"Hillary Clinton is flat on her back now!" -- Rush Limbaugh, 20 Feb 2008
Excerpts from RushLimbaugh.com, yesterday; go there for the entire segment text (no subscription necessary) [emphasis mine --JZ]:
"It is heating up, the Wisconsin primary today. Seventy-four delegates on tap for the Democrats. Superdelegates are being paid by both Barry Obama and Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Clinton going after Obama's pledged delegates, and there's nothing to stop her. The pledged delegates do not and are not required to vote for any particular candidate on the first ballot. They are all up for grabs. It's like I've been saying, ladies and gentlemen, it's almost like these primaries don't really count. The pledged candidates are not pledged, and it's Democrat Party rules. It's not something the Clintons are finagling. It's Democrat Party rules. That's why the superdelegates are there because Democrats never trust voters, even their own, to do the right thing. So the superdelegates are there to mediate and to send the party in the direction the party pooh-bahs want it to go.
"So big-time journalist [Max Brantley] in Arkansas, knows Clinton well, biggest, most important media supporter, says it is over for her. One thing, one caveat. Mr. Brantley here makes my point about polls. Some months ago, the polls said that Hillary was inevitable and that it was over and it was just a matter of time, all we had to do was let the calendar click by, be over. The same thing was said about Rudy Giuliani. I remember people getting all hot to trot about polls last March and April and May, and I kept trying to tell people, "They don't mean anything yet. We haven't even gotten to the first primary and cauci state. They don't mean anything." Even now, we've got a little bit more under the belt, the delegate count is in Obama's favor. Clearly the polls have a little bit more relevance today than they would have nine months ago. But there's a lot of things that you have to factor in here that polls do not measure, and that is the interworkings of the Democrat Party and how Mrs. Clinton is attempting to wrest delegates away from Obama.
"...In fact, the Drive-Bys are already starting to poke holes in it and tear it down. I've got a whole stack on that that I was going to get to today. They're starting now to -- see, he's not even writing his speeches. You know who's writing his speeches? ... Ted Sorenson, Theodore Sorenson is the primary -- he's not the actual speechwriter -- but he's the primary advisor. He wrote speeches for JFK. His speechwriter is 26 years old, but the Drive-Bys are already starting to take some shots here now at some of this messianic aura that surrounds itself, the halo effect, if you will, over the head of Barack Obama. But it's not just that. You know, I've always believed that the American people do not have that deep an emotional reservoir to begin with.
"This kind of messianic approach that Obama is taking is going to have to be replaced with some specifics at some point if he does get the nomination, and once you start debating with Senator McCain and the media is going to change it's focus as well as time goes on. I mean, he's going to have his supporters that will still have this attachment to him and you're going to have supporters who won't care what he says as long as he says "hope" and "change" every other word. But in terms of having this -- well, no other better word for it than messianic, that can't be sustained from now to November."
CALLER: "Do you think Hillary's done at this point?"
RUSH: "Oh, no. (laughing) It may look like it on paper, she may be done, but she's not done. These are the Clintons. Remember, this is my phrase: Even if he wins the nomination, she's going to be the nominee. Meaning they'll fix this at the convention. She's not going to get out of this. She may lose Wisconsin. She's a couple of points ahead, maybe three points ahead or four in both Texas, and, where else did I see? Ohio. She's down by four-and-a-half in the Real Clear Politics rolling average in Wisconsin. Even James Carville is saying that if she loses Texas and Ohio, she's toast and she's done. ... It's never mattered in the Democrat Party, because they've always had their nominee by February or March. But remember, as I so pointed out yesterday, 1968, and that's memorable for a number of events, of course, the Chicago riots. Also in 1968, Hubert Humphrey was the Democrat nominee. He didn't win one primary, folks. Now, I know it's a little different circumstance today than it was then, but 40 years ago the Democrat nominee did not win a single primary.
"Walter F. Mondull in 1984 stole pledged delegates to Gary Hart, stole 'em. And Walter F. Mondull ended up being the nominee.
"... According to the numbers, she's toast, doesn't have a prayer, but it's the Clintons. This is the only reason they're alive; it's the only reason that they're living. This whole nomination is the sum total of every Christmas morning in their lives, with themselves as Santa Claus. So this is going to be juicy.
"You got Obama's wife out there, "For the first time in my life, first time in my life I'm happy and proud to be an American." That is so repugnant. Do you know even McCain has let his wife Cindy go to the microphone on this. Cindy McCain is saying, "Well, I know you heard the comments yesterday. How many of you are proud of your country?" We're all proud of our country. That's the interesting thing. There are so many people in this country who aren't. They are leftists." [...]