Rush: GOP Must Take Gloves Off
Republicans have to take the gloves off and come out swinging if they expect to survive the elections in November, top radio talker Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday on his nationally syndicated radio program.
Noting that House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who appeared on his show Tuesday, has said he will not resign despite the editorial call from the Washington Times to do so, a fiery Rush said he hopes Hastert does much more than just talk on the issue.
Rush then ripped into the GOP, saying: "It's time for the Republicans to fight back. This is getting absurd. This constantly being on the defense or waiting for the next shoe to drop [has to stop]" he said.
"It's time for the Republicans to fight back and, led by Hastert, point out how the Democrats continue to avoid the real issues of importance . . . and are trying to distract the American people from what essentially is a non-existent agenda on the part of the Democrats to deal with things that really, really matter."
Limbaugh is frustrated by the media frenzy that is trying to take national security issues off the radar screen for voters in the midterm elections.
"The idea that the GOP side of the House of Representatives is a bunch of perverts hitting on [congressional] pages is absurd," Rush said. "It is the Democrats who have condoned that kind of behavior in the past. It's the Democrats who don't find that behavior repugnant in any way, shape, matter or form. This is not about protecting the children as far as they're concerned: this is a strategic attack, timed during an election and the Republicans don't have to sit there and take it," Rush stormed.
On a roll, Rush continued: "They can say whatever they want to say about it, but then return fire. The president is doing his bit. He's on a campaign trip, he's out West. He's continuing to say that the security of the country can't be trusted in [Democrats'] hands."
Rush said he didn't agree that the GOP won't be able to hold Foley's Florida congressional seat in the November elections.
"The Republicans have held this seat for 25 years," Rush told his national radio audience. "I would be surprised if they lose this seat. We still have this mindset that all the voters are major fools and idiots and whatever the media bubble of the day is affects them and they respond to all this . . . I think it's just the opposite and the Democrats are going to overplay their hand on this . . . They'll overreact - they'll take it too far."
Rush added that "This latest assault by Democrats will not work unless the Republicans surrender, stay on the defense, and damage themselves. Let the Democrats resign. Let Nancy Pelosi resign. I could make a case that she should resign, immediately. Here's my basis [for saying that]: Nancy Pelosi knows the person who planted the story about Foley five weeks before the election. She might not know who specifically did it, but she knows where it came from - all the liberal Democrats do."
Rush repeated his charge that the whole thing is a "strategic Democrat-timed scandal" to discourage the conservative Republican base and dissuade them from voting in the upcoming mid-term elections.
"None of this is to defend family," he said. "Some people on our side are totally missing the boat. I understand the need to stand up righteously and morally and say we as conservatives do not tolerate and will not put up with this kind of behavior from members of our movement and our Party. I understand that, but this is not about him [Foley] anymore."
He continued: "This is about the Democratic plan to take over the House and we have people who do not recognize what this really is and do not understand the Democrats' Clinton war room strategy behind this and are literally falling into the hands of the Democrats.
"This is not about children, this is not about pedophilia, this is not about any of that," Rush fumed. "It is all about hardball politics."
Originally Posted by Gandalf_The_Grey
