RUSH: One of the points that I was making with the people on Fox & Friends. Even though Obamacare — and I want to explain this — even though Obamacare is the law of the land, they’re running active campaigns to sell it to people because only 35% of the American people support Obamacare. It is grossly unpopular. And the subject came up yesterday.
Here’s a bill that is the law of the land. It’s been in the implementation process for over a year. So why are they running ads for it? Why are they raising money? Why is Obama or anybody else in the regime running around doing campaign-style appearances to sell this, when it’s already the law of the land? And the point that I made to the Fox people is what I said yesterday. There is the 2014 midterm election up ahead, and that’s what they had their eyes on, and they know it’s a negative. They want to win the House, the Democrats do. They’ve got this giant negative called Obamacare.
If you go back to 2010, 2010 saw the birth of the Tea Party. The Tea Party came to birth, came into existence because of Obamacare and the massive spending and debt. Average, ordinary Americans who had never organized politically before in their lives became affiliated with a bunch of different Tea Party groups, and they showed up to vote in massive numbers. The Democrats lost hugely. The scope of their defeat in 2010 still has not been accurately reported in the mainstream media. When you say they lost 600 or almost 700 seats, that doesn’t sound like a big number, but you realize that some of those 600 were enough in the House to lose the majority.
They had control of the House and in 2010 they lost it. So what did they lose, 75, 80 seats, whatever it was? There are 500, 600 other seats they lost in state legislatures, in mayoral offices, all the way down to city council, town council, county supervisor. I mean, it was a nationwide, really deep down-ballot shellacking. Now, Democrats know if the same sentiment exists about Obama and any Obama issue such as Obamacare, the likelihood for a similar turnout in 2014 to 2010 could happen. The likelihood’s very high. That’s why they’re campaigning. That’s why they’re trying to change everybody’s opinion on Obamacare. That’s why Pelosi went out there and said on the Fourth of July we need to stop and give thanks for “health independence.”
They really think that they can win in 2014, the House, and I do, too, frankly, I think they can. But they know to do it they’re going to have to reduce the opposition to Obamacare. And that’s why they’re out campaigning for it. Because otherwise it makes no sense. The bill’s already law. Why campaign? It doesn’t matter. The votes are in. But the public perception is killing them and the Democrats don’t think that that will lead to victory in winning the House back in 2014. That’s why they campaign on this. And my point to the Fox & Friends people, to me, this represents a really golden opportunity for the Republican Party.
Now, I’m sitting here continually puzzled why the Republicans do not take the opportunity they have here, which is the greatest opportunity they’ve ever had in this regard to contrast the differences between them and the Democrats. Up until Obama, the contrast has basically been one of rhetoric and words and predictions, and attempting to explain who liberals are and what they will do if they get power. Well, you no longer have to predict. We’re living it. The Republicans don’t have to come up with dire predictive consequences or any of that. All they’ve gotta do is point to the fact that nobody can get a job and health care costs are skyrocketing.
They’ve got the best opportunity they have ever had in our lifetimes to contrast conservatism — there’s the rub. They’re really not conservative at the Republican establishment. But still, fake it. It’s all about winning elections. Fake it. If you’re not conservative, fake it. They’ve done it before. Great opportunity to contrast themselves here with Obamacare, because the Democrats are out selling it. The American people are already opposed to it. The Republicans won’t have to work hard to gin up opposition; it already exists. So all the Republicans would have to do is tap into it.
See, what confuses me, and I must be bluntly honest here. Given what happened in 2010, the fact that the Republican Party did not embrace the Tea Party is something that — well, it doesn’t confuse me because I understand it now, but at the time I have to admit I was a little puzzled. Even though I knew that the Republican Party establishment was not that fond of conservatives, they still like to win elections. Had the Republican Party embraced the Tea Party, who knows what might have happened in 2012. Instead of acting embarrassed by them, instead of joining the Democrats in making fun of ’em, instead of acting like they’re just a bunch of rank amateurs that don’t understand politics and we really don’t want to get associated with them. Had they embraced and brought the Tea Party in as a functioning powerful element of the Republican Party, they — but they could do it again now.
It’s the golden opportunity I was talking about. Because the opposition to Obamacare is already there; they don’t have to create it. They just have to tap into it. And it is a sizeable majority of the American people, and to me it’s a golden opportunity for the Republican Party to demonstrate that they are indeed on the side of average Americans who oppose this. But the Republicans want to do all that with immigration, and only with Hispanics. They’re really motivated. They’re really hell-bent here on showing Hispanics that they have what it takes on immigration.
Because of the massive focus on that issue, there are other things that are sitting out by the wayside here being ignored which I think are golden opportunities (such as Obamacare), particularly for holding the House and maybe even winning bigger elections down the road. I mean, what is it the Republicans are facing? The optics and the illusion that they don’t like average people, that they’re only for the rich and Big Business, and they hate minorities and all that.
Well, here’s this. It’s made to order. I don’t know why they don’t look at it this way. Maybe they think, “It’s law of the land. Nothing we can do.” But, man, there are so many really, really great teachable moments that still exist here. That’s the point that I was conveying to the hosts at the Fox & Friends program this morning.