RUSH: Now McCain. This is funny. This is from Jonathan Martin, our old buddy the blogger at The Politico. ‘Styrofoam coffee cup in hand, John McCain came back toward the press section of his charter jet to indulge questions and allow the photogs to get some shots. Asked what he would say to conservatives still suspicious about his candidacy, McCain interrupted the question. ‘I say a very large portion of it, the conservative base, voted for me yesterday — I thank you,’ McCain said… ‘I will continue to expand that base.’ McCain cited two reasons — one old and one new — to make his case as to why Christian conservatives should get behind him. ‘A very large portion of the evangelical community is becoming more and more concerned about climate change because of our biblical obligation to be good stewards of our planet,’ McCain said. ‘That clearly is an issue that I’m in complete sync with the evangelical community on.” Okay. Stop laughing, because this was a calculated statement — and the evangelical community? Why, I thought that was Huckabee’s!
But make no mistake: Governor Huckabee, at this stage, in my opinion, is in the race to take Romney out of the way for McCain. Just to hit off on this evangelical business, the thing Huckabee’s gotta understand is if you have made a deal with McCain behind the scenes, under the table, understand it’s one way, because McCain is going to throw you overboard as soon as he has to, Governor (laughing), when the time comes — and he’ll not remember the deal or it will get reshaped in his mind or somehow changed. McCain ‘also said he’d point out something that he’s not always been comfortable doing — that he’s voted the anti-abortion line for his whole career. ‘I’ll also try to make them remember that my social conservative record has been consistent and unchanging,” and in that way he’s going to take out Rudy. So he’s going to try to get the Huckabee vote with the global warming route and try to get the evangelicals. He’s going to try to take Rudy out with his consistent abortion stand, which he’s not fabricating. He has been consistent on the pro-life issue.