Democrats Blame Amtrak Crash on Lack of Infrastructure Spending

Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | May 13, 2015 | Rush Limbaugh

[Kaslin]

RUSH: First the train derailment, Amtrak train derailment. Now, obviously, this is a tragedy, there is injury, there is death. And I must sadly be the one to remind you that there is a political component to this, and you will be hearing about it very soon. The political component to this is going to be -- and it will not be very long. In fact, it may have already happened. I haven't been able to monitor all this stuff constantly since this accident first happened.

It's predictable as easily as the sun coming up in the morning. We're gonna hear that we need to really ramp up infrastructure spending. We're gonna hear hand-wringing, see hand-wringing and complaints, "How could this have happened? We are letting our country just become dilapidated right in front of our eyes. Where is all the infrastructure spending?" And at that point somebody needs to say, "You have asked for over a trillion dollars in infrastructure spending since 2008, and we'd like to see where the money already allocated for infrastructure spending has actually gone."

The original Porkulus bill, $800 billion that soon became close to a trillion dollars. The vast majority of that was for infrastructure, right? Rebuilding roads, rebuilding bridges, rebuilding schools. How much of it actually went to that? Since the original Porkulus, how many other times has the Regime gone on television, wrung its hands, and practically cried about the need for infrastructure spending?

The point is, they've gotten it. They have gotten every dime they have asked for for infrastructure spending, and yet they are going to try to convey the idea that they haven't had enough, not nearly enough, and this Amtrak derailment is a great, glaring example of it. And of course this will be used as more ammunition to further raise people's taxes.

And I would hope in a presidential campaign year, I would hope that some of these Republican candidates, maybe if it's just one, would stand up and push back and say, "Did you ever stop to think that we have given you enough money on infrastructure, that whatever the problem here, if it indeed is that, should have been addressed long ago given the over trillion dollars you have asked for already?" And simply demand an accounting: "Where has all that infrastructure money allocated for that, where has it actually gone?"

You know what we'll find. We will find, just as in the original stimulus bill, it went to teachers unions and public employee unions, particularly in the early days of the recession to keep them employed while other people were losing their jobs, because as employees they continue to pay union dues and union dues are how money allocated to unions end up back in the coffers of Democrat Party campaigns and other efforts.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Grab sound bite number 20. This is Josh Earnest at the White House press briefing just now. Tell me where you just heard this.

EARNEST: The president has been a longtime advocate, uh, for investing in our infrastructure and making sure that we, uh, have the kind of 21st Century infrastructure that we know is gonna be critical to the success of our country. Just yesterday the president's budget director, Shaun Donovan, sent a letter to House appropriators raising concerns about this.

RUSH: What do you think that was about? He got a question about the Amtrak derailment. Oh, yeah, it's an infrastructure-spending problem. He went on to blame the Republicans for not spending enough on infrastructure, not authorizing it. It's as predictable as the sun comes up in the morning.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, we've got new information on the train derailment, the Amtrak train. It turns out that the train was speeding. The train was going too fast for the turn. Uh-oh! This means human error is a real possibility, and it may not be the fault of the infrastructure. So we've got to get out in front of this. The train was speeding. The engineer is not saying anything. Somebody at the Regime is gonna get to him and fix it so that he will not admit speeding because this has got to be the infrastructure.

They've got a brand-new crisis here, and to prove it, here's Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. A reporter said, "Are there any conversations going on between the White House and Capitol Hill about Amtrak funding?" Is that not automatic? Is that not axiomatic? Here we have a train derailment, and before anybody knows why or what's the cause, we immediately need more money! And why do we need more money? Because the Republicans have been stingy!

"The Republicans have underfunded it, just like they've underfunded the War on Poverty and underfunded everything else. The Republicans don't care about people on trains."

Do not laugh. That is the narrative. That's the template.

Here's Josh Earnest...

EARNEST: Well, we've been very clear about what we believe is the appropriate level of funding for, uh, Amtrak. In the president's budget is, umm, I think what's nearly a billion-dollar increase in funding for Amtrak. Republicans, unfortunately, are currently considering legislation, uh, at the committee level that would actually cut funding from Amtrak's budget by, I believe, a quarter-of-a-billion dollars a year.

RUSH: You see how this works? It's so convenient! We have a train derailment, and at that very moment, the Republicans are holding committee hearings on reducing Amtrak funding. Obama, meanwhile -- at the same moment -- is trying to get a billion dollars more for Amtrak and for infrastructure. What a great guy Obama is! Oh, man! Is this guy the best president we've ever had or what? And are those Republicans a bunch of mean-spirited butts.

Those creeps! We just hate 'em! They don't care about people. All they care about is their rich friends and themselves. (This is the way it goes.) In fact, it's probably human error and speeding. Never mind we don't have a billion dollars to increase Amtrak spending. In case anybody's noticed, we are $18 trillion in debt. We don't have any money. Practically everything we spend is money we don't have anymore. But it doesn't seem to matter to anyone.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The latest update from Amtrak, the engineer driving the train took that turn at a hundred miles an hour. The speed limit for the train at that turn is 50 miles an hour. They could have spent a gazillion dollars on infrastructure at just that turn and it wouldn't have made any difference. But I predict to you, I don't care how widespread the news gets that the engineer was doing twice the speed limit at that turn, despite all that you're gonna end up hearing infrastructure, Republicans stingy, don't care enough, don't allocate the money.

In fact, they're trying to cut Amtrak at this most desperate moment in time. (crying) And Obama will be portrayed as the compassionate savior once again. Groundwork is already being laid for that.

[Da Coyote]

Agree, if “infrastructure” means competent engineers.

But we know what it really means, given libtards and their unlimited ability to waste.

[Olog-hai]

Ah, this old political football again. From the same party that promised us 160-mph trains on that selfsame railroad back in 1967. 48 years of lies and they still say throw excess amounts of money and live under our overly-expensive regulations for running passenger trains?

[House Atreides]

If ONLY Republicans had given AMTRAC another billion dollars, they could have given the lead-footed engineer (and likely ‘RAT IMHO) a large bonus to encourage him to only drive at no more than the designated safe speed limits.

[4yearlurker]

Watching the local news here in Pittsburgh,PA. I see they trotted out Union thug Ed Rendell. This POS already knows the infrastucture is old and falling apart that's why the train crashed in Philly. Are train tracks private property and not funded by taxes? So,POS Rendell says MORE gas tax is needed so this wont happen again! I almost put my foot through the TV screen. That rat faced git Wolf is probably behind this. Democrats are truly despicable! Seven people dead and the Rats are on the news crying for more taxes!!!!

[cripplecreek]

Infrastructure means union pension funds.

Obama told Rick Snyder that he would authorize $250 million for a customs plaza and related infrastructure on the American side of the new bridge from Canada but said that $100 million would have to go to Detroit union pension funds.

Snyder told him “No thanks”.

[tcrlaf]

Infrastructure could mean doing 106 in a 50Mph zone.

[StormEye]

Republicans are not allowing enough spending on cancer research so everyone is getting cancer.

Republicans are not allowing enough spending on brain research so now people are getting Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease.

Republicans aren't allowing spending on Ebola research so now people are getting Ebola.

Hey, I'm sure there are enough "uninformed" (aka low IQ Democrat voters) to believe what I just said. And I bet there is a Democrat politician out there willing to make those claims.

[grumpygresh]

So let’s have Amtrak hire more DEA agents to confiscate cash and more TSA agents to do sexual assaults.
Amtrak is crap. FU Feds.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Again, I ask, how does giving Amtrak more money prevent an Engineer from going 106 miles per hour in a 50 mile per hour zone

[Don Corleone]

If this ‘engineer’ is a member of a union watch the spin.

[KarlInOhio]

Again, I ask, how does giving Amtrak more money prevent an Engineer from going 106 miles per hour in a 50 mile per hour zone

Maybe let the state police run radar and pass out tickets to Amtrak to pay for infrastructure improvements.

< /s>

[Milton Miteybad]

Please...quit making sense! You’re driving Josh Earnest crazy!

[SkyDancer]

Nope. The idiot engineer entered a 50mph curve at 100mph. Even a Democrat could see the physics of that. Well, maybe.

[LegendHasIt]

I want this understood.

This accident is Dagny’s fault.

If she had rebuilt those tracks with the Rearden Metal instead of wasting it on building the Rio Norte Line to service that capitalist pig and earth raper Ellis Wyatt, after Wesley Mouch and I told her that it was needed in Pennsylvania for the Chick Morrison Special, this wouldn’t have happened.

/Jim Taggart

[Cruz_West_Paul2016]

the rats could of at least blamed chris christie or girls flashing body parts at passing trains.

[Sarah Barracuda]

HAHA..Yep, making sense is hard for liberals to comprehend..what do they want to do, throw money in front of the engineers face and tell him “Please sir don’t go double over the speed limit here’s 500 bucks” liberals always try to find a way to blame a horrific event on Republicans and liberals always end up looking like douche bags after wards

[jonrick46]

I blame the crash on all the Left loves: Sleeping at the switch, smoking pot, slacking on the job, sexting, texting and surfing for porn. The words “Do your job,” are hate speech and everyone else; especially George Bush, are at fault.

[drypowder]

Before they get any more, maybe the democrats should ask obozo where the $700+ billion went that congress approved that he said was going to shovel ready jobs to repair and replace the US INFRASTRUCTURE. Obviously they've forgotten about that money but we haven't.

[potlatch]

MONEY- HONEY