Christie Saga Makes Clear Republicans Still Don't Know What They're Up Against

RUSH: Can I share with you something? This whole Chris Christie business. I said that when he first got out of trouble, it was noticeable to me that none of the other wildebeests came to his defense, other RINOs. He was just left to sink or swim on his own, and none of the Democrats that supposedly like him and have worked with him and Obama -- nobody -- rushed to his aide. Which is classic, by the way. But there's something else about this.

If you watched the Sunday shows yesterday -- which I didn't. I get reports, transcripts, that kind of thing. I can't watch them anymore. I tried watching cable news the other night and I just went nuts. It just makes me mad. It's so much out of the... It's sophomoric. Anyway, you noticed all of the Republicans who are saying, "Yeah, he's in the clear IF he's telling the truth." The number of Republicans who are saying, "Oh, yeah, everything's cool, man. That was a great press conference -- IF he's telling the truth." What does that tell you? It tells you that there's some doubt.

RUSH: We announced on Friday pretty close to the end of the program that there was going to be a release of documents surrounding Bridgegate. It's 907 pages. 907 pages of documents on Bridgegate? What in the name...? I mean, how is that even possible, when nobody knew anything? All there was was that e-mail from the woman, Mary Kay... I keep forgetting her last name. "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," and whoever got the e-mail knew exactly what that meant, and they did it.

There were 907 pages. Now the Feds -- get this, if you haven't heard. The Feds are looking into the money that Christie got in New Jersey for Hurricane Sandy relief to find out if there is a connection between any of that money and Bridgegate or anything else. I sit here and I continue to be really shocked that the Republican Party thought an hour and 45 minute press conference could wipe up a this away.

That's the kind of naivete I had in year two of my program. I actually believed at one time that the media was interested in the truth and that when they were asking me questions it was because they wanted to know what I really thought. Thus, I actually thought I had a chance to persuade them of things, whatever it be, about me or my take on an issue or ideology. I actually thought that, and then when that didn't happen -- when I saw myself misquoted, taken out of context on purpose -- I got mad.

I said, "These people weren't even listening to what I was saying," because I have good manners. I was raised to be polite. I was raised to answer people's questions. It took me awhile to understand that the media don't care what I think or say, that that's not why they want to talk to me. The story's written before the interview. I'll give you example. H.R. can tell you the number of requests from television -- Good Morning America, Today show, you name it, national and local -- about Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims.

"Oh, we would love to talk to Rush about his children's book," and of course the publisher is just dying for me to do it. "You gotta do some TV. I mean, every author does TV. I said, "I am not going to accept any of these." Why not? Because they don't want to talk to me about the book. They want to take the occasion to smear me on other things that they think they haven't had a chance to smear me on. Take your pick. If anything controversial happens.

The book is just what they will tell me they want to talk about, and there might in fact be a couple questions about it. But that's not why they want to talk to me. I learned this 23 years ago. I learned, especially in my case, and I think every Republican ought to have this attitude, is why I'm sharing this. I don't mean to make this about me. But I know for a fact that when the media wants to talk to me about my book, that they don't.

And using experience guided by intelligence, I know what they would love to do, the vast majority of them -- of course there are exceptions. The vast majority would love to do hit pieces, with my participation. So I'm sitting here saying, "Why do these Beltway Republicans not also get this, when they have experienced it themselves, when they have seen how Republicans rebuke conservatives, whoever, are treated?" You know, John Podhoretz in the New York Post over the weekend had a piece.

I think it was Podhoretz. Yeah. It was. It was a piece in which he was attempting to educate his readers into understanding that it was not just media bias that is causing the media to drop everything and try to expose Christie as a crook in Bridgegate and why they left Obama alone in the IRS scandal. Podhoretz says a lot of people don't understand... This is his opinion, by the way, and I don't totally subscribe to it, but there's a couple of elements to it that are correct.

He says the reason why the media is going to the end of the earth to destroy Christie and why the IRS scandal is no big deal is not liberal versus conservative so much. It's personal. They are Obama. I've made this point. They all go to the same schools. They all party together. I mean, when the press looks at Obama, they see themselves. David Gregory sees himself, and he's not a crook. F. Chuck Todd looks at Obama, sees himself. He's a member of the DC establishment in good standing.

He's card-carrying, goes to the right restaurants, goes to the right cocktail parties, knows the right people, went to the same schools. They're one and the same. This is Podhoretz's point, that they can't even conceive that Obama's a crook, 'cause they're not, in their minds. They're all part of the same clique, and Obama happens to be the most popular guy in the clique, and there's no way. So if something happened the IRS, it's 'cause Obama didn't care, or people were doing it without his knowledge, like it woulda happened with them.

Podhoretz's point is there's no ideology to it. There's bias, but it's bias based on the fact that they're friends and associates, and they come from the same place, they go to the same places, and they're the same people. Christie's not one of them. Try as hard as he might by embracing Obama a week before the election and doing this, he's not one of them. A, he's a Republican so he can't be one of them. But B, look at him.

"He's out of control, no discipline, he's a bully, does all this stuff." He's not one of them. Now, the fact that they are all liberals and Christie's not is also a factor, and I think it's more of a factor than Podhoretz does, but Podhoretz still has a point. The purpose of this is not to excuse the media for not going after Obama on the IRS. The point here is, I don't understand why Republicans don't get this. Like, you can look at all these Republican consultants and advisors who thought Christie hit a home run with that press conference.

"Man, he did it right! He came at it, and he didn't hide, and he took it all on himself, and he was factually honest and he was nice and he was forthcoming and he was engaging. He was charismatic." That's not gonna impress them. Christie can't impress them, is the point. No Republican can. We're not one of them -- and the sad thing is, I think that attitude that all you have to do to get the media off your back is please them and it establishes that those people are already occupying a position in their own minds where they're inferior and where they're defensive and where they need to prove themselves and where they need to make the other side like 'em.

You cannot become one of them when you're not one of them, and you can't make them like you. Membership in that club, it's really strict and unique, and you don't get to admit yourself. Did they not see what happened with McCain? McCain was loved and adored until he becomes a candidate, then he becomes a dirty old man kicking kids off his front yard. So that's what amazes me. What amazes me is after all of this, after that hour and a half press conference they thought a home run had been hit and they thought the media minds had been changed.

I'll guarantee you, they're sitting there stunned that this investigation is still underway and that the Feds are now involved, 'cause they thought that Christie had succeeded. They thought Christie knocked it out of the park, when it didn't matter whether he knocked out of the park or not. This is the only guy beating Hillary in the polls, and they're gonna go destroy this guy whatever it takes. No matter what he says he believes, no matter policies of Obama's he signs on to or agrees with or, you know, doesn't join the Obamacare lawsuit, he cannot buy their affection.

Anyway, he’s the designated centrist loser, who ticks off the GOP base while not picking up any democrats.

...so the question is this; Christie loses votes from the right wing for being centrist; someone who would be pure enough to get those votes in turn loses them from all the middle to left voters...doesn’t take a genius to calculate who wins the particular election in question...what to do, whom to nominate...

...are those on the right still waiting for their shining prince, pure as the most new fallen red-state snow, to ride in and grab the prize...? are they still dreaming that anything over 191 electoral votes are going to come from said prince...?

...everything in this world costs something...all things have a price...so what is the price of the White House...?

Your analysis is incorrect. Right wing doesn't lose the middle if it is articulated and if it is forcefully pursued. The middle are those mushy moderates who are easily swayed, and when they see a Republican who agrees with Democrats on most things, they just go with the Democrat. Offer them freedom or slavery, and they will go with freedom.

Christie loses the base (a lot of people) while gaining a few in the middle. Ted Cruz, in the manner of Reagan, can excite the base, and convince a lot of people who actually get a chance to listen to him, that what he says makes the most sense. He can expand the Republican party with the power of ideas. What can Boehner do? Offer goodies just like the Democrats?

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