RUSH: Craig in central Florida. You are on Open Line Friday. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. Dittos. It’s great to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.
CALLER: I’ll get right to my point here. I just have a simple question for you. Are you going to endorse a GOP candidate?
RUSH: You mean in the primaries?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: It would only be the second time if I did it. I know, the pressure is on, the pressure is on. Everybody says look what happened last time when I didn’t, I know.
CALLER: If you don’t plan to, I beg you to do it, you know, considering the circumstances in the country right now, and based on the results from last time, getting McCain.
RUSH: Yeah, I know. You’re blaming me for that?
CALLER: No, no, no, I’m not blaming you. I mean, everybody has a reason for what they do but, you know, the country needs conservatives, in particular need that kind of leadership.
RUSH: Let me ask you a question. I’m gonna turn it around on you. You know who the field is right now pretty much, right?
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Who do you endorse?
CALLER: If I had to vote for somebody right now I’d probably vote for Bachmann.
RUSH: Michele Bachmann.
CALLER: I mean I like Palin. I don’t really understand all the hatred for Palin. I think it’s almost like an infection that a lot of even conservatives buy into that —
RUSH: Fear. It’s fear.
CALLER: I don’t understand it, but I would vote for Bachmann. But you know it’s gonna save the candidates a ton of money, a tone of hard feelings and backbiting. And it’s gonna allow them to save their money to go up against Obama who’s gonna have, they say, a billion dollars in the bank.
RUSH: Well, some of that goes beyond the scope of my responsibilities here, saving money. But nevertheless, I understand your concerns. It’s a question I’ve been asked by many. If you look at the way this field is shaping up, you’ve got Bachmann, you have Palin, Christie, Trump, any number of people here that you could coalesce behind. It will be an interesting period of time. Did I hear you say that you like McCain or did you say Palin?
CALLER: No, no, no, I like Palin.
RUSH: Palin.
CALLER: McCain, I feel the same way that you do about McCain. I mean I voted for him but I held my nose when I did it, though.
RUSH: Well, the real question is who is Colin Powell going to endorse because he is said to be the prototypical Republican and he’s not gonna be running and we’ve always been told that General Powell, keep a sharp eye on how he’s thinking, who he endorses, that’s probably the best route the Republican Party could take.
CALLER: Well, I could kinda care less about that, but I think you’re ducking me here. You’re really not gonna give me a yes or no?
RUSH: (laughing) I’m just having fun with you.
CALLER: I know.
RUSH: No, I don’t know. Look, what do you want me to do? If there’s nobody in the field that I am jazzed about, which is entirely possible, if there’s nobody in the field, what I’m gonna have to do then is say, okay, this election had better be about Obama, and I think it ought to be anyway. This election should be all about Obama because, frankly, I would rather vote for Elmer Fudd than Obama. I would vote for whoever the Republicans nominate.
CALLER: Of course.
RUSH: I don’t care.
CALLER: Everybody would. Any conservative would, but you’re in a unique position to just clean out the field, allow all these candidates to back up the person —
RUSH: No. No wait a minute, now. Wait a minute — (crosstalk)
CALLER: — spending their money trashing them.
RUSH: I’m not trying to slither out of this. I’m trying to tell you as honestly as I can, what if there isn’t anybody I’m passionate about? I could do that, I could pick somebody, but if I don’t have passion about it, I can’t. I’m not a liar. I can’t come in here and tell you I’m razzmatazz, rolled, and ready to go.
CALLER: Nah, you don’t have to be passionate to endorse somebody.
RUSH: Thanks to you my own staff is ganging up on me in here.
CALLER: Good.
RUSH: The election is going to be about Obama. (interruption) I’m suggesting to you that it is entirely possible a loser candidate will get the nomination. That’s what I’m telling you. It has to be about Obama, it has to be. That’s what all this is about. It has to be about Obama. We can’t handle four more years of this. What do you mean, if it’s you-know-who? Who the hell is you-know-who? (laughing) Now they’re throwing names at me, folks, they’re telling me, “If you know it’s such-and-such it’s gonna be a disaster and if it’s that person it’s gonna be a disaster.” It may well be. That’s what I’m telling you. It may well be a disaster, and regardless what it is, the election has to be about Obama, it’s got to be. That’s the only logical thing anyway. We have got to stop this, even if it’s a stopgap, Elmer Fudd, I don’t care, pick a name. This is why I don’t understand all this talk, and I hear about people, “I don’t think Palin’s the one, do you, Rush?” Well, she’s a lot better than some of the others already in the field, all right? We could say that about a lot of them. (interruption) Yeah, I know, I know, I need to — (interruption) No, because nobody knows that.
Snerdley’s just said, “You gotta pick the person who can win.” I gotta pick the person who could best beat Obama, who has the best chance of beating Obama, that’s what you think? Who can win the nomination or beat Obama? Saving the country is about getting rid of Obama, and I’m telling you, you guys are not hearing me. You’re not hearing me because you don’t want to face the truth. The truth is, the sad reality is we may end up with Milquetoast as a nominee. We still have to get rid of Obama, in which case it has to be, the election has to be about Obama. It has to be. You’ll see. You’ll see. Staff still doubts me. I know some of you people do, but they know me best, they still doubt me. I’ll tell you this. Whoever in this field takes it to Obama the straightest, the hardest, and the most direct is who’s gonna win. Somebody’s gonna have to take it to Obama. This is not a pussyfoot around type election. This is not, “Well, we gotta worry about what they say about us, gotta worry about our PR, we gotta worry about charges of racism.” Somebody’s gonna have to be willing to take it to Obama. It’s going to be about him and four more years of this stuff, and we’ll see if there’s anybody in this field willing to do that. All right. Thanks for the call out there. I appreciate it.
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RUSH: I’ll tell you something else. This Libya stuff and the Japanese earthquake has created an impression that might not be accurate. Let me just put it this way. Do not believe that the Tea Party has forgotten about this budget business, the spending, what the Republicans on Capitol Hill are doing. Make no mistake, they are as focused, they’re gonna be as demanding, they’re gonna be watching. It’s only intensifying. This reluctance on the part of the Republican leadership to deal seriously with spending and defund Obamacare, there is a lot happening, it’s not being reported on ’cause the press shoves it aside for this sexier stuff, the Japanese earthquakes, the tsunami, the Japanese syndrome and all that stuff, then Libya and everything else, but the pressure being brought to bear on Republicans regarding spending, Tea Party, they’re swelling in their ranks, their enthusiasm’s growing, their demands are intensifying. Just ’cause you’re not hearing about it doesn’t mean that it’s been forgotten or the energy or passion has evaporated, because that isn’t the case at all.
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