Limbaugh on Gingrich SC Victory: 'The Republican Establishment Is in Full-Blown Panic

“Folks, the Republican establishment is in a full-blown panic,” conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said on Monday.

Limbaugh took the time to point out that the reaction from “Republican consultants” and “establishment people” was almost exactly what he had predicted back in November, 2011. Limbaugh had said that a Gingrich-Romney upset would cause a violent reaction from the “establishment” types. So far, he’s been proven correct.

“They’re in an [up]roar, a panic, they are secretly trying to get Mitch Daniels [R-IN] to get back in the race. There are entreaties being made to Bobby Jindal [R-LA] to get back in the race. They are panicked! They are scared to death they are going to lose the house and not win the senate…that’s their primary concern. It’s about the senate!”

Why would the establishment put such a large emphasis on keeping the senate?

“It’s about being in charge of the money. It’s not about cutting spending, the republican establishment has not signed on to the cutting spending business,” Limbaugh said.

“’What do you mean, who are the Republican establishment?,’” Limbaugh asked. “The Republican establishment is two things: they don’t like conservatives and they’re not really all that concerned about spending. They want to be in charge of it. That‘s who they are. And they are not going to be in charge of it if they don’t hold the House and if they don’t pick up the Senate – and that’s really what they want.”

If holding the Senate and the House is at the forefront of “the establishment’s” mind, what did a loss for Romney in South Carolina mean?

Listen to Limbaugh explain how Newt Gingrich pulled off a South Carolina victory via Daily Rushbo:

“Newt has thrown this thing into a tizzy! They don’t know what to do. They wanted this wrapped up. They don’t understand why it happened. They are blaming all the wrong people. They are blaming their own voters. They’re blaming the media. They’re blaming stupidity on the part of the voters. They haven’t the slightest idea why this happened in South Carolina. It's not too much democracy going on in their minds; they just don't understand it," Limbaugh said.

"They don't understand the base of their own party. They resent the base of their own party. They don't understand the passion. I was telling Snerdley this morning, 'cause he came in here, gave me his theory, which I promptly shot down," Limbaugh continued. "His theory is that we all owe ABC this, 'cause if it weren't for ABC and John King asking the questions, Newt woulda never been -- and to a certain extent, that's true. But why?"

Limbaugh went on to explain his theory for why South Carolina voters flocked to the former Speaker of the House on Saturday via rushlimbaugh.com:

...the American conservative middle class are the ones playing by the rules. They are the ones that obey the law to the best of their ability. They raise their kids. They try to shield their kids from cultural rot and depravity. They try to keep them off drugs. They try to get them into college. They follow as best they can all the rules and they're laughed at and made fun of and they are impugned everywhere they look. They go to the movies, they're mocked and made fun of. They turn on the radio, listen to music, they're laughed at, mocked, and made fun of. They turn on television, watch an average television show, they are laughed at, mocked and made fun of. They open the newspaper, same thing. They've had it. They've been dealing with this for over 20 years, and nobody's fought back for 'em. Not one person ever has fought back for 'em.

The last time somebody actually spoke up in this large a forum, a presidential forum, would have to be Reagan; and Reagan did it not so much by what he said (although he had his moments). He did it by winning. He did it by skunking these people! Since then, the Republican leadership has not seemed focused so much on winning and they sit there and they take it. Whenever their own voters are insulted -- when their own voters are laughed at and impugned and called racists, sexist, bigot homophobes -- the Republicans don't defend them nor themselves because they're scared to death the independents are gonna be upset, or the media is gonna be upset.

So the base of the Republican Party, the voters, have been bottling up for 25 years, a resentment -- an anger, if you will -- that their own party won't fight for them, won't fight for itself, won't fight for what's right. So when Newt gets teed up with these questions from Juan Williams and John King and whoever else and simply says what they've been thinking for 25 years, they say, "Finally!" What they want right now is fight-back, what they want is push-back, what they want is kick-back, what they want is smack-down! What they want is for these people who have been laughing at them and mocking them and impugning them, put in their place.

They're tired of the cultural rot taking place in the country. They're tired of the incessant growth of government and spending. They're tired of it, and they're frustrated as they can be that members of their own party who get elected can't seem to articulate their own passions. Politics is about passion, and the Republican Party doesn't seem to have it! There's always fear of somebody. Fear of the media, fear of Democrats. Well, Newt doesn't act like he's got any fear. So how many wives does he got? "I don't care!" What did he do for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac? "I don't care." What are his national disapproval ratings?

"I don't care! Finally somebody's telling the bad guys who they are, what to do and that we're not gonna take it anymore -- or that we don't want to take it anymore." Now, you can sit there and you can say that that's cockeyed, that elections aren't won that way. Uhhhh, they aren't? Who just won? Who's already leading in the polls in Florida? George Will had a fascinating statistic over the weekend. Mitt Romney -- Mr. Electability, according to the Republican establishment; Mr. The Only Guy That Can Give Us the Senate -- is 9-and-16 in his election career. He's won nine and lost 16. He's nine out of 25. That, they tell us, is Mr. Electability -- and they're sitting around, the base is, and they're saying, "We don't care about this traditional stuff that you care about that's kept you in second place all these years."