Newt Gingrich Won South Carolina Because He Articulated ConservatismJanuary 23, 2012
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RUSH: Let me just tell you something, again, going against the conventional wisdom. Everybody is out there thinking the reason Newt triumphed is because of his media smackdown. That's not it. Everybody wants to credit Juan Williams and John King and the media for throwing softballs inadvertently setting Newt up for these answers. It's important, there's no question about it. It was great, but it's not about that. It's not even about Newt's great debate skills. You notice now the establishment is not saying, "That isn't gonna matter." They're trying to say that everything that's got Newt where he's got is not important. In fact, it's going to hurt us in the general.
Let me tell you why Newt Gingrich won South Carolina. Let me tell you why he's coming on. It is 'cause he is able to articulate conservatism, nothing more. John King, Juan Williams, could have asked any other Republican the same questions they asked
and they would have shriveled away in abject fear and defensiveness. If any of the Republican candidates had the same life story as Newt, or had said the same things about food stamp president and all that, Juan Williams' question to Romney wouldn'ta helped Romney. John King setting up Romney, if Romney had three ex-wives and one of them was saying he wanted an open marriage, would not have mattered. It wasn't those questions. It was that they asked somebody who can articulate conservatism.
To those of you in the Republican base, this isn't complicated. Newt is winning. He is on a momentum roll here because he can articulate conservatism, that and he's willing to take it to Obama. I have said for the longest time that whoever does that, whoever articulates conservatism with passion, with love, cause that's love of country, with good cheer. Conservatism is inclusive. Somebody who can articulate it happily, proudly, with good cheer cannot be beat. Where's the outrage in the news media's open marriage with the Democrat Party? You talk about an open marriage, hell, that's not a marriage, that's prostitution, for crying out loud. Where's the complaint? Who are the prostitutes in that relationship, the media or the Democrat Party?
I'm just telling you, Juan Williams, John King could have asked the same questions to any other Republican and it woulda sunk 'em, because none of them are willing to articulate conservative. Maybe not Santorum. Santorum probably coulda hung in there. Now, this presents a huge stumbling block potential for Newt. He is vulnerable on the very thing he can do better than anybody else. He had better fully embrace his conservatism and not make it a part-time thing. The days of being able to keep this momentum going by ripping on the media are over. The standing ovations for taking on the media are over, or they have a very short life span. He can't live on that anymore. Been there, done that. It's gonna get old and it's gonna look like it's been set up. There's not gonna be any drama to it, therefore there's not gonna be all that spontaneous "way to go" standing O stuff, unless it's just outrageous. You only go to the well so many times on this stuff.
Now, Newt keeps pushing off any questions on his anti-conservative statements. And he better not. I think Newt is just as vulnerable on his anti-conservatism as Romney is on Romneycare. "What do you mean by that, Rush?" Very simple. Newt has made it plain two or three times that he's very open to the concept of manmade global warming. He can blow this by sitting on the couch with Pelosi again or something that is equivalent. Newt has in the past had some unflattering things to say about capitalism. His time at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a vulnerability. Saying that FDR is the best president, his favorite president, that doesn't jibe with being a conservative. His open support for single payer health insurance with a mandate. I'm just telling you, Newt's not out of the woods here. And Newt and his crew had better understand that he's where he is not just because of a media smackdown, not just because of debates. He's articulating conservatism when he does this stuff, and if he stops doing that or if he waters it down or if he gets caught in an example where people can be convinced he doesn't really believe this stuff...
Newt wrote a book about climate change. He was gonna have a chapter in his new book about manmade global warming until we found out about it and he pulled the chapter. So let a long campaign happen. Let a long, drawn-out campaign happen, let's flush 'em out here. Let Santorum stay in this thing. Let's see if Romney can figure out a way to move to the right and mean it. Let's see if Romney can learn to connect with people, rather than just utter platitudes and his love of country and all this other stuff. No, I'm not afraid. I think this is good. We are running against the most pathetic president we've had since Jimmy Carter. I am not afraid. I do not live in a world of fear. I refuse to. For crying out loud, it's still January. The election's not 'til November. The base was told this was over last November. The establishment wanted this over, the media wanted this over last November. They did everything they could to have this over.
I trust the Republican base. That's who I trust. I trust the Republican voters. I'm totally confident with them. They are the people in this audience. Why wouldn't I trust them? They'll figure this out. They're not a bunch of brain-dead, mind-numbed robots. This is how democracy works. It's how representative Republicanism works. It's what we're trying to hold onto, for crying out loud. You know, only a little more than 1% of the population's voted so far. The delegate count right now, Romney 31, Gingrich 32, Paul ten, Santorum eight, there are 1,144 delegates needed to win. We're nowhere near being over here. I don't subscribe to conventional wisdom, and neither should you.
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