RUSH: I tell you, I really hope that Mother Jones pulls down that Romney video pretty fast. Well, what he said about the Palestinians not wanting peace, that’s got the media as riled up as anything. The Palestinians are sacred to some people in our news media and the rest of the Democrat Party. Almost as sacred as Mohammed is the to the Islamists. And if they don’t pull that video down, our media might start rioting over what Romney said.
Okay, let’s just dive in here. Romney’s at a fundraiser, he’s in Boca Raton. I think I’ve mentioned this to you, folks, a couple of times. I have attended such fundraisers. I was not at this one, but I have been at candidate fundraisers, and I’ve had meetings with presidential candidates. And, without exception, this is common. Republican presidential candidates go full metal conservatism when they’re talking to donors. When I saw the Romney video, the first thing I thought, “All right, we have a golden opportunity.”
I don’t care how this is being cast by the media. That’s predictable. What are we doing here? What is really happening? This election is about what? It’s about stopping Barack Obama. That’s what this election’s about. And we are hoping that a majority of people agree with us, that Barack Obama needs to be stopped. So here’s Romney at the Boca Raton fundraiser, and he happens to be telling these people a certain level of truth, a certain level of accuracy. I think there’s a bunch of people in that 47% that don’t want to be there. I think there’s a lot of that 47%, they’re there because of Obama. This is such a golden opportunity.
This could be the opportunity for Romney and for that campaign to finally take the gloves off and take the fear off and just start explaining conservatism. Start explaining liberty to people and what it means, and explain that they don’t have to be in that 47%. There’s no reason for them, for everybody, to essentially have given up on their future in this country. There’s no reason for it. This is, to me, such an opportunity to espouse conservatism and to explain to people. Now that people are focused on this, now that people are paying attention to it, this is a golden opportunity, and we know Romney’s got it in him because of what he said to these people.
I’ve been sworn to secrecy. Folks, this is common. If you knew what Republican moderate presidential candidates said to their donors, you’d be a little ticked off because you’d wonder why they don’t speak that way in public. They are as conservative as you and I are. I’ve spoken to them privately. The candidates that I see on the campaign trail versus the ones that tell me what they really think are two different people. There is a fear of being conservative because of what has happened to Romney with this. They’ve been sitting on this video for a while. This goes back to, what, May, or what have you. But the objective here hasn’t changed. It’s been this way since maybe a couple of days after Obama was inaugurated.
We want to stop Obama. We have got to get Obama and the Democrats out of power if this country’s future is to have any semblance of its past. We don’t want this country to be finished, as founded. We don’t want this country to be over. We don’t want 47% of the country thinking that there’s no hope for them. We don’t want 47% of the country giving up. And, like I say, I don’t think all 47% are made up of people who are dependent, but I know what Romney was trying to say to these people. He was basically telling these people that we have reached a crossroads in this country. You and I talk about it all the time.
We ask ourselves, “Okay, have we reached the tipping point?” Just like de Tocqueville said, have we reached the point where more people are comfortable being cared for and taken care of than they are providing for themselves? And we’ve all feared that this election or thought this election was going to give us the answer to that question. That’s been the fear that we’ve all had. Where are we? The questions being asked on the conservative blogs when somebody says, “How come Romney’s not 15 points ahead?” that’s what they mean. What they really mean is, have we lost the country? Have we lost the culture? Have we lost the American work ethic? Have we lost American optimism? Have we lost the thing that was talked about all over the Republican convention?
What was the theme of that convention? Every speaker got up there and talked about how their parents had nothing, came from nothing, and America gave the speakers the opportunity to be the best they could be, using whatever talents and ambition that they had. This is a gold mine of opportunity that Romney has here. The real question is: Does he have anybody on his staff to tell him? Does he have anybody — any consultants — who will, or are they still gonna be wallowing in fear over this?
‘Cause it’s out there, and it’s gonna be dealt with, and it may as well be seized as an opportunity. Whatever happened to the drive to improve ourselves? Whatever happened to the drive to be better today than yesterday? Whatever happened to the drive to pursue excellence? Whatever happened to all that? I think it’s still there. That’s what EIB is all about. What EIB is all about is… You people don’t know. I am so desirous of this: I wish everybody in this country could do well.
I want everybody to experience the abundance and the greatness of this country. I want everybody to be told how to do it, not told that it can’t be done, which is what Obama does. If anybody ought to be under the microscope, it’s Obama. Obama’s tamping down expectations. Obama’s ratcheting up fear. Obama’s the guy whose foreign policy is falling apart. Obama’s the guy who’s watching our economy disintegrate. Obama’s the guy whose policies are making it tougher and tougher and tougher for excellence to matter in one’s pursuit of life.
Mitt Romney hasn’t done anything to anybody.
I happen to know that Romney wants for this country the same thing I want. When he talks to his donors about these 47% that are locked into Obama, he does it with disappointment, sadness, and maybe a little disgust. Where everybody analyzing this is wrong is he would love to be able to reach them. He has not written them off. He’s telling his donors various things, but I do not believe he’s written them off.
I’ve spoken to Mitt Romney a number of times, and I don’t believe he’s written them off, despite how it sounds. But if he has, it’s time to forget that. If he has written ’em off, this is an opportunity to educate ’em. This is an opportunity to inspire ’em. This is an opportunity to tell them, if he’s Mitt Romney, what he wants for them. This is it. It’s sitting there on a silver platter. It is right there. It’s ready for the taking.
But he’s gotta be able to do it.
He’s gotta have consultants who are fearless and will let him do it. These consultants! These people put shackles on these guys and try to get ’em to make sure they don’t make a mistake when they go out and speak, and look what happens. Essentially, if you go back, Romney has been saying this in different ways throughout the campaign. You know, Obama is the guy who’s written off voters. We’ve got the column. What was that guy’s name? Edsall. November 2011.
He wrote a piece for the New York Times. The Obama campaign has written off “white, working-class voters.” He’s written ’em off. Now, there’s no tape of Obama saying so. But there’s a column of one of Obama’s supporters saying that that’s what the campaign’s doing. And it’s been buttressed a couple of other times, and it’s clearly factually correct when you watch the Obama campaign. He’s declared war on anybody making over $200,000 a year.
Obama’s out attacking achievement. Obama’s out attempting to stigmatize anybody that has succeeded and is calling them the enemy. Where’s the outrage over that? We have all of what Romney said. I’m gonna play it so you can hear it. We’ve got it all. And, of course, I will be able to put it all in context and perspective for you with the correct reaction, and I’ll share with you other reactions to it. There’s a piece in the Weekly Standard. A bunch of conservatives are dumping on Romney.
It’s how he’s blown it, how he shouldn’ta said it, how it’s all wrong and da-da-da. So I’ll tell you what they’re saying, and you might think the same thing. We’ll find out what you think, of course, at some point in the program when we go to phones. Again, the telephone number: 800-282-2882. But this whole objective… (interruption) Well, no, they’re not saying the 47% don’t exist. They do exist.
They’re trying to fill the narrative that Republicans don’t care; that Republicans are cold-hearted, mean-spirited, extremist bastards that don’t care about the poor. That’s what they’re trying to say that Romney’s comments prove. That’s why Romney has to get out there, take this by the horns, turn it into a positive, and go right for those people since they’re now listening. Especially if they think they’ve been insulted — even better!
This is the time to go talk to ’em.
Anyway, it’s so easy when I do it, isn’t it?
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