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RUSH: I had a note from a friend who said, "You're missing something big about Senator McCain," and if this friend of mine is right, then I have missed it, and that is -- this is just what she said to me, she said, "You have to understand that McCain comes off as a great American. He loves America. He wants to move America forward. He doesn't care about these social things. He doesn't care about these silly little social issues. He doesn't care about the cultural issues. He doesn't want to get philosophical about his positions at all because his positions are not rooted in philosophy." I said, "That actually makes a lot of sense. His positions are not rooted in philosophy," meaning he doesn't have a philosophy.  He's just playing the American card or the patriot card, the prisoner of war story or whatever, and that happens to appeal to some people. But this is where I would distance myself from the analysis of my friend, and that is I think McCain really plays up this "maverick" business. He loves the maverick business. What is a maverick? A maverick is somebody that bucks tradition and principles held by a majority of people. A maverick is somebody in it for himself. Even Cindy McCain has said that her husband loves the maverick label, and she does, too. Who attached the maverick label to McCain? The Drive-By Media! Are there any Democrat mavericks? Are there any mavericks on Democrat side? Lieberman is a maverick, and look what the Democrats have done to him. They ran him out of the party! Now, we're left to believe that the Drive-Bys and the Democrats, that they love these mavericks. They love these independent thinkers, these "straight talkers." Only when they're on our side! When the maverick is on our side denouncing our side, running against our side, doing what he can to diminish our side, of course the Drive-Bys love him. The New York Times, Washington Post, whoever it is endorsed this guy, the Drive-By Media choosing our candidate.
What majority is McCain going against right now? Conservatives! He says he's trying to unify, but he's going against conservatives, and who are conservatives? Conservatives are the principled people who cut their teeth on the minority, were shut out until the 1980s when Reagan finally won, but made their presence felt in 1976. They had to continue to fight from a minority position back then through the nineties and even now today, and we do. Swimming against the tide? Conservatism goes against the ease of the population, the vapidity of cosmic justice like fairness and inequality that sounds so good. Conservatism is constantly swimming against the tide, because it's hard. Conservatism is an intellectual application. One arrives at conservatism after having thought about things, after having been curious. You know, liberalism is simply what you feel. You feel good about things. It's the most gutless choice that you can make. Anybody can be a liberal. By the way -- this is not my quote. I wish it were. I can't remember who said this. Might have been John O'Sullivan at National Review, but whoever it was said, "Any organization that is not by definition conservative will be liberal." Liberal is not something somebody has to be convinced of. It's not something you have to run around and persuade people about. You don't have to argue with them to change their minds. It's just the natural ease of dealing with ephemeral issues and it is not really solving them, but making you and everybody else think you care deeply about them. Conservatism is not easy. It takes work. It takes thought, conviction against easy answers from the left that do not work but they sound wonderful -- and it really grates on a lot of conservatives who have devoted their lives to try to bring the ideology to as many people as possible; remind them it's the structure and basis for the founding of our country. It just grates to have people on our side so easily defect and then turn around, and turn the guns on us as though we are the problem, which is what is happening with the McCain campaign. Senator McCain successfully targeted the weak, the mushy, the squishy, the Jell-Os, some of the left, the Drive-By Media. The maverick... Here's the dirty little secret. The "maverick" is swimming with the majority. The maverick is not a maverick. The maverick is with the majority, and he's swimming very easily with the tide. He's not a maverick. |
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RUSH: One more thing on this maverick business, and here's why I think it works. A maverick, as far as the American people are concerned, is what? Quintessential American, a rugged individualist, somebody swims against conventional wisdom, somebody who swims against the tide. And guess who gave us the title maverick associated with John McCain? The Drive-By Media. The Drive-By Media, "he's a maverick," and the American people who pay scant attention, who don't really know what's going on this early prior to an election, they focus on personalities and soap operas of campaigns and this kind of thing. Maverick, yeah, tough guy, rugged individualist who will speak his mind. He's not one. He's taking the easy route, moistening the finger. He's out there saying the Democrat Party has better ideas than we do; the Democrat Party's ideas poll better than ours do. I'm going to adopt the Democrat Party's ideas. Maverick my rear end. In fact, folks, you know I don't like to talk about myself, but if there is a maverick out there today, it is I who am the maverick. You talk about swimming against the tide. I have the Drive-Bys celebrating already, wait 'til you hear the sounds bites of my demise. I have other radio talk show hosts salivating for my demise. I have some in the Republican punditry salivating. I'm not trying to get sympathy here, don't misunderstand. It's always been this way. It's when you're at the top, everybody is shooting at you. It is what it is. But I'm the maverick. If there's a maverick out there, it is I. Talk about swimming against the tide?
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