How Washington RINOs See You

RUSH: How many of you remember the name Mickey Edwards, Republican-In-Name-Only from Oklahoma, former member of Congress? Yesterday he was in Washington at the George Washington University at the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. He’s the Aspen Institute vice president now, former representative Mickey Edwards (Republican-Oklahoma). Listen to a portion of what he said.

EDWARDS: I found often that my constituents — who are busy living their own lives, doing the best they can for their families and their careers — didn’t have all the information that was available to me or to other members of Congress or to the president. Uhhhh, and some of what they got they were getting, uhh, from really deep intellectual sources like Wikipedia or Rush Limbaugh. You have to, on important matters, sometimes you have to say, ‘I listened to my constituents. I took them seriously. They’re just wrong.’

RUSH: Now, he is suggesting that members of Congress tell their constituents that they, you, are wrong on health care. I play this sound bite for you because it was mere moments ago — actually I think in the last hour — somebody called with another question: ‘Rush, why aren’t the Republicans saying anything? Why aren’t they in there fighting for us?’ I said there were three reasons. A, they have become of Washington, and Washington is the center of the universe, and you’re not in the center of the universe. The second thing is they’re frightened. They’re afraid to scare off the moderates or to be called racists if they criticize Obama. The third thing — and this is directly in relation to what Mickey Edwards just said. The third thing is… Now, I know, every Democrat up there is governing against the will of the American people. Every Democrat holds average Americans in contempt. They don’t think they’re smart enough, sophisticated enough, educated enough, all that.

They’re just rubes. They’re kooks. They think if you call Washington, you’re a kook. You’re an idiot. They’ve talked to you on the phone. You rant and rail and so forth. They think you’re kooks! They don’t think you represent people that are really real Americans. People that are really working, as he said here, living their lives and doing their best for their families don’t have time to harass members of Congress. So they adopt this notion you’re just a kook. I don’t know to what extent Republicans do, but I do know that sometimes legislators (in state governments as well) will circle the wagons. ‘Ah, those people outside are just a bunch of wackos! That’s not representative of the country,’ and that’s why when to listen to you. Here’s Mickey Edwards essentially confirming that theory, that you don’t know nearly what he knew when he was in Congress, and you certainly can’t know it if what you know comes from me or Wikipedia — which is a huge insult, to compare me to Wikipedia. But nevertheless, I play the sound bite just so you can see. You’re wrong! He wants these people in Congress to run around and tell you that you’re wrong.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, folks, don’t doubt me on this stuff. Look at the disdain for all the people who showed up last August at these town halls hosted by members of Congress. Look at the disdain, shown both by the media and by members of Congress. I mean, you are a problem. You wonder why they don’t listen to you? There is a cabal. It’s a mind-set of sort of like ‘us versus them’ — meaning they are the ‘us,’ members of Congress, versus all of us — and it’s pervasive, I think. I think it’s one of the reasons why now they just shut off the phones. They know… In this case it’s the Democrats. They know you don’t want this health care bill. They don’t care. You are an idiot anyway. You’re just a bunch of kooks. You don’t know what’s good for you — and even if you did, it doesn’t matter. These people now approach in their own minds a status of near royalty and infallibility. They have had a lifelong dream of socializing health care ever since FDR. It’s a lifelong dream, and here they are on the precipice of it! In fact, they’re going to do this as much as anything not to lose — not to lose to the conservatives or Republicans — as much as they are to get it done.