RUSH: This is Todd in Decatur, Texas. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush, for taking my call, and I am a Rush member. Just some headlines for today that I haven’t heard yet, “Romneycare Helps Illegal Immigrants,” LA Times reports. Politico, “Romney Health Care Law Helps Illegal Immigrants.” USA Today and LA Times are saying medical help for illegal immigrants could haunt Mitt Romney.

RUSH: Yeah. I’ve got the story here in the stack. I’ve got it in two different stacks here, and you’re reading the headlines basically correct. So what do you think USA Today and the LA Times are trying to do here?

CALLER: Good question. You know, I guess my plug and prediction is, I think Perry has the best, you know, living in Texas, and we’ve been here 15 years, and under his leadership I think he’s got the best story. I think he’s got the best experience for social and fiscal conservatives, and I think his people need to get this message built on a national level. And I think America’s gonna see what we’ve seen here in Texas. But my prediction is, if Romney gets the nomination, I think he’s got experience, I think he’s got some things he could bring to the White House beyond what this president is, but my fear is we’re gonna have a RINO in the White House, and he’s gonna set the conservatives back again and we’re probably gonna end up losing ground both in the Senate and the House.

RUSH: Wait a minute, now, what about Herman Cain? You’re throwing Herman Cain to the wind. He happens to be leading the polls out there.

CALLER: Yeah. I’m just basing it on what it looks like the two big guns long term are probably gonna be. I don’t know. I like certain things with Herman Cain. I know what we’ve had underneath Perry here. I’ve been at odds with Perry four years ago on a couple things, but in the last three years he’s really put up the conservative bills and here in Texas —

RUSH: Let me just say I’ve met Rick Perry a couple of times. I have no doubt in my mind that he’s a conservative, none whatsoever. I don’t have any doubt that Herman Cain is conservative. Romney is — well, George Will said it, George Will said the Republican Party is looking at Romney as a technocrat. The Republican Party is not seeing Romney as a conservative, and that’s very true, and that’s what the Republican Party wants. They do not want an ideological conservative as the nominee.

Now, here’s the LA Times story that Todd talked about. This is by Noam Levey, the headline: “Medical Help for Illegal Immigrants Could Haunt Mitt Romney — On the Republican campaign trail, he derides any such public aid. But the healthcare law he signed as Massachusetts governor allows it. The Massachusetts healthcare law that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed in 2006 includes a program known as the Health Safety Net, which allows undocumented immigrants to get needed medical care along with others who lack insurance. Uninsured, poor immigrants can walk into a health clinic or hospital in the state and get publicly subsidized care at virtually no cost to them, regardless of their immigration status.”

Now, the story talks about, wait a minute, we thought this was only gonna be for people in Massachusetts. “The Romney campaign referred questions to Tim Murphy, who served as Romney’s state health and human services secretary. Murphy said the governor never intended the Health Safety Net to serve undocumented immigrants. ‘Our view when we signed the law was that all benefits would be for people in the commonwealth who were here legally,’ Murphy said, noting that the regulations implementing the program were written after Romney left office in 2007.

“But Massachusetts officials involved in crafting the healthcare law said there was broad understanding when Romney signed it that at least some people who would benefit would be in the country illegally. That’s supported by language in the law. Although it explicitly bars undocumented immigrants from getting certain health benefits, it does not prohibit them from receiving aid through the Health Safety Net.” What a tangled web this is. What an absolutely undecipherable web. If you are a Massachusetts resident trying to translate this — let me try it again here. This is Tim Murphy, who served as Romney’s state health and human services secretary, “Our view when we signed the law was that all benefits would be for people in the commonwealth who were here legally.”

“But Massachusetts officials involved in crafting the healthcare law said there was broad understanding when Romney signed it that at least some people who would benefit would be in the country illegally. That’s supported by language in the law. Although it explicitly bars undocumented immigrants from getting certain health benefits, it does not prohibit them from receiving aid through the Health Safety Net.” And again, the health care law, Romneycare, signed in 2006, includes a program known as the Health Safety Net. It’s separate and apart from the main Romneycare, but it’s still tied to it. So while they can on a technicality say, no, no, no, no, our health care plan does not service illegals, the Health Safety Net over here does. And people are now scratching their heads, wait a minute, we thought this was just for people in Massachusetts.

So here you have the Republican establishment wants Romney. It is our firm belief the White House wants Romney. We think the White House wants to run against Romney because of Romneycare. See, Obama knows nobody wants Obamacare. But he doesn’t care. Obama knows a majority of Americans don’t want it. So if he can tie Romney to it, fine and dandy. He doesn’t intend to ever get rid of Obamacare, but he wants to tie Romneycare around Romney’s neck. So in that case, why would the LA Times, State-Controlled Media, be out with a story that’s harmful to Romney, rather than a story that would build Romney up? Because everybody (the Republican establishment and the White House, as best we can tell) wants Romney to be the nominee.

This LA Times story, by the time it circulates around, is gonna provide a little bit more ammo for the Herman Cains, the Michele Bachmanns, the Newts, the others, the Santorums in these debates, to take another shot at chipping away at Romney and his credibility. And you just heard the call, said we don’t want a RINO here. And you add that to George Will saying that the Republican Party looks at Romney as a great technocrat, meaning good, that’s what they want. So the long knives are out for Romney from people that you would not expect to be trying to take him out, i.e., the media, supporters of Obama.