On his top-rated radio show Monday, Rush Limbaugh took some time to address what’s going down in his home state, Florida, as the big recounts for the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races are underway. The Democrats and the media, said Limbaugh, are doing exactly what he predicted they’d do: hammer the message that all they’re trying to do amid all the voting shenanigans is make sure that “every vote is counted.”
In both races, the Republican candidates went into the recount with leads that history indicates are insurmountable. Gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis leads Democrat Andrew Gillum by over 33,500 votes, while Rick Scott leads incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson by over 12,500. The average change in the vote count from previous similar recounts is just 311 votes. But that isn’t stopping the Democrats from ratcheting up the rhetoric and the media dutifully echoing their talking points.
“[T]he defeated gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum is now making one of my warnings on Friday come true as loudly and vividly as possible,” said Limbaugh Monday. “I want to remind you of a major, major point that I made in discussing the ongoing recount and how the left is gonna handle this, the terminology they use and what it actually means.”
Here’s what Limbaugh said last week:
So when Gillum or anybody starts talking about “count every vote,” it means including the provisional ballots. If it hasn’t happened yet, it will very soon, and it will be done the way the left always does. The provisional ballots will be cast by minorities, people of color, the poor, women and children, whoever are the protected class. The people that are always getting the excrement sandwich in life in America will be those who have cast the provisional ballot.
And because these are people that are downtrodden, homeless, hungry, thirsty, we need to really, really, really count them. They need to participate in our process. So the move will be to count every provisional ballot as legitimate and eligible. “Count every vote” is a dog whistle for “we need to find more votes,” not votes that have been cast. We’re looking for ways to add to vote totals. We are looking for ways to actually cast ballots. That’s what all of this means, and that’s what’s going on.
And, right on cue, that’s exactly what’s happening. “Andrew Gillum is running around running around Florida now, and that’s his mantra, count every vote, count every vote,” said Limbaugh.
The sinister suggestion, said Rush, is that every vote is not being counted — and you can guess who’s supposedly refusing to count them.
“The effort here is to make it look like Rick Scott and DeSantis and the Republicans are trying to not count ballots. That’s the purpose of this. So they’re running around saying, ‘Count every ballot! Count every ballot!” said Limbaugh. “It’s made to look like some votes are being suppressed, and whose votes would those be? Why, people of color of course and women and children and minorities. There’s a psychological component to this. ‘Count every vote’ is not really a requirement. They’re not talking to Brenda Snipes. Brenda Snipes doesn’t need to be told count every vote down in Broward County. She knows what’s going on. It is meant for the media to use that as a psychological message to the great unwashed that somebody’s trying to not count every vote.”
As evidence that the Democrats and their allies are making sure to echo that sentiment every chance they get, Rush played a “count every vote” montage that was almost eerie in its unity:
BAKARI SELLERS: In Georgia, Arizona, and Florida, Democrats have to have the same message: just make sure every single vote is counted.
CHUCK SCHUMER: Every vote should be counted.
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We need to count the votes.
ED HENRY: (newsroom noise) Count all the votes.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH: I want every vote counted.
JANE HARMAN: Every vote has to be counted.
TOM PEREZ: Every vote must be counted.
CORNELL BELCHER: Count every vote.
CHERI BUSTOS: Every vote ought to count.
“Who’s not counting them? We have media people in this. ‘Count every vote.’ What is this?” said Limbaugh. “Where is the idea we’re not counting every vote? We did count every vote on election night, and the Republicans won the Senate and the governorship in Florida!”
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