Allen West and the GOP Establishment

Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | May 2, 2012 | Rush Limbaugh

[Kaslin]

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Carl in Ft. Lauderdale. Carl, I'm glad you held on. Welcome to the program, sir.

CALLER: Rush it's sensational to be on the phone with you. Thank you.

RUSH: You bet, sir.

CALLER: That lady that called before and you were trying to help her out where her Democratic friends keep beating her up, and you were explaining the lack of power having only the House. But I remember so clearly -- and I was so mad and I'm still mad -- right after the 2010 midterms there was one of these requests from Obama for $2.4 trillion in expanded debt. Well, the House and Boehner and those guys put together their own package.

And, just as soon as it was done, and maybe before, Reid says, "I'm not gonna vote on that." And Obama says, "If they do and they pass it, I'm gonna veto it." And instantaneously, immediately, they hustled back into the hole and they come out with a bill exactly as Obama wanted it. Now, I'm in District 22 here in Florida with Allen West. I thought he was gonna be a strong man, but he laid down like the rest of them. I think that's where a lot of disappointment comes from in America, from conservatives. They just lay down.

RUSH: What do you mean Allen West laid down?

CALLER: He backed Boehner.

RUSH: (deep sigh)

CALLER: By the way, can I say hello to my buddy?

RUSH: Yeah, go ahead while I figure out what I'm gonna say to you.

CALLER: Hey, Wayne! I'm on the phone with Rush! (chuckles)

RUSH: (chuckles) Big day. That's a big day.

CALLER: It is.

RUSH: I'm not... I don't remember specifically the spending argument that you described. I'm not denying it. I do know there were a bunch of battles over raising the debt limit, and it was always made to look like the Republicans caved. And I will admit to you: I thought that in each one of those fights the Republicans held the cards and could have dictated to Obama. I always thought that. I thought the same thing that you do. I thought that it was Obama that needed the money. He's the one that wanted to spend. He's the one that needed to spend. We could have held out. What is the debt limit for? What does the word "limit" mean? What good is it if it doesn't exist and you just keep expanding it? Why even have a debt limit?

CALLER: After they passed it, you called it his new slush fund.

RUSH: Well, it was. Everything is a slush fund!

CALLER: Well, why'd they pass it?

RUSH: Now, Allen West...

CALLER: Why'd they do that?

RUSH: See, as a powerful, influential member of the media, I know things that I can't tell because of confidences. But I'll just tell you: I was with Allen West. When was this? It was last... It was around one of these instances, and he was just as depressed as he could be over things he was hearing the leadership say to freshmen and so forth. Basically what it was -- and Democrats do it; Republicans do it. They say to incoming freshmen... Remember, now, we've talked about this. The House leadership was not crazy about these new Tea Party freshmen.

They thought they were nuts. They thought they were kooks. And they bring 'em in, and they say, "Look if you want to have any future here, if you want us to help you with your reelection, you're gonna have to vote with the leadership." And immediately they face a choice. And that's why a number of freshmen stand out. You've got the guy in Illinois. [Joe Walsh] He stands up, and he's independent, and he refuses, and the Tea Party people love him.

But most of them end up, in one instance or another, going along with the leadership. They're under a lot of pressure to do this. And I remember Allen West. He did the best he could. He told me that he and his fellow freshmen did as much as was humanly possible, given what they were up against. They didn't have, within the Republican Caucus, enough of these guys to stop the rest of the Republicans in the House. And then, of course, when you're talking about raising the debt limit, you've got all the pressure that's being brought to bear.

You're talking about all the news about what's gonna happen to our credit rating, all the news of what's gonna happen to the financial markets. And as is the usual case, Carl, everybody's predicting the apocalypse. "If the debt ceiling isn't raised, why, there goes our credit rating! If the debt ceiling isn't raised, why, Social Security checks may not go out!" And guess who's gonna get blamed? The Republicans! The media is blaming them and other Republicans are blaming them. And their hopes of being reelected are dowsed in their first terms if that happens.

That's why I keep saying that it's gonna require a whole lot of elections, and a whole lot of conservatives winning them, to begin turning back the tide here. But whether these concerns were real or not doesn't matter. If the financial markets would not have reacted negatively had there not been that specific increase in the debt limit, it is still being reported. The people are hearing it. So it's a vicious, vicious cycle and battle that takes place. But I don't believe that, on general principles, Allen West has shrunken from duty and responsibility or "laid down," as you say.

But I appreciate the call, Carl.

END TRANSCRIPT

[antidemoncrat]

Clarification:I may not have amde myself clear. I believe that many Conservatives didn’t vote for McCain because he is a RINO. The result was Obama won and look where we are. If Conservatives refuse to vote for Romney and Obama wins again, we all lose. I really don’t like Romney all that much and I really would have preferred Allen West or Paul Ryan or Chris Christie to run but we look to be stuck with Romney. The question we need to asked ourselves is will our Republic be better off with a RINO or a Marxist in the White House?

[antidemoncrat]

OK, I understand Conservatives, including myself, are unhappy with Romney. But I fail to understand from your reply what our alternatives are. As I seem them they are:
1. Vote for Romney
2. Vote for Obama
3. Write in a candidate’s name
4. Don’t vote in protest.
What can you add to this list?

[af_vet_rr]

The question we need to asked ourselves is will our Republic be better off with a RINO or a Marxist in the White House?

Neither. If you support a RINO now, regardless of whether he wins or not, you'll get the GOP-e nominating another RINO in 2016. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way - the GOP-e conning you into voting for a RINO leads the GOP-e into thinking it's okay to keep pushing RINOs, which they will continue to do.

Look at the last quarter century.

They give us RINO George H.W. Bush. He loses in '92 after pissing off Conservatives. What do they do in '96? Give us Bob Dole, just as liberal, maybe more. 2000? George W. Bush. 2008? John McCain. 2012? Mitt Romney.

Do you see a trend yet? 5 RINOs in a row. Until we stop supporting them and until they get it through their thick heads they cannot win without us, they will continue giving us RINOs.

And it's especially pathetic that they are giving us an even more liberal RINO than McCain. Think about how insane that is - they couldn't win with McCain, so they give us the most liberal anti-gun, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage candidate that they could find who still had an (R) next to his name.

[antidemoncrat]

So what are you suggesting? Just not to vote?

[af_vet_rr]

So what are you suggesting? Just not to vote?

Show up and vote, pick the most conservative candidate in each race. If it's a Republican, fine, if it's an independent fine. Showing up and not voting is the worst thing you can do.

Look the establishment gave us RINO McCain. He got his butt kicked by Obama, so their response was to find somebody even more liberal - somebody who actively supported abortion and gun control and gay marriage as governor.

If you don't take that as them spitting in your face, then I don't know what to say, because I promise you this: Trying to beat Obama with somebody way more liberal than McCain is not a winning strategy and it's sad that you've bought into this.

And if you think that if we can just get this election out of the way and things will be fine in 2016, you're sadly mistaken my friend, because the Republican establishment has had a firm hold on the nomination process since 1988, and since 1988 they have delivered candidates who are steadily more and more leftist, culminating in the pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-gay marriage Romney.

Either we put a stop to blindly supporting whoever they help get nominated and they get it through their skulls that they cannot win without us, or they will continue feeding us more and more liberal candidates. The candidate we get in 2016 or 2020 is liable to make Bill Clinton look like a Conservative.

And don't forget - Texas is already a minority-majority state, and Hispanics will soon pass up whites, and top that off with the millions of liberals who have moved in from New England, California, and Florida, and the GOP will find itself without Texas' electoral votes by 2020. Based on what we have seen since 1988, I'm afraid the GOP will decide that it has to find somebody even more to the left of Romney.

Here in 2012, we cannot afford to support somebody like Romney just because he's taking us down the road to socialism a little slower than Obama, because we are almost at the end of that road.

[antidemoncrat]

I agree with all you say. The point I was trying to make was we will be better off with a RINO than a dictator. I really don’t like Romney but I like Obama a whole lot less.

[af_vet_rr]

I agree with all you say. The point I was trying to make was we will be better off with a RINO than a dictator. I really don’t like Romney but I like Obama a whole lot less.

We will not be better with a RINO, because as long as we keep voting for RINOs, we are going to keep moving on down that road to socialism.

That's what they are counting on - people like you bending to their will and doing what they want. The moment people like you wake up, and walk away and let them know you will only vote for Conservatives, is the moment at which the RINOs start to lose their power.

Until that day arrives, you are supporting socialism and you are helping us move down that road every time you vote for a liberal with an (R) next to their name.

[antidemoncrat]

You seem to have an understanding of the problem, but no solutions. What are you suggesting people do during the next election? It’s either vote for a RINO or vote for a presumed emperor. I’ll say it one more time. Not voting for the Romney is the same as voting for Obama.