CALLER: My question is for you, in a hypothetical sense: If you could pick and choose what kind of conservatives and what kind of Republicans made up the Republican Party, would there be room for moderates (phone ringing) moderate conservatives or even liberal Republicans, that sort of thing? (ringing) Would there be room for those?
RUSH: (sigh) Well...
CALLER: (ringing)
RUSH: They can vote for us, but I don't want them in the party.
CALLER: That's exactly how I feel. (ringing) In order for us to rebuild --
RUSH: You know, but the problem is, you gotta define something for me. Would you define for me a "moderate conservative."
CALLER: A moderate conservative has gotta be someone that is a fiscal conservative first and foremost. Second, a moderate conservative is one that sides with the left on other issues, whether it's gun control or abortion rights or whatever.
RUSH: He's not a conservative if he sides with the left. See, conservatism is what it is. It doesn't need to be moderated. It doesn't need to be redefined. It doesn't need to be upgraded. It's based on personal liberty: individual freedom, a small state that functions for the express purpose of defending and protecting the population. The minute you say that conservatism includes people who are pro-choice, you've destroyed conservatism because conservatism stands for "life, liberty, pursuit of happiness." Without life, there is nothing else here, and if we're going to sit around indiscriminately deciding who lives and who dies based on our own convenience, that's not conservative. Individual liberty. The essence of innocence is a child in the womb who has no choice over what happens to it. Sorry. If we don't stand up for that person, if the government doesn't, then nobody will. And if we allow ourselves to get watered down by a bunch of people who are embarrassed over that position, they're not conservatives. Now, I'm not saying, "If you're not this, don't vote for us." We'll be happy for you to vote for us. I'm happy. Go ahead and vote for us. This is what got us into trouble that we're in today. The reason that we're in this mess today is because we had to start making this tent big, watering down what conservatism is. There's a blueprint out there, Justin, for how to win landslides! There's a blueprint for how you do it, and it does not include expanding the tent. Reagan got Reagan Democrats, but he moved them to the Republican Party, moved them to the right. He didn't go get them by pretending to be one of them.