Movement Explodes: Rush Limbaugh Transcript And Video From CPAC 2009
Original Post March 2, 2009. (12 YEARS AGO)
(Historical note: This speech is credited with launching the Tea Party Movement, which it did.
The official spark of the Tea Party movement is an MSNBC commentator in late February stating bluntly that the TARP debts were disgusting and that his Tea Party friends at home and on the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange did not like it. Spontaneous cheers from stock brokers erupted on during the live broadcast.
Wikepedia: The Tea Party movement was popularly launched following a February 19, 2009 call by CNBC reporter Rick Santelli on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
However, few people know that a speech by Eugene Delgaudio on January 7, 2009 opposing the TARP bail out at the Loudoun Board of Supervisors in an 1 no, 8 yes vote to approve a grant request for 700 million dollars in "free money." Delgaudio said in part "This is not free but a debt placed on our children and their children." The remarks were picked up by Leesburg Today and read by National Conservative Talk Show Host Mark Levin.
Levin read portions of the speech on air Wednesday January 8, 2009 and asked his national audience: "This is one elected Republican standing against this bail out socialism, where the hell are the rest of you?".
Levin repeated his references nightly "we must fight this TARP socialism." Rush Limbaugh was on vacation at the time and returned on Monday, January 12, 2009 to speak to the issues about then-President Barrack Obama and the bail outs and caught up quickly in days to lead the Tea Party movement.
Original post:
It was a conference ending speech that kept 10,000 conservatives anxious for 3 days. When he appeared they were screaming and chanting like a presidential visit from the days of Ronald Reagan and the long-gone barely remembered reception given to Barry Goldwater in 1964 when he won the Republican nomination.
Rush Limbaugh said in part, "We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. [Applause] We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. [Applause] Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of happiness. [Applause] Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you."
AND THIS:
"Now let's talk about the conservative movement as it were. We, ladies and gentlemen, have challenges that are part and parcel of a movement that feels it has just suffered a humiliating defeat when it's not humiliating. This wasn't a landslide victory, 52 to, what, 46. Fifty-eight million people voted against Obama. There would have been more if we would have had a conservative nominee. [Applause] I don't mean that -- I mean that in an instructive way, as a lead-in to what I'm talking about here. No humiliating defeat here. I can't -- sometimes I get livid and angry. We do have an organizational problem. We have a challenge. We've got factions now within our own movement seeking power to dominate it, and worst of all to redefine it. Well, the Constitution doesn't need to be redefined. Conservative intellectuals, the Declaration of Independence does not need to be redefined and neither does conservatism. Conservatism is what it is and it is forever. It's not something you can bend and shape and flake and form. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you."
Near the closing:
So as you leave here, as you leave here optimism, confidence, not guilt, it's not worth it. There's nothing to be guilty about. Don't treat people as children. Respect their intelligence. Realize that there's a way to persuade people. Sometimes the worst way is to get in their face and point a finger. Set up a set of circumstances where the conclusion is obvious. Let them think they came up with the idea themselves. They'll think they're smart that they figured it out. Who cares how you persuade them, the fact they can be persuaded is factually correct, it's possible. But the main thing to do here is stop thinking that we are a minority. Stop thinking that it is being in the minority that liberates you. It is your beliefs. It is your core principles, it is your confidence that liberates you. It's not being in the minority.
TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO OF RUSH LIMBAUGH SPEECH CPAC 2009 (CSPAN)
YOUTUBE VIDEO POSTED BY AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION