Rush Limbaugh went on Fox News last night for a rare interview with Greta Van Susteren. His remarks mostly centered on President Obama’s failure as a president, but he also sorted through the field of 2012 GOP candidates.
From the transcript:
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VAN SUSTEREN: If you think someone who is moderate cannot beat Obama or should not be selected by the Republican Party, who is the most conservative who fits the build of what you think is a Republican who can beat Obama?
LIMBAUGH: Well, I think, again, now, if the election were held today, I know since I don’t subscribe or practice conventional wisdom that my answer here is going to discredit me with all the professional political experts. But I think right now anybody other than Ron Paul could beat Obama if the election were tomorrow easily.
Who is most conservative? Romney and Gingrich are fighting it out. And all kinds of things are surfacing, such as Romney — we had a tape from 2002 the other day on the radio program where Romney campaigning for governor of Massachusetts said “I don’t want anyone to be mistaken. I am not a part of Republican. I am a moderate.” OK, fine.
People said he is running for election in Massachusetts. He’s got to do that. That’s my point. If you are going to be what you think you have to be here or one day based on where you are, and here another day, then people question if you are genuine. He comes out with a global warming, I believe it’s getting warmer and man is causing it. That was in answer to a planted question at a town hall meeting or press conference again. And it was some liberal guy got in there and asked a question.
And I am sure Romney thought the best answer he could give, given that he’s in the northeast, New Hampshire I think he was. And then Newt writes a book in 2009 praising Andy Stern of the SEIU, the greatest president ever is FDR. So a lot of things are shaking out here.
On the other hand, I know that I get calls on the radio show, talk to people. A lot of people are hoping that Rick Perry catches fire again or Bachmann or Santorum catch fire and come alive, because perception is that there is no doubt, concern about the conservative credentials. There is no doubt that every day either of those three would be fighting for the country and what they believe in as they are campaigning for it. There isn’t a qualification of belief here or change because of where you happen to be or what the audience is or who the audience is.
I don’t want to be misunderstood as seeking perfection, because it doesn’t exist. We’re all imperfect, everybody. There is no such thing as perfection. And there is no way to remove risk from life. You can’t achieve perfection. You can try for it. It’s a great motivation. You can’t remove risk and you can’t achieve perfection. Nobody is going to be flawless.
LIMBAUGH: Well, I think, again, now, if the election were held today, I know since I don’t subscribe or practice conventional wisdom that my answer here is going to discredit me with all the professional political experts. But I think right now anybody other than Ron Paul could beat Obama if the election were tomorrow easily.
Who is most conservative? Romney and Gingrich are fighting it out. And all kinds of things are surfacing, such as Romney — we had a tape from 2002 the other day on the radio program where Romney campaigning for governor of Massachusetts said “I don’t want anyone to be mistaken. I am not a part of Republican. I am a moderate.” OK, fine.
People said he is running for election in Massachusetts. He’s got to do that. That’s my point. If you are going to be what you think you have to be here or one day based on where you are, and here another day, then people question if you are genuine. He comes out with a global warming, I believe it’s getting warmer and man is causing it. That was in answer to a planted question at a town hall meeting or press conference again. And it was some liberal guy got in there and asked a question.
And I am sure Romney thought the best answer he could give, given that he’s in the northeast, New Hampshire I think he was. And then Newt writes a book in 2009 praising Andy Stern of the SEIU, the greatest president ever is FDR. So a lot of things are shaking out here.
On the other hand, I know that I get calls on the radio show, talk to people. A lot of people are hoping that Rick Perry catches fire again or Bachmann or Santorum catch fire and come alive, because perception is that there is no doubt, concern about the conservative credentials. There is no doubt that every day either of those three would be fighting for the country and what they believe in as they are campaigning for it. There isn’t a qualification of belief here or change because of where you happen to be or what the audience is or who the audience is.
I don’t want to be misunderstood as seeking perfection, because it doesn’t exist. We’re all imperfect, everybody. There is no such thing as perfection. And there is no way to remove risk from life. You can’t achieve perfection. You can try for it. It’s a great motivation. You can’t remove risk and you can’t achieve perfection. Nobody is going to be flawless.
Limbaugh also had some sharp words for establishment Republicans:
The Republican establishment has decided they don’t want any part of conservatism. And this is really not new. People are surprised to hear this, but the Republican Party formative event with conservatism is Goldwater’s landslide defeat. That’s what they think of when they think conservative. They don’t think Reagan, they think Goldwater.
They believe what the inside-the-Beltway philosophy is about conservatives. They’re racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe, Southern hayseed hicks. They’re pro-lifers. They’re embarrassing to have to go to convention with them. And they’re just embarrassed to have those kind of people in the party. They’re dumb. They’re not erudite. They’re not educated in Ivy League schools. We’ll take their votes on election day, but we really don’t want to hang around with them. We don’t want anybody in Washington thinking that we’re really that close to them and aligned with them.
So in the process — you know, it’s a very sophisticated electorate. The Republican primary voter can sense that the Republican Party really doesn’t like them, really doesn’t want them, thinks that they are the route to defeat. That’s the problem in a nutshell. The Republican establishment thinks that a conservative nominee is the route to defeat because they think Goldwater landslides are going to happen because they believe what the popular misconception the left has created of conservatives — they think everybody thinks that.
They believe what the inside-the-Beltway philosophy is about conservatives. They’re racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe, Southern hayseed hicks. They’re pro-lifers. They’re embarrassing to have to go to convention with them. And they’re just embarrassed to have those kind of people in the party. They’re dumb. They’re not erudite. They’re not educated in Ivy League schools. We’ll take their votes on election day, but we really don’t want to hang around with them. We don’t want anybody in Washington thinking that we’re really that close to them and aligned with them.
So in the process — you know, it’s a very sophisticated electorate. The Republican primary voter can sense that the Republican Party really doesn’t like them, really doesn’t want them, thinks that they are the route to defeat. That’s the problem in a nutshell. The Republican establishment thinks that a conservative nominee is the route to defeat because they think Goldwater landslides are going to happen because they believe what the popular misconception the left has created of conservatives — they think everybody thinks that.
