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RUSH: Well, Bret Baier at Fox News tweeted that he’s heard the same thing: Wealthy Republican donors are starting to give up on Chris Christie for 2016. F. Chuck Todd at NBC News has tweeted the same thing. “Some GOP Donors Think Christie’s ‘2016 Hopes are Done.'” Today, Christie gave his inaugural address to commence his second term as governor of New Jersey. Among the things he said: “We must shun partisanship. We must take action on behalf of the people.”

CHRISTIE: We cannot fall victim to the attitude of Washington, DC, the attitude that says, “I am always right and you are always wrong,” the attitude that puts everyone into a box that they are not permitted to leave, the attitude that puts political victories ahead of policy agreements. The belief that “compromise” is a dirty word.


RUSH: Oh, my. (stammering) So apparently here we’re trying to salvage Republican donors here with this kind of bipartisanship talk? You know, it’s not just Governor Christie. There are a lot of RINOs and Republican establishment types and consultants who say, “We can’t have this attitude, ‘I’m always right and you’re always wrong.'” What if it’s true? What if we are right? Are we supposed to just forget it because it’s not fair or it’s not right or it’s not kosher to be right?

Are we supposed to let the people that are wrong win some now and then just to be fair about it, just so we can say we’re getting along? He said that attitude puts everyone into a box that they’re not permitted to leave. What do you mean, “not permitted to leave”? People leave whatever box they go into any time they want. The “attitude that puts political victories ahead of policy agreements”? I defy anybody to separate political from policy.

There isn’t one, for example, Obama policy that’s not political, and it’s that that creates the argument. Of course, they think the same thing of us. This talk emanates from the belief that people hate us because we are inflexible and we are not cooperative and we don’t compromise. So Governor Christie obviously still thinks that there is ground to be gained in speaking this way. Now, let me give you an example of how the Democrats are heeding Governor Christie’s call for bipartisanship.


I have it right here, breaking news from ABC’s New Jersey affiliate. The headline: “New Jersey Democrats Form Joint Panel to Probe Christie Scandals.” There you go. There’s your vaunted bipartisanship. “New Jersey Democrats Form Joint Panel…” So you got a panel of one Democrat, there’s another Democrat, a bunch of Democrats on one side, a bunch of Democrats on the other side, and a “joint panel” of Democrats to probe the Christie scandal.

That’s their definition of “bipartisan.”

The breaking news story from the local ABC affiliate is originally from the AP: “New Jersey Democrats Form Joint Panel to Probe Christie Scandals.” So the AP provided that line for the New Jersey ABC affiliate. The article, says, “New Jersey Democrats are merging legislative committees to investigate allegations that members of Republican Gov. Chris ChristieÂ’s administration abused their government power. … The committee will be made up of eight Democrats and four Republicans,” and there we’ve got our bipartisanship.

So we have a Democrat-led panel looking into the Christie scandals, and that’s their definition of bipartisanship and compromise and working together and all of that: Eight Democrats and four Republicans. That is bipartisanship. It’s permitted. That’s good bipartisanship. The Republicans, even if they’re unified, can’t stop anything here. This kind of dovetails with what I was talking about in the first hour, this next sound bite from Governor Christie and his inaugural speech.

CHRISTIE: You see, as we saw in December regarding the DREAM Act, we can put the future of our state ahead of the partisans who would rather demonize than compromise. As your governor, I will always be willing to listen, as long as that listening ends in decisive action for the people who are counting on us to do our job.

RUSH: Here, again. Some of you might think this is nitpicking, but this goes to right to what I was talking about. I, for one, am not waiting with bated breath for people in government to do their job every day. I’m hoping that every day’s a snow day and they don’t show up. We have enough law. We don’t need any new law, and certainly not on the massive scale that we’re getting it. But this presumes that people — and they do exist, folks. This is the problem.

This presumes that there are people waiting with bated breath to see what the next decree from the government or from the state is, because it comes with the final authority, and the state will tell you that you’re illegal. The state will tell you that you’re a racist, you’re an extremist, or whatever the law happens to be rooted in. “Partisans who would rather demonize than compromise”? How about partisans who would rather stand for individual freedom and liberty rather than compromise over how much of it we’re going to lose?

I don’t think that’s an extreme position to take at all.

Government does not expand liberty. Not here. Government does not expand freedom. Government chips away at it, by definition. You couple that with so many people thinking that whatever comes from the government is the final authority. There’s no questioning it. That’s how you end up with so many uncurious, unquestioning, accepting, blindly accepting people who think that anybody who opposes whatever’s coming out of government is some sort of rabble-rouser creating problems for everybody else.

Here’s Gloria Borger this afternoon. This is CNN’s special coverage of Governor Christie’s inauguration. After he finished, Jake Tapper spoke with the Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger about Christie, and Tapper said, “Gloria, there was a Pew poll out yesterday suggesting that Governor Christie’s unfavorable ratings among Democrats and independents have doubled, that his poll numbers in general are taking a dip. How much trouble, Gloria, do you think Governor Christie’s in, in the long term?”


BORGER: If you look at these poll numbers that are coming out today, you can see where his problem is. Those independent voters, who (sic) just put this up on the screen, 58% do not believe him — and it’s a governor who was talking about trust today, and in a matchup against Hillary Clinton — I know this is early, Jay, very early. But what was impressive was that he had been kind of neck and neck with her, and this latest Quinnipiac poll shows that he is now lagging eight points behind her, and it’s those independent voters that have deserted him, at least for now.

RUSH: Oh, no! Ladies and gentlemen, this absolutely horrible news for the GOP establishment, because they are convinced that you can only win elections with the independents. They ought to look at Romney. Romney cleaned up with independents in 2012 and lost sizably. But depending on where you look, we’re going back and forth on the importance of independents anyway.

Depending on the story, depending on the day, they’re either the most important group or they’re not important anymore. But for the media’s purpose here, the independents remain the coin of the realm, and Governor Christie’s losing them. In this Quinnipiac poll, he’s down eight points. There was another poll last week. I think it was Gallup. There were two polls that showed Christie leading Hillary by a couple of points, and in those two polls, Christie was the only Republican beating Hillary.

That’s why the establishment was all-in, then this Bridgegate thing happened, and Christie had plummeted. He lost 13 points. He was 11 points behind Hillary in the same two polls, and Gloria Borger is saying it’s because the bottom has fallen out of the independents; the independents, they just don’t like it when you close their lanes on the bridge. They just don’t. You start closing the independents’ bridge lanes and they’re gonna take it out on you.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Yeah, I have to admit, I was a little curious about something here. We played the Gloria Borger sound bite, and she said that in their precious polling on the Quinnipiac polling, that Governor Christie is losing independents. Now, he’s not losing independents, folks. In fact, most polls show that Governor Christie is holding steady with independents. Who he’s losing is, who do you think? No, not Democrats. He’s losing Republicans! January 2013, Christie’s favorability with independents was 37%. And here in January 2014, favorability with independents is identical, 37%. This according to the Pew Research Center, USA Today poll, out today.

His approval numbers are down, but he’s not down with independents. He’s not losing the independents. Apparently the independents don’t care if their lanes get closed from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge. In fact, his disapproval rating with independents is up a little bit, true, but the approval rating is the same. But his disapproval with Republicans is up 7%. So that’s probably the bulk, at least according to Pew and USA Today. He’s losing Republicans. Why would that be? Why would he be losing Republicans, establishment RINO type Republicans in New Jersey? Why would that be? I guess they’re wildebeests and they just don’t want to run to help him.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Grab audio sound bite number 27. We’re gonna close the loop here. We had Gloria Borger after Governor Christie’s speech saying (paraphrasing), “Well, I don’t know, Wolf, he’s in big trouble out there. Massive, massive defections among the independents. Just really not good.” And we’ve heard now that the Democrats, in their own brand of bipartisanship, have impaneled a committee to investigate Christie’s transgressions. Eight Democrats, four Republicans.


So when Gloria Borger finished, reported all this, Wolf Blitzer, CNN, decided to close the loop. Now you might be thinking, “Why are you wasting our time with Wolf Blitzer?” Because this is instructive. Keep in mind who Wolf Blitzer is, where he works and his worldview, and this will tell you a lot.

BLITZER: I think it will help him. I think it was a powerful speech, and he delivered the proper tone. It would have been a really amazing speech if he didn’t have these clouds of these current scandals in New Jersey hovering over him. It would have been a nice step in the direction, potentially, toward a 2016 presidential run. He’s got a lot of problems right now, but I think on the whole it was a very strong speech, a powerful speech that will help him.

RUSH: So in Wolf Blitzer’s view, all that talk about not blaming Democrats and compromising and not telling people they’re wrong and working together, man, that is the order of the day. And Governor Christie and this bridge thing hanging over his head, that would be a great, great speech, launching him to who knows what kind of heights. See, that’s the point. These are the kind of people that Governor Christie’s gonna win over with the speech. Liberal Democrat members of the media. Is this what the Republican establishment wants? Is Wolf Blitzer the key to the White House for the Republican Party? I’ll bet it is.

I will bet that you’ve got some people in the Republican Party establishment thinking, maybe some of you, ’cause, I tell you what, I’ve gotten enough phone calls over the years from people who are only going to be convinced that we’re turning the tables and winning if the media starts liking us and if the media starts being fair in their reporting on us, and if the media starts actually being behind us and supporting us and endorsing us. And I bet there’s some Republican establishment types, I mean, that’s what the whole thing is about, really, in terms of amnesty and not really repealing Obamacare and gay marriage and all that.

So this is precisely, I think, what the Republican establishment thinks they’ve got to do. When they start winning over people like Wolf Blitzer, that’s when they think they’re on the right track. And of course on Election Day 2016 you got Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie, who do you think Wolf’s gonna vote for? That’s right. There’s no question about it.

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