"Obama may go on vacation, ladies and gentlemen. The Obama agenda never, ever goes on vacation. The Obama agenda never, ever slows down. The Obama agenda doesn't even have very much in its way."
So, where the hell is the opposition? Like Rush, I don’t see anything representative of a Republican agenda either...
"Have you gotten the impression, have you, by virtue of paying attention to the news and watching television, reading the newspaper, whatever, have you seen any Republican messaging? Have you seen the chairman of the RNC or anybody, potential presidential candidate, I don't care, anybody define what the Republican Party stands for at this moment? Have you heard anybody say, "We have got to stop the spending"? Have you heard any Republicans say, "We've got to reduce the deficit," the national debt.I haven't.
Have you heard any Republicans say, "We have got to continue to repeal Obamacare"? Have you heard any Republicans say, "We have got to secure the border and we have got to stop this wanton invasion of illegal alien children"? Have you heard any Republican stand up and say anything in opposition to what's going on now? Have you? I haven't. It's, to me, striking. And yet the Republicans, people talk about a wave election, how is that going to happen? Are they sitting there really believing that the only or the best thing to do is to shut up and don't become targets and let the Democrats commit harakiri and, come November, people will vote Republican automatically 'cause they're so fed up with the Democrats? Is that what the thinking is?
Is it they are so afraid of presenting any alternative agenda, because they're gonna be attacked as racist or criticizing Obama, which means racist, are they so PTSD'd that they are even wary of presenting an alternative, offering a contrast of spelling out their own agenda and what they stand for and what it will mean for the country if Republicans win the Senate? Have you seen anything that says how it's gonna change? Have you? "
"What's gonna change? How is it gonna be better? What are we gonna do? I don't see any of that. So the discussion that Larry Sabato brought up of a wave election and how he doesn't see any evidence of it, you may not even need polling data to explain why there is no talk of a wave election. Granted, you would need it, but you also don't see -- I don't -- any Republican agenda that tells voters why they should vote for Republicans, how it's gonna get better and improve. I don't see it."Meanwhile, the Democratic disease rolls on. Why? Rush explains this, along with the expectations...
"I got a bunch of e-mails during the top-of-the-hour break about the point that I made that I haven’t seen any Republican Party messaging. ... Whatever it is, I don’t see any of that, and I got a bunch of e-mails from people, “Hey, Rush, that’s right, but I don’t see any from the Democrats, either.”
And I said, “Now, wait just a second.” And I paused, mentally, and I pondered that, and there may be some truth to that. I know what the Democrats do. They’re doing it. I know what they’re going to do if they keep winning because they’re doing it. The Democrats telegraph who they are every day, ideologically. Now, they may not be packaging it officially in campaign ads and this kind of thing, and maybe my superior knowledge and understanding of these people just makes me think that they do package themselves because I know them so well. But I had to stop and think about it, and they’re not doing so, either, really, other than the fact they’re in power and governing and are implementing what they believe.
I mean, that’s a hard, cold reality that, for some of us, is impossible to miss. But for the low-information crowd out there, is clueless. Now, the Democrats, the Democrat Party is a disease. The Democrat Party is poison. The Democrat Party could not win if they were up front about what they intend to do. But they never are. ...
They don't get specific and honest about their agenda, but they present one. And the Republicans aren't. And, to me, you know, I think it's a win-win. I happen to believe that more Americans live their lives as traditional Americans always have, in a conservative sense, not just political, but culturally, morally, I think it's why the country's still got a chance. But they need to be supported. People need to know that they're in the majority in the way they think. Right now too many people in the majority of thinking think that they're a dwindling minority, and I would think the Republican Party would want to do something about that."
"But then the Republican Party, when it comes to, let's say one issue, amnesty, they're all for it just like the Democrats are, and they've caught some hell by being public about that. More and more what's happening is that all of these consultants and the people that run the PACs and raise money and put together the TV ads, they seem to be the ones who are defining what a party is for, and what it stands for, and that can change from candidate to candidate."And there's a, if not the, central problem with the Republican Party. So while the expectations gap points to a possible advantage in November, it seems to be solely based on the assumption that 'everybody's gonna be out voting against what's going on,' devoid of a conservative agenda...as well as dependent on conservatives to once again tow the line for the party establishment, because as they'll say, 'what choice do you have?'
Call me a skeptic, but how's that worked out for the GOP over the past two major election cycles? You could even apply that earlier towards '06 during the end of Bush's presidency, when Republicans lost Congress...and the people. That's certainly not to devalue the results of 2010, but the establishment has been fighting us more fervently than even their supposed political opposition ever since.
I'd rather see a positive, vocal agenda for America and against the statism that's ensued during Obama's tenure, than to bear witness to a supposed opposition party sitting idly by, hoping for expectations.
This is why many of us feel like it's past time for something old in something new.
ADDENDUM: More from Rush on Thursday...
"I didn't intend to say that winning the election in November doesn't matter. I didn't intend to say that at all. I'm just saying that doesn't stop anything. The Republicans are still gonna be hated. The media's still gonna be who they are. But Obama's still gonna have his executive orders. He's still gonna be able to do what he's gonna do, and my point, the only thing I'm saying is if there's no articulated opposition -- let me not even put it that way. I don't even want to address it that way. At some point, folks, there is going to have to be some articulated, upbeat, positive, inspiring, agenda-based opposition to this.
We just can't triumph shutting up. We cannot triumph. What kind of position does it say we're in, if our best odds are to not tell anybody what we think? That is succumbing and falling victim to yet another liberal Democrat media trick, which is, "They're gonna elect you. You're gonna win the election in November, but you're so hated that you better not open your mouths or they're gonna really hate you. You know the Hispanics hate you, and you know women hate you, War on Women, and you know that moderates and independents hate you."
We get to the point we're taking advice from Chuck Schumer (imitating Schumer), "If you guys want to win the presidency again, you better support amnesty." What the hell is that? There is an army of American people waiting to be used, waiting to be mobilized, waiting to be put into some kind of political motion. We have not lost the majority of this country. If we had, there wouldn't be any talk of the Democrats losing as big as they're gonna lose in November, if we had lost the country. We've not lost the country.
So one of two things: Either the Republicans have been tricked into shutting up and not telling anybody who they are and what they think. Or, the Republicans simply are comfortable with the way things are going and just want their turn at running the show, but they're not really interested in any kind of political fight. And I think with this current crop, I think there's probably a lot of validity to that."
"I firmly believe, passionately so, that there are huge victories out there to be had. Not easy, but they're not going to be had with a strategy of silence. ...Related links: We Need to Do More Than Win an Election
See, I don't really think it would take much, because there's already a pent-up -- the Tea Party illustrates this -- a pent-up, ready-to-explode majority political movement out there, fed up and angry and ready to show everybody what the real America is. That it's not whatever is on TMZ. It's not whatever's on Comedy Central. It's not whatever's on CNN or ABC. You're dying, you're itching for this to be known. There just isn't any elected political leadership representing what you believe. That's all it is. That's a big "all it is." And if somebody surfaces that's able to marshal all of that pent-up demand, support, energy, what have you, then Katie bar the door. And that's why I'm optimistic. And I'm not exaggerating a bit."
The Answer is Conservatism
