Steele's original complaint against Rush was not a trite disagreement. Oh No! Unfortunately, it showed a mountain of difference between their ideologies. IMHO, what Steele said demonstrated what some people in the McCain campaign secretly thought about Governor Sarah Palin. The ugliness of that situation came out shortly after the election. The men behind the disparaging of Gov. Palin (and subsequent lie that she helped McCain lose the election) just shows how clueless they were about Sarah's huge, positive impact for the Conservative base in the campaign. IMHO, if McCain had chosen someone else, he would have lost by a landslide.
Back to Steele vs. Rush.
There are several really good articles over at GOP USA.
1. Bobby Eberle: Since When Is Promoting Conservatism 'Ugly?'
Excerpt:
So... first the recap... at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference, Rush Limbaugh gave a rare public speech that brought down the house. I watched the speech, and it was outstanding. Along with his sidenotes and trademark pats on his own back, Limbaugh talked about the essence of conservatism. His comments have been echoed many times in my own writings, and he summed up our philosophy perfectly.
Conservatives believe in the power of each and every American... not the government. We believe that given an opportunity, people can achieve great things if they so desire. Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome, is one of the cornerstones of our beliefs. In order to have equal opportunity, this means that barriers must be removed. Whether it is sky high taxes, endless rules and regulations, or an ever-expanding, intrusive federal government, we realize that Americans can only succeed if freedom and liberty are held in high regard.
We do not believe in constituencies. We do not promise that we can do something for women, something else for blacks, another thing for union workers, still another thing for low income families, and so on. We believe in one America, with everyone having a chance at success. Make no mistake, we do NOT believe that prosperity "trickles down." What we do believe is that if you treat everyone fairly and then everyone will benefit.
Ok, I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Of course you get it... the problem is that our Republican leaders do not!
Let me repeat that last statement:
"Ok, I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Of course you get it... the problem is that our Republican leaders do not!"
That's it...in a nutshell! Our Republican leaders DO NOT GET IT!!! OK - there are a few (like Sarah Palin) who DO GET IT. But so many others are making the WORST MISTAKES EVER in their careers to cower before the ObamaBorg in Congress and act like they are doing a service to the country. THEY ARE CRAZY IF THEY THINK LIKE THAT! The public is ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGED over the huge amount of senseless, bankrupting, porkbarrel, generational theft that most Democrats and the RINOS in the Senate voted for!!
Ahhh! Don't get me started on that awful subject. Back to the topic at hand.
Now we find out that Steele has "apologized" to Limbaugh.
2. JIM KUHNHENN: GOP Chairman Apologizes for Limbaugh Remark.
I have to admit that I found Steele's apology...well...to be honest with you...quite weak.
The Republican party needs to grow a backbone again! The kind of backbone it had under Ronald Reagan's leadership. Reagan would NEVER HAVE criticized a fellow Conservative like that in the first place! At least, not in public! Why give the liberals even more ammunition against us?
Of course, no one gets along all the time on every issue. Look at the crazy stuff happening within the Democrat party on Capitol Hill. They have all the branches of the government in their pocket and they STILL bicker like little children on a playground! The trouble is - they are bickering over how to spend OUR MONEY - THE TAXPAYER'S MONEY in ways that WON'T GROW THE ECONOMY! It only serves to LINE THE POCKETS OF THEIR CHOICE - USUALLY AS A "THANK YOU" TO GROUPS LIKE ACORN THAT HELPED GET OBAMA ELECTED! And, the earmarks being given away in the next bill are absolutely sickening to me!! Where will it end? When???
Back to the treatment of conservatives.
Republicans (in the past, at least) were usually much more cordial towards each other - even when disagreements arise. The difference is that such cordial reactions only seem to be given towards the RINOS (like Snowe, Spector, and Collins) who voted for the StimuWASTE bill! I don't see any outrage being unleashed by the RNC towards them...do you? Instead, Steele unleashes his frustration towards a radio show host who has 20 million listeners who obviously, for the most part, agree with his politics. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE, PEOPLE?
Steele did the same kind of blunder that Obama did - verbally challenge (unnecessarily) a leader in the conservative movement of today. The problem with that is the fact that Steele IS SUPPOSED TO BE ON OUR SIDE!!
This incident was truly eye opening for me. I am considering re-registering as an Independent. Seriously. I am so angry with Steele.
You might wonder why I am still angry with him - after all, he did apologize to Limbaugh. It is because he apologized in this namby-pamby manner:
"I respect Rush Limbaugh, he is a national conservative leader, and in no way do I want to diminish his voice," Steele said in a statement late Monday. "I'm sure that he and I will agree most of the time, but will probably disagree some as well, which is fine.
"The Democrats are doing everything they can to find ways to take people's attention off of their massive 36-billion-dollar-a-day spending spree that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have embarked on. To the extent that my remarks helped the Democrats in Washington to take the focus, even for one minute, off of their irresponsible expansion of government, I truly apologize."
What was missing? There was NO CONDEMNATION against the RINOS in Congress that voted for the Porkulus bill!!! If it wasn't for them IT WOULD NOT HAVE PASSED!! If Steele had any guts (like Rush does!) he SHOULD have been in their faces urging them not to vote for that terrible bill!!
Of course, Rush did a great job responding to Steele.
Loved this portion:
They chicken out when I happen to articulate exactly what their agenda really is. They don't have the guts to admit it, and I do. I'm going further and telling you today it's not that I want Obama to fail; that's not it anymore. The president is presiding over economic failure. The president is watching it, doing nothing about it. He's watching unemployment grow; he's watching the stock market plummet; he is watching people sign up for unemployment. The president of the United States is doing nothing to stop the downward spiral of this economy. He has no economic recovery plan. The truth is, the president of the United States and Rahm Emanuel, who, remember, said, "Crisis is too great a thing to waste." What does that mean? They want you suffering, they want you miserable, they want it worse, they want you rejecting conservatism. They want you rejecting capitalism. They want you turning to them in fear and desperation and angst for an immediate fix to the problem. They want you thinking you have no ability to fix your own problems. They think you have and they want you to have no ability to take care of yourself. So as the stock market now approaches minus 2,800 since Obama was elected, the statement today is to speed up the economic recovery, we're going to focus on health care. Ask yourself how that is going to get you your next job.
And this portion:
And finally, Mr. Steele, we do like to entertain people here. The audience is very smart, sir. They know the difference between entertainment, and they know the difference between deadly serious issues that affect their country. Don't underestimate the intelligence of this audience or Republicans and conservatives generally. The biggest problem with all of you who live inside the Beltway is you look out over America and you think you see idiocy and unsophisticated people, ignorant people, and when you're looking at liberal Democrats, largely you're correct, but your own voters are every bit as informed, involved, engaged, and caring, if not more so than you are. We don't care, first and foremost, about the success of the Republican Party. We care about the United States of America and its future, because we cherish it and love it, and we know what it is that made it the greatest nation on earth, and we don't hear you articulating that you understand that, not just you, Mr. Steele, but hardly anybody else in Washington, DC.
RUSH: Hey, psst, folks, just a little secret between us. Don't tell anybody, all right? This is just between us. Don't tell the Drive-Bys. The Drive-Bys were tuning in for that because they've been asking me for quotes on this. So the way they're gonna interpret -- and really don't tell anybody, this is between us, because I don't want this getting out beyond the show -- the way they are going to interpret what I just did in response to Michael Steele is, "Oh, this is great, this is great! Emanuel's strategy is working great, the Republican Party and Limbaugh are splitting apart, there's a feud, there's infighting." They will miss the whole point, and even if there are any Drive-Bys listening while I tell them the real point, they will reject it because it doesn't fit their template. What happened starting Saturday -- actually, CPAC started on Thursday, but what culminated with my speech on Saturday at CPAC was the reawakening of a huge sleeping giant that is ready to rumble, and that is American conservatism, which is found in the Democrat Party, it's found among independents, and it's found in the Republican Party.
More Americans live their lives as conservatives than you would believe. They don't get their paychecks and walk down the street and say, "Hi, you want some of this?" They'll vote for people who will do it for them, but they're trying to raise their kids right and make money, save money. They've got morality and values, most of them, not all, but most, they may not vote that way, but they live that way. They're waiting to be awakened and that awakening has started. The pressure is on the Republican Party to be more Democrat Party-like, and too many Republicans in Washington want to make that happen. Well, just the opposite is going to happen. The sleeping conservative giant has been awakened here. It's a beautiful thing.
I want to take a moment and applaud the Democrats in the House who voted against the Stimulus. Thank you! At least there are still some fiscally conservative Democrats in the House that are looking out for We The People who called endlessly to urge EVERY CONGRESSMAN AND SENATOR to vote against that wasteful spending!
Sometimes I wonder. Have some of the Republicans been hijacked by an invasion of the body snatchers or something? They are acting more like the far left liberal wing of the Democrats every day. Truly sad! Perhaps Snowe, Spector and Collins have been absorbed into the HYPEnosis ObamaBorg mentality. Have they always been that far left liberal and I just hadn't notice before? Did you ever think that they would vote with Cruella PeLIARsi and Harry ReiDUNCE?
Ugh...
What these people are doing to our economy and against our nation is criminal!!!
Makes me want to move to New Zealand!
In his article above, Eberle concludes:
In order for the Republican Party to succeed, we must have positive, fresh ideas, and we must have leadership. We can't talk about "no earmarks" and turn a blind eye when Republicans continue to do it. We can't hope for "bipartisan" solutions to issues. It's just that simple. If a solution was really acceptable to the Democrats, do you think it would involve smaller government, lower taxes, and more freedom. No! They are only interested in having a bigger, more powerful government. We need to show the American people that we believe in them, not government. We need leadership!
We need voices like Eberle's and Limbaugh's:
Limbaugh has refused to back down. Speaking Saturday to a conservative convention in Washington, he said: "What is so strange about being honest and saying, 'I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?' Why would I want that to succeed?"
Why indeed!!!
Ht's:
GOP USA: GOP Chairman apologizes to Limbaugh
Bobby Eberle: Since When is Promoting Conservatism 'Ugly?'
Photo credit: The Black Sphere
*******
Also see:
Rush Analyses the CPAC Speech
Excerpt:
Obama admits his budget is an attempt to reshape the foundations of our country. Just as I said Saturday, he calls his plan a threat to the status quo in Washington. He wants to undo major elements of President Reagan's conservative movement. Precisely that. That's why I am being targeted, because I represent it. Sad to say, but I am the most prominent voice for conservatism in America today. I don't mind being a prominent voice, but it's a shame that my political party wants to throw it overboard. So many people who campaigned for office and got elected on it are now wimping out in our party, out of fear, fear born of mainstream media criticism, fear born of not being critical of somebody because of the color of their skin, or just plain fear for whatever reason. So the effort to marginalize me and to impugn me, mischaracterize me since I represent the most prominent national voice on conservatism is the explanation for why they're doing it. They want to wipe out conservatism. Conservatism is the antithesis of what Obama and his people believe in.
Yep....
And this:
And the pursuit of happiness. Interesting to find that in the Declaration of Independence. Of all things, here these people, Founding Fathers are trying to construct a reason to declare independence from the tyranny of King George. Pursuit of happiness. You see, tyranny, living under tyranny does not promote happiness. It doesn't even promote contentment. Its hallmark is fear. Our Founding Fathers did not want any fear among the people aimed at government. They wanted government afraid of the people. That's why there were accountabilities; that's why the Bill of Rights; the first ten amendments to the Constitution; that's why there are elections; that's why there are checks and balances. But they look out across the country, and just use the last eight years for those of you who are tuning in now, maybe for the first time, ask yourselves, when's the last time you saw a happy Democrat, a happy liberal? They're not happy. Even liberal comedians are enraged and angry. Their jokes are rooted in a rage and anger. These are the people that wrote books and made movies about the assassination of George W. Bush and called them great literary and film works that even if we didn't agree with the premise we must understand the art that went into it, the art that was behind it. But we don't find happiness on the left, and we don't have anybody on the left encouraging anybody else to be happy.
The leader of the Democrat Party, Barack Obama every day makes statements that are designed to engage people in feelings of negativism and in some cases even panic. Panic. There's no inspiration. There's no uplifting. There is no hope. It's just the opposite. So that's why, in a very brief explanation, we fear. And that's why I was applauded when I defined conservatism as standing for life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. People were applauding it because it's under assault from the Democrat Party, from the White House on down. We're not supposed to be happy until as much of our lives as possible are controlled by these people in Washington who ostensibly have our best interests at heart. Yeah, maybe their intentions are good, but their results are abysmal. Every government program designed to elevate achievement, happiness, prosperity for the poor and the downtrodden has only increased the numbers of poor, feelings of misery, and, by the way, anger. How many Democrat voters are angry? Some have been angry for 50 years over the same things, and for 50 years the Democrats have been promising to fix it. "We're going to get even with those Republicans that are stealing your money. We're going to make sure the Republicans get outta your way. We're going to make sure there's no discrimination," and yet, nothing changes. Their grievances have not changed in 50 years.
The Democrat Party has utterly failed to deliver on their promises to people. The Democrat Party has succeeded in expanding misery, trying to spread as much possible. The Democrat Party is doing everything it can to create crisis mentality on a daily basis: angst, anger, and frustration. So there is no pursuit of happiness with these people. Life, leave it up to them and it's a crapshoot. Liberty? They're trying to stamp out as much of it as possible. Just examine your daily life and you'll understand it. And, by the way, your freedom, as far as you're concerned, might not be directly impacted, although it is, but you may not really feel it. But I'm sure you can notice people in your neighborhood -- ah -- sorry, "community" is the preferred word now -- in your state or around the country. Property owners are told what they can and can't do with their land because of a tiny little snail darter or some such thing. Just imagine it happening to you one day because if nobody stops it when it's happening to others, it's eventually going to get to everybody.
Could it be because of fear that the RNC and some Republicans in Congress are afraid to speak out, criticize (which they should!!!!) and, in some cases (are you LISTENING YET SNOWE, SPECTOR AND COLLINS!) vote against the ObamaBorg agenda? Rush thinks so...
RUSH: It will change, ladies and gentlemen. There's a lot of fear at the RNC, there's a lot of fear within the Republican Party, but that will change. We keep saying that the American people need leadership. I keep saying the conservative Republicans, "Just get some leadership." You know what? You know who needs leadership? The Republican National Committee and Michael Steele need a little leadership. The Republicans in the Senate, the elected Republicans around the country, they're the ones who need leadership. We've been looking in the wrong areas for leadership. Turns out we are the leaders. We're going to have to drag them kicking and screaming back to our core. They're caught up in so much fear because of where they live and work in Washington, DC. That's why I say it will change. This fear that paralyzes the Republican Party will change.
The Media of Mass Deception completely mischaracterized what Rush actually stated during his CPAC speech:
RUSH AT CPAC: My friends, I know what's going on. I know what's going on. We're in the aspects here of an historic presidency. I know that. But let me be honest again. I got over the historical aspects of this in November. President Obama is our president. President Obama stands for certain things. I don't care, he could be a Martian. He could be from Michigan. I'm just kidding. It doesn't matter to me what his race is, it doesn't matter. He's liberal, is what matters to me, and his articulated, his articulated plans scare me. Now, I understand, okay, "We can't say we want the president to fail, Mr. Limbaugh, that's like saying --" this is the voice of the New Castrati, by the way, guys that have lost their guts. "You can't say, Mr. Limbaugh, that you want the president to fail, because that's like saying you want the country to fail." No, it's the opposite! I want the country to survive! I want the country to succeed! (cheers and applause)
Amen!!!
HT: Rush Limbaugh.com