RUSH: Eric in Lexington, Texas. It’s great to have you, sir. Hi.
CALLER: Dittos from the Lone Star State, and my comment was the GOP needs to take a big, long look at the NRA and figure out and see if the NRA is showing the GOP how to defeat these liberty-destroying policies.
RUSH: Yeah, this is true.
CALLER: I think every conservative needs to take heart. Because the NRA and all the pro-Second Amendment friends we have out there are showing just how it’s done. We stand up! You don’t give up, you fight. And I wish Rubio would see that.
RUSH: It’s called “push-back.”
CALLER: That’s right, brother.
RUSH: And there isn’t any. I tell you what’s happened. The Republican Party… This is a wild guess. I really don’t know. It’s just an educated guess. But they’re scared! They want to do things on Monday that the media will not hate them for on Tuesday. They’ve bought into what’s said about them. They believe that the image that’s been created of them is real, and therefore they have to react based on that — and the image is they’re racists, they’re sexists, they’re bigots, and they’re homophobes.
Now, they know they’re not, so they look to the people they think are responsible for creating that image about them. So they might blame people on talk radio. They might blame activist groups like the evangelicals. They might blame the pro-lifers. They get sick and tired of being mischaracterized and lied about, and so they want people to think that what’s said about ’em isn’t true. They think pushing back on these issues will not accomplish that objective of being liked.
I don’t care whether it’s conservative media in Washington or whether it’s elected Republicans. In many cases, that’s what they’re after is being liked. Now, the NRA is a special interest group that has one purpose, and they are not gonna let anybody wipe ’em out. They have a core set of principles and beliefs, and they do not waiver from them — and if they are attacked, they stand right up and fight back. They don’t just defend themselves. They go out on the assault path themselves.
They go out and characterize their accusers!
They don’t sit around and defend themselves alone. They do do that — and, as such, there is guidance there. There’s a demonstration on how to do it. But, boy, you’ve gotta be made of something special to do that. ‘Cause once it starts, it never stops. Look at Wayne LaPierre, just for example. Look at what’s said about him. It’s been said about him from the first day he took that job. To the low-information crowd, Wayne LaPierre’s the modern incarnation of the devil.
Well, if Wayne LaPierre cared more about that than he does about his cause, he would cave. He wouldn’t do the push-back ’cause he wouldn’t want that kind of thing to be said about him, but his objective is not to be liked. His objective is to defend his organization and maintain its existence and to grow it. He believes, as does everybody at the NRA. They believe in what they’re about. They believe their purpose. They believe in those things they hold dear.
They know they’re under assault, they’re under attack, and they’re not gonna be chipped away. And they know they can’t survive by becoming what their critics want them to become. The NRA also doesn’t have to get any votes. They do have to attract members, and they do very much appreciate the membership fee and any other donations they get, but they don’t have to get votes.
The Republican Party has to get votes.
The Republican Party has consultants, and the consultants are out there saying, “Here’s what you have to do to get votes,” to the elected Republicans. Getting votes is a whole different matter than getting an audience, for example. Getting votes is a whole different thing from getting members. It’s tougher. The theory is that you cannot get votes being disliked. But you can run the NRA being disliked. In fact, you can triumph being disliked. Being disliked is a badge of honor, depending on who it is that dislikes you.
Politicians don’t look at it that way.
They don’t see anything in it to be disliked by anybody. They don’t see how that’s gonna get ’em any more votes. Standing up for and wanting people who are disliked? They don’t see anything in that for them, either. There are exceptions, of course. Grab audio sound bites 11 and 12. Senator Ted Cruz. Yesterday in Washington, Republican senators including Senator Cruz, held a press conference about gun control legislation. Here are a couple of sound bites from Senator Cruz and what he had to say.
CRUZ: In 2010, roughly 48,000 felons and fugitives attempted to illegally purchase firearms. Out of those 48,000, the Obama Justice Department prosecuted only 44.
RUSH: Right.
CRUZ: Let me repeat those numbers because those numbers, in my opinion, are quite staggering. Out of 48,000 felons and fugitives who in a single year tried to illegally purchase firearms, the Justice Department prosecuted just 44 of them. In our judgment, that’s unacceptable.
RUSH: What Cruz is doing here is called push-back. He’s a freshman, won election. He’s Tea Party. He’s got a great future. People very much appreciate what Cruz is willing to stand up and say. But did you know the specifics here, the nut of what he said here? It proves the point. Forty-four prosecutions out of 48,000 felons and fugitives who tried to illegally purchase firearms. We’ve already got plenty of law. We only prosecuted 44 of ’em in 2010. Why? Because we don’t want to create the impression we have enough gun laws. In fact, let’s turn it around 180 degrees. The Democrats want the impression created we don’t have enough law.
So you have all of these fugitives, all of these felons committing these horrendous crimes, and we’re not pursuing and we’re not prosecuting ’em, and the reason, “We need more law, Mr. Limbaugh. We don’t have enough law to go after these people. The gun control laws are woefully inept, we need more.” That’s what they want everybody to conclude. Just like we don’t have the laws necessary to deal with immigration. Yes, we do. All we would have to do is enforce current law, and we could reform the immigration problem without anything new.
Ditto gun control. We have plenty of existing gun law. That’s the question that needs to be asked of Mayor Emanuel in Chicago and of President Obama, because there is a runaway murder rate in Chicago, and it’s mostly young black children who are being murdered in Chicago. And by the way, I don’t see their parents being flown to Washington, as an aside. I don’t see a whole lot of attention being paid to the murder rate in Chicago because it happens two or three times a day rather than 25 or 30 at one time with the media on site for a week or 10 days in a row.
So the murder rate in Chicago is kind of a ho-hum thing, yeah, happens every day, no big deal. So you don’t take their parents to Washington. You don’t put them in touch with members of the House or the Senate seeking a new gun control bill. Why? ‘Cause you want the picture painted that there aren’t enough gun laws. “We can’t possibly prosecute, Rush, we don’t have enough law.” It’s all BS.
Folks, look, everything the Democrat Party does is political. Everything they do is aimed at advancing their political agenda. All of their so-called compassion, all of their so-called love, all of their so-called concern for this group, and that group, and that person, it’s all about advancing their agenda. And their agenda is a never-ending, growing government, pure and simple, with more and more amassed power. And there’s going to have to be some push-back, eventually, to stop that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Liz in Maine. I’m glad you called. Great to have you on the program.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thanks so much for taking my call. I have three quick points to make with what you were just saying before the break, that with Democrats, whenever they envoke “the children” it’s either about furthering their agenda or furthering their money fundraising.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: First point is, I believe there were at least a few parents from the Connecticut massacre that wanted armed guards in the school and weren’t for more strict gun control laws.
RUSH: There were some parents from Sandy Hook who did not support Obama’s gun control movement.
CALLER: And did he bring them to Washington so that their points could be heard? I don’t believe so.
RUSH: No.
CALLER: So that’s my first point. If he was outraged that lawmakers did not want to hear from these grief stricken parents, why did he not think it was valid to bring all of them, whether they were for or against his agenda? And my second point is, with his mandatory preschooler or Head Start, which I can’t even believe, even the government reports on Head Start have deemed it a complete failure. They’ve been following it for decades now, and by the third grade, it’s negligible, the difference. But what it would do is hire a whole new rash of teachers, a whole new rash of school janitors, a whole new rash of cafeteria workers, all of whom pay union dues. And the other point with that, I believe they’re pushing weekend meals for children, which is absurd in the face of EBT card explosions and whatnot that parents aren’t feeding their children. But, again, that would entail school cafeteria workers, school janitors, again, union paying dues.
RUSH: Dues paying union members that enrich the Democrats.
CALLER: Right. Every time they talk about children and doing something for children, just look under the covers and they’re —
RUSH: It’s not about the children at all. It’s never about the children. It’s about the Democrat Party. It always is. You’re right, Liz. You’re absolutely right. I’m glad you called.