Quote of the Day: Rush, On Mitt Romney

Just heard Rush say it, so there won't be a link until this evening — and there may not be one at all, depending on what Rush chooses to post from his program.

The statement:

“… Romney is running against the Tea Party.”

What took you so long, good buddy?

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UPDATE, 6:30 p.m.: Here's the relevant portion of the transcript (link will become inaccessible without a subscription in a week) –

RUSH: Here's Romney, by the way. I want you to hear this. This is yesterday in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. I referred to this remark that Romney made in the previous hour of the program.

ROMNEY: Unions have played a very important role historically in balancing, in some cases, the egregious actions of some employers and — and have been important to the development of our economy. And there are some unions that continue to — to train their workers effectively, their union members effectively.

RUSH: This is salient. This is the leading Republican presidential nominee seemingly every day adopting a policy from the Democrat Party or espousing a belief that is designed to siphon votes from the Democrats. “Hey, hey, I'm not one of these Neanderthal Republican conservatives; I like unions, I like you people.” So it's clear to me that Romney is running against the Tea Party. I don't know any other Republican saying this. If a couple others join him here, I won't be surprised, given who they are, but I'm not gonna predict it. I'll wait for it to happen.

What Romney says is true, but as Rush points out, it's irrelevant to running for the Republican presidential nomination — unless your goal is to get it and then run to the supposedly magic middle while abandoning the base. Free market-believing union members will support Republicans; the portion of union leadership which is thuggish never will. Public-sector union members who figure out that they still have their jobs because their state governments took needed actions to preserve them will support Republicans; their leaders, who prefer layoffs of less senior members over realistic ramp-backs of employee costs, never will.