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View Full Version : Rush Limbaugh might not support a gop candidate, but doesn't know he's for Dr. Paul




angrydragon
01-25-2008, 01:23 PM
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/018902.html

Limbaugh: I Might Not Support the GOP Nominee
Posted by Mike Tennant at January 25, 2008 12:17 PM

Rush Limbaugh says that he "can see possibly not supporting a Republican nominee" this year." Why? We "don't have a genuine, down-the-list conservative." Then he lists his top five criteria of what an ideal candidate should be:

Okay, top five right off the top of my head, not in any particular order: limited government. Get government out of people's way. Number two, belief in the system that it's people who make the country work, not government. Number three, don't give me a laundry list of policies without a philosophical underpinning that explains the policies. Number four, don't tell me that government is the agent of change and that you are going to lead the government. My brand of conservatism is based on individual entrepreneurism, rugged self-individualism, telling people that they're the ones who make the country work. I think this is born out by history and people respond to it. And then, fifth, after all of those things that I would define as conservative, which includes the belief that people can triumph over the obstacles in their lives, that they're not incompetent, they're not incapable, and they're not stupid, the fifth thing is, is there any leadership on any of this?

Now, is there anything in that list that doesn't apply to Ron Paul? Yet Limbaugh insists that not only does no one in the race fulfill all those criteria but also

Nobody's exuding any leadership in this primary right now at all. What we're getting is a recitation of policies, we're getting a defense of past positions which aren't conservative, that run from (doing McCain impression), "You're misunderstanding me, I never said it, it wasn't amnesty!" to people who were pro-choice, changed their mind to pro-life. We have people that said they're now for FairTax and net tax increase. If somebody starts exhibiting leadership, if there were, even with this roster, if one of them had any kind of leadership persona, the race would already be more defined than it is now. I think the one thing that's absent in all of this is take-charge leadership born of confidence and desire to lead the country forward according to the vision the candidate has.

The fact of the matter is that Ron Paul has everything Limbaugh claims to want except for one thing he doesn't mention here: a belligerent foreign policy. He has, however, stated before that anyone who thinks we should apply the Golden Rule to "terrorists" or "dictators" (meaning anyone who doesn't toe the D.C. line) is ruled out because such a person couldn't possibly be a conservative.

So which candidates currently in the running would be acceptable to El Rushbo? We know McCain and Huckabee are out, as is Dr. Paul (at least at this time, but I like to think Limbaugh could be persuaded if Paul gets the nomination). He's been fairly clear that he doesn't want a pro-choicer at the top of the ticket, which rules out Rudy. He does, howevever, have kind words for Romney, whose "conversion" he believes to be genuine. It's my impression that he was a Fred Thompson supporter who is now really at a loss since his guy is out of the race. I still think he'll eventually come around to begrudgingly supporting whoever the nominee is, but at least this keeps things interesting for a while.