Let?s Hear Some Straight Talk

RUSH: A new California poll taken just after Fred Thompson’s withdrawal from the Republican primary shows Mitt Romney as leading big over McCain in California when it comes to which candidate best represents the Republican Party. It’s a new California poll. Romney leads McCain in California when it comes to which candidate best represents the Republican Party. This is after Fred Thompson pulled out. Romney also held a substantial lead in regard to which candidate best represents what the Republican Party stands for. Thirty-two percent for Romney, 20% for McCain, 13% for Huckabee, 10% for Giuliani. This is after Fred Thompson pulls out. Romney getting tough in Boca Raton, Florida, yesterday, became animated during a brief interview with the Palm Beach Post. He was asked about a press release from McCain’s campaign Monday that criticized job growth in Massachusetts under Romney’s watch. Romney said, ‘What’s his record, by the way? What’s McCain’s record of job growth? What’s he done? I think you have to have a record before you can criticize somebody else’s.’ Romney needs to continue to be able to nail that. Poor Obama needs to be doing this, but doesn’t have it in him. So Romney is out there questioning McCain’s record on job growth.

Thad Cochran of Mississippi has just endorsed Romney. Norman Schwarzkopf has endorsed McCain. Now, Schwarzkopf lives here in Florida, and McCain is campaigning in Florida. He’s been in the Panhandle, but he’s here because the Florida primary is next Tuesday. Now, McCain has been here, and he’s been talking to Cubans down in Miami, (doing McCain impression) ‘I hate Castro. Castro is a sleazebag, and don’t worry about me and don’t worry about Castro. Castro is going to end up dead whether I have anything to say about it or not, but if I have a chance to say something about it, he’s gone, you got me?’ So he’s down there, and here’s what I would like. I’m a Florida registered Republican. I’m going to vote in the primary, all right? I say this to you as an average American citizen, not as a political commentator and not as an advocate for anybody, I’m going to say this to you, we have our primary here next Tuesday, and independents can’t vote in our primary, Democrats can’t vote in our primary, it’s only Republicans. And just as I would say to Rudy Giuliani, ‘Rudy, we’ve heard 9/11, time for some other things,’ I would say to Senator McCain, ‘Senator McCain, we know about your POW heroism. We know about your stuff on the surge. We know of your allegiance on the war in Iraq with President Bush. We know all that. I want to hear you talk about your immigration record, Senator McCain. I want to hear you talk about your record on free speech, meaningful, campaign finance reform. I’d like to hear what you think we should do with the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The people of Florida need to hear this.’

I want to hear from Senator McCain as a Republican primary voter his manmade global warming thoughts, his record, and what he intends to do to fix manmade global warming. I want to hear from Senator McCain on his opposition to tax cuts. I want to hear the domestic side, and I would hope that he would speak loudly and openly and honestly about his domestic record, not spin it, certainly not deny it, but give Republican voters in Florida some straight talk on the record. He can surround himself with the Schwarzkopf and the generals and so forth and the POW stuff, which we all admire and respect. But, you know, you owe it to the electorate to start talking honestly and openly about your complete public record rather than cherry-picking what you want to say to different audiences in different places. Talk about how proud you are of your service in the Senate, leading the Gang of 14, campaign finance reform, voting against two major tax cuts. Those tax cuts would help millions of businesses and employees, spurt economic growth. I would like to hear of your proud alliance with Ted Kennedy, John Edwards, Senator Lieberman on global warming, and others. I’m a Republican primary voter. I would like to hear some straight talk on those issues. Will I? ‘Don’t count on it, Limbaugh.’ As a voter, I can only ask. Well, I can only mention what it is that I would like to hear.