We are back, ladies and gentlemen, Rush Limbaugh and the most listened to radio talk show in the country.
Happy to have you here with us.
Telephone number, if you want to be on the program 800-282-2882, the email address lrushbodeibnet.com.
Look, the only thing I'm going to grant that salon story is something that you know and I know, and we've talked about it on this program, Kong, the idea that the Hispanic vote is monolithic.
The left looks at every group as monolithic in their thinking.
Women, Hispanics, gays, you name it.
That's how they look at them.
We don't look at people, well, Republican Party does, but unto you and me, American citizens, citizens of the founding, if I can put it that way.
We don't look at people as members of groups and then determine what they think.
We've conditioned to do that.
But within the political realm, we believe that human beings are human beings.
If you can reach them the right message, persuasive, infectious way, that you can get them to join us.
It doesn't matter if they're gay, straight, male, female, by doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
I don't look at anybody as impossible.
A lot of people have been propagandized.
A lot of people do identify as members of groups.
And the one characteristic those who do that have is they all look at themselves as victims.
And we're not about victims.
We're about people reaching their potential.
We're about people being the best they can be.
That's what we want for the country.
It's what we want for our neighborhoods and cities, communities, and so forth.
And speaking for myself, I just, I blanch at this grouping of people by virtue of skin color and sexual orientation and gender and all this.
But I guess it's the name of the game in politics.
But the fact remains that there are Hispanics that vote Republican.
There are conservative Hispanics.
It's also true, and we don't need a poll to see it.
Just look at the election returns in California, the election returns in Massachusetts.
The one state that is an exception is Texas.
Majority of Hispanics vote Republican in Texas.
I wonder why that is, by the way.
There's no income tax there.
It's a rugged individualist state, as you well know by reputation.
I mean, there are all kinds of reasons to figure it out and understand it.
But welfare states are going to attract welfare staters.
So that's the one thing we've got to give the salon story, that there are Hispanics that are conservative and Republican and vote that way.
But we know, by virtue of election returns, not polling data, that the 11 million that are here, or that the, well, no, of the legalized Hispanics in the country now, not talking about the 11 million, the Democrats are getting 70% of their vote.
That's why the Democrats assume they're going to get 70% of the 11 million.
That's why they want to do it.
So I think the Republicans ought to take it a step further.
I mean, look at the story at the Daily Caller is poll shows Latinos strongly favored Democrats for 2016.
And this story, Hillary and Biden trounce Jeb Bush and Rubio in a poll right now.
I think the Republicans ought to learn from this.
I think the Republicans ought to say, to show their spirit of cooperation, to show their compassion, to illustrate that they don't hate Hispanics, the Republicans ought to establish a condition for amnesty.
And that is, only illegal aliens who promise to register to vote Democrat will be granted amnesty.
The Republicans should put that idea forward, and that will really, really show how compassionate Republicans are.
Well, you're shouting at the radio saying it's absurd.
Of course it's absurd.
But that's if you take all of this in a logical progression, it's what they're doing anyway.
I mean, the whole reason for Republicans supporting amnesty is stated by Senator Graham is they're going to make sure that we get back in the ballgame with them because they don't like us.
We've got to show that they don't have us as an enemy.
We've got to show that we love them, that we like them.
We have to show them we're not bigots.
We're not racist, sexists, and all that stuff.
Well, we can really demonstrate that if we propose that only illegal aliens who promise to register to vote Democrat will get amnesty.
Snirdly's looking at me like he can't believe I'm saying this.
And his fear is that there might be a Republican or two who actually like the idea.
You ought to see the way he's looking at it.
I can't believe you're mentioning.
It's to illustrate a point.
Be no different than saying, I think the Republicans obviously having trouble with the female vote, particularly the single, the single mother, divorced, whatever female vote.
The Republicans ought to announce that they're now pro-abortion, pro-choice, to show the women that they don't hate them, to show women that Republicans have compassion for them, too.
What's the difference?
Seriously, what's the difference in that?
There won't be a Republican Party?
Is that really, there won't be, why won't there be a Republican Party?
If we tell, because it's all about getting back in the game with these groups, the Hispanics hate us, so we want them to know we love them by agreeing with the Democrats.
Amnesty.
The women hate us, so we, taking what we're learning from amnesty, are going to go back in immigration.
We're going to get in good graces with the women.
That means basically agree with the Democrats and everything.
And that way, the women of America will know that we're not a bunch of sexists and what have you.
You say there won't.
What do you mean there won't be a party if they do this?
Well, okay, if you're saying that about abortion, why don't people say that about amnesty?
If we're going to do that with amnesty, all right, let me move on.
Let's see if I have one more on this or if I covered my base.
I might have two stories on the same poll, but I think they got one.
Ah, there's another daily caller story.
A former Mexican cabinet member says that the United States should accept more low-skill migrants from Central America because otherwise the migrants will stay in Mexico.
A former Mexican cabinet member is demanding that the United States take in more low-skilled illegal aliens from Central America because otherwise they might stay in Mexico and become a burden.
So this former cabinet member is saying, look at you guys in America, you've got to open the doors to these low-skilled guys because they're going to be a burden to us if you don't.
Never mind that we are told low-skilled, illegal aliens are a boon for the economy.
That's what we're being told by domestic American politicians.
Domestic American politicians are telling us that the Democrats, I think, have even actually said that granting amnesty or a pathway to citizenship for low-skilled workers will grow the economy.
I think I heard that just last week.
Some Democrat was actually making that point that low-skilled workers will not be a burden.
They're going to grow the economy.
They're going to expand employment because so many of them, low-skilled means cheap, they're going to get hired left and right.
And the unemployment rate's going to go down and all kinds of new jobs are going to be created.
A former Mexican cabinet member is demanding that we take in more low-skilled illegal aliens because otherwise they might stay in Mexico and become a burden.
Now, every year, and I think we mentioned this last week too, every year, the U.S. allows more legal immigrants to become permanent residents than the rest of the world combined.
And despite that, we still aren't doing enough to please some people, and we never will do enough.
For instance, this ex-Makin official insists that we increase our temporary work visas from 20,000 a year to at least 200,000.
In other words, 10 times as many we need to expand.
This is, I mean, the news in this is just unbelievable.
And all the while sitting out there is massively unpopular Obamacare just waiting to be tapped into by the Republicans as an issue on which they already agree with a majority of the American people.
Okay, it's time for an obscene profit break.
When we come back, we'll go to the phones.
You're up next, folks, so don't go away.
Back to the phone.
Nope, I can't go back.
We haven't been there yet.
So to the phones we go.
This is Susan, Gross Point, Michigan.
Great to have you on the EIB network.
Hello.
Hi, Rush.
Thanks for taking my call.
You bet.
I'm a little nervous here because I'm calling to play the devil's advocate with you.
But before I do that, I think I should probably give you my credentials.
My husband and I were both Goldwater Republicans.
He was head of the Goldwater College effort during his presidential campaign.
And we were both part of the Reagan administration.
So I'm a conservative.
But I have to say, I'm a little disappointed with some of my conservative friends.
The reason we lost, I believe, the last two presidential campaigns was because John McCain and Mitt Romney were not conservative enough for my friends.
So here's where I'm going to play the devil's advocate with you.
All right.
Suppose we take this immigration law and we vote for it.
The Hispanics are going to do what they do anyhow.
And you had a show a little while ago where you talked about how few people we're actually talking about anyhow in the grand scheme of things.
So let's take a look at this from a different perspective.
Wait, wait, I just lost you.
I had a show where we were talking about how few people talk about what.
The Hispanic vote that we're actually talking about, the percentage of the national vote, we would vote against us, would vote Democratic if we passed this immigration law.
And it was a very small percentage, so I don't know that it would sway the election one way or the other.
So let's talk about that.
Well, now, wait, let me make sure I understand what you're saying.
John McCain and a number of other Republicans have said that they don't expect to get one additional Hispanic vote for supporting this.
Not at the beginning.
They think this is going to open the door to Hispanic bill that's going to allow the Republicans to go in and not be thrown out.
Well, I agree with you.
I think that's a pipe dream.
I don't think that's necessarily the truth, but I don't think that that's something that we should base the whole decision upon anyhow.
Okay, so you're not disagreeing with me yet.
Not yet, no.
Now, here's where I'm going to play the devil's advocate a little bit with you.
I like this.
Suppose this bill passes.
Yeah.
Who's the hero here?
To whom?
To the American public, to the low-information voter.
It would be Marco Rubio, who in every other aspect is a very good conservative person.
He has a conservative philosophy.
So he becomes their hero.
That's where I disagree with you.
You don't think ⁇ I think they'll think ⁇ here's the thing.
Every time they question the general public, you're low-information voters, one of the things they always say is, why can't those people work together?
Why can't they get something done?
And that's what they're looking for in a candidate, a guy who can compromise his principles and get things done.
So they're not.
And that's something we should want?
Somebody compromising their principles to get things done?
No, no, no, I don't think so.
But I think we would like to talk about the low-information voter.
So you think, let me just say, you think the low-information voter is going to end up crediting Rubio for the passage of the Pathway to Citizenship Bill?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And that, then, if I follow you, is going to have great benefit potentially for the Republican Party in presidential elections as soon as 2016.
Very possibly.
I think it's a good start.
I don't think it's the only thing, but I think it's a good start, not only because he, well, mostly because he showed his ability to, quote-unquote, work with the other side.
And as much as I would like to say, I think that everyone in the country should vote straight conservative, vote on their principles.
I think we have to look at some of the realism here.
And you say you're from Rioville, so I think we have to look at this from a different perspective and say, not necessarily the Hispanic vote, but the low-information voters are going to take a different message away from this.
And the benefit I think will accrue to Marco Rubio.
Okay.
So your target in this is the low-information voter.
Are you so you want to pass the bill?
You want Rubio to get credit for it with a low-information voter because low-information voter believes that we don't compromise and that we're rigid and that we're all this rotten stuff.
But Rubio is going to show, no, we're really cool.
We're really hip and all that is going to open people's eyes in the low information segments to be more open about maybe supporting the Republican Party.
Well, the only place I take issue with you is that I want this bill passed.
I really don't.
I think it's a bad deal.
Very, very bad.
Yes.
But I see the handwriting on the wall here, and I say maybe we need to do one concession in order to get the bigger prize.
This is not going to be the first.
It'll be about the 21st.
Yeah, I know.
I know.
It's very discouraging.
Do you think the low information segment know who Marco Rubio is?
And furthermore, do you think that Chuck Yu Schumer and Barack Obama are going to let Rubio take credit for this?
You know, I'm not sure.
I think the die is already cast.
When you watch the national media, his name is all over this bill.
And you can't get away from that.
So they already, the people who watch the mainstream media are hearing Marco Rubio, Marco Rubio, through this whole bill.
But Rubio doesn't hang with Jay-Z.
And until he starts doing that, he's not going to...
Well, you laugh, but I mean...
No, I understand what you mean.
I just...
He's not big with the Kardashians either.
Who was it that enabled the Civil Rights Act in 1964 to be passed?
The Republicans.
Right.
And what do blacks think of Republicans today?
They hate us.
They think we're racists.
They think we're slave owners, or we want to return to that.
And why?
Because of what the Democrats and media say.
I think that if Rubio is given credit for this by the media for low-information voters, it will be for the express purpose of ending his relationship with the Republican base.
I think if the media engages in an attempt to credit Rubio, it will be to destroy him, not to help him.
Because there's not one Republican the mainstream media or the Democrats want to look good to anybody, much less low-information voters.
Well, that's his job then.
His job is to go back to his conservative roots.
And, you know, what's very interesting to me, when Reagan was elected, the Hispanics were with him.
They were very conservative by nature, and a lot of it had to do with their very strong Catholic roots.
They were very socially oriented people.
They were socially with us.
So there's some building that we can do there with the conservatives.
You certainly know, because you were there, what happened to the Hispanic vote for the Republican Party after the 86 Amnesty Bill.
Oh, yeah.
We lost it.
But we need to be smart.
We need to be smart when we deal with these things.
And I just think maybe I see the handwriting on the wall here, and I see an opportunity for us to take the Okay, it sounds to me like, and I'm only interrupting because of time here, it sounds to me like you think that we pretty much lost the perception battle, the optics battle, that there is no way that us being who we are can triumph.
And so we have to run a game of deception.
And we have to give the Democrats what they want with one of our people as the headliner to show these people that we really do like them so that maybe someday they will like us.
I'm not that Squishy on it.
It makes me sound like a squish, and I'm not that squishy.
I see some things that we want.
We want the border to be beefed up, and we want that, and that apparently is in this bill.
Now we're back to something else you said.
And I'm going to hold you onto the break here because it's not fair to, but you said the bill isn't any good.
You sound willing to do a bad bill just to build up Rubio.
And we are back with Susan in Gross Point, Michigan.
And I really appreciate your hanging in with me here.
I love devil's advocate stuff, Susan, which is why I'm continuing to probe you question-wise here to get to what you really believe and what you really think and what do you hope for, because you obviously are an informed, smart woman, and matters.
And I just, the thing that troubles me about this, and I know, please don't take this personally because I know what you want.
I've heard what you've said.
You really want us to have potential in 2016.
You'll like Rubio.
You think Rubio has the ability here to cut through the noise and be perceived as someone liked and respected by everybody, including low-information voters, when you don't see that possibility for any other Republican.
And this bill is something that a lot of people want.
And if one of our guys can end up getting credit for it, you think that down the road is going to really pay off.
And it's worth it to you, even doing a bad bill in order to bring the Republican Party out of this malaise that it's in.
Is that pretty much it?
Quotes.
Okay, well, tell me where else I'm missing it.
Well, first of all, you said I'm willing to pass this bill.
I hate this bill.
If somebody asked me to write a bill, it wouldn't be like this at all.
So I don't want to see this happen, but I do see a few grains of things that the conservatives seem to want in this bill, which is border security, and they have promised that to us.
Now, if they don't fulfill that promise.
They have not.
Wait a minute.
I must stop you.
They have not promised that.
And this may be splitting hairs.
What this Corker-Hoven amendment promises is to put more agents on the border and do this and that and more biometrics and digitized stuff.
But there's nothing here about any enforcement of anything being improved or increased.
And besides, this Congress cannot bind a future Congress when it comes to long-term funding of things and so forth.
What bothers me, and don't take this personally, is I think that the perception so many people have is we're hated, they despise us.
I think people have been sucked into believing that to the point that we're willing to throw away principle in order to come out of this mess.
And I just am really deeply troubled by that.
And that's what bothers me most of all about the mainstream Republican establishment supporting this is it's a total abandonment of principle, disguised as maintaining our principles.
I don't want to throw away our principles any more than you do.
I see a glimmer of hope in this.
I'm trusting that these people will be able to do something in border security.
I've known security, border agents, and they're fine people.
their principal people and they're doing their job.
So even if we just get the agents down there, I think that's better than nothing.
Why did Arizona have to pass its own version of federal immigration law?
It isn't being enforced.
That's the whole rub.
Well, maybe this will help a little bit, but let me say this.
I'm so frightened for the future of my country.
Every day we're living with a president who chips away, chips away, chips away at our Constitution.
What will we have left?
And so I'm saying, here is a man who has the potential to appeal to low-information voters.
Is this bill what I want?
No.
Does it give me a few crumbs?
Yes, it gives me a few crumbs.
But here I have a man who I think, not because necessarily he knows how to compromise, but my suspicion is, and I could be very wrong about this, my suspicion is that Marco Rubio can explain conservatism in a way that the general population will accept it the way that Ronald Reagan did.
Time for the big question.
Yeah.
And why doesn't he do it on immigration?
The one thing about this that is curious to me, I have a lot of, as you do, conservative friends, real conservative, people who've also been in the Reagan administration and others who served in other areas of government, who are just like you.
They look at what Rubio is doing in this as they're disappointed as hell.
I can't tell you how disappointed they are, but they will not criticize him.
They don't want him damaged for 2016.
And I'm sorry, that loses me.
That just loses me because what they're saying is they're willing for conservatism to be abandoned on this issue so that it can survive in three years.
I just don't understand it.
Well, it's a conundrum.
I don't really understand it either.
I think that it's important to keep after Rubio.
I think it's important to remind him always of the conservative principles that he supposedly supports.
But it is a conundrum, and Rush, you know.
Does anybody have to remind me?
That's another one that if we have to remind them.
I know.
It's disappointing.
I know you don't.
You think you've got the guy, and it's disappointing.
Listen, I know what this is.
I'm in the Reagan administration.
Reagan did a couple of things that conservatives just set their hair on fire.
I know.
Oh, I've heard all.
And this was one of them.
I understand.
So where is the perfect man?
Nobody's asking for the perfect man because he's not running.
That's right.
And he's not around.
And he wasn't Ronald Reagan.
I love the man with all my heart, but he wasn't Ronald Reagan.
But here's the thing.
I know what's got you.
I know what's got you.
It's got everybody.
You've mentioned it enough times.
I know it's got the low-information voters.
You know they're a large group.
You know that they're ignoramuses.
And I mean that legitimately.
They just don't know.
They think they know everything.
They don't know anything.
You're desperate to get them on our side.
You're desperate to get them voting for us.
You're desperate to get these people to stop thinking what they think of us.
And you think Rubio can do that?
And so that's a big deal because everybody wants to be loved.
Everybody wants to be liked.
You're sitting out there like everybody else.
You're fit to be tied.
You're fed up with this image of Republicans the media has created.
And the Democrats.
You're fed up with it.
You're fed up with Bush not defending himself and reacting to it.
You're fed up with no other Republican defending themselves or reacting.
You're fed up because when your leaders don't defend what they believe in and you believe in, you aren't being defended.
You're fed up with it like everybody else is.
And you're at your wit's end.
You know you're not a bad person.
You know, Republicans are not bad people.
You know, conservatism is the answer.
Conservatism is the solution.
It's being smeared day in and day out.
Nobody's standing up and defending it.
Low-information voters believe BS.
They're being lied to each and every day.
So you see Marco Rubio here as some as the man who has the best chance of upsetting the current status quo.
And I understand the seductive nature of that.
I understand, and I believe me, I do.
I understand the desire not to be hated.
I understand the desire not to be disliked.
I understand the desire to be loved and all that.
But to me, the problem here is: this bill is devoid of any conservatism, is devoid of any conservative principle, it's devoid of anything good for the country.
This bill is the end of the Republican Party, no matter who's heading it up, in my view.
This bill authorizes so many damn new Democrats.
We're just going to be outnumbered.
It's a matter of mathematics to me.
Not to mention the law is being ignored again.
Not to mention that the Democrats are, I mean, I just can't take it anymore with the Democrats telling the Republicans how much they care for us and how much they really want us to win elections again.
And you guys, therefore, had better change your thinking on Hispanics.
And I just see a giant trick being played and the Republicans falling for it.
Just like the old trick that's been played, don't criticize Obama.
The independents aren't going to like it.
You know, this is the mantra of the Republican consultancy class: don't criticize, don't criticize Obama or Democrats.
The American people want people to get along.
The American people, the independents, they want people bipartisans.
A bunch of garbage.
It is a trick that has secured the Republican Party being silent about its opposition.
And it amazes me how people fall for it time and time again.
Besides, what's wrong with Ted Cruz?
Why do we have to put all of our eggs in one basket here?
I don't think it's that desperate.
I understand people who do.
Susan, I appreciate the call.
I really do.
More than you'll ever know.
I got to take a time out there, folks, because time has dwindled away.
Back to the phones.
Who's next?
That'd be Vicki in Brooksville, Kentucky.
Hi, Vicki.
Great to have you on the EIB.
Happy Independence Day, sir.
And because of Independence Day, we can't compromise our principles.
That's just a little message to Susan.
And ask her, please, one word, Janet Napolitano.
So, you know, she's got the veto on this immigration buildup of the fence and the security and all that crap that's in this bill.
It just can't go anywhere.
The base will just turn their backs and flow away.
Nonetheless, I have something really, really absurd to tell you.
It's common sense.
I heard, I guess, an analysis that Britt Hume did last night on Brett Baer's special report.
Yes, on the Fox News channel.
Yes, sir.
And he was talking about the immigration bill and the immigration whole all this crap that's going on with the Republican Party.
Britt Hume broke down all the crap.
Yes, he did.
And he cut through all the crap, I might say, with a very sharp knife and came up with something totally absurd called common sense.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Called what?
Oh, common sense.
Common sense.
I know it's very controversial.
No, no, I just didn't understand the words you said.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Anyhow, he said that the entire Hispanic vote is 10% or less.
The white vote is 70% or more of the voting population.
Now, the white vote did not turn out in high numbers in the past two elections, especially this past election, because of the candidates.
You just can't stomach it.
It's beyond belief.
They're just so ridiculous.
Stay with the crap.
That whom you're talking about.
The crap was that if you're going to play to an audience, that's my analysis, then play to the audience that's 70%.
Well, here's the thing.
I'm going to play devil's advocate with you.
Because Hume was right.
The Hispanic percentage of the electorate is 8.7%.
The white percentage of the electorate is not quite 70, but the difference is what the Republican establishment will tell you is that the voting percentage of the white electorate is very old and dying.
And thus it's getting smaller, and the white percentage of the population at large is shrinking, and the population of the country, the demographics are changing and become more and more people of color.
Minorities, when combined, will outnumber whites.
And so it's forward future thinking the Republicans demographically are concerned about.
This is.
And so what we do then is we become squishy squids with as many tentacles as we can possibly put out there and try to grab on a single voter rather than trying to go after the people who actually we stand a chance of getting.
It's ridiculous.
Think about it.
If you have to compromise your principles, are you any good to anybody?
As far as I'm concerned, not.
You're not.
You may as well be you Schumer.
And that's how most of the people that I know.
Well, here's the thing.
I don't.
Professional politicians, political scientists, consultants, vote counters, they care about all this stuff.
I'm not in their business.
And I'll be the first to admit it.
But I don't, I see human beings, and I am a conservative.
And I think, and this may be pollyannish, but I've always believed it.
The right message, properly articulated, can persuade anybody and certainly can persuade a majority without regard to color, age, gender.
Now, granted, it's not going to apply to everybody, but we've had Reagan discussed here on the program in this half hour, and that was Reagan.
Reagan was the president of Americans, and he campaigned to Americans about America.
And he informed Americans about America.
Principles, traditions, and this kind of thing.
Reagan, now I know his professional campaigners, his consultants, they did all this demographic stuff, and they had the focus group polling, and I know they all do that.
But Reagan's message was a shotgun.
Reagan's message was to everybody.
Reagan didn't have a different message depending on where he was geographically.
He might have tailored it issue-wise, but not demographically.
We've gotten away from that.
The Republicans now, to my thinking, my perception from a distance, have become prisoners to the Republican consultancy class, which has a different objective.
The Republican consultants are not first and foremost oriented toward winning.
They're first and foremost oriented toward getting paid, which is fine.
But they do not really suffer when their candidates lose, not financially.
Now, some of them, if they lose big, might not get another gig, but look at Bob Schrum.
Bob Shrum, political advisor, has never won anything.
Keeps getting hired.
The guys that ran McCain's campaign keep getting hired.
Romney hired a bunch of people from losing campaigns, and they got paid.
So everybody's got their own iron in the fire on this.
And you and I, average Americans, we sit out here and we think that ideas actually count.
And we're left at.
And we'll be back.
2014 to me is a golden opportunity.
But people are so beaten down now.
We are a party of ideas and principles that are timeless and endure.