Posted on 09/09/2009 5:22:03 PM PDT by GOP_Lady
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On Today's Show... |
September 9, 2009
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"The president is going to try to convince members of Congress to vote against the will of the American people.
That's what's on tap tonight, and it's all about him, it's all about saving his bacon."
"It's a very fluid situation but it is a wobbly time for President Obama -- and it's going to get even worse,
I predict, because his poll numbers go down the more he is on television."
"Here we have the guy who, since the end of January, has made 112 speeches and remarks and counting.
Now that very same guy is going to give a speech that will finally and for real, truly, not kidding this time,
explain everything to us about health care reform."
"It was never about substance with Obama. It was all about change and hope and all these vague platitudes,
and the vague platitudes have not transmitted themselves into any kind of solid substance."
"Obama is the only guy that could have given a speech like this mentioning God twice in a public school.
If a Republican had tried that there would be a protest today."
"I frankly hope that the central theme of the Republican response tonight is freedom.
It's a marvelous concept that we're on the verge of losing if Obama wins this thing.
Freedom. Liberty. Private sector."
"You get this guy off the teleprompter and it's a crapshoot."
"'Harry,' Obama once said to Dingy Harry Reid, 'I just have a gift.' Well, the gift has vanished."
"So let's talk about some triggers, shall we? If unemployment exceeds 10%, that triggers the resignation
of the president who promised unemployment would not exceed 8% if the stimulus was passed."
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Continually repeat ... It's not about me. I'm the President. |
But Rush, but Rush! What will the GOP Lady Fashionistas think of your golf attire?
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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
President Obama tonight with a speech, not about health care, it's about his political future, about his political fortunes, and we're going to get into a great bit of analysis of this as the program unfolds before your very eyes and ears today. Just out, an Associated Press-GfK and I don't know who GfK is, I couldn't care less, all I know is it's an Associated Press poll that "says that public disapproval of President Barack Obama's handling of health care has jumped to 52 percent." Fifty-two percent disapprove, but this is the second or third poll that the number is over 50% of people that disapprove of this, which makes this speech even more remarkable tonight because the president is going to try to convince members of Congress to vote against the will of the American people. That's what's on tap tonight, and it's all about him, it's all about saving his bacon. "The same survey shows that 49 percent now disapprove of his overall performance as president. In July, just 42 percent disapproved of how he was handling his job." So his disapproval numbers are rising all over the place issue by issue and in general.
There's an AP story: "Obama Tries to Build Momentum for Health Overhaul." He's causing the momentum to be lost by showing up on television all the time. There's a great piece at the AmericanThinker.com today from a guy who spent 30 years in the advertising business who analyzes Obama's incredibly inept sell job on this whole program from the standpoint of an advertising executive. I'll explain more on that, but, first, do you remember, folks, I've always said to you that over the years when you have been very concerned about media attacks on me, your beloved host, I've often consoled you, and I said, "Folks, don't worry. The media didn't make me. You did. They cannot break me; they didn't make me." That's why I've never had a PR flack; that's why I've never relied on press coverage to build anything here, I've never catered to it, I have never sought it out. I don't care what they say, you know the drill, because if you allow yourself to be made by the press, they can tear you down any time they want to.
Now Obama is a different story. Obama was made by the press. He gave one speech at the Democrat National Convention in 2004 and he lived off that speech sort of like Governor Cuomo did in New York in his San Francisco speech, and then the media decided to start propping this guy up out of nowhere when everybody thought Hillary Clinton was going to be the coronated queen of this country. Al of a sudden, a year-and-a-half before the election here comes all these puff pieces about Obama all over the place and the media made this guy and that means the media, if they want, can break him. And I don't know -- there's a story here in The Politico -- I mean this is obviously State-Run Media off the tracks here. I don't know that they're going to break Obama. Certainly not in the old-fashioned way, but a lot of people in his team, a lot of people that support him are getting a little disappointed. The magic is gone. The whole reason for having Obama in the White House is gone. His cult-like personality appeal, all of that's gone. It was never about substance with Obama. It was all about change and hope and all these vague platitudes, and the vague platitudes have not transmitted themselves into any kind of solid substance.
For example, here, from a surprised Associated Press -- I don't understand why this is news. "Taxpayers face losses on a significant portion of the $81 billion in government aid provided to the auto industry, an oversight panel said in a report to be released Wednesday. The Congressional Oversight Panel did not provide an estimate of the projected loss in its latest monthly report on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But it said most of the $23 billion initially provided to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC late last year is unlikely to be repaid." That's news? Anybody with half a brain could tell you the money was down a rathole. It was never going to be repaid. It was a boondoggle. In fact, the only reason for this bailout was not to save the car companies, it was to save the unions, it was to save the unions and their health care plans, and also it was so Obama Motors could get rid of the big SUVs that he doesn't like you driving, the Hummers. The Hummer is now made in China. The ChiComs are making Hummers and we're making these little bubble cars and talking about windmills.
This is all about taking control of people's lives. It's a great little microcosm for what health care will lead to, which, can I boil health care down for you, the essence of it? Life and decisions have consequences. Here are the two choices. The two choices are this. You can let the government run health care and deal with the consequences, or you can have the private sector as it has been doing, provide health care and deal with the consequences. The choice is yours. And people are choosing the private sector in overwhelming numbers. One of the points this advertising guy makes -- maybe it's not the advertising guy, another story. It's a good point whoever made it, I'll give credit when I find the story here in the Stack of Stuff. It's basically that you can't create a crisis when people are satisfied with what they have, and the vast majority of Americans are satisfied and like their health care coverage. They have disagreements now and then with the insurance companies, but they're not in a frame of mind here where the whole thing is broken, throw it away and put it back together and that's what Obama is trying to sell and he's making it worse every time he goes out and talks about it, and people are worried about this.
The Politico story: "'Obama's Media Skills Face Pivotal Test' -- This summer marked the fifth anniversary of the Democratic Party’s swoon for Barack Obama." It also marked the fifth anniversary of the media's swoon for Barack Obama, but they don't mention themselves in the story. Yes, this summer marked "the fifth anniversary of the Democratic Party’s swoon for Barack Obama, who thrilled millions of people hearing the young state senator for the first time with words that set his image as a dazzling unifier in an age of mean and divisive politics," and they quote some of the words from the speech. And five years later, they say, "President Obama is losing his argument. Far from taming the forces of accusation, personal malice and ideological fervor, Obama and his signature health care agenda this summer became their target -- and at least partly their victim. What’s more, as he prepares to address Congress in a nationally televised speech Wednesday, one of the main pillars of Obama’s reputation -- that his gift for healing words would combine with the power of his biography to transcend the rancor of modern politics -- has never looked more wobbly." What a paragraph!
The paragraph happens to be accurate as hell, but what a paragraph. "His gift for healing words when combined with the power of his biography to transcend the rancor of modern politics." That's what all of these doofuses thought he represented and half the people, if not more than half who voted for him, thought that that's what he represented. And he's not that at all. He's a hard-core leftist radical with dangerous designs on the future of this country. At least State-Controlled Politico is now aware that Obama has never looked more wobbly. I'll tell you why, Politico. He wasn't built on substance. He's built on you guys. You guys are the ones who put off this notion that he had this gift for healing words that would combine with the power of his biography to transcend the rancor of modern politics. The rancor of modern politics will never be transcended and people who have studied it know it. There are always going to be passionate debates about issues, there are always going to be multiple sides to an issue. There's no one person that could come along, no earthly person that could come along and erase all of that and you guys in the media are the ones that put that gibberish out there.
So they made him. They furthered all this and now they say he's looking wobbly. "Even some Democratic strategists say Obama and his vaunted political and communications teams should have seen it coming. 'The true impact of congressional or party leadership is declining every day compared to the power of blogs and talk radio,' said longtime Democratic pollster Paul Maslin. 'It was surprising to me that Obama and company were caught unaware by this. They should have been first to realize you can mobilize people and use forms of communication to get people riled up.' Maslin, who resides in Madison, Wis., said he’s seen the power of the right wing even in his liberal college town, where there have been conservative tea parties to rail against Obama’s plans to increase taxes on the wealthy to pay for his expansive agenda. 'They’re not the majority, but they’re vocal,' Maslin said. 'And they’ve used guerrilla tactics to dominate the debate.'"
We are the majority, Mr. Maslin, that is the whole point here. But this is a Democrat consultant, this is an amazing statement: "The true impact of congressional or party leadership is declining every day compared to the power of blogs and talk radio." Note he doesn't say cable TV in here. Blogs and talk radio. "Surprising that Obama and company were caught unaware"? They're not unaware. Barack Obama tried to tell the Republican leadership not to listen to me early on within two weeks of being immaculated. They knew what they were up against. They just are so filled with elitist arrogance and ego that they thought this magic gift of healing words combined with the power of his biography would transcend the rancor of modern politics and render people like me voiceless and powerless. They knew what they were up against. In their arrogant condescension they thought, ah, Obama can handle it. That's why they're lost because the one tool they had has vanished. The substance of what Obama stands for and believes in and has done is not working and is not pleasing to people.
What is this going to be, speech 112 on health care? And he's seeking to reignite the momentum? And there was a great question from Jake Tapper, said, "I've looked at the transcript of the speech and there's nothing new in it, there's not one thing new in this speech. Why give the speech?" Gibbs' answer was typical Gibbs, "Why, there's a lot new in here." I'll give you the quote here in just a second. In this Politico story, they quote another veteran Democrat strategerist, Bill Carrick. He said "Obama faces a 'big dilemma' in determining whether to take on the likes of Glenn Beck, Matt Drudge and Rush Limbaugh. 'To do that he has to consider, a) does it diminish me and b) does it make it harder to create a bipartisan legislative environment.'" He's not about bipartisanship, you idiots. He has not held a meeting on health care or on anything in the Oval Office where Republicans were included since April! He can't unite his own party. They're trying to slough this problem off on recalcitrant Republicans, but that's not even a factor.
So The Politico guy is, whoa, he's gotta really worry here. Does he take on Limbaugh or does he not? Does he take on Beck? Does he take on Drudge? And if he does that, does it diminish him? So, anyway, here's State-Controlled Politico really, really worried and they all ought to be because the single reason Obama is where he is has been exposed as phony and fraudulent.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, Jake Tapper of ABC News, asked Robert Gibbs, the best-ever press secretary, a really good question. Jake Tapper, said "Well, okay, one other question. You talked about all the things the president is going to do in this speech, and with the exception of the last one -- how he moved forward from here -- none of them are new. He's been making the argument about security and stability for health care reform, what it means to people who have insurance, what it means to people that don't have insurance, what's not in the bill. With the exception of how we move forward, we've heard all this before. The American people have heard all this before."
Gibbs said, "No, I don't -- I don't -- I don't know that! I don't know that they have heard it in as big a forum clearly, directly from the president as they will tomorrow night." So here we have the guy who, since the end of January, has made 112 speeches and remarks and counting -- the man who is the greatest communicator in the world, the man who has this remarkable talent to end rancor with his gift for healing words and the power of his biography to transcend the rancor of modern politics. The very same guy is finally going to give a speech that will finally and for real, truly, not kidding this time, explain everything to us about health care reform. Really, truly, this is it, after 12 and counting tonight's speech is the speech. "This time you'll understand it," said Gibbs. "We really, really know that you'll understand it," and Tapper said, "There's nothing new in this."
There was some talk that Obama would come out in his speech tonight and mention a possible inclusion of tort reform. That's not going to happen! He's gonna plug the public option. He's going to go along with Pelosi on this. He's gonna plug the public option. Unless they've got a fake release of the text of the speech that Jake Tapper and a lot of people have seen in which there's nothing new in it, then they're still relying on the power of Obama's personality (deep, pompous breath), his marvelous biography, his communication skills combined with the power of his biography, to end the rancor in modern politics. And yet he hasn't met with Republican leaders on health care since April. And they talk about needing a bipartisan bill.
There's no need. Oh. And Ben Nelson today was on Fox Snooze around 11 o'clock. He said, "They can't count on me." He's a Democrat from Nebraska. "They can't count on me for the 60th vote. I put my country and state ahead of my party, and I don't like this public option business. What we need to be doing is reforming some things in the private sector. The private sector is working." Now, this... (laughs) This is a pretty damning statement. Oh. And the press is also putting out misrepresentations about the viewpoint of Olympia Snowe. Apparently she's not all caught up in the public option. So it's a very fluid situation but it is a wobbly time for President Obama -- and it's going to get even worse, I predict, because his poll numbers go down the more he is on television.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here's that story that I quoted earlier or mentioned earlier from the AmericanThinker.com by Sammy Benoit: "Having spent much of the past thirty years of my life in the advertising industry, the flaws of President Obama's health care message are apparent and massive. Most people outside the ad business will tell you that commercials try to beat you over the head to make you buy what you don't need or want. In truth advertising that doesn't address the public's needs or wants does not work. On top of that, if a consumer keeps being exposed to a message that does not meet a need, they begin to tune it out quickly; it's called wear-out.
"Finally if the message keeps changing, consumers get suspicious" of the product "Sound Familiar? That's because almost since his inauguration [Obama] has been beating us over the head with a heath care message that does not address the needs or wants of the majority of American voters. His heath care effort is designed to make sure everyone has heath care, pre-existing conditions are covered and there is a public option to ensure greater competition to keep prices low. Voters don't have a perceived need for the president's health care plan. Polls show that between 85-90% of voters are satisfied with their present health care coverage.
Covering everybody is a noble effort, but voters are feeling the effects of a deep recession and are worried about the federal deficit. Just like a commercial for a new Mercedes Benz, most see universal coverage as something nice to have, but maybe another time." This preexisting condition business, can I give you an illustration here of why preexisting condition coverage in health insurance is silly? You're going to pay out the wazoo for preexisting coverage. Let's say you do not have fire insurance in your home, and all of a sudden your house starts burning. And instead of calling the fire department, you call an insurance company and say, "Hey, I need to buy a policy, a homeowner policy that protects me against fire."
"Oh, okay, we'll see about..."
"No, no, no! I need it right now. My house is burning down."
Do you think the insurance company would sell you an insurance policy in the middle of a fire destroying your house? It's the same thing as when you have a preexisting medical condition and you want to be insured for it. You're going to pay out the wazoo for it, folks, and Obama promising that you're going to be insured to preexisting conditions is BS. It isn't going to -- or it's going to break the bank making it happen. It's just ridiculous. If you really want to save money, there are two things you can do: Tort reform and make health insurance portable from state to state so that you can buy a policy from California if you like it, a California company. Right now you can't. I mean, that would lower costs. There are so many things we could do here in the private sector -- and if you just want to insure the uninsured, it's about 12 million people. We talked about that a couple times and most recently yesterday.
"America is a still a center right country believing in free enterprise. The president has not explained to voters what a public option will do to satisfy their needs. Obama has also not laid out how the public option, his 'New and Improved' health insurance will provide a tangible consumer benefit. They see a government who can't manage costs and budgets on existing heath care plans. The [president's] message has not explained how his product is better than what people already have." See, it's not about that. This guy Sammy Benoit is exactly right. Obama can't explain that because it isn't better! It's not designed to be better. It's not about health care. It's about control of people's lives. It's about the growth and expansion of government. It's about the usurpation of individual liberty.
"Pundits have commented that almost every time Obama goes on TV, voter support for ObamaCare slips. In advertising that is called wear-out. Before it was purchased by Nestle, I worked on the Carnation Pet Food account. The agency I worked for developed a great commercial for Mighty Dog, a canned dog food product. The TV spot featured a great testimonial, a dog barking with subtitles. It was the kind of commercial that broke through the clutter of other ads to generate much attention. Within a few weeks of the commercial airing it stopped being effective. Because the commercial received so much attention, people began to tune it out very quickly." I can give you an example of this. Have you noticed...? It's football season now, and have you noticed all these Coors ads?
Nothing against Coors here. I mean, you know I love private sector companies. But these Coors Light commercials with these ex-football coaches in the postgame press conference taking questions from these goons about Coors Light? They're so stupid, they're memorable. But they wear me out. They're just so stupid. They're stupid by design. The whole concept is stupid, but the coaches' answers have nothing to do with the questions being asked. They're just stupid. They're supposed to be. I mean, like I'm talking about it. But I'll tell you, it wears me out. Well, same thing here. "President Obama has over-used the bully pulpit of the presidency. Because every time the POTUS makes another speech, or has another press conference he receives a high level of attention. Just like the barking dog in the Mighty Dog commercial it is losing its effectiveness and people are tuning out."
And, by the way, each of his primetime press conferences ratings have gone down with each successive one. It'll be interesting to see the ratings tonight. "Sometimes it seems that the POTUS changes his health care message more often than people change their underwear. It was heath care reform, it was insurance reform, then it was health care reform again and then it was insurance reform. The President has even changed the villains; first it was the Republicans, then it was talk radio, then Fox News and the CBO. There was one period where the President dropped all the villains and tried to convince rabbis, priests and ministers, to deliver sermons on ObamaCare because it is a moral thing to do. Originally the famous public option just had to be in the plan and now... well maybe it does and maybe it doesn't.
"While it is sometimes necessary to refine or change product attributes and messages after the launch of an existing product, changing advertising messages for product during its introduction creates confusion and suspicion. It should be done with great care. It seems as if [Obama's] original message was not well thought out and they keep changing it on the fly. This is why there is so much confusion about ObamaCare, there has been so many messages," because he doesn't have a plan! This is the thing that I have continually observed. He doesn't have a plan. He can't point to page 44 and say, "No! See, right here it says there aren't any death panels." He can't do that. The only bill out there that anybody can read and check up on is the House monstrosity.
"When I worked on that same pet food account, we were about to introduce a new dry dog food called New Breed. This was going to be the big star of Carnation; New Breed, the Best Tasting Dog Food. The product was tested against all major competition and dogs preferred New Breed's taste. It had the biggest ad budget by far, of anything in the Carnation stable of products. Shortly after it was introduced, our claim was challenged by a small regional dog food brand so we had to change the message to New Breed, the Best Tasting NATIONAL Dog Food. That lasted for about a week, when we got a challenge from a small but national canned dog food product. The commercial was changed to New Breed, the Best Tasting National Dog Food IN A BAG.
"One month later Purina launched its High Pro dry dog food which also tested better. Rather than change the message to New Breed, Dogs Think it Tastes Pretty Good -- Sometimes, a totally new campaign was developed and the product was off the market six months after that. Consumer-centric advertising, crafting your message, addressing the needs and wants of the end user and doing it in a way that does not turn off consumers is important to make your message work. In the end, it is the hubris of the POTUS, creating an ever-changing confusing message that does not address the needs of the voters along with over using the power of the presidency as a messenger combining to keep the public from truly listening to his pitch." I think they are listening. I don't think they like what they're hearing at all. He's just relying on that old magic, the cult of personality. That's gonna be relying on tonight, too. The great gift! "Harry..." he said to Dingy Harry once. "Harry, I just have a gift." Well, the gift has vanished.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I'm getting lots of e-mails from people, "Rush, when you had your TV show you always made signs for us to put at the bottom of the screen during Clinton State of the Union speeches. What would a good sign be tonight?" I got the perfect sign, if you want to put something on your TV to keep you focused, "Words," dot-dot-dot, "Just Words. "Words… Just Words," a little piece of paper bumper sticker size, well, depending on the size of your screen, your flat screen, whatever, put it on there and keep it up there as you watch Obama's 35-minute speech where he answers all the major questions.
END TRANSCRIPT
WILLIAMS: Presentation for the news media at a local school was hit with technical difficulties. Ted Chen is here with more on their issues.
CHEN: Not everything went as planned. At Commonwealth Elementary School there were bigger problems than the flap over the president's speech. Packed with media, the TV wasn't working. So we tried the radio, and that worked until the president's voice got drowned out by Rush Limbaugh. It was the only station I could find a signal for. Deputy education secretary Tony Miller then took matters into his own hands and read the rest of the president's speech.
WILLIAMS: Ironic, Ted, that you could only get Rush Limbaugh on the radio.
CHEN: Yeah, it was. We were fiddling around with that radio dial. We couldn't find a station that was airing the speech except for I believe it was KFI that airs Rush Limbaugh's program. So that was interesting.
RUSH: They could only get me when the TV didn't work, shades of Green Bay.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
| • LA Times: In One L.A. Classroom, Obama's Speech Faces Technical Difficulties |
HARRIS: By September 2nd, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are all over it.
RUSH ARCHIVE: So he goes out and tells these kids you gotta take personal responsibility. He never even does that in his own life.
HARRIS: By September 3rd, school districts all over the country are coming under pressure not to show the speech to students. The conservative echo chamber is not new, but this White House is operating in a vastly accelerated media environment where you no longer need to be in the presence of reporters to make news. The damage was done. The White House was again thrown off message. Even in their success, you probably shouldn't expect the right to relent any time soon. In fact, today, Rush Limbaugh urged his listeners to keep at it.
RUSH ARCHIVE: What happened in August is going to be required behavior of all of us for the remainder of this guy's first term.
RUSH: Oh, man, ABC out there blaming me for the furor over the school speech. Howard Fineman last night on MSNBC, was asked this question: "How foolish does this look now that the speech has been delivered? And this Florida GOP chairman who pushed the idea, 'Oh, this is the second speech.' When confronted, 'What's your evidence there was another speech,' earlier says 'I don't know.'"
FINEMAN: The White House sources I have insist that the speech was not changed. There is an undertone of fear here among certain parts of the country to object to the idea that the president is calling on kids to work hard in school and be proud of themselves and do the right thing is crazy, and for Rush Limbaugh to say that it's somehow unpatriotic to say that it's patriotic to stay in school doesn't make sense, especially when back in the Bush administration they accused everybody of unpatriotic activity if they so much as dared to question the president's conduct of the war, for example.
RUSH: Howard, who said "unpatriotic"? I never uttered the word unpatriotic about this speech. What I said was he didn't believe a word of it, that he would not give that speech to the American people at large, that he does not practice individual responsibility or encourage it in any of his agenda items. For crying out loud, Howard, where are you getting your template-filled information here? If you just listened to yesterday's show you would know that I said Obama purposely gave a mainstream conservative and insincere speech. 'Cause I don't think he meant a word of it. If he did, then let's see it, let's see everything he told those kids enacted in parts of his agenda. But they're not. People aren't competent enough to take care of their own health care; they're not competent enough to buy the right car; they're not competent enough to use energy properly; they're not competent enough to buy the right lightbulb. So he goes out and tells these kids personal responsibility? It doesn't fit, Howard. But nobody called it unpatriotic. I called it conservative, down the line conservative. In fact, Obama is the only guy that could have given a speech like this mentioning God twice in a public school. If a Republican had tried that there would be a protest today.
To the phones we start in South Holland, Michigan. Tom, welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program. Hello.
CALLER: South Holland, Illinois. Rush, how you doing?
RUSH: I'm sorry, yeah, welcome to the program, sir.
CALLER: Rush, listen, for years I've been listening to you as a local broadcaster. I've been on few local stations, but I want your listeners to know, I attended my first tea party put on by the Tea Party Express that came through here into New Lenox last Saturday.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: It was an experience I'll never forget. It was great entertainers trying to rally patriotism, accountability. The only time that they ever got a little bit upset was when you mentioned Pelosi, Reid and the fact that they're trying to take over the country with this health care program. It was nothing but a bunch of grassroots people walking back and forth all day long with them talking to 'em. They had every veteran from the Iraq war, the Gulf War, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and World War II stand up and be acknowledged for their service, and applauded, they waved flags, they sang patriotic songs. Rush, I walked away from there feeling more American than I've ever felt in my life. I turned on the news the next day or that night, on ABC, and you've got the most distorted view I've ever seen in my life. The helicopter flying overhead completely diminished the size of the crowd with its views --
RUSH: Let me ask you a question here, Tom. Was this a local ABC News cast or was it the ABC national --
CALLER: ABC Channel 7 coming out of Chicago.
RUSH: Well, okay, ABC is ABC, Chicago --
CALLER: ABC is ABC, and I'm telling you, I was so mad at the way they represented us. They called us an angry crowd. Rush, I'm telling the truth, it was not an angry crowd unless you mentioned the health care program, and if you want to talk about the fact that they think that they're organized, nobody ever -- and I walked that place stem to stern about three or four times -- nobody ever approached you said there was going to be an organizational thing, nobody ever even mentioned that you should do one thing or the other, but whether we were doing the Pledge of Allegiance, and it was a completely extemporaneous thing when it came to "under God," everybody just, in unison, brought up the volume about three or four times, and like I said, it was the most --
RUSH: They're scared.
CALLER: I can see --
RUSH: Tom, they're scared.
CALLER: Pardon?
RUSH: The media are scared. The media are scared. Everybody knows that they are carrying Obama's water. But as I said yesterday, another factor that explains media behavior is they genuinely do hate the people. Not personally because they don't know the people. They hate the people that were at your tea party. They hate when they stand for. They don't want those people to win. And you people are winning. Obama's losing. In every poll on health care he's losing and that makes 'em as mad as anything does. Because they think they should have the power to shape public opinion like they used to. They get furious when every effort they make to shape public opinion doesn't work. It makes 'em furious. And so you add that to the template and the stereotypes that they already have of conservatives and people like this who show up and it's not surprising at all that you would see the report that you saw. 'Cause they're just mad. And they're scared.
END TRANSCRIPT
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You want to hear the table of contents in the Max Baucus bill? This is the one everybody's all excited about now, Gang of Six in there, three Republicans, three Democrats. Remember, now, Baucus announced yesterday part of his plan is a fine of up to 3,800 bucks on citizens via the IRS if you don't have health insurance. It's going to be mandatory just like automobile insurance is.
"Section I: Health systems savings." There are four chapters. "Ensuring appropriate payment. Capturing productivity gains. Reducing geographic variation in spending, and modifying beneficiary contributions." "Section II: Options for Modifying the Exclusion for Employer-Provided Health Insurance." (Repeats for emphasis.) "Options for Modifying the Exclusion for Employer-Provided Health Insurance." "Section III: Other Health Care Relate Revenue Raisers, Modify Or Repeal The Itemized Deduction For Medical Expenses. Repeal Or Modify The Special Deduction And Special Unearned Premium Rule For Blue Cross And Blue Shield Or Other Quantifying Organizations. Modify Health Savings Accounts. Modify Or Repeal The Exclusion For Employer Provided Reimbursement Of Medical Expenses Under Flexible Spending Arrangements And Health Reimbursement Arrangements." Wow, they're really simplifying this, aren't they?
Now, every time you hear me say "modify or repeal," think "eliminate or cut." Or another word, yeah. (laughing) It begins with an F. Another word we can't use. "Limit The Qualified Medical Expense Definition. Modify The FICA Tax Exemption." That's Social Security. "Extend The Medicare Payroll Tax To All State And Local Government Employees. Modify The Requirements For Tax Exempt Hospitals." Now, whenever you hear "modify or limit," or "repeal," or "limit;" think "cut," or "get rid of," or the F-bomb. "Section IV: Lifestyle Related Revenue Raisers. Impose A Uniform Alcohol Excise Tax. Enact A Sugar Sweetened Beverage Excise Tax. Section V: Administration's Revenue Raising Proposals," and I have them all here. I printed it out. I'm sorry it's very long. It's five pages.
"The President has outlined a number of possible revenue raising provisions as part of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget proposals. In Committee discussions on health care reform, the focus has been on health care-related program savings and revenue raising proposals. However, the Chairman desires to provide, for the information of Members and potential discussion, a list of the President's Budget proposals. Revenues Dedicated to the Health Reform Reserve Fund. 1. Limit the Tax Rate at which Itemized Deductions Reduce Tax Liability to 28 Percent. 2. Reduce the Tax Gap and Make Reforms. Expand Information Reporting. Require Information Reporting for Private Separate Accounts of Life Insurance Companies. Require Information Reporting on Payments to Corporations.
"Require a Certified Taxpayer Identification Number from Contractors and Allow Certain Withholding. Require Increased Information Reporting for Certain Government Payments for Property and Services. Increase Information Return Penalties Improve Compliance by Business." Well, "Expand Information Reporting" means all of us in the private sector have to tell the government more and more about what we're doing. "Require E-Filing by Certain Large Organizations. Implement Standards Clarifying when Employee Leasing Companies Can Be Held Liable for Their Clients' Federal Employment Taxes. Strengthen Tax Administration Allow Assessment of Criminal Restitution as Tax. Revise Offer-in-Compromise Application Rules. Expand IRS Access to Information in the National Directory of New Hires for Tax Administration Purposes. Make Repeated Willful Failure to File a Tax Return a Felony."
This is in the Max Baucus health care bill. That's just page one. There are four more of these things. Yeah. Only the rich are going to be paying for this. A couple millionaires going to be paying for all this. You're going to get it free. "3. Make Reforms to Close Tax Loopholes." "Impose Penalty on Failure to Comply with Electronic Filing Requirements." "Clarify That the Bad Check Penalty Applies to Electronic Checks and Other Payment Forms." "Expand Required Electronic Filing by Tax Return Preparers Expand Penalties." This is "Section V: Administration's Revenue Raising Proposals." "Improve Investigative Disclosure Statute." "Extension of Statute of Limitations where State Tax Adjustment Affects Federal Tax Liability," meaning (snorts), make it more difficult to deduct your state taxes on your federal return.
"Deny Deduction for Punitive Damages. Repeal Lower-of-Cost-or-Market Inventory Accounting Method. Modify Estate and Gift Tax Valuation Discounts and Make Other Reforms." "4. Modify Alternative Fuel Mixture Credit." That's ethanol. This is in the health care bill. "Other Revenue Raising Proposals: 1. Other Revenue Changes and Loophole Closers: Reinstate Superfund Excise Taxes. Reinstate Superfund Environmental Income Tax. Tax Carried (Profit) Interests as Ordinary Income. Codify 'Economic Substance' Doctrine Repeal the Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) Method of Accounting for Inventories. Reform US International Tax System. ... Defer Deduction of Expenses, Except R&E Expenses, Related to Deferred Income. Reform Foreign Tax Credit: Determine the Foreign Tax Credit on a Pooling Basis.
"Repeal 80/20 Company Rules. Prevent the Avoidance of Dividend Withholding Taxes. Modify Tax Rules for Dual Capacity Taxpayers ... Require Withholding on Payments of FDAP Income Made Through Nonqualified Intermediaries. Require Withholding on Gross Proceeds Paid to Certain Nonqualified Intermediaries. Require Reporting of Certain Transfers of Money or Property to Foreign Financial Accounts. Require Disclosure of FBAR Accounts to be Filed with Tax Return. Require Third-Party Information Reporting Regarding the Transfer of Assets to Foreign Financial Accounts and the Establishment of Foreign Financial Accounts." It goes on. "Eliminate Oil and Gas Company Preferences. Levy Tax on Certain Offshore Oil and Gas Production. Repeal Credit for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Projects. Repeal Credit for Production from Marginal Wells. Repeal Expensing of Intangible Drilling Costs. Repeal Deduction for Tertiary Injectants.
"Repeal Passive Loss Exception for Working Interests in Oil and Gas Properties. Repeal Percentage Depletion. Repeal Domestic Manufacturing Deduction for Oil and Gas Production. Increase the Amortization Period for Geological and Geophysical Costs to Seven Years. Eliminate the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit. ... Reinstate the 39.6-Percent Rate Reinstate the 36-Percent Rate for Taxpayers with Income over $250,000 (Married Filing a Joint Return) and $200,000 (Single). Reinstate the Limitation on Itemized Deductions for Taxpayers with Income over $250,000..." These are all "revenue raisers" in the Max Baucus bill, "Section V: Administration's Revenue Raising Proposals." Okay, we've got what Obama wants to do with all these taxes and eliminations of this and modifications and repeals. Let's see if he talks about any of this tonight in his speech. Well, of course, he'll do all this and we still won't have enough money.
He's going to break the bank. He's gonna kill the private sector with this. He's gonna kill competition. He's gonna destroy incentive. He's gonna raise the price of gasoline and oil-related products through the wazoo. Folks, this is the point. This is the Max Baucus bill but it's the Obama bill and this is how this stuff is all going to happen. This is not about health care when you read through this. This is all about the elimination of as much private sector competition as there can be, punitive taxation, penalties galore. It has nothing to do with health care. And all this is supposed to save us money? No! It's not even going to offset the deficit because it's gonna limit tax revenues because it's going to break people. And then we come to the accompanying story here from the Washington Post: "Recovery May Well Wait on the Wealthy to Step up Their Spending." There's another story here from McClatchy: "A Year After the Financial Crisis, Consumer Economy is Dead."
I better take a break here. I'll do these two stories when we come back but theory fascinating. Because you people, you people, you're saving too much. Just yesterday or over the weekend, Obama was saying, "You're not saving enough. We need to expand savings options, and one of the things we're going to do and we're going to send your income tax refund to you in a savings bond," which allows them to keep your money! Forced savings. Even though you're saving too much and not spending enough. Now we're waiting for the rich to step up their spending. Because I guess the poor getting food stamps to buy food, toothpaste, and detergent simply isn't reviving the economy. Tax cuts for the poor simply aren't doing the trick.
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RUSH: I got a question in the e-mail during the break: "Why does this require a certain certified taxpayer ID number from contractors to allow certain withholding?" Right now, independent contractors -- and there's a ten-point IRS definition that has to be met for you to be an independent contractor. For example, when you pay a lawyer you don't withhold anything from your payment to the lawyer and report to the IRS. You just give the lawyer your payment and then the lawyer has to declare the income, files a quarterly estimate and so forth. There are certain independent contractors that you pay that you don't withhold any taxes from. That's going to change under this bill. Require a certified taxpayer ID number from contractors -- that means independent contractors, that means 1099 contractors are going to have withholding taxes taken out.
Now, in the case of a doctor payment or a lawyer payment, are you going to have to do the withholding and report to the government, if you're the client, you're the customer? I don't know. But somebody's going to have to do the withholding. Are the lawyers going to have to do it themselves, the independent contractors, because right now what they do is they file quarterly and they file estimates based on sliding scale and so forth. It's actually kind of nice 'cause you get to keep your money longer and use it longer rather than give it to the government and that's what they want to change. They want the money now. They don't want you to have it. They want as much withholding as they can get. This is all about the limitation of freedom. When you go through this list in the Baucus bill, administration revenue enhancers or revenue raisers, you find out that the health care bill is where all the tax changes are going to take place all under the guise of making health care cheaper and lowering the deficit and raising revenue to provide health care for the people that don't have it.
The Washington Post State-Controlled Media did an analysis of the House bill. Even if it's passed as is and signed into law, after ten years there are still something like 25 or 17 million uninsured in this country. The Senate bill is even worse. It's not even doing what it seeks to accomplish because that's not what it seeks to accomplish. It doesn't seek to insure everybody. If this Baucus bill happens, what's going to happen is more and more people are going to be uninsured, premiums are going to skyrocket, and the whole idea there is, "Oh, my gosh, look at all the people unemployed and uninsured, oh, my, we need the public option." They're going to try, if it takes them two years to get this, they might pass a health care bill next week that says we're going to study the issue further. They're going to pass something that Obama can say, "Got my health care bill," and then they're going to keep adding to it and adding to it til they finally get their public option. You've heard Barney Frank say it's what they want. You've heard Maxine Waters say that's what they want. You've heard Jan Schakowsky of Illinois say it. Even Obama has said it in speeches in 2003 and 2007. Will he tell us that tonight? Is that what he's going to say? Of course not. Here, listen to Baucus. This is this afternoon on his plan. He's talking to a couple of reporters.
BAUCUS: I very much hope and do expect Republicans to be on board. I don't know how many, but if there are not any, I'm going to move forward in any event.
RUSH: Well, he's going to move his bill with or without Republicans. All this talk of bipartisanship is BS. And Olympia Snowe is not on board. She's not on board the public option despite the reporting to the contrary. So Baucus is pretty much admitting this Gang of Six thing is nothing but spin. Ah, if I can't get Republicans I'm going to move it forward anyway. Stand by, folks. Get ready. They're ratcheting it up, and the news tomorrow is going to be, "Wow, great comeback. Great, great comeback. Oh, Obama pulled a rabbit. The old Obama is back." I just know it. In fact, it will probably be the case tonight after the speech. Be prepared.
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RUSH: Barney Frank on Street Signs, CNBC this afternoon, Erin Burnett said, "Men's Health magazine is going to run an article where they spoke to the president. He said our kids drink way too much soda. I think it's an idea we should be exploring." Not his damn business what people's kids drink, none of his damn business! She said to Barney Frank, "That's specifically referring to a soda tax. Could a soda tax go in here? Is all of that still up for grabs?"
FRANK: Very unlikely. I guess the other question is will Men's Health have a picture of the president with his shirt off given the nature of their coverage. No, I think it's very unlikely that there will be a soda tax.
BURNETT: What about the tax on the top 5% of earners? Is that a done deal in this bill?
FRANK: I hope it is.
RUSH: Well, I just read to you here in the Baucus bill, and in the health care related revenue raisers, Section 4, lifestyle related revenue raisers. "Enact a sugar sweetened beverage excise tax." It's in the table of contents of the Baucus bill. Every tax you can think of and then some is in this bill.
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| Read the Background Material... |
| • FOXNews: Fox Obtains the Baucus Bill • Heritage: The Baucus Plan: The Status Quo on Steroids • S&L: Five Pages of the Max Baucus Bill |
OBAMA: Just as the news cycle as shrunk, so has the bottom line. Too often we fill that void with instant commentary and celebrity gossip and the softer stories that Walter disdained, rather than the hard news and investigative journalism he championed.
RUSH: Wahh-haaa! (sobbing)
OBAMA: "What happened today?" is replaced with, "Who won today?" The public debate cheapens. The public trust falters.
RUSH: Wahh-haaa! (sobbing)
OBAMA: We fail to understand our world or one another as well as we should.
RUSH: For crying out loud, he's got the most compliant, soft media anybody's ever had! There is zip, zero, nada investigative journalism aimed at him or his administration. Except by us. Imagine! I mean, to go to the Walter Cronkite memorial and whine and cry and complain about the nature of the news business. You know, the next thing he's going to say? "Well, don't blame me! I inherited low poll numbers from George Bush." He "inherited" everything else from Bush. He'll blame Bush for his low poll numbers. Walter Cronkite's memorial, crying and moaning and whining about the news media. Here's the next sound bite.
OBAMA: The simple values Walter Cronkite set out in pursuit of -- to seek the truth, to keep us honest, to explore our world the best he could -- they're as vital today as they ever were.
RUSH: Mmm-hmm.
OBAMA: Our American story continues.
RUSH: Not for long.
OBAMA: It needs to be told. And if we choose to live up to Walter's example -- if we realize that the kind of journalism he embodied will not simply rekindle itself as part of a natural cycle but will come alive only if we stand up and demand it and resolve to value it once again -- then I'm convinced that the choice between profit and progress is a false one, and that the golden days of journalism still lie ahead.
RUSH: So it's all the fault of "profit." The news business pursuing profit, eeeeevil profit and progress! It's a false choice. "The golden days of journalism still lie ahead." The golden days of journalism are over. The golden days of journalism where people in it determined and shaped public opinion without any competition whatsoever, are over. And Cronkite? Yeah, you don't like to speak ill of the dead, but Cronkite was just a raging lib through and through. The reason Walter Cronkite didn't like the news today is because he couldn't do what he did even if he went back to the air after he had retired. "Explore our world the best we could... as vital today, our American story continues, needs to be told. " Our American story may not continue very long with this guy in charge. "If we choose to live up to Walter's example, the kind of journalism he embodied will not simply rekindle itself as part of a natural cycle, come alive only if we stand up and demand it"?
Who stand up and demand it? It's the market, Mr. President, and it is what it is.
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| Read the Background Material... |
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| • New York Times: At Cronkite Memorial, Talk of Traditions |
All Hail the Possum!
And if everything goes to plan tonight, Congress will make it the law of the land to deny health care to their fellow man. Death panels for the people who put them in office. This can't be happening, except that it is. We have the money to insure those that can't afford their own insurance and are legally here in the country. We could either have the feds pay for private health insurance policies with something akin to food stamps or we can set up charities to fund privately held policies -- and if those charities couldn't raise enough money, that would trigger supplemental payments from the federal government. Let's raise the current ceiling on charitable contributions. Let the private sector take care of these people through purchasing insurance policies from the private sector. What a great charity that would be! A win-win-win: larger deductions for all charitable giving.
The private sector is paid for their insurance products and services through charitable contributions and the needy get coverage. I look at all of this and it's just surreal. Now, the president is out there advancing a lie that he has advanced before. He said he's open to ideas. Anybody who's got any better ideas on health care, he's willing to listen. He said that before his Porkulus bill as well. On the economy, on health care, Obama has repeatedly said that he was open to new ideas from Democrats or Republicans. And it's a lie. He didn't take my idea. I had a great idea. It was published in the Wall Street Journal. He didn't take anybody's idea. It's all BS. It's just words. Obama's never taken any idea that wasn't leftist to the core. The stimulus bill was jammed down our throats just like Obamacare. So he's out there saying, "If anybody has a great idea, I'll listen to it." But he never does. He just says it.
That's part of the illusion. That's part of the effort to convince people that he is this new guy that can unify and get rid of the whole notion of partisanship and bring us all together as one in this glorious utopia. One of the things they're talking about is "triggers." This is one of the ways -- and, by the way, keep a sharp eye on Baucus. Keep a sharp eye on Max Baucus and the Gang of Six. 'Cause they're working on this. He wants to get something done today. He wants to get an agreement today with his Gang of Six -- three Democrats, three Republicans, in the Senate committee -- to be able to say, "Hey, we got a compromise here in the Senate," before Obama's speech tonight. This is the guy who yesterday announced a fine of up to $3800 if you don't have health insurance, and there are people in this country who choose not to have it. The notion that people are clamoring for health insurance and that there's a giant crisis, is not true.
So let's talk about some triggers, shall we? How about these triggers? If unemployment exceeds 10%, that triggers the resignation of the president who promised unemployment would not exceed 8% if the stimulus was passed. If any taxes are raised on people making less than $250,000, that triggers Obama's resignation from office. All the czars will be fully vetted, and if just one fails an FBI background check -- and most of them will fail an FBI background check -- that triggers a requirement for all the czars to resign and the czar program to be discontinued. You like these triggers? If the average temperatures in the United States have not increased at the end of this year as compared to average temperatures over the past three years, that triggers the end of any and all cap-and-trade legislation.
If any health care bill proposed by the president or Congress lessens the profitability or availability of private sector insurance in any way -- increases taxes, adds to the deficit, does not including Republican reforms for private sector health insurance companies -- that will trigger an automatic withdrawal of the bill from consideration. Further, if a bill results in any policyholder losing his policy or his doctor, that triggers Obama's resignation from office. And finally if Ford Motor Company ends the year more profitable than General Motors or Chrysler -- Obama car companies -- the government and the United Auto Workers will be forced to sell their ownership. You want to talk triggers? I can come up with triggers all day long.
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RUSH: Downers Grove, Illinois. This is Art, and it's great to have you here on the program, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Greetings, Rush. I catch your pinkie finger mobster.
RUSH: (laughing) Thank you, sir. The Mob Father.
CALLER: Mob father. I got something, tonight President Obama, who personifies the word tyro, is going to speak tonight. I was just wondering if the Republican response, I suppose it's going to be headed by Boehner or somebody like that, that they would keep it simple and short like you were saying today, maybe stick with tort reform, portability and the fact that there's not 40 million, but only 11 million people that are uninsured.
RUSH: Look, even though the White House thinks I am the leader of the Republican Party, I played no role in the selection of who is giving the Republican response. I just saw the name flashed on television, I don't remember, it's not Boehner. I'll find out who it is. I have no clue what he's going to say, no clue whatsoever. I frankly hope that the central theme of the Republican response tonight is freedom. It's a marvelous concept that we're on the verge of losing if Obama wins this thing. Freedom. Liberty. Private sector. You know, start talking about reform, specific reforms, you could do tort reform, you could mention that. You could also mention the portability, cross-border purchase, state border purchase of health insurance.
You know, one of the reasons it's so screwed up is that every state has its own mandates. If you live in Florida, you want health insurance, you gotta buy it in Florida. What if you like a policy in Missouri? You can buy auto insurance at any auto company insurance in the world, in the country. You can get a personal liability umbrella from Lloyds of London if they'll insure you. But when it comes to the health insurance you've got to buy it within the state because there's so damn many mandates. You know, it's a real simple matter. If you get rid of that, the costs would plummet. It's one of the fastest things you could do to reduce costs. You know why? It would really ramp up competition. If insurance companies throughout the country had the entire population to pitch their policies to, imagine all that competition. Imagine what would happen to prices. Right now you got these mini-monopolies. The insurance companies have to deal with the mandates that the states give 'em, but they can only sell policies to people in those states. It's so screwy.
I want you to listen to this sound bite. Grab audio sound bite number four. Now, if this question isn't a plant, I don't know what is. This is yesterday at a Q&A before Obama gave his speech to the young skulls full of mush at Wakefield Highschool. He spoke with the ninth graders there. A student named Sean asked this question. Now you tell me if this question isn't a plant. Question: "Hi, Mr. President. My name is Sean, and my question is, currently 36 countries have universal health coverage, including Iraq and Afghanistan, which have it paid for by the United States. Why can't the United States have universal health coverage?" Now, where does a high school ninth grader come up with the notion that they have universal health coverage in Afghanistan and Iraq? That's some kind of leftist drivel that a teacher is pumping into their heads. Can you imagine, the president of the United States asked by a ninth grader, how come our health care is not as good as it is in Afghanistan? How come our health care is not as good as it is in Iraq? As though universal coverage equals good health care? Here's the president's answer to this.
OBAMA: What happened is that back in the 1940s and fifties, a lot of -- most of the wealthy countries around the world decided to set up health care systems that covered everybody. The United States, for a number of different reasons, organized their health care around employer-based health insurance. What happened was is that the majority of Americans still have health insurance through their job and it's, you know, most of them are happy with it, but a lot of people fall through the cracks.
RUSH: Good Lord, he just admitted that most people have insurance through their job. And, by the way, the reason that we were organized with health coverage through our employers was because we were strict capitalists back then. The idea of the government doing this was foreign. Well, it wasn't foreign, and FDR had done what he'd done, but it's been a slow creep to get government involved to the point that they are. And so Obama says, "Well, most people like their coverage. He tells this kid the majority still have health insurance in their job, and most of them are happy with it. So why are you messing with it tonight, then? You know, you get this guy off the teleprompter and it's a crapshoot. They're probably, in the White House when he said this, going, "Oh, no, gosh, I hope this doesn't end up on television, oh, no. I know Limbaugh's gonna get it then our goose is cooked." Most people have health insurance and they like it. So why is he doing what he's doing?
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RUSH: So a ninth grader stands up and asks Obama at the high school yesterday, "Afghanistan and Iraq, they got universal coverage. Why don't we have it?" From Reuters, April 21st, 2008: "Afghan laborer Chaman traveled a whole day to bring his son to Kabul to have a kidney stone removed after doctors in their home province turned them away because they could not afford the fees. The two-year-old boy, who suffered excruciating pain for three days, finally had the stone removed in a charity hospital funded by Turkey. 'The private hospitals are only for rich businessmen. Poor people have to use government hospitals and if they can't help, the children die,' said the young father from Ghazni province as he unwrapped a piece of paper to show a brown pebble measuring half a centimeter in diameter. Ghazni is southwest of Kabul. Foreign donors have given some $15 billion in aid to Afghanistan since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001."
Now, who's putting this idea in this little kid's head that Afghanistan and Iraq have universal coverage? Well you know it's the damn teachers, it's the damn teachers and where are they picking it up? Probably from the stupid left wing website that's run by the Obama White House or something, or maybe from ACORN or whatever. I've been to Afghanistan. That notion is more ridiculous than saying Cuba's got the best health care in the world. I've been there. There's not an American that would live there. There was not one American who would accept the living conditions in Afghanistan. Forget health care. You want to see the food? In Kabul, the capital, you're driving around, the roads are dirt, dust is raised by the tires of all the cars going by, and there are not that many, but they're old. And along the roadside is the meat market with raw meat hanging in the sun with the dust circulating and people are standing in line to buy it.
You want to talk about universal health coverage in Afghanistan? Jeez. There is not one of you, there is not one American in poverty, there is not a homeless person in this country who would accept living conditions in Afghanistan. Forget the Taliban. Pile the Taliban onto it and what they're doing over there and it's the home base of terrorism, it's even worse. And we got a planted question about Afghanistan and Iraq have universal coverage and why can't we? We're raising these little kids to hate this country and to get the totally wrong idea about it, all for the sake of this guy's monuments and the advancement of his political objectives? I detest this stuff that's going on here, and then that phony baloney speech about accepting personal responsibility.
In fact, I got an e-mail from a woman, Katherine Lewis, who disagrees with me. "A rare occasion, I disagree with your analysis of Obama's speech to the kids." I said it was a conservative speech and he didn't believe it but the content was good. "I printed that speech Tuesday morning, Rush. I read through some of it, and I gave it to my son, a ninth grader at our local high school. The speech was effectively a call for nationalism a la Hitler. It was less about individual responsibility and more about responsibility to the state, how the kids need to feel an obligation to their community, the state, the nation, and of course Obama himself. I found the speech repugnant because I saw it as insidious and manipulative starting with the poor-me attempt to connect with the kids emotionally when he had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to study. Sounds a bit like some national Labor Party tactics being used. It was full of allusions to things like fighting discrimination and making our nation more fair and more free. Then poor me, my father left my single mother struggle, who hasn't heard all this over and over, lots of I's, I's, I's." So that woman disagreed with me. Anyway, regardless, this is unacceptable, it's ridiculous, and it's gotta be stopped. What happened in August cannot stop. It must continue for four years.
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RUSH: Darren in Atlanta. Great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Great to talk to you Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Just fine, thanks much.
CALLER: I wanted to share with you that I was a physician in Afghanistan with the US military and spent 15 months in Afghanistan, part of the time was spent in the Ghazni province and many other provinces there in Afghanistan, and I can assure your listens without a doubt there is no universal health care coverage in Afghanistan and the health care there is tremendously poor.
RUSH: Even if there were universal coverage, what you just said is the point. Medical care in Afghanistan -- when I saw that question from that little student I just knew some teacher had -- or either the Obama campaign team planted the question, one of the two, but somebody had to plant that notion that health care in Afghanistan and Iraq are better than in the United States. I've been there. I was there for a week and you know better than I do.
CALLER: A third of children die before reaching adulthood in Afghanistan and the average life span for an adult in Afghanistan is lower than any other country. So, you know, to make a comment like that, you know, it's a shame that that's what we're educating our children.
RUSH: Yeah, well, it's all part of this "America sucks" routine that this administration's floating out there. He runs around the world apologizing for America, apologizing for things that happened 50 years ago and so forth. I find it detestable.
CALLER: Rush, one other point if I may.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: You talked about the side effects of this health care coverage. And when we talk about rationing, the bill might not directly say rationing, but when you insure all of these people and they don't take the personal responsibility to go to the doctors and to do preventive medicine, they will utilize emergency rooms and they will utilize other health care facilities more than they do now. The only thing deterring them from using these things too much is the fact that they know they'll be responsible for paying for it. So when somebody doesn't want to go to work Monday morning because they're too tired or too hung over from the weekend, they'll go to their doctor's office and ask for a note, and we wind up spending more money on health care than we would if we didn't do this.
RUSH: Absolutely, yeah, exactly right. Exactly.
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| Read the Background Material... |
| • CNSNews: Obama Pitched Universal Health Care to Students in Meeting Prior to His Speech on Education • Reuters: Afghanistan Struggles to Provide Decent Healthcare |
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RUSH: Paducah, Kentucky, and this is Sam. Sam, thanks for holding on. I appreciate it.
CALLER: That's okay. Good afternoon, Rush. I'm very glad to be here.
RUSH: Thank you. So am I.
CALLER: I just wanted to bring up the fact that Obama and company cannot lose this fight. If they are ever to realize their dream of some sort of "progressive." socialist system, they must get control of the health care system.
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: Not only because of the financial value of the system but health care has a tremendous symbolic value to them.
RUSH: Wait. It may have a symbolic value, but it's far more than symbolic to them. It is substantive.
CALLER: Oh, absolutely!
RUSH: It is the regulation of every citizen's life to the max.
CALLER: That's the point. And if anything were to prevent that -- for instance, Congress taking a hand and passing some legislation that would actually help the health care system work better without the government control, they're sunk. They've got a good start on taking over the economy; they got the "stimulus" bill by without even working with Congress. Another group quote wrote it. They got that through. Now health care is next. If they don't get this, they're in really bad shape. That's why they're doing all these silly things that they're doing, saying these silly things, and Obama is running around like a chicken trying to do whatever he can do to salvage this. I don't think they can do it.
RUSH: Well, you know (sigh), I am not going to say that this is dead.
CALLER: No, it's not dead.
RUSH: Because we're just eight months in or seven months in. This guy's got four years here, three and a half more years to try to get this.
CALLER: Oh, they'll try again. Yeah.
RUSH: Let me tell you: If they appear to do something that is a cave-in to the public wishes, I'm telling you right now it's not going to be a cave-in. It's going to be a lie. Everybody needs to keep a sharp eye on what Max Baucus and this Gang of Six are doing in the Senate to come up with this compromise bill. Because what they're going to do, what they're working on is coming up with language that's going to end up making people think that health insurance is going to be much cheaper. They're going to limit how much of a deductible you have to pay. They're going to say they're going to limit your copay. There will be out-of-pocket maximums that you have to pay, and the illusion is going to be that, "Wow! Wow! They finally got a bill that makes sense. I'm going to get my insurance and it's going to cost me less."
What's going to happen, though, it's going to cause premiums to skyrocket, and people are going to agree to it thinking, "Well, my costs are going to go down." And some Republicans are going to think, "Oh, wow! I can join this now because costs are going to go down," but the point is we're going to end up with more uninsured than ever before. And that result, the more uninsured, will be the clarion call for a couple years from now: "Okay, we gotta have national insurance now! Our Senate plan didn't quite work out as we intended and so we got more uninsured than ever before and we have no choice but now to get a public option." They're going to go about this one way or the other. I tell you it's not dead. That's why I said yesterday we're going to have to be vigilant as we can be. Now, your point that if they lose this, they lose their rationale?
They may lose their rationale, but they're not going away. See, I actually think that if they get this, ultimately they're dead. Nobody is going to want to live in a country run by these people with their vision. If they get it, there is going to be a relevant at some point down the line, because people do not want this. Once they experience unadulterated fascism -- once health care is passed, there's a government option and private insurance is history and gone -- people aren't going to put up with it. Not in this country. And unless they do something about the Second Amendment and get guns out of everybody's hands, there's going to be hell to pay. So I think they lose either way, but we lose if they win. We lose for years if they win. Their rationale goes away if they lose. But you're right. This is the building block, the building block for a fascist American, the building block for an ever-expanding, growing government.
That's why that speech to these kids yesterday infuriated me. He doesn't believe any of that. He doesn't believe personal responsibility. He doesn't. Let him give that speech to the country at large. He doesn't believe a word of it. It's all lies. Oh, and the AP is reporting that his speech tonight will be 35 minutes, and it will quote, "answer all the major questions on the contentious issue that has become Obama's top domestic priority," health care. He's gonna answer all the major questions. Well, now, that's some challenge! He's going to answer all the major questions. Basically what he's going to have to go out there and do and say that everything you've heard that you say that's a in the House bill isn't true. Can he pull this off anymore? Listen, grab sound bite number six first. Then we'll go back to five. On Good Morning America today the cohost Robin Roberts interviewed Obama. She said, "Is there a new approach that you're taking to getting your message across?"
OBAMA: I, out of an effort to give Congress the ability to do their thing and not, uh, step, uh -- step on their toes, uh, probably, eh, left too m-much ambiguity out there which allowed then opponents of reform to come in and to fill up the air avenues with a lot of nonsense. Everything from this ridiculous idea that we're setting up death panels to false notions that, uh, this was designed to provide health insurance to illegally immigrants -- and then this broader notion of a government takeover of health care, which none of the bills that worked their way through Congress ever envisioned.
RUSH: For crying out loud, this is just unbelievable. I don't think he's read the House bill. That's why he's going to go out there and "answer all the major questions." Everything he says is not there, is there. Now, of course they're not called death panels. I'll give you the analogy I gave you yesterday. The war on poverty. Do you find anywhere in the legislation that set up the war on poverty: "And, by the way, we intend to destroy the black family"? No! Of course it's not in there. But it did. The federal government became the father, with all the AFDC, and women were popping babies out -- poor women, not just blacks, poor women all over the country. It just busted up families. To this day it's a huge problem. Now, the phrase "death panels" is not in the House bill, but you're going to cut Medicare, he says. He told the woman with the hundred-year-old mother, "No, we don't think we would calculate somebody's spirit, spunk, and will to live. Give 'em a pain pill."
For crying out loud, we got the guy on tape on his own television show on ABC saying essentially, at some point it's not worth the treatment. Now, somebody's going to have to decide that and he said, "It's going to be us," and one of the main things that Rahm Emanuel and Obama want in this is to transfer the authority from Congress to the White House to tell doctors what is and is not treatable and what will and will not be spent on Medicare. They want total control of it. That's national health care! Look, this notion that "none these bills envision a government takeover of health care"? How in the world can he say this when the House bill 1,018 pages is out there and it's all about a government takeover? But even without that, it's pure common sense, my friends. If the government is going to write a health care bill that empowers the government to make all these decisions, what is it?
It's government-run health care, whether it is "envisioned" or not. The dirty little secret is that all kinds of rotten things happened that weren't "envisioned." Every time these clowns get together and come up with a major entitlement program. This is just ridiculous. So he's going to go out there and answer all these major questions, and he's going to have to lie through his teeth or he's going to have to say finally, "I got a plan," and he's going to have to present a plan that does not have the stuff in it that the House plan has. And maybe that's what he's going to do. Maybe he's going to come out... This ambiguity. He was too ambiguous. He let the House run the whole thing, he didn't want to step on their toes and that allowed people to fill up the airwaves with lies. No! It allowed people to read the House bill and tell the American people what was in it. It's right. Nobody is making anything up. And, by the way, this House bill, this House bill was not written this year.
That's been sitting in Henry Waxman's drawer. These people have had this dream and vision. It's 1,008 pages. Bunch of staff members over the years have written this thing. Look at it! I mean, you go to pages and find, "This paragraph supersedes this paragraph in this legislation and in that bill over there." You've gotta go back and look at 15 different bills to figure out what this one means when you read some of the paragraphs. Because this says, "Well, this paragraph supersedes paragraph 4(a)(x)(y)(z) in US Code Title 35 Zitch," whatever it is. It's impossible to decipher this in some cases, but what is decipherable is an abomination. This way had not been written this year. It's been in Henry Waxman's desk and they've just had to pull it out. It's a thousand eighteen pages. So you've had some staffers write this. Special interest lobbyists have no doubt contributed to writing this thing.
That's why Obama didn't present his own bill; this is his bill. This is the dream of the far, radical left. So if he's going to go out and present a new bill tonight, a new plan and he's gonna go, "This is what I've got," this is going to be fascinating. Because, as Michael Gerson writes today in the Washington Post: "Obama's Crisis: Credibility -- The overwhelming majority of Americans, by the definition of denied care, do not face a health care crisis. ... So perhaps this is the crisis: rising costs that will eventually overwhelm state and federal budgets and consume more and more of individual paychecks. But this is precisely the area where current Democratic approaches are least credible. Obama abandoned his pledge to reduce the government's health costs long ago; now he only aims at budget neutrality." So he's got a crisis problem and the crisis is his credibility because he's been so all over the board on this thing and hasn't been able to answer specific questions. They relied on his "power" to transcend the rancor of politics and the "power" of his biography and his oratory. And that's all he's ever had. He's got a five-minute career here. It's all he's ever had, and it's gone.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here's Sandy in Passaic, New Jersey, I'm glad you waited. Welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hey, Rush, you're always talking about how Obama is lying about everything, but he did tell the truth the other day, I think, when he said that the post office has a real hard time doing things. And we're wondering ourselves, considering those of us who receive a paycheck didn't get them on Friday, and it was today before they started handing out money orders to us instead of our paychecks.
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute, now. You work for the post office?
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Okay. And they gave you a money order instead of a paycheck?
CALLER: Our paychecks were due to be here on Friday. Those people that have direct deposit got theirs. But those paychecks that come to us in the mail didn't show up.
RUSH: Now, wait a second. This is a Saturday Night Live script. You work for the post office, and mailed paychecks due Friday didn't show up so they had to issue money orders?
CALLER: Yes, sir, and those checks still haven't shown up.
RUSH: Well, does that mean the post office has lost them, or were they never sent?
CALLER: Well, I'm thinking that maybe the money wasn't there at the time. I don't know at this point. We're still looking for some answers but we haven't gotten them yet.
RUSH: I don't know. The money is not there for anything they're doing. We are in debt up to our eyeballs and then some. The money is not there for anything. We're out of money. Folks, we are going to borrow another trillion dollars. The Senate and the House, we need to raise the debt ceiling to $13 trillion in order to keep functioning and they're going to do that late this week or early next week. The government's going to borrow $12 trillion, the interest alone on that is going to be $650 billion a year. That's money that would otherwise be in the private sector for investment capital and expansion and growth and hiring people. Now, we're going to borrow -- stop and think of this -- we're going to borrow -- and I don't think the president is going to talking about this tonight -- we're going to borrow a trillion dollars just to keep going. And the same day that this is announced, Obama is going to announce a health care program that's going to cost another trillion dollars.
One of the things I don't think that they're aware of in Washington is just how aware and sensitive the people of this country are to this spending problem and have been for a while. So there's a confluence of events here that does not bode well for Obama. But, remember, what we think, what we care about, what is precious to us doesn't matter, and the same thing for the Drive-By Media. They have probably already written the stories for after the speech tonight. "Whoa, what a comeback, what a wonderful comeback, he's reclaimed the issue, Obama on his game tonight, this is the Obama we remember." Because to the State-Controlled Media, it's all about Obama and his success, it's not about the people, not about the country, it's not about policy. Except to the extent that as much liberalism as possible is desired.
Dan in Destin, Florida, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Phil, put down the paintbrush and call in! Oh. Mega panhandle dittos, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: Sir, you stole my thunder in some respects but I tell you, it's not about health care. I totally agree. It's yet about another stream of money for the governor, for the fed to dip into just like they did Social Security. They're going to rob it blind. I don't know how we can possibly stop the oligarchy running our government from the federal level, get it back to the states somehow, but it's all about money.
RUSH: Well, that's true. But it's about more than money, and it's just as important. I know the answer to every question or almost every question can be answered by "follow the money." And this is clearly about money. But, look, we don't have any now. They're printing it. The ChiComs are worried. The ChiComs are even sending us warnings: "You gotta start printing money like this. You are going to cause worldwide inflation that nobody's going to be able to handle." See, all of this plays into Obama's hands. Tax revenues are way down because of all the unemployment. He doesn't care. This crisis fits into exactly what he wants. This is about power. With that power comes the money. This is about control. This is about fascists as opposed to socialism. Socialism is when the government owns everything. Fascism is where private sector owns things but they have no freedom to run them, people like Obama tell them what to do and they become partners and the people in the private sector, corporations the government wants to control, you know, just bend over forwards and grab the ankles, got no choice. That's how they stay out of jail, stay in good favor with the administration. It's horrible and that's the circumstance here.
Sherry in, what is that, Aledo, Texas.
CALLER: Aledo, Texas.
RUSH: Aledo, Texas. Well, I'm sorry I mispronounced it. It's the first time I've seen it.
CALLER: That's quite all right. I was calling to suggest that the high insurance costs and health care costs are not entirely due to the insurance companies but also the health providers because they don't post what they charge things. I went in for an X-ray yesterday, and the place the doctor sent me to was going to cost me $269.
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. For an X-ray?
CALLER: For an X-ray.
RUSH: Of what?
CALLER: My toe.
RUSH: So $269 for a toe X-ray. Okay.
CALLER: So I said, "Is that the best you can do, because that seems a little high."
RUSH: Wait a minute. You have insurance?
CALLER: Well, that's what they asked me and I said, "Yes," and they're like, "Okay, never mind." But regardless, I want to know what it's going to cost. So she did get it down to $221, and that still seemed awfully high so I left, and I went home and I called around and I found a place that would do it for $80 but there would also be a charge for the radiologist to read it but she couldn't tell me how much that was, and referred me to billing. Of course I had to leave a message for billing and they never called me back, but I did finally find a place that would do it for $20.
RUSH: Paying for it yourself, no insurance?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: See?
CALLER: See.
RUSH: See? Now, that's a good deal. So your original price was $289 did you say?
CALLER: It was $269.
RUSH: It was $269 and you got it whittled down to $221, and then $80 but you didn't know what the radiologist would charge to read it and finally got it down to $20.
CALLER: Twenty dollars.
RUSH: Paying for it yourself.
CALLER: Paying for it myself.
RUSH: Didn't need your insurance.
CALLER: But, you know, all the places that I asked how much is this going to cost, nobody knew, nobody could tell me. They had to refer me to somebody else, who didn't call me back.
RUSH: Right, because it doesn't matter because some third party is going to pay it, not you, and there's a formula, that's why they don't know because it's not up to them. There's some formula based on whether the insurance company or whoever it is tells them what it's worth and what they're going to reimburse them for. That's why if you do go into places -- you ought to try this, folks, just a standard doctor visit, offer to pay for it yourself, I guarantee you it will cost you lest than if you use your insurance. And there's no deductible, there's no copay, you just pay it. Try it, see if it works. It worked obviously here for Sherry in Aledo, Texas.
CALLER: I had another question. When insurance is nationalized where do all the people go who work for insurance companies?
RUSH: They are unemployed.
CALLER: Yeah. So that's really going to be good for the country.
RUSH: Yeah. That's more crisis for Obama. It's more uninsured. They'll have to go on the government option. It's insidious. Do you think he cares about unemployment now? Anybody running this country in this current economic situation would be devastated, personally devastated over what circumstances the American people are in today, particularly the unemployed and they would be doing something to reverse it. Zip, zero, nada. Stimulus isn't gonna work anyway. Six percent is what's been spent. They're saving the rest of it for 2010, a reelection year. And, by the way, it was in the stack yesterday. I think it's a Washington Post story, maybe, I'm not sure. It was a story about infrastructure spending down in some big city, and that was the whole point of the stimulus was shovel-ready infrastructure jobs. Anybody with a heart, any president of the United States with a heart would look at this economic mess and would not be doing this, would not have policies anywhere like this, would not be thinking of a health care plan like this and all this borrowing. Folks, this is serious. This is a president working outside the political system of this country to overthrow it.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
| • Wall Street Journal: Obama & the Bureaucratization of Health Care - Sarah Palin |
MITCHELL: Valerie, about 16 years ago President Clinton gave a similar speech to a joint session and the teleprompter broke.
JARRETT: (nervous giggle)
MITCHELL: Do you have backup tonight?
JARRETT: (giggling) Well, you know what? I'm very confident since the president knows exactly what he wants to say, that i-if something goes wrong he'll speak directly from the heart and the American people will hear his message. This is really all about the American people, and I'm not worried about whether he needs a teleprompter or the text. He'll get through it and he'll get through it in a convincing way so that everybody understands why now is the time to pass health care remember.
MITCHELL: Is it locked or loaded or are you guys still rewriting -- or is he still rewriting on his way back from New York?
JARRETT: Well, you know our president! He will be working on the speech probably on the way back.
RUSH: Especially after what Baucus said: a $3800 penalty if you don't have insurance. Hee-hee. So they're worried. They're worried at State-Controlled NBC. "What if the teleprompter malfunctions? What if it breaks? What if it falls?" because they know if that happens, oh! It's Disaster City.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
| • Barack Obama's Teleprompter's Blog • Real Clear Politics: MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Concerned If Obama's Teleprompter Will Break |
My niece had her little boy dressed the same way. Apparently that is the new trend for boys. LOL
First sentence out of Obama’s lying mouth was a lie. Said we were in the worst economical situation when he came into office.
I’ll mix dots and stripes, but not in that fashion. LOL.
Rush is lookin’ good!
Please do not denigrate POGO, please.
I am in the groove of hearing Rush give me the synopsis of BO’s speech tomorrow. Thank God I can be informed without having to torture myself watching the commie circle jerk and his trained seals.
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