{"id":8867,"date":"2014-07-17T16:43:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T16:43:59","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-07-17T16:43:59","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T16:43:59","slug":"amnesty_didn_t_fizzle_it_was_never_a_winning_issue_in_the_first_place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/07\/17\/amnesty_didn_t_fizzle_it_was_never_a_winning_issue_in_the_first_place\/","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty Didn\u2019t Fizzle! It Was Never a Winning Issue in the First Place!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: National Journal. Now, it was earlier this week, and it was TheHill.com, and I know you\u2019ll remember because I spent an inordinate amount of time on this<\/a>. It was a story that had a headline which essentially said that amnesty, “comprehensive immigration reform,” has “fizzled” as an issue, as a winning electoral issue for the Democrats. <\/p>\n

I spent a lot of time asking: How in the world can that be? <\/p>\n

We have been told for how many years now, consecutive years, that it\u2019s the only hope for the Republican Party? If they ever want to win the White House again, they\u2019re gonna have to somehow convince Hispanic voters that they don\u2019t hate them and the only way they can do that is to change their minds on amnesty and put forward legislation that they sponsor, essentially authorizing “comprehensive immigration reform,” i.e., amnesty. <\/p>\n

<\/a>The Democrats were all say if the Republicans don\u2019t do this, they\u2019re never, ever gonna win the White House again. Chuck Schumer actually made it sound like he wants the Republicans to win the White House! He sounded very, very worried that the Republicans might be blowing it forever and had to get right on comprehensive immigration reform. <\/p>\n

And then we\u2019ve had the Chamber of Commerce guy who\u2019s told the Republicans, “If you don\u2019t do it, you may as well not even nominate a candidate for 2016 because we\u2019re not gonna have anybody give you any money.” So the Republicans bought it, the Republicans believed it, just like they believe every other trick the Democrats in the media play on them.<\/p>\n

So the Republicans got it in their heads — and don\u2019t doubt me. I have been pitched by them, folks. I\u2019ve been to secret dinners. I have been asked to take secret meetings with elected officials who try to tell me — not try; they have told me — that it is crucial and the Republican Party cannot survive unless it gets behind comprehensive immigration reform.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve also told me, “If you call it amnesty, which it isn\u2019t, you will kill it, and we can\u2019t afford for this to be killed. The Republican Party cannot survive without this.” Okay, you know that; you\u2019ve heard it for years. And then all of a sudden, all it takes is whatever is happening at the border right now, the influx of illegal kids — and that number is anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 and climbing — and all of a sudden the whole thing has “fizzled” for the Democrats? <\/p>\n

How can that be, when all that\u2019s happening at the border is what will happen anyway if we pass comprehensive immigration reform? I\u2019m speaking facetiously because the truth of the matter is I have never believed it, not for a day. I have never believed that the Republicans\u2019 only salvation, their only hope is to get Hispanic votes. I reject that, number one. <\/p>\n

Number two, I reject the idea the only way to get Hispanic votes is to sign on for amnesty and basically get rid of borders. I just have never bought it. But I\u2019m one of few. Well, there are many of us outside politics that didn\u2019t buy it. But the inside-the-Beltway elites, establishment Republicans all did. And yet, here we are now, what, three times from the election, and it\u2019s “fizzled” as a winning issue for the Democrats? <\/p>\n

My point is, here\u2019s a second story saying it. This one is the National Journal<\/a>. The first one last week or earlier this week was from The Hill. “Immigration Isn\u2019t a Slam-Dunk Issue for Democrats Anymore,” is the lead headline. The subhead is: “Polling Shows the Public is Divided on Immigration Reform,” while “Divisions Within the Democrat Party are Worsening.” <\/p>\n

There should be a third subhead which should say, “What if Rush Limbaugh Has Been Right All Along?” There are nuggets throughout this article that make my case on the political dangers of this issue, and they go directly against the conventional wisdom. It\u2019s by Josh Kraushaar. “Polling the public on policy preferences an inherently tricky issue.” <\/line><\/p>\n

And, by the way, there\u2019s a Gallup poll out today about the US most important problems, and this has everybody in the pro-immigration camp bamboozled. What do you think is the most important problem facing this country. It\u2019s immigration, illegal aliens number one, at 17%. You know what\u2019s not on the list? Climate change\/global warming is not on the list. <\/p>\n

There are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 — 17 different answers to the question, “What do you think is the most important problem facing the country?” Climate change\/global warming is not mentioned. It was not multiple choice. You had to think of something off the top of your head. They didn\u2019t give you a list of things. <\/line><\/p>\n

Number two is “dissatisfaction with government, Congress, politicians, poor leadership, corruption, abuse of power,” 16%. Number three, “the economy in general,” 15%. Number four, “employment\/ jobs” at 14%. Number five, “poor health care, hospitals, high cost of health care” at 8%. “Federal budget\/the debt,” 6%, on and on. <\/p>\n

Lack of money is way down there at the bottom. Taxes are at the bottom. Crime and violence, race relations, racism, second-to-last. “Lack of respect for each other” is at the very bottom. There\u2019s nothing to do with climate change. Anyway, this poll finds the most important problem we face, but not in the way the Democrats and the Beltway establishment think. <\/p>\n

The people responding in this poll are not saying, “We have a problem in immigration because we don\u2019t have amnesty.” They\u2019re saying, “We have a problem because there\u2019s too much of it!” It goes against, in every way, what the establishment is trying to ram down our throats. But the point is, there is a second story now about how this whole issue — which not only was a guaranteed win for life for the Democrats.<\/p>\n

It was an issue that was gonna wipe out the Republican Party if they didn\u2019t sign on to it! Just a month ago, a year ago, two years ago, five years ago, that has been the conventional wisdom. “If the Republicans don\u2019t glom on to this, if they don\u2019t sign onto this, if they don\u2019t get on the right side of this, if they don\u2019t support amnesty, the Hispanics are gonna hate their guts. The Hispanics are never gonna vote for \u2019em, and if the Hispanics ever vote for \u2019em, they\u2019re never gonna win the presidency.”<\/p>\n

Now all that\u2019s gone, and the whole advantage the Democrats had has withered away? <\/p>\n

The only way that can be is if it was a lie — and a phony, false premise — to begin with.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, this Gallup poll<\/a> that has been released today showing just how much public disgust there is with immigration in this country overall, and particularly the influx of unaccompanied children. We now know — if there was any doubt, we now know — why the Drive-By Media did its best to ignore the flood of illegal aliens that\u2019s been going on. <\/p>\n

You know it started in December when this actually began. They\u2019ve been ignoring it for a good period of time. They want to give Obama and the Democrats time to ram through amnesty. It\u2019s abundantly clear now. This is not some recent thing. Contrary to what popular conception is, this didn\u2019t just kick up in March or April. <\/p>\n

I want to take you back; I want to continue to remind you. We found posted on a government website jobs postings for logistics and transportation companies specifically to transport newly arrived unaccompanied illegal children. Now, that was in January. This influx began in December. The Drive-Bys didn\u2019t talk about it until March, maybe even April. We now know why. <\/line><\/p>\n

They were trying to make sure that there wasn\u2019t any negative news so that the Democrats could succeed pressuring the Republicans into going ahead and getting an amnesty bill done before the November elections. Also keep in mind, despite the Washington Post\/ABC poll from the other da<\/a>y, Gallup found that most people think the Republicans will handle the crisis better. <\/p>\n

You remember that poll? I guess it was Monday or Tuesday, ABC News\/Washington Post had a poll which showed that the vast majority of the American people disapprove of the Republicans\u2019 handling of this over Obama. Obama was bad enough, six in 10 thought he was goofing it up, but it was 67% who thought the Republicans were. That poll gave the Drive-Bys free rein to create a narrative that this was a Republican problem. <\/p>\n

But the Gallup poll just blows that out of the waters. Gallup found that most people think the Republicans will handle the crisis better. The last time these numbers fell this way was 2010, and if you\u2019ll remember 2010 saw the birth of the so-called Tea Party and those massive Republican House victories that retook control of the House from the Democrats. Here\u2019s a little passage from the Gallup story:<\/p>\n

“While the 17% of Americans naming immigration as the top problem is not large in absolute terms, the fact that the issue is of particular concern to Republicans and older Americans — both groups that Republicans need to turn out in force in the midterms — could be critical to the outcome.” See, here we go again. <\/p>\n

All this time we\u2019ve been told the Republican Party was dead unless it came out for amnesty, right? Now not only has it “fizzled” as a Democrat issue, amnesty and immigration, now — oh, no! — it\u2019s possibly a huge advantage for the Republicans. Oh, my God, how did this happen? Well, it never was the slam-dunk issue for the Democrats, and it never was something the Republicans had to make a dramatic change on in order to stay relevant. <\/p>\n

Well, look, I don\u2019t mean to be redundant, folks. I just happen to think this is profound. I happen to think that what has been illuminated here is once again the gigantic manipulative trick. The only thing that remains a little bit of a puzzle to me is how the Republicans keep falling for this stuff. I don\u2019t think that they\u2019re that stupid, so I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s accurate to say they\u2019re falling for it. <\/p>\n

I think there are a number of them who already agree with the Democrats and want amnesty and immigration — and not for the viability of the Republican Party, but rather for money. We also know that there is a sizable contingent of the inside-the-Beltway Republican Party that\u2019s perfectly fine with Big Government, as long as they run it. <\/p>\n

We also know that there is a sizable contingent of inside-the-Beltway so-called conservative media who also believe that the time for Big Government has arrived, because the American people keep voting for it. They say, “It\u2019s time that we face the music. The idea of a limited government, smaller government is passe. <\/p>\n

“The American people don\u2019t want it. We\u2019ve got to stand the right side of the American people. So what we have to do,” goes the theory, “is we have to show that we\u2019re better and smarter at running a Big Government and making it more efficient and less intrusive. But the people want a Big Government, providing endless amounts of services and so forth.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: National Journal. Now, it was earlier this week, and it was TheHill.com, and I know you\u2019ll remember because I spent an inordinate amount of time on this. It was a story that had a headline which essentially said that amnesty, “comprehensive immigration reform,” has “fizzled” as an issue, as a winning electoral issue for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"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":"\nAmnesty Didn't Fizzle! 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It was a story that had a headline which essentially said that amnesty, “comprehensive immigration reform,” has “fizzled” as an issue, as a winning electoral issue for […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GeorgePrayias\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/07\/17\/amnesty_didn_t_fizzle_it_was_never_a_winning_issue_in_the_first_place\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/07\/17\/amnesty_didn_t_fizzle_it_was_never_a_winning_issue_in_the_first_place\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/07\/17\/amnesty_didn_t_fizzle_it_was_never_a_winning_issue_in_the_first_place\/\",\"name\":\"Amnesty Didn't Fizzle! 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