Are you sure you didn’t miss something in that? There was a point when he was talking with a caller and mentioned people who sat on their hands during the election and that’s what they thought. I turned off the last hour because I was tired but I would doubt that he went further with that theme.

Mac was a guy who has been in Congress his whole life. You think he would have been any less bad than Obama?

Big Mac suggested that we buy up all the individual mortgages in the country, for petes sake, during a televised debate! With, you know, people watching!

I dunno guy, but this pining for Demo-lite McCain seems silly. He would have been able to control Ladies Pelosi and Reid? Maybe, but maybe he goes along with some of their liberalism to expand the party to death? The fact that we dont know for sure makes it, in the long run, a good thing he lost.

I live in Canada so no Rush, but I saw CPAC and I own a home in PHX (foreclosures are awesome), so I listened to him when I went down. He seems pretty right on a lot of things. Id much rather this dude run then see McCain run again. At least Rush has a vision, you know?

I agree with most of what you have said.

“Limbaugh lives in a world where compromise is not necessary and in fact, would be a reduction in his ratings if he did….

In addition, I think you are wrong on this:

And it shows that Limbaugh is a great communicator, but what he communicates sometimes just flat out reeks.

Many don’t like Rush’s voice. What people really like from him are substance and consistency in the use of deductive and inductive reasoning…. ie, common sense.

but since the first third kept saying the same thing over and over I made an educated guess that I got your point.

I will stipulate that Limbaugh has held a personal grudge against McCain since at least the 2000 election. He ridicules McCain’s voice, personality, and positions if given the slightest possible excuse. What I am saying here is not new, I have said it many times during my three years at this site. Rush has a personal grudge against McCain, full stop.

Now that I have stipulated the Rush/McCain relationship, I must say your point is all wet. No Republican was going to beat Obama and McCain gave us probably the best showing we could have had. The populace has been dumbed down and almost brainwashed into a Bush/Republican hatred. An example that galls me the most is how so many people are so angry and despondent about the Iraq war, yet such a small percentage of Americans personally know anyone who has served in Iraq. Our people have been told that Iraq is the worst disaster ever so many times, they believe it, though they have never shed blood or sweat or tears there.

The problem Republicans have is multifaceted. We have a young population indoctrinated by the the radical NEA to despise capitalism, Western Civilization, and rugged individualism. We have a recent Republican president who believed in big government when that meant his personal mores could be forced on others. We have a press that is now an official arm of the demonrat party, the same press that supported McCain when he disagreed with Bush, but stabbed him in the back when he ran for president; something Rush predicted.

I know what I am saying will convince you of nothing, but what I am saying shows just a part of the problems our party faces as it tries to rebuild its brand. Our party continues to abandon principles as we have seen with all the pork put in the omnibus bill by Republicans. It is not Rush who has damaged McCain and Republicans, it is Bush, Frist, and the rest of the GOP leadership.

btw, what I should have simply said is we will not tolerate squishes and trolls who keep trying to follow the Dem playbook by playing the “Rush Card”. It is not going to work, WE know Rush and like him, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!

First of all:

“He has chosen the absurd argument that we accept the loss in order to hope for the ‘opportunity’.”

I need a link to a transcript so I can assure myself he has made that argument.

Next:

“He has always failed to grasp that power is acquired not through screaming from your own corner, but by reaching to the other corner and bridging the gap without giving up what makes you tick.”

Really? How did the Democrats do that in 2006 and 2008? I mean, there surely must be some grand compromise you can point to in order to show how that strategy works, and has worked, for Democrats. Surely they have given ground on something in order to have solidified their grip on power.

And then this:

“He thinks Republicans are conservatives or they are not worthy of winning. So Democrats win.”

He actually thinks the opposite, and if you listened for more than two minutes you would know this. He believes that conservatism, confidently and clearly articulated by Republicans (and even some Democrats), wins. He believes squishy Republican moderates lose. I can’t think of a better example than the 2008 presidential election. Why vote for Democrat Lite when you can have the real thing?

And the single worst point I have read in a long while is that Rush puts “ideology over country”. That is just idiotic. The reason he is a conservative, the ONLY reason he is a conservative, is that conservatism represents what made this country what it is, and it is the only ideology that will continue to make this country great.

I would submit that it is you who puts the ideology of compromise and moderation and getting along and fence sitting over country. Using your reasoning you would have us believe that to be true to our country we should just go along with whatever Obama and the Democrats propose – constantly look for ways to get along with them, to trim a little of their rotten ideas here, mold a little there, take a scrap or two thrown to us.

You would also have us believe that a man like John McCain, who has caused more damage to the Republican Party than any Democrat ever could, would have been better than Obama. I submit to you that George W. Bush, by helping formulate and support the bailout plan, has given Democrats more political cover for their current drunken spending binge than they could have dared hope for. I truly believe that John McCain would have left no room in the party for conservatives, and that this would have meant an even longer time in the wilderness. Remember, Bob Michel was hardly a conservative.

John McCain lost this election. Rush Limbaugh did not. John McCain ran one of the more inept campaigns in modern history, and was one of the worst candidates in modern history. The party that he helped fracture, nearly beyond repair, was not able to rally to help him. This is his fault, and his alone.

Country First, indeed. Your mantra seems to be “Compromise First, COuntry Later.”

Obama is a wolf with blood spread all over his jowls, (which many of our fellow countrymen wrongfully believed was his left over lunch jello).
In order to stand on principals, you must treat all enemies as enemies! (Degree of enmity is discussed after battle)

“Sometimes you gotta fight when your a man”! Kenny Rogers

www.briefsynopsis.com

because like some of the other commenters, I do not think that’s exactly what he said. I was listening to the discussion you’re talking about, and that is not what I took from it.

So, when you have the chance, get the transcript and post the quote. Then I’ll post a real opinion.

Face it, he’s wrong every day.

On every thing.

First, it’s recommended because it’s right.

Second, it’s recommended because it’s brave. The great majority of RedStaters like Rush, many passionately, and those who see things to criticize in him are usually buried pretty fast.

Well done, and I think your comments defending the diary are thoughtful, too.

Parrot the GOP party line. I am sorry but it is true, Mcain brought the disagreements on himself, by pretty much abandoning a fair amount of what I would call conservative principles. Mccain/Feingold was nothing more than government interfering in free speech for the protection of incumbents. McCain/Kennedy compromise on illegal immigration was a surrender move, and his jumping on board with the global warming idiots. Rush nor any of the other conservative hosts would have been doing their jobs if they didn’t state their disagreements, and the media would have dismissed him then as a parrot for the GOP, like they are trying to make him out to be the leader of the GOP for cover.

If I wanted echo chamber bullshit, I would listen to the America Left channel on my XM unit or Air America, or go read KOS.

Due solely to McCain/Feingold no conservatives could vote for McCain without holding their collective noses. The fact that Bush did not veto the bill is also inexcusable by the way.

That a Republican could sponser a bill that limits free speech is beyond outrageous. McCain and his watered down conservatism is very bad for the Republican party. I honor his service and heroism but more Americans voted for the totally inexperienced guy who could give a good speech. Don’t blame conservatives who still turned out for McCain blame the growing percentage of MORONS of the GIMME, GIMME crowd who vote Democrat.

why exactly is John Roberts to blame for McCain’s loss? Who wants to end a war we fight in with something other than victory other than Dems? Also, Rush did not have a hand in McCain’s loss.

Having said that, I will say something I have written here many times over the years. Rush has held a PERSONAL grudge against McCain since the 2000 race. As a Rush fan, I know this for a fact because I heard him ridicule the man at every turn, it became embarrassing and almost hurt my respect for Rush more than any prescription pills could do.

Now, Rush has been on the right side of many issues McCain was on the wrong side of. McCain did annoy his own party many times and took a couple years to warm up to Bush. But, McCain did more than anyone else to help Bush win in 2004, he did not hold a grudge. Rush on the other hand let his personal disdain color his positions. It is one thing to criticize McCain when he is wrong, it is another to make fun of his voice and try to make him sound like Captain Queeg.

In the end, I think we need to move on. We need to rebuild this party that seemed to have acted from weakness ever since 2006.

… unless you truly dont understand Rush’s point.

First – Winning for conservatives means electing a conservative. Losing means electing McCain or Obama. Its just a question of degree.

Second – People that matter are not going to support the liberal-lite guy no matter what Rush tells them. Only if you feed them BS propoganda about how conservative McCain really is and fool them will they support McCain. Now most of us voted for him with our noses held – but we did not support him in a meaningful way – the way that grassroots must do to elect a Republican President.

Third – Four years of someone to the left of Bush would only have increased the effect of # 2. I.e., ticked off conservatives that would abandon the party.

Four – Now – we have the possibility of galvanizing conservative values and demanding a conservative in 2012 (and 2010 for congress) – because the left is so overreaching.

Five – The RNC is and has been pushing moderate to lefties for sometime (If you recall Guiliani was the original insider pick). If we blindly run our and sacrifice conservatism for a “win” we become like the Blacks who blindly support the Dems and so the Dems never really have to do anything for them. Except in our case – we are the majority, being led around by the minority!

Six – If you are conserative – would you deny your principles in order to elect McCain? In other words – go out and act like he’s sliced bread in order to get others to vote for him? Look at in another way and you see it is merely a question of the strength of your principles – Would you deny Christ in order to implement Christian principles? Seems almost insane, doesnt it?

So I think the truth of your post is that conservative values are not really as important as winning the election. But you fail to see that it is the lack of conservative values that causes us to lose elections – and not the fact that someone like Rush is talking about it. I think you also fail to see the reality that the RNC will gladly move ever leftward unless we stop them. We cant stop them by pretending we dont have conservative values and waving McCain Banners. (Although I did get my bumper sticker and yard sign – AFTER – the Palin pick,)

William Buckley and the conservatives that brought us Reagan unapologetically ran the squishes out on a rail. Newt and his crew took over the congress by forcefully stating the conservative principles they were going to follow. McCain wanted cap and trade for God’s sake. Law of Sea Treaty. I could go on of course – but It was beyond my consience to pretend I was happy with him as our nominee.