RUSH: Dana Perino says that I give people spine in the Republican Party. Does she still have a job today? I did not hear this. It was on that Fox show at five o’clock called The Five. Here it is. Dana Perino was talking with Andrea Tantaros and Beckel is on the show, and they’re talking about — let’s see — “Mitt Romney took some advice today. Do you think Romney did listen to Rush Limbaugh and tacked to the right?”
PERINO: I think Mitt Romney has tried several times, and then he’s got these things that he said in his past that come back to haunt him. Rush Limbaugh, with tens of millions of listeners a day — and for years has been tireless. One of the things that he has done is be able to give people that little bit of a spine that they need, and look today: The White House is announcing that they are going to back off on the millionaires surtax to pay for a payroll tax extension. Not because of defense of millionaires and apologists for millionaires, but because it’s bad policy and it doesn’t work.
WOMAN: And the Democrats agree.
PERINO: And I think that somebody like Rush Limbaugh is somebody who helps on the policy side of things.
RUSH: Ooh! That’s Dana Perino, former spokeswoman for George W. Bush. It continued. Andrea Tantaros said, “Do you think he’s the head of the Republican Party?” I’m sure they’re laughing about this, joking. Beckel’s in the background on this one.
PERINO: I don’t think he’s head of the Republic… I don’t think he would call himself that. I think he would call himself a conservative person.
BECKEL: Are you suggesting that Rush Limbaugh had any influence on what the White House did? And by the way —
PERINO: No, no! We’re saying they couldn’t get the votes!
WOMAN: Yeah, sure.
BECKEL: They couldn’t get the votes as for — for —
RUSH: Beckel. Okay, I knew Beckel wouldn’t be able to deal with it. Everybody wants to be me, and Beckel knows he’s not. But not everybody can be me. In fact, there can only be one me and I am it.