Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Rush on Republicans
Limbaugh skewers Newt on recent comments that the Reagan era is over, and really slices into both McCain and Huck as liberals masquerading as Republicans. He basically says only Mitt, Rudy, and Thompson are pursuing true Republican votes, while the other two are out chasing Dems and Indies.
I also think he makes the key point, worth repeating, that the Republican party has lost its way and essentially mirrored the Dems if we need to take polls to see which way to stand on the issues. What made the Republican party great was basically saying "this is what we stand for, this is how we're going to fix these issues", and actually providing real, tangible plans, instead of smoke and mirrors like the Dems. The ability to talk specifics and implement a real plan is what originally led me to support Mitt (of course along with his specific position on many issues), although he stumbled somewhat by veering away from that approach along the way. Recently, though, in fighting for MI, he has returned to what can make him and the Republican party great: providing specific ideas and goals to turn around the economy of MI. Hopefully it's enough to propel him to a win there, but as we all know even though he leads strongly among true Repub voters in that state, he'll need a ton of them to turn out to overcome the Dems and Indies voting for McCain and others.
I also think he makes the key point, worth repeating, that the Republican party has lost its way and essentially mirrored the Dems if we need to take polls to see which way to stand on the issues. What made the Republican party great was basically saying "this is what we stand for, this is how we're going to fix these issues", and actually providing real, tangible plans, instead of smoke and mirrors like the Dems. The ability to talk specifics and implement a real plan is what originally led me to support Mitt (of course along with his specific position on many issues), although he stumbled somewhat by veering away from that approach along the way. Recently, though, in fighting for MI, he has returned to what can make him and the Republican party great: providing specific ideas and goals to turn around the economy of MI. Hopefully it's enough to propel him to a win there, but as we all know even though he leads strongly among true Repub voters in that state, he'll need a ton of them to turn out to overcome the Dems and Indies voting for McCain and others.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
AddThis
Always sniffing for the truth
Contributors
Links
- Love and Lunchmeat
- Long Island Prepper
- Fredo's Mets Blog
- Continental Sausage
- Human Events
- Maker's Mark
- Michelle Malkin
- National Review
- Newt Gingrich
- NRO
- Pro Ecclesia
- Ralfy's Whisky Reviews
- Red Albany
- Res Publica et Cetera
- Sour Mash Manifesto
- Straight Bourbon
- Taki Mag
- The American Conservative
- The American Spectator
- The Anchoress Online
- The Politico
- The Weekly Standard
- Wild Turkey Bourbon
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(731)
-
▼
January
(93)
- A Small Comfort
- McCain sweep on the horizon
- Are we there yet?
- Well, this cinches it
- Super Tuesday
- More McMentum
- Good news of the day
- Mitt's wheels spin. No traction.
- Mad Money Update #3
- Fait Accompli
- Q: which party wants a tax increase in 2011?
- Grading the polls
- NOW - What a Farce
- FL thoughts
- GOP Veepstakes
- That's Funny...
- This two-man race is getting entertaining
- Shotguns
- Might it be Obama?
- Repub National Poll
- What will Giuliani do?
- The Obama smackdown
- Crist endorses McCain
- McCain and Hillary: BFF?
- Heard by Fredo while in Vegas:
- Name dropping
- What's next?
- FL
- Sobering ...
- Jeb for Mitt?
- Sen. McCain's letter to the March for Life
- Duncan Hunter endorses Huck
- McCain wins the LA Caucus
- Insider Advantage FL poll
- Huckabee needs some Huck-a-bills
- Mad Money Update #2!
- Fred Drops Out
- Watch the Mitt futures soar
- Please fasten your seatbelts
- Early Florida thoughts
- Mitt leading in FL?
- Just because
- McCain wins SC!
- Romney wins NV
- While Fredo v. Worm
- Rush pulling for Mitt?
- GOP Scoreboard
- Romney lowering the bar in SC
- Fredo's Mad Money Update
- It's Mitt!
- Rush on Republicans
- If this is what they do to themselves...
- Is it McCain?
- McCain or bust?
- Time for a Break from Elections
- Fred Eviscerates Huck
- About as unexpected as Caribou Express sipping on ...
- Fredo's Mad Money Challenge
- Current intrade ask prices
- Mitt Pulls Ads in FL, SC...
- Should their votes count?
- Candidate Quiz
- The Fredo's Crystal Ball Primary Challenge
- Scenario: What happens in a GOP Brokered Convention?
- Gotta Love the KosKidz
- More Speculation for the Sake of Speculation
- Enjoy the drama
- Huck's good ear
- Mitt found his mojo
- Why Rudy is still viable
- Caribou Express and Worm were in New Hampshire today
- One more poll in the hopper,
- Two new S-USA polls
- Just as an aside
- Is it already over?
- Mitt Wins WY
- Making Sausage is Aesthetically Appealing by Compa...
- Be afraid. Be very afraid.
- A Republican "Reformation"
- Byron York: How Huck Beat the Romney Machine
- Live Blogging the Cawkeye
- Buying a solid bolt action deer rifle
- Another good one:
- Novak with one of the great headlines:
- Real-time Caucus results & bloggers conference call
- Bar Stool Economics
- Hideous thought of the day
- Paging Linderman, Protium, DC!
- Prediction Summary
- One Day More
- Topic du jour
- David Brooks sees the forest
- Iowa is a means to an end
-
▼
January
(93)
5 comments:
Weather is apparently bad in MI, with up to a foot of snow and cold weather. That's good news, b/c only people who truly care about a candidate will go out to vote in those conditions. I don't see some Dem who otherwise would've voted in Repub primary to screw things up going out in this weather just to make a point. So, hopefully Mitt's supporters are more steadfast in MI than McCain's. Sounds like he had an excellent tour of the state and really resonated with people when discussing their economy.
Even though I like Mitt better than McCain. I actually hope McCain wins MI, SC & FL. This way it may be clear that he will be the nominee well in advance. As mentioned in reference to Obama, he'll have the opportunity to campaign for the general while Obama & Hillary duke it out. Edwards staying in the race will also help Republicans as he may keep getting enough delegates to make the Dem primary go to the end. Maybe even a brokered convention.
If the GOP primary goes too far, their chances in the general are even worse.
I agree that if Repubs don't settle on a front-runner soon, they are even more screwed than they already are. The longer the nominee is unclear, the less time they have for fundraising, and the less time they have to energize the whole base as well as try to lure cross-over voters on the fence.
I wonder if Hillbama will merge at some point, in our worst nightmare. I can only hope they hate each other too much at this point to move beyond that and link up.
Desspite my status as a longtime Rush fan and longtime subscriber to his website and daily video feeds, I have to say, he has really diminished his standing so far in this primary season.
He obviously can't abide by candidates who try to win the nomination without kissing his ring, which is why he's had a thing for smearing McCain ever since 2000.
Let's face it, say what you want, but McCain and Huckabee are no liberals. No one is going to confuse them with Edwards, Obama or Hill.
Rush says Huckabee's a liberal on taxes? Huck must be the one looking for a 4% AGI surtax against all "high income Americans", a roll back of the '01 marginal rate reductions, a reimplementation of the old Estate Tax in all its pre-'03 glory, and massive new outlays on single payer health care that will ensure further tax hikes in the future.
Oh yeah, he's for none of those things, but the Dems are for all of them. Must be his desire to eradicate the IRS and institute the best tax policy available, the Fair Tax, that makes him a lib.
And McCain's a "liberal." Puh-leeze.
Listen, I was as angry as anyone with the man over his amnesty bill and over the Gang of 14. If you think I'm kidding, look back through the archives of this blog. But does that really make him a liberal? He was a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution, supported TRA '86, supported the military build up that won the Cold War, voted for the Patriot Act and the Iraq War, has voted for every conservative judicial nominee that has come through the Senate, including Bob Bork, Clarence Thomas, and Sam Alito?
Definitely the mark of a liberal.
At the end of the day, Rush is an insightful political analyst, a great radio man, and a heck of an entertainer. But he's also an ego-maniac who cannot abide the thought that he doesn't control the GOP primaries. And he'll do his best to sink the ship of anyone who doesn't kneel humbly before the EIB throne.
At the same time, for the first time in a long time, Rush's status as a kingmaker has really been diminished, what with his inability to drum up support for Fred despite his blatant attempts to do so.
It is an interesting commentary that the status of leaders has been somewhat diminished in this election cycle. Specifically, NR endorsed Mitt but I'm not sure if that will provide the boost it should. As Fredo said Rush has a huge audience and despite supporting Rudy early on and Fred/Mitt more recently, his support for Rudy and Fred has done nothing. (Not to mention, in order to preserve some credibility if you are going to label Huck and McCain but not Rudy as liberal, you need to go out of your way to emphasize that you are referring strictly to fiscal policies. On immigration and social issues Rudy is as liberal as any Repub candidate in recent history.) I also heard that evangelicals are not necessarily following the endorsements of their leaders either.
It goes without saying, but clearly people are using internet and cable news more than ever to come to their own opinion.