Rush: If Gov. Palin Runs, She Will be the One to Beat

Margaret Thatcher would never speak about Gov. Palin that way
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Rush Limbaugh told his 20 million listeners today if Sarah Palin does decide to get in the race, she will be the candidate to beat:

I happen to know Margaret Thatcher. I happen to know her pretty well. I haven't talked to her in years, but I've known her for years.

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I have been with her in social and professional settings as well. It's obvious that her health is not today what it was, but back in the day, Margaret Thatcher would in no way allow an aide to refer to anybody, Sarah Palin notwithstanding, as nuts. She talked to anybody and everybody that came into her orb. I mean she literally had to talk to some people that were nuts. I saw it and she was as gracious as she could be. It was an education being around Lady Thatcher. It was one of the experiences of my life that I'll never forget. I can tell you that you have here an aide saying, "Ain't no way Lady Thatcher's gonna meet with that nutso Sarah Palin." I guarantee you Lady Thatcher is probably not aware that the aide is even saying this. That is not the way she speaks.

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Now, for all of the stated Republican opposition to Sarah Palin, if she gets in the race, and you heard it here first, and don't doubt me, she is going to end up being the one to beat. Now, I'm not gonna mention any names here because it's not the point, but I have spoken to a number of people in the Republican presidential field.

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I make it a point to bring up Palin because I want to see how they react, 'cause I know how I react when people bring up so-called competitors to me. (interruption) Well, Snerdley, that's my point. You know, it doesn't benefit me at all to comment on anybody else who does what I do. There's no win in it. So I don't. But these guys, you know, I've thrown Palin's name out and the reaction that I get from virtually all of them is cautious respect. None of them have trashed her to me. None of them have done anything other than demonstrate or express respect for her. I've not talked to all of them, of course, but I've not heard one of them just lambaste her like you see other Republicans doing. If she does decide to get in the race, and I have no idea about that, she will be the one to beat.

Now, there's a reason McCain picked her. He picked her ostensibly against the wishes of the party at large. He picked her because he needed somebody fresh and energetic to restart his floundering campaign, and it worked. And anybody who's willing to be honest will tell you that the crowds that were drawn during the McCain campaign stops were due to Sarah Palin. And the energy that she brought to that campaign was unmistakable, and the attachment that Republican voters had to her was also unmistakable. Now, we've gone through all the reasons Republicans don't want her in the race, the insiders versus the outsiders, the Beltway elites and all that, the consultants, GOP operatives. They don't want her in the race not because they fear she will lose.

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And again, for whatever it's worth, the Margaret Thatcher that I knew would in no way, even if she thought it, in no way would she say it or allow an aide of hers to describe Sarah Palin or anybody else in the American political system, a former governor, a former vice president, as nuts. She doesn't even talk about her opponents that way. She never did. So even across the pond people working for Margaret Thatcher or speaking for her have gotta get in their digs at Sarah Palin. And again, I don't know that Margaret Thatcher would support her or not; this is not the point here, and the fact that she won't meet with Palin, she's not meeting with anybody.

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- JP