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RUSH: Jeb Bush on Meet the Press Sunday morning, David Gregory talked to him, “How much do you get your back up when you hear this president blame a lot of our economic condition on your brother, his predecessor?”

JEB BUSH: I think it’s time for him to move on. I mean, look, the guy was dealt a difficult hand, no question about it, but he’s had three years. His policies have failed. And rather than blame others, which I know we were taught that that was kind of unbecoming, over time you just can’t keep doing that.

RUSH: Oh, that’s gonna really make him stop. So Jeb Bush says to Obama, “You ought to stop blaming my brother. It’s been three and a half years, you’re on your own, pal.” Why should he stop? It’s working. He’s a nice guy. Obama’s a nice guy. That’s the theme of the Republican convention. He’s a nice guy. He’s just incompetent. He’s a nice guy. That’s what the Republicans have told The Politico the theme of the convention is. He’s a nice guy. So Gregory then said to Jeb Bush, “You’ve talked about wanting for the Republican Party to lead a nation of converts. That people become Republicans based on ideas, based on leadership. You look at the gender gap right now between the president and Governor Romney. It is in the president’s favor. Among Hispanics, he’s got two-thirds of the Hispanic vote. Younger viewers, our polling on African-Americans, zero for Mitt Romney. Are you concerned that the Republican Party is not making much progress toward becoming a nation of converts, politically, philosophically?”

JEB BUSH: Our demographics are changing, and we have to change not necessarily our core beliefs, but the tone of our message and the message and the intensity of it for sure. I don’t think that’s gonna have an impact in this election, though. I mean so there’s a gender gap in favor of President Obama among women, in a dead heat there’s obviously gonna be a gender gap in favor — for men in favor of Romney. And this is gonna be a close election, but long-term, conservative principles, if they’re to be successful and implemented, there has to be a concerted effort to reach out to a much broader audience than we do today.

RUSH: Okay. There you have it: Jeb Bush. Long-term conservative principles, if they’re to be successful and implemented, there has to be a concerted effort to reach out to a much broader audience than we do today. Now, how would you translate that? Mr. Snerdley has just nailed it. We need to reach out to the Hispanic vote, and the way we do that is make a deal on immigration. That’s what Jeb Bush thinks we have to do. Now, our old buddy Jim Pethokoukis — by the way, I never met the guy. I just call him our old buddy. He may hate me. Although, I’ve never heard from him, he’s never told me to stop quoting him, so I don’t think he hates me, but I don’t really know. He’s my old buddy ideologically. I think we’re on the same page ideologically. He’s in Tampa at what was to have been a Republican convention today.

A little post here at American Enterprise Institute website, AE Ideas. He’s a thinker at the think tank AEI. And the headline here: “What a Gloomy GOP Campaign Guru Just Told Me in Tampa” Want to hear this? “A new Washington Post-ABC News poll has Mitt Romney up by a point over Barack Obama 47% to 46%. (46% is a truly horrible number for an incumbent.)” That’s true. “But it is going to take more than a few narrow polls to change what I sense to be the widespread mood here that Romney is very narrowly losing.” So Pethokoukis is in Tampa. He’s talking to Republican establishment guys. He’s picking up on the fact that they are gloomy, that they think Romney is narrowly losing, but they say that the race remains winnable.

So here’s the next part: “So it was with great interest that I listened to the thoughts a longtime, much-respected GOP operative, whom I will nickname the Gloomy Guru.” Okay, a “much-respected GOP operative” is probably a consultant. I wouldn’t know who this is. There’s not enough data. But here’s what the Gloomy Guru said to our old buddy Jim Pethokoukis. “Romney will win North Carolina. Ohio is iffy in GG’s view, though one very smart, very connected Ohio [Republican] thinks the state is lost.”

A “very connected Ohio” Republican establishment guy says Ohio is lost. “New Mexico is lost.” This is the mood in Tampa, folks! This is the mood that Pethokoukis is running into talking to establishment Republicans establishment. Yeah, we’re gonna win North Carolina. Ohio’s lost. “New Mexico’s lost. Colorado [is] looking good.” Pennsylvania, don’t kid me. We’re never gonna win Pennsylvania. Anybody who thinks we’re gonna win Pennsylvania is an idiot. “Pennsylvania is foolÂ’s gold, not going to happen.” We’re not gonna win Pennsylvania. Don’t even think about it.

“Wisconsin can happen. Virginia will be a dogfight [and] is critical.” And then it concludes with this: “If Romney loses, there will be war in the GOP over immigration and how [the] party is connecting — or, rather, not connecting — with Hispanic voters. Sticking Marco Rubio or some other profile Hispanic politician on the ticket is not enough.” The Gloomy Guru was “[v]ery adamant about this.” So, folks, I just want you to know that the Republican establishment (which is not conservatives) are gloomy, they are pessimistic, and to them it’s all going to be our fault if we lose.

That’s what they’re setting up.

They are setting up that it’s going to the fault of all of us conservatives if they lose, because we will not bend on amnesty for illegals. That’s how to translate this. Republican establishment types in Tampa are depressed, gloomy. We are gonna lose, and it’s all because of immigration. “And putting Rubio on the ticket wouldn’ta mattered. You can’t just do symbolic stuff. We gotta go to the core of it! We gotta realize that we’re not gonna ever win anything as long as we’re opposed to amnesty.”

That’s what it means.

Sadly, these are the guys running the show in Tampa.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We’re gonna start in Akron, Ohio. Lisa, glad you waited. Great to have you on the program. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. I’m not happy with anything you’ve said today so far. I almost drove off the road at the start of the program, and I started pushing the buttons on my telephone (beep) to get through. I don’t know who this Republican Party is anymore that I am supposed to be a part of and to be represented by. I look at the RNC, and I look at Mitt Romney and what is being articulated, that Mr. Obama is a nice guy? Well, I went to see 2016 this weekend, Rush, and Dinesh D’Souza has given the Republican Party and America a gift of total exposure of Barack Obama.

RUSH: Exactly.

CALLER: Who he is, what he wants, and what he wants for our country and the world. I’m sorry I cut you off. I’m so angry that this is out there and the Republicans are not using it for inspiration and information.

RUSH: They’re scared by it.

CALLER: What? How can they be!

RUSH: They’re scared. They really are. I’m gonna tell you what I’ve always told you, and I guess it’s still true, Lisa. The Republican brain trust, the consultants, have told everybody else in the party that the moderates and the independents do not like partisanship. They don’t like criticism. So, you know, “Mentioning Obama’s record? That may be criticizing Obama. We can’t do that! We could do it in the context that, ‘He can’t know what he’s doing and he’s incompetent.'” But, you’re right, a lot of people saw 2016 this weekend. And it does. It perfectly lays out who the guy is. It’s a blueprint for defeating him.

CALLER: Rush, do you really believe that the moderates aren’t capable of balancing truth against fiction? And do we really believe that they are not able to make a sound decision?

RUSH: No, I don’t believe any of that.

RUSH: A previous caller asked me there in the nick of time, at the end of time, if I believe that moderates look at the world the way the Republican consultants say they do. I do not. I think it’s a trick. I think it’s been a trick the Democrats have used for decades, and I’m stunned that our side keeps falling for it. The trick is: “These independents don’t like criticism! They don’t like raised voices! They don’t like partisanship! It makes them nervous.

“And whenever the Republicans get critical of President Obama, these independents just run right back to the Democrats and vote for them.” I don’t believe that for a minute! If it were the case, we wouldn’ta had the 2010 midterms turn out the way they did. The independents ran away from Obama in droves. This is a trick that the Democrats and the media have been running, and our consultants buy it. But, folks, there’s something else going on here as well, and it’s this.

And you know it as well as I do. You just may need to be reminded of it.

Somewhere in the Republican establishment, there are a lot of people who are totally… I wish I could use a colloquial term to describe ’em here. They are just absorbed in immigration. They just want amnesty. It’s the only thing that matters to them. They think that that’s the road to riches. They think it’s the road to dominance. They think it’s the road to wiping out the Democrat Party. They think it’s the road to whatever they think they want to happen.

Amnesty is the way to get there. They’re just absorbed in that, singularly focused on it. And Jim Pethokoukis running into his Gloomy Guru. The Gloomy Guru let the cat out of the bag. It’s all about immigration. Jeb Bush thinks it’s all about immigration. Plus this notion that the independents and the moderates don’t like conflict. Now, I’m blue in the face saying this. Apparently the independents think it’s fine when the president accuses Mitt Romney of killing a guy’s wife.


That somehow doesn’t make ’em nervous. Debbie “Blabbermouth” Schultz and all of her incendiary stupidity, that doesn’t make the independents nervous. Not one thing the Democrats do makes ’em nervous. None of their partisanship makes independents nervous. We never hear, do we…? Do we never hear from anybody: “You Democrats, you better watch your mouths! You better watch your tone. You’re gonna send these independents running right to the Republicans”? Somehow we never hear that, do we?

We only hear it’s the Republicans have to clam up. It’s the Republicans who have to shut up. It’s the Republicans who have to put shackles on themselves, otherwise the independents and moderates are gonna run right back to Democrats. I myself have never bought it. I think it’s a trick. But the Republican consultancy (as a community or as a group) buys it, and that’s what they tell all their candidates that hire ’em. And that’s how we get… How else do you think we’re gonna get, “Oh, he’s nice guy. He’s just incompetent” as a convention theme?

How do you think somebody’s a nice guy who runs an ad claiming that you killed a guy’s wife? How do you even think of somebody as a nice guy? “Well, Rush, he doesn’t really think he’s a nice guy. He thinks that’s what he has to do.” Right. Why does he think he has to say that? Because these consultants have been telling us that for years and years. Now look: Republicans have to moderate their tone ’cause of the hurricane. Do you think if this hurricane hits Texas, the Drive-Bys are gonna spend a day covering it? I guarantee you they’re not.

If this hurricane misses New Orleans, they’re not gonna spend much time talking about it. New Orleans is the key. Maybe if they can show flooding or ramshackle destruction in places that you would think Democrats live, then they’ll spend some time on it. But New Orleans is the key for ’em ’cause that’s Katrina and ’cause everything is politicized. But what evidence do we have that Obama’s a nice guy anyway? Where does that come from? Well, I know where it comes from. It comes from this idea that we can’t be critical of him.

And, of course, there’s the racial factor, too, that the Republican consultants hamstring themselves. “Well, we can’t be critical of him anyway because he’s black, and we just can’t do that! They’re gonna call us racists and so forth and so on.” So we allow ourselves to be shackled. We do it to ourselves by believing this. But to answer the woman’s question: No, I don’t think independents are that fickle. Now, moderates are a different group. Moderates are just liberals that don’t have the guts to say so. Independents are not the same bunch of people.

Steve in Memphis, I’m glad you waited. You’re next on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Rush, it’s truly a great honor, and thank you for being a voice for the heart and soul of America.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: I really appreciate it. Rush, I’ll tell you, I drive a truck coast to coast, and it’s not Hurricane Isaac that we’re all worried about; it’s Hurricane Obama. I’ve got a beach house in Ocean City. I’m from Ocean City, Maryland. I live along the beach. So we’ve been through some hurricanes. The hurricane blows over, we clean some things up, straighten up, and life’s back to usual. After Hurricane Obama, it’s not just cleaning up and life goes on as usual. Hurricane Obama… If you put Hurricane Obama up to a radar plot for Hurricane Isaac, Hurricane Obama dwarfs it ten times fold. The storm surge alone is gonna wipe us out. It’s just something we’re all fearful of.

RUSH: Well, see, you and I, we’re on the same page about that. I think it’s a good analogy, too. Hurricane Obama, you don’t rebuild from it. But the thing about that is the Republican leadership… I’m convinced, especially reading the Gloomy Guru from our old buddy Jim Pethokoukis who talked to the Gloomy Guru in Tampa. I think the Republican establishment does not see this election the way you and I do. This is not, as far as they’re concerned, a defining moment for the country.

And Obama’s presidency is not a defining moment for the future of the country. He’s just the latest Democrat to be elected. This is just another election cycle. And unusually incumbents win. “It’s very difficult to unseat incumbents.” You know, I have to laugh at these people, too. These establishment types. (This comment’s not aimed at Romney.) You remember all during the primaries, the establishment types told us the reason… Do you remember this, Mr. Snerdley? Let’s see if your political memory is up to snuff today.

What was the reason the establishment told us that Romney was the only real chance we had? (interruption) He was the only guy who could get elected. Forget how. They told us, “Romney’s the only one who can win. Newt can’t get elected.” By the way, the Republican establishment had no problems telling us what a mean SOB Newt is. And there was none of this, “Well, you know, Santorum’s a nice guy. He’s just incompetent.”

I mean, Romney clearly has the ability — or his super PAC, they clearly have the ability — to run out and be critical of their opponents. But Mitt is saying (he said it to Politico and others), “No, it’s not who I am. I am who I am, and I don’t do that. If people are looking for me go out, roll up the sleeves, and start beating people up, that’s not who I am.” Tell Newt that. (chuckles) Tell Santorum that. Tell Rick Perry that.

But these establishment guys, they told us that Romney’s the only guy that can win. But now the establishment guys, I am convinced, are positioning themselves for 2016. That’s what I think this is all about. When I hear them saying, “Ohio? Nah, not Ohio.” I think we can win Ohio! We’re leading in Ohio right now. The Washington Post/ABC poll is out. And it’s got Romney up by a point, but it’s the first time Romney’s been up in that poll.

On Good Morning America they didn’t even give the numbers of this poll for the first hour of their show. They’re trying to deemphasize it. The incumbent president is at 46%. I don’t care where Romney is. An incumbent president under 50% in any poll is a bad sign, and it’s a warning. Yet the Gloomy Guru, whoever he is (probably an Ohio consultant), is running around telling people, “Ah, no chance in Pennsylvania.

“No chance in Ohio. That’s lost. Yeah, we’re gonna win North Carolina. Virginia, maybe.” I think these guys have already figured we’re gonna lose and they’re positioning themselves for 2016. ‘Cause this is not a defining moment. It’s just next election in the cycle. And they’re hell-bent on immigration, these establishment guys. Whoever they are, they’re hell-bent on it. They have a singular focus on that that arouses my curiosity.

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