{"id":28326,"date":"2008-02-08T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T04:15:41","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T04:15:41","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T04:15:41","slug":"mccain_vs_limbaugh_is_over_and_now_it_s_about_the_issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/02\/08\/mccain_vs_limbaugh_is_over_and_now_it_s_about_the_issues\/","title":{"rendered":"McCain vs. Limbaugh Is Over, and Now, It\u2019s About the Issues?"},"content":{"rendered":"<section>\n<p>RUSH: In the Drive-By Media today &#8212; and we did a careful perusal here during show prep, and all of a sudden, within 24 hours, it\u2019s not Limbaugh versus McCain anymore. There are some references to me in fact having lost to McCain again and so forth, but they\u2019re very hard to find. Instead now&#8230;. Like here\u2019s the Associated Press, a story by Libby Quaid. It\u2019s no longer Limbaugh versus McCain. It\u2019s the issues. After McCain\u2019s got it sewn up, now the Drive-Bys are telling everybody about the issue problems that conservatives had with Senator McCain; some may still have. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125107.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright\"\/>&#8216;While Republican John McCain is urging his conservative critics to rally around his presidential campaign, there is a lot of water under that bridge. Here are the top-ten reasons some conservatives dislike [McCain]: 1. Campaign finance reform. &#8230; 2. Immigration. &#8230; 3. Tax cuts. &#8230; 4. Gay marriage. &#8230; 5. Stem cell research. &#8230; 6. Global warming. &#8230; 7. Gang of 14. 8. Kerry,\u2019 and the vice presidential thing, &#8216;9. Works with Democrats. &#8230; 10. Belligerence.\u2019 Fine and dandy. Where was this before McCain got the nomination, or before he became the presumptive nominee? Prior to that, it was Limbaugh versus McCain. It wasn\u2019t even Romney versus McCain! Now that McCain\u2019s the presumptive nominee, the Drive-Bys, all of a sudden, start telling people what McCain\u2019s deficiencies are. This is the first step in the reporting of the record. Now here\u2019s Libby Quaid, again, in a different AP story. This is about all of McCain\u2019s missed votes! Now the AP is going into an attack mode on McCain. &#8216;Republican presidential front-runner John McCain has skipped more than half the Senate\u2019s votes in the past year, but he showed up Thursday to help pass a bill to stimulate the faltering economy,\u2019 which, by the way&#8230; At CPAC yesterday, Senator McCain was going on and on and on about busting the budget. No more pork! No more earmarks! We\u2019re going to have the government smaller &#8212; and then he shows up to vote for the stimulus package. <\/p>\n<p>Look, there\u2019s nothing we can do to stop this, ladies and gentlemen. The stimulus package is what it is. I think they did eliminate the stimulus checks to the illegals, but they\u2019ve added seasoned citizens and who? Disabled vets. Right. They pulled it back to the limits in the House. The upper income people are not going to get anything. So, no, I\u2019m not going to get a check. You\u2019re not going to get a check, Snerdley. You\u2019re not going to get a check, Dawn. Brian, even you are not going to get a check. I know many of you who are going to get checks would love to thank me and all the rest of us who aren\u2019t getting checks because we\u2019re paying for your checks, but don\u2019t thank me. Don\u2019t thank Snerdley. Don\u2019t thank any of us for the $300, $600, or $1200 you\u2019re going to get because I had no say in the matter. Your Congress either wants to save the economy or save their seats, and I guarantee you it\u2019s the latter. I don\u2019t want to begrudge those of you who are going to be getting your checks, the socialist gift of the month, and I and Snerdley and Dawn and Brian, all the rest of us who are not going to get checks; we have no choice whether to pay you your checks or not, but I do wish &#8212; I really, for once, I wish &#8212; the government would be decent and send the checks out under my name and Snerdley\u2019s name. I wish, if you\u2019re getting a stimulus check, it would say, &#8216;Courtesy of Rush Limbaugh,\u2019 or, &#8216;This check courtesy of Bo Snerdley,\u2019 not your federal government, but us. Just once.<\/p>\n<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: It\u2019s attack time in the Drive-Bys. This story talks about all the votes that McCain missed. &#8216;After a speech appealing to conservative activists who have largely shunned his candidacy, McCain voted with 32 other Senate Republicans to pass the stimulus package. Almost every Republican lined up to shake his hand and congratulate him, who only a few hours earlier sealed his hold on the GOP presidential nomination, by suggesting he was going to be a big budget cutter and pork buster.\u2019 Now, this is the kind of thing you better get ready for, folks. This is just the first of the stream. It\u2019s going to start very mild, but now that he\u2019s the presumptive nominee, the Drive-Bys are going to start their little hits, their little attack time. &#8216;One senator stayed seated and didn\u2019t come to the well to vote until McCain had left the Senate\u2019s center aisle: Larry Craig of Idaho, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct last year. &#8216;It\u2019s very hard, obviously. I\u2019ve missed a lot of votes, and there\u2019s no doubt about it,\u2019 said McCain, during a flight from Phoenix to Washington. &#8230; Obama and Clinton have missed fewer votes than Senator McCain.\u2019 I\u2019m reading from the AP here, folks. We\u2019re not being critical of Senator McCain. We\u2019re just telling you what the AP is saying. Obama\u2019s missed about 40%, Clinton\u2019s missed 24%, McCain has missed a larger percentage of votes than that. <\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the next story here? Oh, yeah. &#8216;McCain Not Yet Energizing Conservatives.\u2019 Jim Kuhnhenn, the Associated Press. &#8216;Amid the cheers, there were boos. Placards denounced McCain\u2019s past support for changes in immigration policies. In the halls, public and private arguments erupted over his candidacy. McCain has angered conservatives over the years&#8211;&#8216; whoa, what\u2019s that? McCain has angered conservatives? I thought he just angered talk show hosts. Am I reading this right? The Associated Press says McCain has angered conservatives over the years. I could have sworn, I mean, the last two weeks it was only talk show hosts that didn\u2019t like Senator McCain, or been angered by him. Let\u2019s see, the next one in this stack of stuff. Now, this is interesting. Ralph Reed, &#8216;So he\u2019s walking a very fine line. But in a closely fought, competitive campaign that I think will be decided by a few points, Senator McCain is going to need the conservative grassroots of the party in the boat.\u2019 Really? Well, I know I\u2019ve said that, but that\u2019s not what the Drive-Bys have been saying. The Drive-Bys have been saying that he doesn\u2019t need conservatives, that he\u2019s going to get in moderates and independents and so forth. And then there\u2019s this. Liz Sidoti, AP: &#8216;That leaves McCain, whose independent streak rankles many in the Republican rank-and-file&#8211;&#8216; Wait. I thought McCain\u2019s independent streak only angered talk show hosts? What\u2019s happening here in the Drive-By Media? All of a sudden now that leaves McCain, whose independent streak rankles many in the Republican rank-and-file? <\/p>\n<p>I thought it was just these extremist kook conservatives like me and the talk show hosts that McCain rankled? Anyway, just get ready for this, folks, because I warned you about it. Nothing that you can\u2019t deal with. I\u2019m just telling you where the Drive-Bys\u2019 hearts and minds lie, and you will see it very subtly, as I have pointed out to you here, at first, but then it will expand and it will confound and it will be amplified even more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RUSH: In the Drive-By Media today &#8212; and we did a careful perusal here during show prep, and all of a sudden, within 24 hours, it\u2019s not Limbaugh versus McCain anymore. There are some references to me in fact having lost to McCain again and so forth, but they\u2019re very hard to find. Instead now&#8230;. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>McCain vs. Limbaugh Is Over, and Now, It&#039;s About the Issues? - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/02\/08\/mccain_vs_limbaugh_is_over_and_now_it_s_about_the_issues\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"McCain vs. Limbaugh Is Over, and Now, It&#039;s About the Issues? - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: In the Drive-By Media today &#8212; and we did a careful perusal here during show prep, and all of a sudden, within 24 hours, it\u2019s not Limbaugh versus McCain anymore. There are some references to me in fact having lost to McCain again and so forth, but they\u2019re very hard to find. Instead now&#8230;. 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There are some references to me in fact having lost to McCain again and so forth, but they\u2019re very hard to find. Instead now&#8230;. 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