RUSH: Now, I must say, I’m gonna acknowledge I realize how seductive spin is to people. I know how seductive buzz is. I know plenty of people who would be totally satisfied if the buzz was that they were really profoundly successful, when they weren’t. Because they would think people thought they were, and that’s all that would matter.
One of the Republicans’ big problems right now is that the Democrats define us. The Democrats tell us what they’re about, and the Democrats tell everybody what we’re about. Buzz. We don’t have any reality to counter it. We don’t have any substance to counter it. So what they say about us sticks. Well, not us, but, I mean, the Republicans in Washington. What they say about ’em sticks. There is no substance. All there is is an ongoing battle to win the PR battle, the buzz battle, the spin battle, if you will.
It seems like that’s all anything is anymore, that substance and reality never matter. And some people think they never have. But I want to reiterate. Ronald Reagan was a hugely successful president, by anybody’s definition, so much so that the history revisionists began even before he had concluded his first term. But despite what they said, he was hugely successful. He was successful on economic matters, foreign policy. Despite what the media tried and did, the people could see it. People lived it themselves. And as quaint and as old-fashioned and maybe out of touch as it sounds, I believe that’s how you neutralize the media.
You institute policies that grow the economy, that limit government, strengthen national security, have things that actually do this. Reagan had to fight like hell for the Republican nomination. He had to fight through the Republican establishment just to have a chance to appear on the ballot. Remember what happened at the Republican convention, Kansas City, 1976. It was not a cakewalk, is the point. It was an ongoing battle. The Republican establishment then, as now, was opposed to Reaganism, conservatism. It was only after he won that they began to be a bunch of hangers-on. And it was near the end of his term they couldn’t wait to get rid of it and resume their normal posture.
Now, let give you two examples, A-B comparison as I like to say. I have been chronicling on this program for the past year the real substantive, overwhelming success of Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Scott Walker is a conservative. He is a Reaganite conservative. He has beaten back every liberal attempt to destroy him. How? The media wasn’t on his side. He didn’t have a PR firm doing his bidding. There were Democrats and media and other leftists trying to intimidate him, threaten him, and his family. Today Wisconsin — I got story somewhere here in the Stack — it’s a profound story. Should have found it during the break.
It is a story of how Wisconsin is on the way to becoming red. Now, it isn’t, it isn’t red, but the dramatic change in Wisconsin is profound, and it’s based on substance and based on reality. And yet — and, by the way, it is the antithesis — what Scott Walker has done to revive that state, budget surplus, income tax cuts, income tax refunds and rebates, what he has done gets no attention within the Republican Party per se, no attention in the mainstream media. In fact, all the attention in the mainstream media when it comes to Republican governors right now happens to be on Governor Christie, whose state is a mess.
Chris Christie, however, remains loved and adored by the Drive-By Media, in comparison. They’re still trying to take him out, I understand, but it is an amazing contrast or comparison. The states of Wisconsin and the states of New Jersey and the genuine conservative governor who has literally wrested that state from Democrat control, with substance, reality policies that have indeed changed for the better people’s lives. They have how many recall efforts on Scott Walker that have failed?
So my question is, how come the media wasn’t able to destroy him? Well, it’s results. It’s exactly right. Why haven’t all of the dollars that have been spent to destroy Scott Walker succeeded? Because the reality is he is a hugely successful governor. He has fixed a lot of things that were broken in that state. I’ve said I don’t know how many times, Scott Walker and his governorship ought to be the modern-day blueprint for the Republican Party on how to win, how to win in other states, how to win the presidency.
And then after they do that, how to fix what’s wrong with the country. A conservative triumphing and winning in Wisconsin is huge. That was one of the bluest of blue states. It’s home to some of the most fringe, left-wing radical movements that there are in this country. They weren’t able to beat Scott Walker and two recall efforts, failed miserably. And yet look where the buzz is. Look where all of the happy talk is. Look where all of the PR is. Look where all the so-called action is. Chris Christie, who went on The Tonight Show or is going to go on The Tonight Show. Chris Christie, who once spoke to Bruce Springsteen. Take your pick. I mean, throw your own example or story into the mix and you have the contrast.
Now, my point is, you might say, “Scott Walker, nobody cares about Scott Walker.” Well, the people of Wisconsin know about Scott Walker, and the people living there have elected him and have fought against efforts to recall him. He’s had to fight like hell. It has not been easy. But it’s the blueprint, it’s evidence. I’ve interviewed him for the Limbaugh Letter. I’ve been chronicling this. I have been pointing this out to people. When he survived the most recent recall and when he announced the latest budget, which included tax cuts, a budget surplus, I said, “This should be the biggest story in the Republican Party today.” And it was right before the Republican governors convention. And if you didn’t hear about it on this program, you didn’t hear about it.
Salon.com: “Chris Christie Quietly Implodes: Why His Big ‘Accomplishments’ Have Fallen to Pieces — Distracted by Bridgegate, the national press has missed the unraveling of the entire Chris Christie myth.” What is the Chris Christie myth? (interruption) No, no, no, no, no, no. That’s a policy, Christie brought taxes. What’s the myth? John Kennedy said it best. John Kennedy said, “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”
Now, I think it’s uncanny that Kennedy said that, given he is the greatest beneficiary of one of the biggest political myths in this nation’s history, and that is what? Camelot. There is no lie about the Kennedy administration that is gonna ever overcome the myth of the Kennedy administration. So what is the Christie myth? I mean, there is one. The Christie myth is that he’s a conservative. (interruption) Well, the media does. The media still believes that he’s a conservative. The media believes he’s a conservative Republican. Why is the media hyping him? Because they love him?
They’re hoping he gets the nomination. They think he’s gonna be another Northeastern Republican that gets the nomination that can lose. Now, just like we had a caller mere moments ago who made the point that Obama would not have been possible were it not for Bush. That Bush screwed up so bad, that Bush made so many mistakes that he ended up being so hated and reviled, that all Obama had to do was show up and be the first black wanting to be president and that’s all he had to do, and anything else he did was a bonus. He could act like a messiah. He could say he’s gonna fix this. He’s gonna lower the sea level. He’s gonna heal the planet, and Bush was so bad that Obama, just by existing, was a thousand percent better.
Well, let’s fast forward to 2016 and the Democrats in the media are already trying to force the next Alinskyite on us, and that would be Hillary, who is no different than Obama. She will be just like Obama, her attitudes on things, be it the military, be it foreign policy, be it the ambassador, whatever, she is an Alinskyite. She wrote her thesis at whatever, Wellesley, on Alinsky. She is Obama, and Obama is Hillary. They are interchangeable. She’s even gonna be the first of something, the first woman, if she’s elected.
Now, the caller said that it was Bush that made Obama possible. Okay. Well, is it going to be Obama that makes Hillary possible? I mean, let’s face it, Hillary is going to be seeking the presidency, bouncing not off of a horrible Republican Regime, but rather the Obama administration. So we can’t say that Obama is going to make Hillary possible like the caller said that Bush made Obama possible, so what’s Hillary gonna say in her campaign? Like, Obama could easily say, “I’m not Bush,” and that’s all it took, ’cause apparently Bush was so hated, so reviled, the people were so disgusted that that’s all it took, okay? Don’t forget Hillary’s previously been vanquished by Obama. The black guy beat the pantsuit.
Okay, so now it will be the pantsuit by herself against who? All they can do is try to scare people about who the Republican nominee is going to be. And once there is that nominee, all they can do is run around and scare the hell out of people. But what the Republican will do… (interruption) Well, nobody wants any more of what Obama has brought. Can we agree with that? Nobody wants any more of this job situation. Nobody wants any more of this debt. So how does Hillary differentiate herself? And how do they blame the Republicans for this? How does Hillary go out and say, “Elect me to keep the Obama myth, or the Obama legend, or Obama whatever, alive”? Can’t. Nobody wants that.
So what does Hillary run on? She can’t run on, “I’m not Obama.” She can’t run on “I’m gonna fix it,” because that’s acknowledging that she’s part of what broke it. So she’s gotta run on history, first female, my turn, and it’s bring Bill Clinton back to Washington. They think that will be a winner. And you combine that with whatever they’re gonna say about whoever the Republican nominee is, and if it’s Christie, sets ’em up even better. So how do we counter that? Substance, reality, conservatism, a blueprint of what’s worked, blah, blah. It’s all there.
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