. So they sampled 9% more Democrats than Republicans. That is bogus, number one. You and I know that in terms of the ideological delineations that are made in the country, according to polling data, twice as many people identify as conservative as liberal. It is standard operating procedure. It's a blind assumption that there are that many more Democrats than there are Republicans, particularly now. So the sample is flawed, but even worse, it's registered voters, not likely voters.

The entire poll is difficult to believe. It claims that Obama and Romney are tied at 47%. Same as they were in May. This is July. Two months have gone by since the last poll, and it's still 47-47? We're supposed to believe that voters haven't changed their minds at the job numbers, the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, the unprecedented backdoor amnesty? We are to believe that with those major changes in policy, that nobody's changed their mind in the presidential race in the Washington Post poll? Sorry. I suspect things are much worse than the Washington Post is letting on.

The Rasmussen poll today has Romney plus three over Obama with likely voters and Obama with a minus 18 strongly disapprove number. And that poll, the Rasmussen poll, is likely voters versus registered. It's far more accurate just on that basis alone. Rasmussen Reports that 53% of likely voters want Obamacare repealed; 43% strongly support repeal; 31% strongly oppose repeal. There is not broad-based support for ObamaTax, which is what it is now, anywhere.

They simply need to continue to stand firm, and agitate against the grievous transgressions against us, and others (less courageous) will slowly join them.

So you plan to continue to bravely bitch on the internet. Good show.

For the record, the process sucks and was stacked in Romney's favor. But he didn't change the rules and all participants in the primaries agreed to the rules going in.

The problem is that conservatives failed to unite behind a single candidate, mostly because no conservative candidate stood out enough to unite behind.

That's not evidence of fraud or criminality. That's a fundamental weakness in the conservative movement that needs to be addressed.

Pontificating on the internet about fantasies of stripping the nomination away from the candidate that legally obtained it is neither brave, conservative or realistic.

It's just silly typing that fails to address the problem. We lost this nomination process and need to work towards winning the next one, rather than imagining that there's still time to un-lose the last one.

I keep hearing replace, but with no realistic alternative.

There is no realistic alternative and the ABRs know it.

They don't care.

They don't want to win.

They want for Romney to lose.

I like Col West and I would support him, but is Col West really all that conservative for you to support him? He has a grade of 68/100 by Heritage on voting issues. The GOP House average is 65.

I want to give you an example of others, John McCain is 76 and Lindsay Graham is 72 with a GOP Senate average is 73.

And like dude...it's fine to put up all the conservatives and like dude, have the socialist run media take them all out one by one and keep the socialist Mitt on the back burner cause like dude...there really is no enemdia and we are like wow...still getting a choice between a real conservative and a liberal candidate.

I can't even begin to decipher any point in that, with all the "dudes and likes." I feel like I'm having a conversation with a twelve-year old girl on whippets.

I am just so schooled by your brilliance..please let me know next time you post so I can learns a lot.

I'm afraid you appear beyond redemption, unless you have a unexpectedly strong sophomore year.

I’m not supporting Romney at this time as he’s NOT officially representing the GOPe yet. He’s still campaigning. We shall see after the convention when it’s official, and there’s absolutely not a prayer for a true conservative to run for that position. Believe it or not there is still time after August to support whoever we want to support.

Yes I’m fully aware of the money going to Romney, the movement behind Romney, and I’m fully aware I don’t want the SOB for my President. I don’t want Obama either, never did.

I’ll get behind the one who isn’t Obama, and has the best chance to win that appears to me that he will not be worse than Obama for the next four years, and if that turns out to be Romney, then so be it, but I’m not going to jump from the plane with a Romneychute strapped to my back right this very minute, pull the chord, and have a bunch of Leftist crap shoot out like a broken pinata leaving me to splatter all over the ground, for fear Roque Yam disagrees.

Wait and see.

Rush and Levin are so much less than I thought they were. I stopped listening several months ago -- have been tuning in instead (during the few times of the day I can listen) to a wonderful religious station, nearly all of whose programs are very inspiring...

I've become so disgusted with our leading talkers, that even when do I have their programs on (force of habit), they're turned down to the level of background noise. My wife and I are so accustomed to the sound, that we can't work without it :-(

After Rush goes off, we either turn to country music, or turn it off altogether. Sometimes in the truck, I'll listen to Levin go on for a few minutes. Can't say that I listen with any sort of fervor anymore, though. I'm simply too upset with him.

I need to take some time and look around the dial for someone I can really listen to. Someone who speaks to the 3%. I just can't take Loyalist radio anymore.

That's all you've got???

{^)

It's more likely that Obama is, and would continue to be, a lot weaker than "conventional wisdom" (and ABO hysteria) says he is.

Fear makes people do stupid things they regret later. Fear is your enemy's most powerful means of manipulating you.

And fear is the ONLY thing fueling ABO.

There's a message in there.

Romney is the man who the GOP primary electorate nominated. That is the bottom line here.

So, you'll keep avoiding the question.

What you're saying is that we nominate inferior candidates, is that it?

Well, Kaslin, I've read most of the comments on this entire thread and it appears that the GOP has a problem on its hands.

It has alienated a lot of its conservative wing with Romney as its candidate just as it did last time with McCain. Will it ever learn???

If these disgruntled conservatives don't punch his chad out for him in November, it will be 4 more years of Obama with accompanying tax increases and everything else. And if that happens whose fault will that be -- their fault for voting their consciences, the GOP's fault for giving them another RINO, or Romney's fault for being that RINO???

What are he and the GOP going to do between now and November to secure these votes that they are not going to win without??? Any suggestions????

haven’t most of those saviors you listed said voting for that idiot Mitt, and not some pretend candidate, is a good idea?

And a more tepid batch of "endorsements" I've never heard -- and all from people who want/expect some kind of future in the Republican Party. Even with their backs to the wall, the only thing they can say for Romney is that he's not Obama. Not exactly a rallying cry . . .

The numbers work better with an Obie win, the the GOP gains seats in 2014 and we can try to run an actual conservative in 2016. Putting a socialist with an R after his name in the White House give the libs total control. I don’t vote socialist, EVER, I don’t care what letter comes after their names, all socialists are scum and bad for the country, they can’t save the country, because they’re the problem.

Perfectly put, discostu.

Sorry, Rush, but I'm not going to join you in supporting a liberal this time. You just do whatever Karl Rove tells you to do and I'll check back in on you again right after the election to hear your explanation for why the GOP lost again.

So, you'll keep avoiding the question.

Being obnoxious is no substitute for being intelligent.

There is no objective definition of "best" or "inferior". Everyone's opinion differs.

That is why we hold primaries. The primaries are now over and the GOP nominee is chosen.

If, instead of focusing on winning in November, you want to spend the next four months whining and sobbing and complaining, well you've come to the right website.

But there are still some people left here who are rational, intelligent, and honest, and who know the difference between discussing ideas intelligently and throwing a temper tantrum.

Not exactly a rallying cry . . .

The GOP bumper sticker message this year boiled down to its essence:

"Romney sucks but..."

That ought to really rally the troops.

Tell me - any of you! - tell me how Romney is going to do anything differently than Obama?

Both are pro-choice.

Both despise the 2nd Amendment.

Both support mandates requiring government healthcare.

Both are Globalists who don’t give a damn about the God-given rights of average Americans.

Neither man has ever served in our nation’s military.

So, go ahead; tell me how Romney is better than Obama.

Oh! You say that Romney loves this country. Where’s the proof? There is no evidence Romney loves this country.

Keep in mind that Gov.Romney trashed the State of Massachusetts’s economy and made a joke out of the rights of its citizens.

We can choose for ourselves, and not allow a socialist to be shoved upon us as a candidate.

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