RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you understand my purpose here. I’m not sloughing anything off. What do you expect me to do? If you want me to “start condemning” Newt, since when am I on Newt’s bandwagon? I praise Newt; I criticize Newt whenever it’s called for. I have not chosen a candidate — and this is why I never endorse in primaries! You never know when this kind of stuff is gonna pop up.

You know, all of these people who think they’ve got the power to name a nominee have been endorsing people since this whole thing began, and where are they now? How many people endorsed Santorum, and it looks like at the end of the day January it’s very likely that the two Republicans standing will be Santorum and Romney. Now, who would have predicted that? And Newt may weather this, ’cause I don’t know how much of it is really unknown to people, and the divorce rate in the country’s 50%. There are a lot of… The angry ex-spouse is not something that’s unique in this culture. Everybody has an angry ex-spouse, or has had at one point or another if they’ve been divorced.

(interruption) I’m saying ex-spouse. I didn’t say ex-wife. Dawn screaming at me, “Sometimes it’s the man!” I know, I’m not being sexist here. My only point is I have no idea how this is gonna play out. I have no idea what the impact’s gonna be. I don’t know how many people are gonna get mad at the media for this, how many people are gonna get mad at Marianne Gingrich. I don’t know how many people are gonna let this slide. I have no clue. Really no clue, but there’s some things I do know. The things that I do know are that this country is precariously balanced on an edge — and if it goes the wrong way, the country as you and I know it is finished. What I know is, as I said yesterday: Whatever Mitt Romney’s tax rate is, he’s not responsible for that.

Mitt Romney nor Newt Gingrich nor Rick Santorum nor Rick Perry have anything to do with the economic misery in this country. That is traceable to one man and one location: Barack Obama and the Oval Office. Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Santorum have not played over 90 rounds of golf in three years while everybody’s suffering. Gingrich, Romney, Santorum, the Republican nominees have not flown all over the world on the federal government’s dime. They’re not having lavish parties and concerts on the public’s dime. They’re not living like kings on other people’s money.
Obama sends his wife on government jets four hours ahead of him to the same destination, or she decides to take the jet herself. The Republicans are not doing that.

Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich will be taking a pay cut. For Obama winning the White House was a path to wealth. For the Republican nominees all except Santorum, now, it will be a pay cut. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Santorum. None of the Republican candidates are responsible for the 16% real unemployment in this country. They are not responsible for the increased fuel and food costs. They are not responsible for any of this. That would be Obama, who pretends to care about the middle class but lives like a king at the public trough. Mitt Romney’s not the problem. Newt Gingrich is not the problem. Rick Santorum is not the problem.

We find ourselves in the mess that we are in, precariously balanced on the edge, because of Barack Obama. Now we have some people on our side who want to dramatically change course, who want to reverse course — and all we get in the news media is what a bumbling of reprobates they are! All we get from the news media is an attempt to clear the field for Obama. Make no mistake what ABC’s doing this week with all the stories yesterday on Romney to take him out before the South Carolina primary, have Newt win or get close, and then Monday is when they wanted to do the Marianne interview, but Drudge came along and leaked the fact that they had it. That forced them to move it up. This is not what they wanted to do, but they’re trying to clear deck because they know that nobody in a majority sense gonna vote for reelection of Barack Obama.

Because they know that everybody in this country knows that none of the Republicans are responsible for the problems this country is in. They represent the solution, every one of them. Whatever baggage they have, the Republicans represent the solution. Every one of them is an average American in their own way. Obama is not; his wife is not. They are people of privilege, they are people of privileged status, they are protected, they have not had real jobs in the real world — ever. We don’t know how many no-show jobs Michelle Obama’s had. (New Castrati impression) “What’s a no-show, Mr. Limbaugh?” That’s when you get paid 350 grand by a hospital just to say you work there to attract people — and, by the way, you turn the poor away who want abortions in that hospital — but you never have to show up at the job. You get the job because your husband just got elected to the Illinois Senate. That’s a no-show job. Some union jobs are no-show jobs.

Now, if the left wants to discuss this kind of thing, and the media wants to talk about it, let’s talk about it. What financial sacrifices have the Obamas made? What money of theirs do they have that is theirs that they have earned? How many no-show jobs have they had? How many people get to spend other people’s money like they do and then act like they’re entitled to it in the midst of so much economic suffering? Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Santorum, they’re not up there telling you not to go to Vegas. They’re not up there telling you not to go to resorts. They’re not up there telling you don’t get on your jet and fly somewhere.

They are not offering to raise your taxes. They are not offering to deny you cheap energy at affordable prices and in plentiful supply. Gingrich, Romney, Santorum are not taking over automobile companies and making ’em buy pieces of crap that nobody wants. That would be Barack Obama. It’s not Gingrich, Romney and Santorum who claim to be focusing laser-like on jobs and then not doing it. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum have not grown the federal deficit, the national debt, by $5 trillion.

Do you realize — I made this point yesterday; it’s worth making again — Barack Obama has already spent the federal budget of the two years of the next administration, who’s ever in the White House. The entire federal budget for the two years beginning in 2013 is already spent. And he’s not finished. It’s not Romney or Gingrich or Santorum who have done that. How much money has Romney, Santorum, Gingrich thrown at failed, worthless, non-businesses like Solyndra and all the other jokes and frauds that the green energy industry is? Zero, is the answer. My point is that whatever you think of these guys, they are not the problem.

We’re a great country at risk in a dangerous world, and for the first time we are balanced precariously in such a way that if we tip the wrong way, the country as you and I know it, the way we were raised, is not going to exist. It’s not Gingrich or Santorum or Romney who are trying to take your individual liberty and freedom away, your property rights, making you buy health insurance, forcing a socialized medicine program on you that’s gonna virtually redefine freedom and liberty. It’s not Santorum or Romney or Gingrich that are basically ignoring the Constitution and behaving in a constitutionally lawless fashion. All of this is Obama.

The gasoline pump price has doubled since Obama was inaugurated. Gingrich has nothing to do with that. Romney’s got nothing to do with that. Nothing they’ve done has anything to do with that. Romney, in fact, has done more to empower and enrich individuals at Bain Capital and other things that he’s done at the Olympics than Obama can ever hope to do. Obama’s done nothing but ruin lives. Obama’s done nothing but destroy assets. The housing crisis. Most people’s number one asset, underwater, thanks to Barack Obama. Gingrich, Romney, Santorum, had nothing whatsoever to do with it. And as I mentioned yesterday everybody is up in arms, look at Romney, $374,000 in speeches. Yeah. Bill Clinton, $82 million in speeches, average speech, $181,000.

So in all this economic downturn what signifies have the Obamas made? They haven’t made any. As I say, Gingrich, Romney, if they win the presidency it’s gonna cost them money, it’s a pay cut. For Obama it was a pathway to wealth. I’m not defending anything Romney’s done or Gingrich or anything of the sort. I’m not excusing it, not trying to say it doesn’t matter. ‘Cause clearly it’s going to matter to a whole lot of people, and I’m not suggesting with my comments here that you should forget all these things that bother you and pretend they don’t matter. I’m just sharing with you the way I look at this. And I don’t really think that four more years of Obama is in anybody’s best interests. I also resent the fact that the media is trying to clear a path for him, clear out all the opposition.

But this is not a defense of Gingrich. It is what it is. It’s up for voters to decide this stuff. Oftentimes I point out in life things larger than ourselves, things more important than our own single interests, special interests, or what have you. But you know me, folks. I never tell you what to do. Well, very rarely. I respect your intelligence too much. And I’ll tell you what Snerdley’s prediction was. Snerdley’s prediction was the vast majority of complaint phone calls today about Gingrich would come from women. Well, it’s a gutsy thing to say, but it isn’t that tough to figure out. Really, how many men are gonna complain about this, in the same way women would.