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Rush Limbaugh: Romney Must Get Tougher on Obama
Rush Limbaugh Show ^ | Monday July 9, 2012 | Rush Limbaugh

Posted on 07/09/2012 12:37:59 PM PDT by Bigtigermike

RUSH: Okay, the three stools of Ronald Reagan: Defeat the communists. Check. Lower American taxes to revive the economy. Check. Rebuild the military. Check. Three things. Now, what's Romney running on? Romney's running on one thing, and he'd better change it. (interruption) No, he's not doing that. He's not running on, "I'm not Obama." He's running on the economy, and he's gotta get tougher than that. He's got to branch out. The economy speaks for itself.

But there's also the question here: How many people really care about that? We've got three years. Nobody's demanding this guy be thrown out? Well, other than us, but is there a national clamor? Folks, 30 or 40 years ago with the same identical economic circumstances, there would be such anger and outrage in this country that the incumbent wouldn't even dare run again, and that's not that long ago. So let's do the three stools of Obama. Jobs? He doesn't care. That checklist I went through from Victor Davis Hanson? That checklist, that is a long list of things you gotta do to maintain unemployment at 9%.

That is a long list of things, and Obama has done every one of them. It cannot be an accident. Now, there were a bunch of fundraisers for Romney over the weekend. Three of them, actually, were in the Hamptons. One was at David Koch's place; one was at Ron Perlman's place out on Long Island. A lot of former Obama donors showed up. The LA Times has story. Former Obama donors showed up, and the story's about all the advice Romney's getting. And I'm gonna tell you something.

This can be dealt with. Goodwin's piece and the cultural divide and all that, I'm not saying it's over. But Romney is gonna have to start treating Obama the same way he did Newt and Santorum, folks. He's gonna have to do that. We are dealing with something new. Romney has got to realize that running a campaign on traditional American values is not enough, sad to say. That's the hard, cold reality. Simply running around and telling people he's gonna fix the economy isn't enough.

What? What are you gonna do with the economy? Yeah, we all know it stinks. What are you gonna do? What's the plan? (interruption) Okay, his economic plan has 59 points? Can you tell me three of them? (interruption) You can't. Okay, so don't tell me it's 59 points. He may as well have zero if you can't tell me what any of them are. Big whoop. It's not enough to say you're gonna repeal Obamacare, because there's no accompanying talk from Republicans in Congress that have similar-type energy.

This has to be about Obama.

This campaign has to be about Obama, and Romney is gonna have to look at Obama the way he tarred Newt and the way he tarred Santorum. I don't care whether he does it with his super PACs or whether he does it himself. But Obama's not black. He's not Martian. He's not white. He is The Destructor, and he's gotta be stopped in order for the country to be the country Romney thinks it is. This guy, I don't care what his race is. It's all about policy. It's all about a program of economic destruction that cannot be an accident.

Now, my whole point in the last hour -- I want to sum this up for Mitt Romney -- and I hate to say this.  It pains me to say this.  I can't tell you how sad it makes me, but I don't care.  Reality is reality, and the economy and its condition is not an automatic win-win for Romney or the Republicans right now.  It just isn't.

Snerdley is looking at me with a expression of disbelief on his face, and I'm sure many of you are, too, because that's so revolutionary.  It was only back in 1992 where "It's the economy, stupid," was the reason Clinton won.  I'm here to tell you that the economy today is worse by factors of geometric proportion than it was in 1992.  I had calls in 1992 from people saying, "It can't get any worse, Rush." I had guys that I played golf with at various clubs I belong to, educated, successful businessmen, Democrats telling me in 2004, "It can't get any worse, Rush." 

Well, it's worse by factors indescribable, and the same guys are still telling me that we gotta vote Democrat to fix it because it's all Bush's fault.  The sad truth is -- and the Romney people are gonna have to learn this right now -- the sad truth is that employment is not pivotal.  The unemployment rate, the jobs circumstance in this country is not pivotal and it's not something Obama can lose the election on.  Not by itself.  It's not something Romney can win.  (interruption) What do you mean, how can I say that?  I'll tell you how I can say it.  We have 48 million Americans, 47 million on food stamps, and the regime is advertising for more.  We have 47, 48% who pay no income taxes.

We have three million more off the employment roles and on disability, and they all vote.  What does it add up to?  No jobs. No employment. No problem.  And that's no job, no employment, no pain for a whole heck of a lot of people whose expectations for themselves are not very high.  You have food, you have a car, your cell phone, and a TV, and you're set.  Snerdley is shouting at me, "All those people can't want to stay on food stamps."  Will you explain to me, then, why more people are getting on food stamps?  (interruption)  Exactly.  What else do they have?  There are no jobs.  And yet they're still eating.  I'm not criticizing.  I'm telling you it's a new reality out there.  This is something that's been gnawing at me for over a year. 

Every Thursday I come here with these unemployment numbers and my instincts have been telling me -- and I've been fighting my instincts -- my instincts have been telling me that nobody cares, because it's not resulting in that much pain, not nearly as much as it used to. Not nearly the kind of pain that existed in 1992.  When Bill Clinton runs for reelection "It's the economy, stupid," worst economy in 50 years was the campaign slogan.  The economy today is worse by factors that you can't even quantify.  And it's accepted.  It's seemingly accepted, because the so-called victims of the unemployment circumstance in this country are not suffering as unemployed people in the past did.  And not that I want them to.  It's not even about what I want.  I'm just dealing with the reality here. 

Now we've got stories that retail sales are suffering because unemployment checks have ended.  Not retail sales are off because of the jobs circumstance.  Retail sales are off because the government isn't giving people any money anymore.  You couple all this with the way minds are wasted in the American education system today, the way they're polluted, propagandized, whatever you want to say... (interruption)  Yeah, that's true.  Clinton had a Perot out there helping him.  Romney's not gonna be helped by a Perot type.  I'm just saying that there's an architect of this circumstance, and he's gotta be identified.  His name's Barack Obama.  That long checklist of things I went through last hour that you have to do to ensure 9% unemployment is a long list of things.  They can't all be coincidental.  They can't all be accidental.

Obama has an economy that is almost as bad as Herbert Hoover's economy.  And I realize, what percentage of people in this country even know or care about Herbert freaking Hoover?  So here I am drawing an analogy.  "Herbert who, Rush?"  All they know is he's a Republican so he sucked.  There's a lot of stuff that we're up against here, and my only point is relying on what traditionally has always worked is not gonna get it done.  The polling data indicates it.  Then there's the other part of me.  The other part of me says if the election were today, it would be a landslide with Obama sent out of town so fast, a cloud of dust he wouldn't be seen in it.  I still think that's possible, probable.  But during Herbert Hoover's day there wasn't any welfare.  There wasn't any relief.  Most of that came in with FDR.  And FDR still won, ran on how bad it was.  Of course he did because with Hoover there were people jumping out of buildings.  


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012; economy; elections; gingrich; limbaugh; newt; nobama2012; obama; romney; rush
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To: Oklahoma
He’s also too gloomy. We need to be firing up the troops and not depressing them.

Given that Romney is the nominee, what would you expect? Rush is probably tired of carrying the spit bucket for Flipper and the establishment.

41 posted on 07/09/2012 2:47:11 PM PDT by Kazan (Mitt Romney: The greater of two evils)
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To: rem_mitchell
It seems they see the Romney campaign as likely to lose and they are setting up to be able to say, “See I told you so...”.

And, why shouldn't they be doing that and sending the message to the Republican establishment it is going to take a conservative to win back the White House?

42 posted on 07/09/2012 2:50:02 PM PDT by Kazan (Mitt Romney: The greater of two evils)
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To: Kennard

Rush either needs therapy, or has some intense distractions, or doesn’t care anymore about the show, or is on drugs. He can’t just say something, it has to be drawn out to the most boring degree. Something is haywire. Perhaps it is his wife, or some other distraction.


43 posted on 07/09/2012 2:54:17 PM PDT by PghBaldy (I eagerly await the next news about the struggles of Elizabeth Sacheen Littlefeather Warren.)
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To: Bigtigermike

I can’t tell you who is going to win this Nov.

But I can tell you who is going to lose.....


44 posted on 07/09/2012 3:12:23 PM PDT by Tzimisce (THIS SUCKS)
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To: Kazan

“And, why shouldn’t they be doing that and sending the message to the Republican establishment it is going to take a conservative to win back the White House? “
___________

So where were they during the primary when they could have made a difference?


45 posted on 07/09/2012 3:26:52 PM PDT by rem_mitchell
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To: Bigtigermike

MMMmmm. Anybody seen Newt Gingrich lately? He lost in Florida for a reason.


46 posted on 07/09/2012 3:48:52 PM PDT by MrChips (MrChips)
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To: eCSMaster
To make matters worse..Romney was right to get rid of Mr. “foot in mouth” Fehrnstorm and wrong to replace him with a Sarah Palin basher...Madden.
The republican party has gone totally insane.
47 posted on 07/09/2012 6:06:01 PM PDT by katiedidit1 ("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)
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To: Bigtigermike

Romney was “tough” on the gop candidates, but treating obama with soft gloves


48 posted on 07/09/2012 6:11:57 PM PDT by 4rcane
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To: alstewartfan

You better believe Gingrich isn’t afraid of Obama. He has a new blog out on Obama’s grotesque lies. Of course, Newt wasn’t afraid of Clinton either and damn well kept him in check when Newt was speaker of the house. Can we say as much for Boehner?
Sarah knew Newt would make a great president. We are stuck with a weak candidate that can’t unite the base.


49 posted on 07/09/2012 6:13:04 PM PDT by katiedidit1 ("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)
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To: ninonitti

It was in ‘94, not ‘96.


50 posted on 07/09/2012 7:04:20 PM PDT by johnthebaptistmoore (The world continues to be stuck in a "all leftist, all of the time" funk. BUNK THE FUNK!)
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To: PghBaldy
"Rush either needs therapy, or has some intense distractions, or doesn’t care anymore about the show, or is on drugs. He can’t just say something, it has to be drawn out to the most boring degree. Something is haywire. Perhaps it is his wife, or some other distraction."

Yes, ever since that bad tango with the slut.

I think he had to 'recalibrate' with Premiere/Clear Channel, and he hasn't thoroughly processed that yet.

51 posted on 07/09/2012 7:09:02 PM PDT by StAnDeliver (=)
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To: VanDeKoik

I agree that Mitt needs to get tough.......but the election is 4 months away. In addition, O has been flayling around with amnesty for 1 million illegals, evolving on gay marriage and a big flip flop on tax cuts today. This coupled with the AWFUL economic data (which will get worse towards the end of the year), it has put O in a very bad spot. I think that the internal polling is awful for Obama and Mitt knows it. Yes, Mitt could be more forcible now but its 4 months out and there are times to keep your powder dry and there are times to use it. Obama is on the offensive now which is way too soon. Obama is shooting his wad NOW and that is way too early.

In the primaries, Mitt did this with the other GOP candidates. He did not immediately respond to them in one states primary but he definitely did in the next states primary.


52 posted on 07/09/2012 7:30:41 PM PDT by TMA62 (Al Sharpton - The North Korea of race relations)
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To: katiedidit1

Newt’s fatal flaw to a significant percentage of women is that he cheated on two wives. He never would have overcome that problem, Katie, but he doesn’t lack courage, You may be too young to remember, but Newt and Clinton got too chummy on many occasions, and he sided with the predator-in-chief over conservatives often. My buddy and I used to bitch about Newt all the time at lunch when he was Speaker.
No matter, it’s over, and we must crush the Punk in November. Bob


53 posted on 07/09/2012 9:18:03 PM PDT by alstewartfan (Two broken Tigers on fire in the night Flicker their souls to the wind. Al Stewart "Roads to Moscow")
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To: Bigtigermike

Limbaugh really nailed it with this piece. For all his incompetence, Obama is very much still in the fight for re-election. It’s insane, but it is the reality of things. Romney simply cannot play the “outlast the competition” game he did in much of the primary season. He’ll lose if he does. I think Romney understands that, but we’ll see.


54 posted on 07/09/2012 10:20:30 PM PDT by DemforBush (A Repo man is *always* intense!)
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To: PghBaldy
Not true in the least. There are many people who could go either way, who voted for Obama last time.

The squishy moderates recruit another voice to their choir, singing that same old Siren Song of moderation.

55 posted on 07/10/2012 12:23:57 AM PDT by itsahoot (The Political Elites are the modern Royals, and the king shall have his due.)
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To: NVDave
Your job, as a national candidate, is to sway the 20 to 25% “in the middle” voters who:

Vote McCain!!!!!!!

56 posted on 07/10/2012 12:26:02 AM PDT by itsahoot (The Political Elites are the modern Royals, and the king shall have his due.)
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To: Bigtigermike

Rush has finally come around. I could tell, for years, he didn’t quite get the idea that the tipping point had been reached a while back.

He absolutely gets it now. Kids aren’t taught to aspire for self-reliance, they’re taught to “sparkle” in their own brilliant sphere of Self; as though they arrive on a planet that has breathlessly longed to share existence with their awesomeness.

While moms all went off to “fulfilling” work they let hirelings watch over the lambs and flock. We let hirelings teach them falsehoods at school, dismaying us with their stupidity and yet we silently went back to work the next morning to pay for that vacation condo in Vail or Hawaii or Florida.

The State hand that rocked our cradle is now ruling our world.


57 posted on 07/10/2012 6:35:00 AM PDT by JoanVarga ("Yes We Can" It's not just a slogan. It's a threat.)
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To: itsahoot

McCain lost the election in one moment.

When he cancelled his campaign events to rush back to DC to bluster and BS about the financial crisis - about which he knew (and still knows) less than nothing - he was done.

That, coupled with McCain having assembled an idiotic team of Dole retreads... sealed his fate. McCain ran for no other reason than “it was my turn” - something the GOP is famous for.


58 posted on 07/10/2012 6:58:10 AM PDT by NVDave
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To: alstewartfan
Newt accomplished more than any speaker in my lifetime. He did so with an extremely liberal president. I do remember very clearly and that is one thing no one can take away from Gingrich.
59 posted on 07/10/2012 10:38:36 AM PDT by katiedidit1 ("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
Mitt Romney: "Please vote for me over President Obama."

Media: "Mitt Romney starts aggressively negative campaign. Most negative campaign in decades. Racial undertones."

Book it!

60 posted on 07/10/2012 11:24:32 AM PDT by The Iceman Cometh (Proud Teabagging Barbarian Terrorist Hobbit Son-of-a-Bitch!)
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