Rushing to Carry Water

Conservative Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show on Wednesday, November 8, 2006:

Now, I mentioned to you at the conclusion of the previous hour that people have been asking me how I feel all night long. I got, "Boy, Rush, I wouldn't want to be you tomorrow! Boy, I wouldn't want to have to do your show! Oh-ho. I'm so glad I'm not you." Well, folks, I love being me. (I can't be anybody else, so I'm stuck with it.) The way I feel is this: I feel liberated, and I'm going to tell you as plainly as I can why. I no longer am going to have to carry the water for people who I don't think deserve having their water carried. Now, you might say, "Well, why have you been doing it?" Because the stakes are high. Even though the Republican Party let us down, to me they represent a far better future for my beliefs and therefore the country's than the Democrat Party and liberalism does.

See Rush’s entire diatribe.

With this, Rush speaks for me at this time. I sometimes don’t agree with Rush, but I have clearly stated in my prior posts how I feel that George Bush has abandoned his conservative principles, especially on immigration and spending. Plus, the toleration of corruption is not a conservative value.

In fact, to clarify, I would define myself as mostly conservative on several issues, but not mostly Republican. As one of the evangelicals who voted Democratic said yesterday, “We vote values, we don’t vote party.”

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Candor and Action

I notice that Democrats have a different tone today than pre-election. They are less yap-dog, less screeching. They actually sound sincere. I guess the power they now have is sobering them.

Republicans too sound different. The appeaser, George Bush, sounds terribly chastened. He got rid of Rumsfeld yesterday, surely in response to the electorate’s rebuke. Plus, he actually said (paraphrase) “The election’s over,” using this as the reason for his new candor on several issues.

This is a flawed strategy, Mr. President. The time to have fired Rumsfeld was two months ago. The time to have been honest was—all the time, not just after the election. Truth. I say it again and again. Just be honest. Explain what you believe, and why, now and always. Trust the voters to accept or reject who you really are and what you really believe.

The Need to be Liked

The Republican strategy in Iraq has been a failure, as has been their conduct in office. They abandoned their conservative principles in order to be liked. Bush is the leader of this kind of approach. Did it come from Carl Rove? Now Bush, with his instincts as an appeaser, will try even harder to be liked, leading to his being even less popular than he is now.

Rumsfeld, the Iraq War, and Political Correctness

I am glad that Rumsfeld is gone. He was not effective, and never was. I still feel that invading Iraq was right, and that we’ve done a noble thing there in liberating the people. We fought a politically correct war there, though, just like in Vietnam. Again, this is because Bush wanted to be liked.

Did it work, George? You should have just won the war, and ignored the leftist sniping. You’d be popular now. People would have ignored the sniping. Democrats would still not have loved you, but they never will. They never loved Reagan either. You usually can’t have love and respect from your opponents. These opponents, too, were not just opponents. They were enemies.

The Architect and the Evangelicals

So, the great Carl Rove, the “genius,” the “architect,” masterminded an historical defeat for the Republicans. He made the mistake of trying to fool his base instead of listening to it. He threw them some bones immediately before the election, while ignoring them the last six years. Even 29% of evangelicals this time voted Democratic. Why? They felt used. They were deeply unhappy with Republican pork barrel spending, the lack of immigration reform, and the botched war effort.

The Job of a Good Politician

I think the way you get liked and loved and respected is to sincerely try your best to help the people. If you believe in conservatism, then you explain it, promote it, teach it, propagandize it, and enact it. If the electorate then don’t want it, even after you’ve done your best to sell it, that’s their right. You don’t appease them. You respect them, but you stand your ground. You let them choose whether to accept or reject you. In order to be a great politician or president, then, you have to be willing to let the public vote you out of office for your sincerely held beliefs. Yes, listen to your electorate. But don’t hold your finger up in the air to test the blowing wind.

The Wimp Factor

Before the first Iraq war, George Bush Sr., Bush 41, was labeled with the “wimp factor.” He got this reputation by raising taxes after having promised not to. (“Read my lips: no new taxes.”) I accuse this Bush, Bush 43, of being a wimp.

Get a backbone, George. It may be too late to save this country from liberal values, from future terrorist attacks, and from a generation of Democratic control now, because of you. If you change course now, do it in the direction of courage, not appeasement.

Principle versus Appeasement

The models are Reagan versus Schwarzenegger. Principle versus appeasement. Reagan proudly proclaimed his conservativism and championed it with the American people. As a result, he won, big time. Bush now has lost the House and the Senate, with appeasement. California governor Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, did win with appeasement. I respect Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum more, though, who lost in this election by sticking to his conservative values. That’s the kind of man or woman I want in office. Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut, running as an independent, won without appeasement. It can be done.

Leadership

I think the difference is leadership. If you are a great leader, you listen to the people, and adjust to their desires and needs. You also, though, use the bully pulpit of the presidency to lead. If you are FDR, you try to urge America into the battle against world domination by the Nazi’s. If you are Reagan, you try to promote conservative values and get Mr. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” If you are Bush, you do invade Iraq, but you fight an all-out war to win, and you ignore your critics until the job is done. Plus, if you are Bush, you teach the American people the lessons Reagan began about the values of conservativism. You don’t sign pork, and you don’t tolerate corruption. You do not put loyalty to your friends above the good of the country.

The American People Have Spoken

The American people announced they were no longer willing to be the water carriers for people who did not deserve to have their water carried. Conservatives voted for conservatives in this election, not for Republicans.

Rock


(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)

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