The Republican Party and its leaders have undergone a transformation over the last several years, according to conservative radio talk host
Rush Limbaugh, and the GOP now eschews Limbaugh and others like him because "I no longer espouse what they believe," he said Tuesday on his show.
Limbaugh’s remarks were in response to a caller, John in Winter Haven, Florida, who wanted to know Limbaugh’s opinion on a theory John had, namely that the GOP establishment sits back and waits for Limbaugh and others in the conservative media to communicate their message.
"Our GOP establishment just sits mute as issue after issue is handed them on a silver platter," John said. "You never hear them take it up and run with it or articulate a point.
"Do you suppose that they sit back knowing full well that you are going to articulate the point they should be making to your audience?"
Limbaugh acknowledged that there once was a time when Republican leaders would rely on him and others "to take the arrows for them. We would be the ones to explaining. We would be the ones to inspire. We would be the ones to fire up. We would be the ones to basically take the hit when there was reaction to it.
"In other words, they relied on us to inform their voters who they were. They relied on us to tell their voters what they were gonna do."
But no more, he said. Not every Republican voter is a conservative.
Today’s GOP, including the leadership, is filled with moderate Republicans, according to Limbaugh, who noted that there are a lot of "voting Republicans who are perfectly fine with Obamacare. There are a lot of Republicans, mainstream Republicans who say,
'Look, let's not do too much here on immigration.'
"There are a lot of mainstream Republican voters who embody the same fear that Republican leaders do. 'Oh, we can't make the Hispanics mad at us!'
"I'll give you an example. There are a lot of mainstream Republican voters who are embarrassed by Sarah Palin."
Many Republicans don’t care much about reducing the size of government and the elected Republican establishment is OK with that mindset because they want to run it, he said.
"You can identify those people very easily if you read what they write. They will say things like, 'We believe in a strong executive and a big government managed smartly. We believe in smart management, smart government, and we'll reduce parts of the government that are wasteful and extraneous and unnecessary.'
"But as an overall operating principle, the idea that government must be reduced? That's not a Republican Party view."
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