Limbaugh: Romney Needs Conservative Advisers

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh urged Mitt Romney to fire his communications team and replace them with some “real conservatives” willing to be ideological.

Referring to a Charles Krauthammer column that urges Republicans to attack President Barack Obama’s ideology, Limbaugh told his listeners, “I have been begging Romney to do this.

"I have been begging Romney to do this since he became the frontrunner in the primaries. When I applauded Newt during the primaries, during the debates, it is because he went ideological. You remember one of the biggest events...? I think it was the South Carolina primary debate. Newt got one of the biggest standing Os, and the first one was when he explained theconservative view about work and how we don't want anybody denied a
job,” Limbaugh said.

“Ideas matter, ideas triumph, particularly when you believe them and can explain them,” Limbaugh added.

“All Romney has to do is to get some real conservatives as his spokespeople and this problem won't happen anymore.

"We don't need the Etch-a-Sketch guy and we don't need people who are not ideological. I've even used the word. I have begged Romney and the Republican Party at large: ‘Would you please say this is ideological? Would you please start thinking in terms of ideology?’

"Say ‘Democrats are liberals,’ and that alone tells everybody all they need to know about what somebody in politics plans to do.”

In early July, Romney campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom described Obamacare’s individual mandate as a penalty rather than a tax. Before that he made headlines during the primary when he was asked whether conservative positions taken during the primary might harm Romney’s standing with moderates and said, “I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch-A-Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again.”

Earlier this week, Romney's campaign press secretary Andrea Saul praised the former Massachusetts governor’s healthcare reforms in Massachusetts, drawing fire from the right.