Posted on 02/09/2010 3:04:29 PM PST by GOP_Lady
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On Today's Show... |
February 9, 2010
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"'Bipartisanship' is an often-employed, Democrat trick to get the Republicans to cave --
in this case to nonexistent pressure from the American people who 'just want everyone to get along' and pass Obamacare."
"Even in Obama's America there is opportunity.
In this case, unlike in normal America, you're going to have to find it.
Opportunity is probably not going to knock on your door as often as it would in normal economic times.
But remember there's no such thing as luck.
Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."
"Obama's problem is not Republicans because they can't stop his health care bill.
Obama's problem is Democrats.
The Democrats are the party of 'no.'
The House tells me say 'no' to the Senate Democrats and verse-vicea."
"The Rolling Stones.
I wonder when they're next going to be booked to play halftime at the Super Bowl after The Who Dat?"
"The vast majority of the American people oppose Obamacare.
They oppose the bills that took place in the House and Senate.
There's no poll anywhere that shows a majority of the American people favor Obamacare -- and really, Obama doesn't have a bill."
"Do you think a private sector company engaged in business to make a profit would sit there with
25% of its snowplows out of commission knowing full well that 20 inches of snow is on the way?
No way."
"What's the difference between New York City's rejection of the terrorist trials and the country's rejection of health care?"
"If you really want to have a debate, Mr. President, if you really want to get this off the dime, you have me,
you have Congressman Paul Ryan, and Mark Levin, against you, Pelosi, and Reid,
and we'll talk about your nonexistent health care plan.
We'll talk about Pelosi's plan and Reid's plan, and then we'll let the chips fall where they may."
"There hasn't been a worst practitioner of Chicago politics ever.
They genuinely get what they want.
And Obama's agenda, the big items -- while a bunch of stuff behind the scenes actually is
getting rammed down our throats, we don't know it -- big items are bombing out."
"If the Republicans cave after writing this letter, then it will set the third-party mess on fire.
They gotta be very, very careful to hold firm here."
"Last week, President Bush snuck in the White House for a session with President Obama on how to pronounce words."
"This president is playing political games when he should be cutting the budget, cutting taxes, and promoting work."
"I'm telling you right now: The vast majority of the billions spent for this next 'jobs bill'
is going to go to extending unemployment compensation to 99 weeks, almost two years."
"What better way to make more people dependent on government --
and thereby ostensibly, theoretically make more Democrat voters --
than to extend unemployment benefits for nearly two years?"
"I guarantee you that everybody in this recession is looking for ways out of it."
"Even in the midst of all this, there are people who are enjoying success, even in this depressed market.
There's no reason that can't be you."
"A reporter said to Obama: Small businesses aren't expanding or hiring because they don't know
what costs they face down the road with legislation, tax hikes, Obamacare, cap-and-tax, etc.
And Obama said: No, no! That's not at all it! You can't get loans.
Folks, every small business in this country needs to hear that answer."
"There is nothing that ACORN and the unions and Democrat voter fraud can do to stop a tidal wave, and a tidal wave is what's brewing."
"The Democrats, folks, will always tell us what they're afraid of -- Sarah Palin, the tea parties --
by telling us that we can't win with whatever candidate or organization."
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Continually repeat ... It's not about me. I'm the President. |
Past editions of " RUSH IN A HURRY "
Rush Hudson Limbaugh. Mmm, Mmm, Mmm!
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BLITZER: It's four p.m. here in Washington. So you're getting the first look right now at our brand-new poll. The president's job approval rating has taken a downward turn again, falling to only 36%. [break] This represents his lowest rating ever in the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. [break] The president's poll numbers are pretty bad, pretty awful right now, rock bottom as far as the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. [break] The president's Iraq problem and his new low point in the polls. [break] His approval and policies now are at new lows. [break] The president's job approval number in this new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, rock bottom, the lowest it's ever been. [break] It's five p.m. here in Washington where President Bush takes a beating in our latest poll. His approval rating at a low ebb. [break] Our latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll just out in the past hour shows the president at an all-time low. [break] His job approval rating at a new low. [break] That's rock bottom as far as our poll is concerned. [break] It's seven p.m. here in Washington. The war in Iraq comes home to roost for President Bush. Our latest poll numbers showing his approval rating at a new low. [break] Also: President Bush hits a new low in the polls. [break] Now back to our lead story: President Bush's approval rating now at an all-time low. [break] As we noted, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows his job approval rating at a new low. [break] President Bush's approval rating at a new low, 36%.
RUSH: All of that on March 13th of 2006. Wolf Blitzer, it's four p.m., lead story, Bush poll numbers. It's five p.m., lead story, Bush poll numbers. It's six p.m., lead story, Bush poll numbers, it's seven p.m., lead story, Bush poll numbers. Now back to our lead story, Bush's approval numbers at an all-time low. Now here's the coverage of Obama's new low in the polls as covered on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer yesterday.
(sound of crickets)
RUSH: That's right, nothing but crickets. They haven't reported it. Well, what was being reported by Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room yesterday and last night? Well, here's a montage.
BLITZER: Sarah Palin's tea party cheat sheet. Her political future may be in her hand. [break] Sarah Palin's sleight of hand at the weekend's tea party convention. [break] A most unusual cheat sheet. You might say Sarah Palin had tea partiers in the palm of her hand. [break] See all these papers? These are all notes and stuff I'm supposed to say, but I don't write it on my hand. [break] The answer is in the palm of her hand. Sarah Palin has a cheat sheet. [break] We'll look beyond the talking points on Sarah Palin's hand. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.
RUSH: No bias in the media, right? There's no advocacy in the media, and there's plenty of objectivity in the media. Are we all agreed on that? I have notes here, said Wolf, I got notes, I got more notes than Sarah Palin, but I don't write 'em on my hand. They're just beside themselves. You know, I wonder if he did write Bush's poll numbers on his hand, as often as he reported that back in March of 2006. Last night on The CBS Evening News, the perky Katie Couric played another portion of her pre-Super Bowl interview with President Obama. She said, "You've given more than 160 interviews, taking questions at 26 town meetings. What do you say to people who say, in spite of all of that exposure, people are not sure who you are or what you stand for?"
OBAMA: This is the Washington analysis that came up over the last couple months since my poll numbers went down. Nobody was saying that when my poll numbers were high, right? So I just take these kinds of things with a grain of salt.
COURIC: So you don't pay attention to that?
OBAMA: I really don't.
RUSH: I really don't, suddenly the approval numbers don't matter now. He doesn't feel compelled to change his agenda or even admit that he was wrong. But it was all that mattered for Bush. It was all that mattered for Bush. But it doesn't matter at all to the State-Controlled Media or to Obama. Obama then went on to explain why all of this going on is still Bush's fault anyway, including his poll numbers.
OBAMA: The pundits, what they're trying to figure out is why these poll numbers drop, and if you're the average mom out -- working mom out there, your husband's just lost his job, you're seeing your hours cut back, your home value's lost a hundred thousand dollars in value, you're trying to figure out how to save for your kids' college education, your 401(k)'s just lost half its value, and suddenly somebody calls you on the phone in the middle of dinner and says, "So how's the president doing?" I think their answer is going to be pretty self-apparent. They're not going to be happy, and they shouldn't be.
RUSH: Well, so he's admitting that people are blaming him for it, and that's actually correct. Sort of a slip-up there on the part of President Obama.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, this is early this morning at the New York Post.com. It's buried in a New York Post story. Poll Shows Voters Abandoning prez in Droves -- President Obama's overall approval rating has sunk to a new low -- and independent voters who propelled him to the White House have gotten downright sick of the job he's doing, according to a devastating poll released yesterday." This is the Marist poll where we told you his approval rate's down to 44%. We started the show today saying Wolf Blitzer and the mainstream media will not at all report his poll plummets when they were obsessed with Bush's. But what's buried in this story: McCain lost independents in 2008. And that was the first time a Democrat won them since they started exit polling in '72. McCain lost independents. They're now coming home, having seen what they voted for.
McCain was the one who was going to get the independents, right? McCain was the guy who was gonna cross the aisle. Remember we were all told that if we criticized Obama, the independents would get mad at us and run to the Democrats. "If we dared criticize Obama, we were done. The independents want bipartisanship! They want civility! They want everybody getting along. They don't want all of this acrimony." McCain came along and said, "I'm your guy. I'm the guy can move across the aisle. I can work with the Democrats to get things done." He was the first Republican to lose independents since 1972. That's Nixon's reelection. That includes the John Anderson and Perot races, when we had independent candidates. So tell me again, you Republicans, how we have to worry about losing independents to Democrats? We lose independents to Democrats when the country club, blue-blood, liberal Republicans run the show and implement their ideas. The era of McCain is over. The era of Reagan is alive.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • HotLine: Obama Hits Lowest Approval Mark • Rasmussen Reports: Daily Presidential Tracking Poll • New York Post: Obama Hits New Low: Poll |
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, look, I want to say here at the outset that based on this letter that Boehner and Eric Cantor sent back to Rahm Emanuel, it might be -- we're not totally sure because I'm not sure yet how the Republicans in the Senate are going to handle this. But the Republicans in the House make it look like the era of McCain is over in the Republican Party. Because they've taken a tone here that seems to indicate a new approach to dealing with the man-child president. Here's an excerpt: "Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people?"
Now, we know the answer to that because it was in the New York Times yesterday, a story by Jeff Zeleny. They're not going to restart it. They're not going to reset it. They're going to start with the Democrat bills and work on those. This is nothing more than a show and it's a diversionary tactic. As I said yesterday, Obama's problem is not Republicans because they can't stop it. Obama's problem is Democrats. It's the Democrats that are the party of "no." The House tells me say "no" to the Senate Democrats and verse-vicea. Well, I take it back. The Republicans can now stop it in the Senate with Scott Brown, but in the House they can't. This is nothing more than a trick and I think these people know it. "February 8, 2010. The Honorable [Ahem!] Rahm Emanuel. Chief of staff. The White House. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Washington, DC 20500.
"Dear Mr. Emanuel: We welcome President Obama's announcement of forthcoming bipartisan health care talks. In fact, you may remember that last May, Republicans asked President Obama to hold bipartisan discussions on health care in an attempt to find common ground on health care, but he declined and instead chose to work with only Democrats. Since then, the President has given dozens of speeches on health care reform, operating under the premise that the more the American people learn about his plan, the more they will come to like it. Just the opposite has occurred: a majority of Americans oppose the House and Senate health care bills and want them scrapped so we can start over with a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs for families and small businesses.
"Just as important, scrapping the House and Senate health care bills would help end the uncertainty they are creating for workers and businesses and thus strengthen our shared commitment to focusing on creating jobs. Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today that the President is 'absolutely not' resetting the legislative process for health care. If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate. Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan way, does that mean he has taken off the table the idea of relying solely on Democratic votes and jamming through health care reform by way of reconciliation?
"As the President has noted recently, Democrats continue to hold large majorities in the House and Senate, which means they can attempt to pass a health care bill at any time through the reconciliation process. Eliminating the possibility of reconciliation would represent an important show of good faith to Republicans and the American people. If the President intends to present any kind of legislative proposal at this discussion, will he make it available to members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours beforehand? ... Will the President include in this discussion congressional Democrats who have opposed the House and Senate health care bills? ... Will the President be inviting officials and lawmakers from the states to participate in this discussion? ...
"Will those experts include the actuaries at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), who have determined that the both the House and Senate health care bill raise costs – just the opposite of their intended effect – and jeopardize seniors' access to high-quality care by imposing massive Medicare cuts? Will those experts include the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which has stated that the GOP alternative would reduce premiums by up to 10 percent? Also, will Republicans be permitted to invite health care experts to participate?" So they're throwing it right back at him while indicating a willingness to participate here, indicating a desire to meet with him on this. I think they've decided that... You know, I suggested yesterday the answer ought to be "no;" just "hell, no," and I did it on the basis of three things.
We know the vast majority of the American people oppose Obamacare. They oppose the bills that took place in the House and Senate. They don't want any part of it. There's no poll anywhere that shows a majority of the American people favor Obamacare -- and really, Obama doesn't have a bill. This is the one thing that they left out of their letter. I wish they'd have said, "Mr. President, we haven't seen your bill. We don't know what bill you mean. We've seen the House and Senate bills, and you don't have one. Why are we meeting with you anyway?" The other two reasons I think that the answer should just be "hell, no" is that we had two polls yesterday: 80% of the American people (this is Gallup) disapprove of the liberal-Democrat Congress. I wonder why? And 90% of independents and Republicans do. So there is no fear.
There should be no fear in simply standing up and saying "hell, no" to this. The Republicans are "hell, no-ing" the Obama proposal. Now, they have decided that (for whatever reasons) they're going to make it look like they're willing to join, but they've presented a series of options here for Obama that you can't possibly meet. Obama cannot -- unless he lies, which is entirely possible. But none of this that they have asked for, none of this that they suggest is going to happen -- and the deal killer is that he's not going to reset this and start from Ground Zero. "Will the special interest groups that the Obama Administration has cut deals with be included in this televised discussion?" In other words: Are you going to bring the unions in there and are you gonna let us ask why they are exempted from any tax on the Cadillac health care plans everybody else is going to have to pay?
What about: Are you going to bring Senator Nelson in so we can ask him about his...? By the way, Senator Nelson has gotten the message. Senator Nelson, on an unrelated matter, apparently has caved. Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska says that he will now join the Republican filibuster against the confirmation of this new National Labor Relations Board communist that Obama has picked to head it up. Now, that's pretty big out there. So the letter is what it is. It's not a "hell, no" letter. But it is different from what the Republicans have communicated in the past, and I like that it's direct to that hothead Rahm Emanuel. This is a goading letter. It has a goading tone to it that might just tick off Emanuel (which I like, of course) and maybe, maybe the self-serving, bipartisan, reach-across-the-aisle days of the McCain-led Republican leadership is on hold and hopefully they'll be over.
Now, this isn't the Senate. That's a whole different story over, but maybe McCain will no longer be the "voice of reason" for Republicans. I don't know. I like the tone of the letter. It treats Obama for what he is: Someone not to be trusted. It rams all the things wrong with this bill right down his and Emanuel's throat. It spells out -- and the Drive-Bys see it, too; Politico wrote a piece on it today. It spells out all the lies and distortions and the flaws -- the fact that it raises costs -- all the things wrong with it. It spells it out in this letter. There's an air of "fool me once but you're not going to fool me twice" about it. So I think the letter has put 'em in a position where if they cave, they will do great harm to Republican Party. If they cave after writing this letter -- the Republicans, I mean -- then it will set the third-party mess on fire. They gotta be very, very careful to hold firm here.
RUSH: The Republicans have struck a nerve, apparently, with their letter (Boehner and Cantor) because the Gibbs White House response to them is a passive-aggressive response. I don't want to jump the gun on this, but it may have accomplished just what the Republicans hoped. They've called Obama's bluff here. He wants to hold a dog and pony show. He's not interested in what the American people want. Listen to this response from Gibbs: "The president is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass meaningful health insurance reform legislation." Okay. My response to that, Gibbs, is: If insurance reforms the issue, then insurance companies will be surely able to sell their products across state lines, right? Why has that never been discussed by Democrats? Let the insurance companies sell! You want to reform 'em, right? See, their version of "reform" is basically run 'em out of business.
That's what Gibbs and Obama and Reid and Pelosi want to do, and every other liberal Democrat up there. But if you really want insurance reform, let 'em sell policies across state lines. Gibbs then said, "The president began this process by inviting Republican and Democrat leaders to the White House on March the 5th of last year. He's continued to work with both parties in crafting the best possible bill. " Now, if I'm Boehner and Cantor and I read that, I blow up. Because Boehner has said on several occasions the White House doesn't want to talk to Republicans, that they have not been invited to any of this -- and we know that that's true. It's a lie. The Republicans should refuse to meet based on this statement alone. He "began this process by inviting the Republican and Democrat leaders to the White House on March 5th of last year. He's continued to work with both..."? That's just... (sigh) This is psychosomatic lying. This is pathological.
Here's more Gibbs: "He's been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people, putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficits." So, my reaction to that is: "Why meet with Republicans? Why meet with them at all if the president is so supportive of what has already been passed? If he likes it -- if he's not going to reset, if he is totally behind what's already been passed -- then why support and meet with the Republicans? There's literally no reason. They were shut out of that process! There's nothing in this health care bill that has a Republican fingerprint anywhere near it." Folks, you cannot declare your support for existing bills that the American people and all Republicans have rejected, and say that you are open to Republican ideas!
And, by the way, Republican ideas have been known for years on this. So there's two passages from Gibbs in response to the letter. If I'm Boehner and Cantor I say, "Okay, thanks, but we're not showing up. If you want to talk to Mitch McConnell, boys, go ahead, but we're not going." I mean, now they've got clear sailing. Obama has just said he likes everything in these two bills! There's no reason to talk. Then Gibbs said this: "The president looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process and as recently as the State of [Obama] Address." (scoffs) First: Republicans look forward to seeing the plan the president said he had in his speech to a joint session of Congress. That's what they want to see, but he hasn't produced a bill! Second, Republican proposals don't have to meet the president's goals.
He's the Executive Branch. He doesn't tell the Legislative Branch what they can and can't propose. He's not driving the bus. Hell, I would say he hasn't even met his own goals here. This was sold as a collaborative effort, and clear it is not, and they have every reason now -- and I'm beginning to think that the whole point of this was to get them to reject the meeting because that's where they think they're gonna win. That's where the Obamaites think they're going to win by forcing the Republicans to reject. I'm telling you: With the polling data where it is, the Republicans saying "no, hell, no" is a winner for them. The American people don't want this and Obama's just reaffirmed that he wants what the American people don't. Gibbs said, "He's open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny." "Including ideas" means Republicans accept what the American people have already rejected. That's what they mean here. It's the American people, not the president, who will provide "objective scrutiny." It's the people.
The American people will provide objective scrutiny, and they already have. And you know what they've said? (spitting) They have spat all over this. ("Spitted," for those of you in Rio Linda.) This is obnoxious. To say this president is objective is insulting. He's playing political games when he should be cutting the budget, cutting taxes, and promoting work. Gibbs: "What the president will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small businesses counting on it." Maybe he won't, but, Gibbs, the American people have already walked away from your convoluted bills. The American people? Have you heard about what happened in Massachusetts, Gibbs? Have you heard about what happened in Virginia? Have you heard about what happened in New Jersey, Gibbs? They have abandoned you! The American people have abandoned you. The objective now is to get the Republicans to understand that it's time for them to abandon this as well.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
Click on pic.
RUSH: You know what we ought to do here? I'm going to make this proposal. Instead of this dog and pony show of Obama with the Republicans up there for six hours in front of C-SPAN, let's do an old Firing Line debate. Let's do one of those old-fashioned Firing Line debates. You have a moderator out there and you have three people on one side, you have three people on the other. On the anti-Obamacare side you have me, Representative Paul Ryan, and throw Levin in there, because he'll insult 'em. Then on the other side you have Obama, Reid, and Pelosi. And you have some kind of moderator in there, not from the Drive-By Media, we'll pick somebody out of a hat because the moderator is not going to be heard from once this thing starts. If you really want to have a debate, Mr. President, if you really, really want to get this off the dime, you have me, you have Congressman Paul Ryan, Mark Levin in there, against you, Pelosi, and Reid, and we'll talk about your nonexistent health care plan. We'll talk about Pelosi's plan and Reid's plan, and then we'll let the chips fall where they may.
END TRANSCRIPT
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We have a 15-year-old on the phone from Hayward, Wisconsin. James, I'm glad you called, great to have you on the program.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. I've been listening to your show as long as I can remember, I'm 15 years old, so I guess that would make me an official Rush Baby.
RUSH: I'm honored.
CALLER: Yeah. Now, I live in Northern Wisconsin in a very low populated area, so it's hard for me to go out in public and actually do something. But now that liberal Democrats are on the run after Republican victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, I'm wondering what I can do as a 15-year-old boy in Wisconsin to help keep the pressure up and to help protect the future and also my country's future.
RUSH: Yeah. Your question about how to protect your future is a brilliant and great question. I have an answer for you, but first while you were on hold here, did you just hear this last sound bite I played from President Obama?
CALLER: I can't remember.
RUSH: You're probably nervous out there --
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: -- knowing you're next. Let me play the sound bite for you again because this will preface what I'm going to say to you. This is President Obama and a reporter says, "But Mr. President, small business say the uncertainty of their future because of your health care plan and cap and trade --" meaning the cost of doing business, "-- they don't know what it is. And that's why they're not hiring and expanding." And here the president tells them they're dead wrong, they don't know what they're talking about.
OBAMA: The small businesses I've talked to and I've been talking to a lot of them as I have been traveling around the country, their biggest problem is right now they can't get credit out of their banks, so they're uncertain about that, and they're still uncertain about orders. You know, do they just have enough customers to justify them doing more? It's looking better at this point, but that's not the rationale for people saying I'm not hiring. Let me put it this way. Most small businesses right now, if they've got enough customers to make a profit and they can get the bank loans required to boost their payroll, boost their inventory and sell to those customers, they will do so.
RUSH: Now, James, the sheer ignorance of that is breathtaking. So I'm going to give you an answer that's simple and you're going to think, "Well, Rush is not taking me seriously, especially since I can't vote." But I'm going to tell you what, your future and everybody else's future in this country is dependent on liberals and Democrats being voted out of power. If that doesn't happen, then you face even larger obstacles. If you want to work towards something -- I know you can't vote yet, but you can work for people who want to reassert themselves in power positions over Democrats, win office or what have you. Believe me, the biggest threat that you face as a 15-year-old is the debt, the taxes that you haven't even begun to pay yet because you haven't started working, but President Obama has spent, and the Democrats. You are starting so deep in the hole as is everybody your age. You don't know it yet -- well, maybe you do. You're a Rush Baby. You probably do. But the first and foremost thing, as evidenced by this last sound bite, we have got to get people who are trying to destroy the very place that your success resides, and that's the American private sector, they are trying to destroy it, they are in the process of taking as much opportunity away from people as possible. The thing that will secure your future is having these people thrown out of power at the ballot box by the American people every election in the future for the foreseeable future. Their time is done and they have to go.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to expand on the 15-year-old James from upper Wisconsin: What can he do to secure his future? As a Rush Baby, he's way ahead of the game. He knows a lot of stuff that people his age don't. So, James, your job is to talk to other people your age. You gotta become the one in your circle of friends that has all the answers. You gotta become the go-to guy whenever there's confusion or curiosity about something, and you're perfectly situated to be that guy. People need to learn the history of this country. The Constitution is what made this country great, the greatest country ever. It's not that hard. Once you learn that you'll understand what's being done to tear it down. But there's a great piece today in the American Thinker.
It's by Carol Peracchio. She is a registered nurse, not a professional writer. She's just a registered nurse. She wrote this piece for the AmericanThinker.com: "My husband's cousin Paulette called me the morning of January 20 from Massachusetts. Breathless with excitement, her words tumbling out so fast I could barely keep up, she recounted the joy of Scott Brown's win in the special election to the U.S. Senate. Paulette is 66 years old. She and her husband are retired. She has an active social life which includes lots of friends and competitive amateur tennis. She babysits her granddaughter and checks on her 92-year-old father in Florida every day. She told me she'd never been politically active, 'except for voting, of course.' But all that changed after Barack Obama's election. Paulette started watching FOX News and listening to Rush Limbaugh. Health care reform, with its 500-billion-dollar Medicare cuts, scared her out of her wits.
"When she learned I write articles for AT, mostly about health care, she started calling me periodically last summer. We'd commiserate on how discouraging it was that no one in Washington is listening, or even seems to care. Paulette, like so many of us, felt frustrated and helpless. Then Senator Kennedy passed away, and a political activist was born. Paulette described her first meeting with Scott Brown. A friend called one morning in late November to tell her that State Senator Brown was coming to town that day to open a campaign office. 'I barely had time to throw on clothes. I didn't care how I looked,' she told me. She rushed over to the office and signed up that day to work. 'I told Scott Brown that we are going to win this.' I asked her how she could be so certain back in November, when absolutely no one out here believed Brown had a chance.
"'I knew we would win because I lived there. I talk to lots of people. I knew how we all felt about what Obama and the Democrats were doing.' Then she added, 'I just couldn't take any more.' So Paulette went to work. She staffed the office several days per week, answering phones and handing out signs and literature. She knocked on doors all over her neighborhood. She visited shut-ins and helped them request absentee ballots. She helped organize volunteers to drive voters to the polls. Just before Christmas, she called to give me another update. She was off to follow up on some of those absentee ballots. 'There's a family down the street that has four. I need to make sure they got mailed.' Every day when Paulette would drive to the elementary school to pick up her granddaughter, she would stand next to her car and wave her 'Scott Brown for U.S. Senate' sign at the passing traffic.
"'I get a few thumbs down,' she reported, 'but most people honk their horns and smile.' When Paulette called me the Friday before the election, she hadn't a scintilla of doubt that Brown would win. 'We're going to do it, Carol!' she exclaimed. 'We're going to stop Obama!' The polls reflected her optimism. But on the political shows over the weekend, conservatives appeared afraid to be hopeful. More than once I heard it expressed that a Brown win was a long shot. They consoled themselves by saying that even if he lost by a narrow margin, that would be a victory in blue, blue Massachusetts. A loss for Brown wouldn't be a victory for Paulette, however. To Paulette, victory meant Scott Brown would be senator. Conservative internet forums were just as pessimistic as the TV pundits. Over and over I read comments gloomily describing how Brown would have to win by double digits to overcome the inevitable ACORN and union fraud.
"I asked Paulette about it. She laughed it off. 'We're going to win,' she repeated." I live here! "So on Tuesday night, as Martha Coakley conceded hours, if not days, earlier than the conventional wisdom predicted, I had the feeling that Paulette was the only person who wasn't surprised. The next morning, I could do nothing but offer my deep gratitude to Paulette and the others in Massachusetts who 'just couldn't take any more.' Scott Brown deserves credit, of course, for fighting an amazing campaign. But I think it's the Paulettes in Massachusetts who have the most to teach us. Such as: 1. There are a lot of voters out there who agree with us. Poll after poll shows that conservatives make up the largest voting bloc in America. It's high time we conservatives actually believed it.
"2. There is no substitute, absolutely none, for personal, grassroots involvement in campaigns," and James, up there in the northern climes of Wisconsin, this is for you: "Too many of us want to just 'mail in' our support." A lot of people think grassroots doesn't matter. It's so far removed from Washington, how can it possibly matter? You mean I'm going to stuff envelopes? This advice is absolutely right on the money: There is no substitute, absolutely none, for personal, grassroots involvement in campaigns. ... "3. Democrat and ACORN fraud cannot overcome a tidal wave of conservative and like-minded independent voters, even in liberal Massachusetts and New Jersey. For far too long we have accepted the inevitability of losing because of Democrat voter fraud. ... 4. We have to get involved early. ... The time for conservative involvement is yesterday.
"Brown's win taught us that no seat is 100% safe. (My dream is to see that proved again in Barney Frank's district.) My own congressman is a blue dog Democrat who voted for cap-and-trade. I wonder if he has any idea what's in store for him this election year." He ought to because I have been telling him! "So here's to you, Paulette, and all your fellow patriots in Massachusetts. I can almost hear our Founders saying, 'Ya done good!'" That's Carol Peracchio, a registered nurse and contributor to AmericanThinker.com. It's an anecdotal story involving one voter, but it's dead on. There is nothing that ACORN and the unions can do to stop a tidal wave, and a tidal wave is what's brewing. The Democrats, folks, will always tell us what they're afraid of -- Sarah Palin, the tea parties -- by telling us that we can't win with whatever candidate or organization. "You gotta get rid of Palin! You gotta get rid of the tea party!" They're scared to death. Make no mistake about it. Especially after Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, they're back on their heels. The press is not reporting how discombobulated they are.
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| Read the Background Material... |
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| • American Thinker: Democrats, Meet Your Biggest Nightmare - Carol Peracchio |
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RUSH: Debbie in Stacy, Minnesota, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: I'm calling about the billboard. And it is for real. I live about three miles north of it.
RUSH: Now, you're in Stacy, Minnesota. This billboard's outside Wyoming, Minnesota?
CALLER: Right. It's in between Wyoming and Stacy. It's on the east side of 35 in between the Twin Cities and the Duluth.
RUSH: Oh, the Twin Cities?
CALLER: Yep. Yep.
RUSH: So between the Twin Cities and Duluth on the east side of 35?
CALLER: Yep. And it's between Stacy and Wyoming.
RUSH: No offense here, no offense, Debbie, it's a strange place to put a billboard.
CALLER: Yeah, I know, we don't know how it -- you know, it just all of a sudden showed up one time, and it is really cool.
RUSH: It's Bush standing there, he's got a little gleam his eye.
CALLER: Yeah, he's sitting there and there's little words that say "Miss me yet?" And he's got his little smile and it's really cool.
RUSH: "Miss me yet?"
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Oh, the people at NPR and the liberal blogs will be upset to learn that it's real.
CALLER: No, it is for real. We pass by it all the time.
RUSH: Now that you've mentioned this, next time you drive by there are going to be some tomatoes on there, people will throw some eggs on it. It's happened to one of my billboards out in Sacramento.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: You keep a sharp eye out. We just got a phone call, by the way, folks that one has been spotted in Lafayette, Louisiana, as well, so they're real, they're popping up all over. We don't know who's doing it, though. George W. Bush: Miss me yet?
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RUSH: Looks like we're getting closer here to figuring out who it was that has bought at least one of these "Miss me yet?" Bush billboards, the one up in Wyoming, Minnesota, which is on the east side of I-35 between the Twin Cities and Duluth. "Mary Teske, the general manager of Schubert & Hoey Outdoor Advertising reports, 'The Bush Miss Me Yet?' billboard was paid for by a group of small business owners who feel like Washington is against them. They wish to remain anonymous. They thought it was a fun way of getting out their message." Now, hundreds of people are claiming credit for this, but at least for this one billboard, the GM of the outdoor advertising agency that sold it says it's a bunch of small business owners who feel Washington's against them.
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RUSH: Here's a fascinating blog, Andrew Malcolm from the LA Times, Top of the Ticket blog: "President Obama Day 386: What's happened to him? -- A favorite story about Chicago politics involves Roman Pucinski, who served six long terms of political apprenticeship in the Washington minor leagues of the U.S. House of Representatives --" (laughing) that's interesting. The House of Representatives is the minor leagues to the Chicago -- (laughing) -- don't you love that? (laughing) The House of Representatives minor leagues. "-- before the Windy City's vaunted Democratic political machine allowed him to step up and serve on the City Council.
"The late Pucinski then served for 18 years as a loyal operative assigned to the 41st Ward (of 50). It's always useful for Chicago pols to have White House connections if, say, they'd like to dispatch someone famous to fly off to Copenhagen to lobby the International Olympic Committee for their city's 2016 summer games bid. But the Chicago Daley machine, which is actually a ruthless coalition of urban Democratic factions united by the steel reinforcing rods of self-interest, didn't much care about this Barack Obama fellow before, as long as he was quiet, obedient and headed on a track out of town. How he acquired a reform label coming out of that one-party place is anyone's guess. But now that the sun has risen on the 386th day of the Obama White House, many political observers are coming to see that the ex-state senator from the South Side is running his federal administration in Washington much the way they run things back home: with a small....
"...claque of clout-laden people from the same school who learned their political trade back in the nation's No. 3 city, named for an Indian word for a smelly wild onion." Did you know that? Learn something every day. Is Chicago the Indian word or is it a derivative? H.R. claims to know this. Oh. Okay. You knew it, but you don't know the exact word, which means you don't know it. Named for an Indian word for a smelly wild onion. "That style is tough, focused, immune to any distractions but cosmetic niceties." Anyway, the bloom's off the rose here, or peeling the smelly onion. They're asking, "Where did the hopes for Obama go?" The people who understand what Obama is and who he is and where he came from are asking, "Why in the hell is he so ineffective?" There hasn't been a worst practitioner of Chicago politics ever. They genuinely get what they want. And his agenda, the big items -- while a bunch of stuff behind the scenes actually is getting rammed down our throats, we don't know it -- big items are bombing out.
We're going to go back to April 25th of 2005, and the reason I play this, we played this once before but I want to play it again because it's all related to Obama's poll numbers dropping and the media's refusal to report them. Nobody, there's not anywhere near a majority anywhere in this country for any of his major proposals. So we go back to April 25th, 2005, five years ago, almost, at the National Press Club, Senator Obama speaking about Social Security reform, the Q&A, got this question: "Someone in the audience would like to know what should the American people do to stop the privatization of Social Security?"
OBAMA: The president has been on his 60-day tour, and everywhere he goes the numbers just get worse. The American people have essentially voted on this proposal. If they let go of their egos -- I've been on the other side of this where, particularly with my wife -- (laughing) -- where I've gotten in an argument and then at some point in the argument it dawns on me, you know what, I'm wrong on this one, and it's irritating. It's frustrating. You don't want to admit it. And so to the extent that we can provide the president with a graceful mechanism to -- to say we're sorry, dear, then I think that would be -- that would be helpful.
RUSH: All right. So here he is making fun of Bush. Hey, the American people voted on your Social Security privatization, they don't want it. Same thing here with health care. They have voted numerous times. I mean in more ways than the American people ever voted on Bush's privatization. Obama's lost two statehouses and the Kennedy seat. Now, that's a pretty damning indictment, ladies and gentlemen. But Michelle (My Belle) Obama, who got her obesity bill today, or presidential directive, came to his defense on Good Morning America today. Robin Roberts interviewed her: "People were full of hope. How do you feel when people make light of something that was very important to the campaign, had every intent, still do, to bring hope and change and make it a better world for people?"
MICHELLE: People are frustrated, right? But one of the things that Barack Obama said and continues to say is, change ain't easy, and it doesn't happen overnight. And it certainly doesn't happen in a year. My husband has done a phenomenal job staying on course, looking his critics in the eye, coming up with clear solutions, and again staying the course. That's what leadership is. But people have a right to criticize the president of the United States.
RUSH: There is no leadership. Leaders have solutions. He's got no solutions. He's just an agitator. He's offering solutions zip, zero, nada. But don't you love the question? Robin Roberts: "So many people are making light of something that was so very important and had every intent, still do, to bring hope and change and make it a better world --" the world is disintegrating. I mean we've got the Iranians promising some big bang this week, we've got the Russians saying missile shields aimed at them, we've got the ChiComs suggesting that they sell some of our bonds to send us a big message. And who's making fun of it? "You think people make light of something that was very important to the campaign --" who's making fun of hope and change? Could it be me? You think she might mean me when I ask, "How is that hope and change working for you?" Oh, you think Robin Roberts is worried about me making fun of it? Yeah, that really irritates them, we discussed yesterday, you're not supposed to make fun of Democrats and liberals, no, no, no, 'cause they're too serious, their work is too important, you're not supposed to make fun. So then Robin Roberts said, "The peaks and valleys of this year, successes, some shortcomings, and the rhetoric of the last few months, is there ever a time you look to your husband and say, 'We gotta fix this?'"
MICHELLE: It's a constant struggle. You know, the coarsening of Washington and politics has always been here. We had hoped that more progress would have been made, but as I say you just keep holding the hand out, you know, you never give up on the possibility --
RUSH: Stop the tape a minute. You hold a hand out with the middle finger extended is what's happening here. Yeah, the hand's being held out but there's a middle finger extended. Resume tape.
MICHELLE: -- more civility. You never walk away from that, right? You keep your hand-held out, you keep that smile on your face, you stay open to the possibility of partnership, and one day there will be another hand out there to accept yours. That is the beauty of-Barack Obama, his hand stays out, positive and focused. It's a gift.
RUSH: With the middle finger extended. So what is she suggesting here? People keep their handouts? He's extending these hands out there and waiting for somebody to take the handouts. Disguised lingo. You have to be in the welfare state to understand the code lingo here, folks. It means the gravy train's going to keep on coming.
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RUSH: All right, here's the Indian word for Chicago that means "smelly onion." It is s-h-i-k-a-k-o, shiKAko, and from that you get Chicago. Could be shiKAKo, I'm not sure, but regardless that's the word, furnished to be by none other than H.R. It does sound similar to "macaca," which drove George Allen out of the Senate rase. You have here shiKAko. ShiKAKo. It is very close to "macaca."
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| Read the Background Material... |
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| • LA Times: President Obama Day 386: What's Happened to Him? |
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RUSH: To Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. John, welcome to the EIB Network, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush. I never had a chance to meet you but it's a privilege to speak with you.
RUSH: Thank you very much, sir.
CALLER: In our area here, we have quite a few people, I myself included -- it would be nice if you could be of assistance, Rush, but -- I'm out of work with Masters and Ph.D. degrees. It's not that you're electing to be, and it's not definitely that you're sitting back waiting on a handout of any kind. It's just that a lot of the companies in our particular area who are doing some hiring are reaching out more to our overseas brothers and sisters, if you will, than to people within our own communities.
RUSH: Why?
CALLER: I don't know. That's a solvent I haven't been able to come up with. Maybe the labor factor is cheaper. You know, there could be many reasons why. However, in my situation, I've been going out and obtaining opportunities to teach in academia. Getting full-time in that particular region is kind of tough, though.
RUSH: Yeah, but hey, look: How much work are you getting there, part-time teaching in academia?
CALLER: Not much. Maybe one, two classes at the most.
RUSH: A week, a day, what? How much?
CALLER: A week.
RUSH: And what are you teaching?
CALLER: I teach in the business curriculum be. I teach training and development.
RUSH: Oh, man! Now, you have a masters or Ph.D. in one of those two?
CALLER: I have an MBA, yes.
RUSH: Oh, man. You know what? I'm going to be selfish here. You don't know what a godsend this is for your students. Even if it's just one or two classes a week, do you really the perspective they're getting from you?
CALLER: Oh, yes. I definitely do, Rush. I really what they're getting, but on the same token it would be nice if you could be able to extend that to touch their lives in the future full-time, you know?
RUSH: No, I understand. I understand what you're saying. Where is Cranberry Township? What's it near in Pennsylvania?
CALLER: Pittsburgh.
RUSH: Near Pittsburgh. So are you talking about colleges and universities are hiring people from out of the country to do their work?
CALLER: No, I'm talking about people who want to do something... A lot of people will take teaching jobs part time. But conversely what they're doing is looking for full-time work in corporate America, and a lot of our facilities here... You know, there's a lot of quota systems and, unfortunately, that's a cross to carry but what are you going to do? You can't stop an asteroid on a dime, you know? So unfortunately that's what you're caught up in.
RUSH: So what do you want to do?
CALLER: Well, I have a very good operations management background, Rush. I would like to be somebody who's guiding and leading companies to meet the strategies that they're coming out with. And helping to achieve their goals, to continue their life cycles in the market. That's something. I would like to do and also continue teaching, you know, more or less... Like I said, a lot of my friends who were working full time. Some of them have lost their jobs as well. To be working full time --
RUSH: Why don't you do this? You gotta start small, and this is probably as productive an idea as anything. Find one company somewhere and offer yourself as a consultant.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm?
RUSH: I guarantee you that everybody in this recession is looking for ways out of it.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: If you can find a way for company X -- as a consultant. You know, negotiate a consulting contract. Be an independent contractor. Don't go on staff. Just get one company that you are consulting. Consult them on positive ways to ramp up, to grow, to get out of the problems they're in. You keep doing your teaching thing at the same time, and then you can write your ticket.
CALLER: Yeah, I'm sure. We're in a small market here, Rush. I realize that a lot... A lot like of people, like I said, I am myself --
RUSH: Wait a minute. How close to Pittsburgh are you? Pittsburgh's not that small.
CALLER: Well, it's smaller than what you thought. We lost a lot of population here, and when those demographics have changed over the last several years, a lot of companies went with it.
RUSH: Yeah, but you still have businesses. I'm not talking about major corporations only.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: You've still got any number of businesses -- small, medium, large or whatever -- I guarantee you, most of them need help. Frankly, I have been amazed over the last ten years at the number of companies who go outside to find advice and consulting.
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: McKinsey is huge. I mean, I've been stunned at that. I used to work for the Kansas City Royals. They looked outside for certain kind of marketing and business advice all the time, and you ask, "You've got people on staff. Why are you adding to your expenses by going outside when you already have people here?" but they're doing it. I know I'm making it sound easy, but it's your business. You know how to pitch 'em and you've got some experience here, and you can identify the ones that are in trouble. I'd go for it. Get one of those in your tank that you're helping and you can write your ticket.
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RUSH: You know, even Alan Greenspan, of all people, on Meet the Press Sunday, and Henry Paulson, they both said tax increases are the worst thing we could do right now. And Greenspan said: (paraphrasing) "When I heard that the Senate placed Social Security off any austerity budget cutting programs, I know we're not serious, we're not serious about cutting anything." And you've all heard the news now that Social Security is officially paying out more than it takes in because the recession has caused people to retire. Folks, I can't imagine how bad this could get. In fact, I want to save the discussion of that for another day. I want to stay focused on something positive here. I'm going to go back to this guy, John in Cranberry Township and consultancy. I have mixed emotions about it.
Now, I, ladies and gentlemen, am in broadcasting. Let me for a moment focus on television for a minute, local television. Recently one of the most important figures in local television news passed away. His name was Frank Magid and he was from Iowa. Frank Magid was a giant consultancy firm that advised local TV stations on how to do the local five, six, and 11 o'clock news. And Frank Magid Associates would be brought in by all these local TV stations to meet with the talent, to study them, and to make suggestions on how they wear their hair and how they speak and how they read the teleprompter and what color clothes to wear and all. To me, as a broadcaster, I always thought it was insulting. And I'm telling you that most people -- and I may be speaking out of school here -- and this is not to insult Frank Magid or his company, please don't misunderstand here if you're with the Frank Magid company. Most people, when they were told by management that the Magid people were coming into town, it was hunker down 'cause you always thought, "Man, I might get fired. Is some consultant going to say I don't have it, somebody who's not in the market, somebody just perusing ratings data, will I get canned or moved to some graveyard news shift," or whatever.
I've known my fair share of people in local news, and when the Magid people were coming, it was, you know, head for the bunkers. And frankly I always wondered why in the world this was. I thought the people who owned and operated TV stations were the experts. Somehow this Magid guy set himself up as knowing more than any of them. He convinced them, and how he did it, I mean, I don't know for a fact but I'm sure that he had a couple of stations he consulted, and bam, their local news ratings shot through the roof and since everybody in entertainment, news, whatever, is a copycat, they had to have him. So John in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, all you need is one, all you need is one consultancy that gets on the map, and, John, you know where you ought to go? There's a company out there, John, that has no idea what to do. They have never encountered the kind of problems they're having. The company's called Toyota. They have the US federal government lined up against them because the federal government owns their competitors, GM and Chrysler.
They just today had to add Lexus -- they own Lexus -- they just today had to add Lexus hybrids to the recall list. Lexus is their huge, top of the line brand. They are recalling hundreds of thousands of Priuses and then you have the other Toyotas that have the braking problem. Not the Prius. The hybrids have the braking problem, the other Toyotas have the accelerator problem. These are all software glitches and massive, massive recalls. The Toyota CEO is all over the place personally apologizing, which is what in the Japanese culture happens. This company has a chance because people have voted with their pocketbooks, they love these cars, and I think they'll be very accepting of this, but it's still a challenge for them. John, you're probably hearing this and, "Toyota? I mean you're talking about a multinational corporation. How in the world do we get --" I don't know. But you're the consultant. You got the MBA. You're the guy that might have an idea for them. You just gotta be careful who you give the idea to doesn't steal it if it's a good one. But Toyota's one example.
Let me share with you this story from Reuters: "The outlook of small business owners remained bleak at the start of the new year, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business. 'Small business owners entered 2010 the same way they left 2009 -- depressed,' the group said, noting its Small Business Optimism Index reading for January was still below the 90 mark, the dividing line between positive and negative outlooks. But the group also said that seven of the index's 10 components rose, indicating conditions could soon improve. ... Swelling inventories have largely contributed to the recent growth in U.S. gross domestic product. But small business owners said they continue to liquidate inventories, and with weak sales trends, have little incentive to replenish their stocks."
Now, for whatever reason, human nature being whatever it is, it is now, I don't know universally accepted, but with times as tough as they are, these people are looking for any idea to get themselves out of this mess. And they realize, John, that their biggest obstacle is what they don't know yet, and that is what of Obama's agenda is gonna pass. You put together a plan to help them deal with whatever it is on a contingency basis, you got an MBA, how to operate if health care happens, how to operate if the tax increases happen, whether to operate. They're looking for answers out there. Everybody is. You've got the MBA. And the consultancy business, you know, if you travel 30 miles, you're a consultant. You might come up with what country to move your operations to, if A, B, and C of the Obama administration happens. Should you go to Germany? Should you go to Mexico? Should you go to Costa Rica? The ideas, the options, the suggestions you could make are limitless, and there are people looking, small business, especially.
You know, small business people comprise the gamut. A lot of them are just creative, they just have a passion for a service or a product. The business side is something they have to learn. There you go. I've often said, and I maintain it to this day, that even in a circumstance like this, meaning this deep a recession, most of the limitations that people face are those they place on themselves. Now, we're in a tight battle, because Obama is a huge limitation on everybody right now. In normal times -- I don't mean to harp on John here, but he's the last caller, he's in Cranberry Township which is near Pittsburgh. If anybody, if any of you are unwilling to move, fine, but understand that is a self-limitation. You're limiting yourself to opportunities available where you happen to be if you're going to work with local people. To give you an idea -- I'm going to let a big cat out of the bag. I don't know this to be true. This is just a wild, wild guess. You know the people that own these fractional corporate jet deals where you can buy a quarter share or a half share of a private jet with a whole bunch of other people and when you need one you call 'em up and they send a jet to your place within four, six hours, and take you where you want to go. But it's never the same jet, it's never the same flight crew, you buy a quarter share in a type of airplane so it usually is the type of airplane you bought into, a Hawk or what have you.
The people -- they're going to hate me for doing this -- the people who run these businesses, who started it, you know why they did it? To keep track of competitors. Well, who is it that signs up for quarter shares? Who does not want to buy a whole airplane, they buy for a quarter share? Businesses. So if you own one of these companies, you can see who's flying to where, if they've cut back on how much they're flying, and if they're increasing their flying and then where they're flying. You can keep track on what they're doing. As the owner you have access to all the flight manifests and records and so forth. It's a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant thing. It's entrepreneurism at its best. You're providing a service for people who don't want the cost of a whole airplane, and if you want you can find out trends, business trends before they happen 'cause you're witnessing it. So there's all kinds of opportunities out there, John, there's all kinds of opportunities for anybody. Let your passion be what guides you. Your passion combined with your expertise. Even in Obama's America there is opportunity. In this case, unlike in normal America, in this case you're going to have to find it. Opportunity is probably not going to knock on your door as often as it would in normal economic times. But remember there's no such thing as luck. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
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RUSH: Help me stay focused on this small business thing for just a second. I don't want to embarrass John out there but he's the most recent call about all this and I've got ideas just exploding inside my little cranium here. John, you teach business school twice a week. Look at what you have there. You can combine your own project with education for them. Have them do a research project on small business companies (of, say, a hundred employees or fewer or 50 employees or fewer); find out where they are and how they're doing; and bammo! There you've got your call list, and your students are learning things. At the same time, you kill two birds with one stone -- and it's free labor, John. The students are free labor and you're not going to have to cut 'em in on anything. Now, for the rest... (interruption) It's not exploitive. That's how it happens, Snerdley. It's not exploitive at all. It's "exploitative," and it's not exploitative.
If he wants to cut 'em in, raise the grade from a C to a B. (laughing) Now, now... (laughing) Whatever! Look, I'm just the idea guy here. This is not even my business. I'm just... Now, the rest of you in this audience unemployed or with a small business if you're in trouble. I know you listen to this program every day. You hear people advertise on this program. We are sold out. You hear them advertise here. Does that not tell you that some businesses are succeeding out there? And I'm not going to jump into ego-ville here and say it's because they're associated with me, although it is. But they are working. The point is that even in the midst of all this, there are people who are enjoying success, even in this depressed market. There's no reason that can't be you. We just got a new advertiser. We just got a new advertiser. These people came in to see me three weeks ago and they brought their product. They're located in Sacramento, in fact.
It's called Shari's Berries. They are the biggest chocolate-covered strawberries I have ever seen in my life, and they are hand dipped, and they come in boxes of 12. They're all different patterns, even though they're hand dipped. And they come delivered to you cold because you gotta refrigerate them because you don't want the chocolate to melt. They are huge! I don't eat much sugar for a whole bunch of reasons. I don't have that big a sweet tooth. But of course I tasted a couple of these, and they were just delicious. They came in hoping I would accept the product, and I did on the spot because it's ideal for Valentine's Day. This is something that will melt in their mouths: Hand-dipped strawberries from Shari's Berries. They're just $19.99. They've sold over 50 million of these things. They're taking it out national now, and who did they choose to do it? (Ahem!) Now, if you want to do this for Valentine's Day -- and this is a twist. I mean, a lot of people give candy on Valentine's Day, but here's a chocolate covered strawberry, 12 of them.
You have to see these, and you can do it on a website I'll give you here in a minute, Thursday is the last chance to get these delivered by Valentine's Day: $19.99 is the lowest price that these enormous strawberries have ever been, and this is an offer exclusively for you. it only lasts until Thursday. So here's what you do: Call 866-FRUIT-02. That's 866-FRUIT-02. For those of you in Rio Linda: 866-378-4802. Or we have a website, www.RushBerries.com. Www.RushBerries.com. Just take a look at them. You're going to wish you could taste them when you look at them. But here's another small business joining the roster of successful people here on the EIB Network. So the signs are everywhere, folks. It's tougher, obviously tougher, with what's coming down the pipe and what's already come down the pike but it can be done. In times like this, it's always the ingenuity and the entrepreneur that finds because around this stuff. We're Americans, and we're always going to be Americans despite this administration's attempt to redefine who we are and what we do.
Who's next? Tony in Edmonds, Washington, nice to have you, sir, on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. I just want to make a point. I've been in business... I'm an architect. I've been in business for myself since '94. After the downturn... I used to have... We peaked at like six employees. I've had to lay them off everybody but myself right now. Yet if I were to hire people back, the State of Washington will require me to pay into their unemployment pool to the tune of 42¢ an hour to 'til that person is paid $35,000, after which I don't have to contribute to the unemployment pool. They penalize you for like two to three years. I laid off some guys back in, you know, '02 and I was paying a higher rate for probably two-to-three years after they were laid off into this pool.
RUSH: So they're penalizing you for hiring people, in essence.
CALLER: Right. Right. I haven't even looked at the federal unemployment rate. Frankly that's been rather low and it's been a minor payment.
RUSH: Okay, given that reality -- it's a reality you gotta face -- what's it going to take for you to have your business expand and, despite all this, hire people back?
CALLER: Well, one of the possibilities is change the name of the company and re-up with the state and come in as a different entity. I haven't talked to my accountant about that but I'm wondering if there would be restrictions in the ability to do that.
RUSH: So you're starting fresh, in other words, on the amount you have to pay in the unemployment fund?
CALLER: Right, right. I'm really joining forces with a larger firm out in Tacoma -- I'm up north of Seattle a little bit -- and marketing with them. So it's looking at difference options but --
RUSH: Well, but still. All right, fine. This is a great example. This guy hasn't thrown in the towel yet. He's looking for ways around all these stupid, statist regulations that are obstacles. Good luck, sir, and stay in touch. Let us know how it goes.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • Reuters: Dark Clouds Hang Over U.S. Small Businesses: Survey |
I just noticed that a reporter in there actually asked my question: "President Obama, small businesses say that they aren't hiring because they don't know what's coming. They don't know how much it's going to cost to be in business with your health care bill (if it passes or not), whatever tax increases you have planned, cap-and-trade legislation. They're holding back." And Obama said, "No, no, no. That's not right. It's because they can't get loans." So I just want you small business people that did not hear this to know. A reporter actually told the truth in a question: You aren't expanding or hiring anybody because you don't know what you face down the road expense-wise. You don't know what the cost of doing business is going to be. And Obama said, "No, no, no, no, that's not at all it! They can't get loans." Every small business in this country needs to hear that answer.
Every one of them, because Obama's basically now telling you, "You don't know what you're doing," and this guy has never operated a payroll or a small business. He wouldn't know the first thing to do if a small business fell into his lap. His inclination is to tax every one of them out of business and take away every bit of profit, and then you stay in business with zero profit. That's what his objective is. Let's go to the sound bites. Obama says he's open to new ideas. In a surprise visit to the White House Briefing Room, Major Garrett of Fox News: "After meeting with you, John Boehner came out and told us that the House cannot pass the health care it once passed, the Senate can't pass the health care bill it once passed, so why would we have a conversation about legislation that can't pass? As part of that he said that you and your White House congressional Democrats should start over entirely from scratch on health care reform. How do you respond?"
OBAMA: I've got these goals. When I was in Baltimore talking to the House Republicans, they indicated, we can accomplish some of these goals at no cost. And I said, "Great. Let me see it," and, eh, eh, eh... Y u know, I have no interest in doing something that's more expensive and harder to accomplish if somebody else has an easier way to do it. So I'm going to be starting from scratch in the sense that I will be open to any ideas --
RUSH: Oh, my God.
OBAMA: -- to help promote these goals.
RUSH: He's open! (laughing) He's willing to start from scratch if somebody can tell him how his ideas can be made to work, which is not "starting from scratch." The next sound bite is the president adding to his previous answer.
OBAMA: What I will not do -- what you don't think makes sense and I don't think the American people want to see would be -- another year of partisan wrangling around these issues --
RUSH: Stop the tape. I can't. There hasn't been any "partisan wrangling." The wrangling has all been within the Democrat Party. The House Democrats are saying "no" to the Senate Democrats and verse vice-a. The Republicans, up until Scott Brown just a couple weeks ago, had no say in this and they were treated as such. There hasn't been partisan wrangling! Folks, you Republicans, do not fall for this. Do not fall for this bipartisan garbage. It's a trap. Get the word out of your lexicon. "Bipartisan" is a code word for you caving to Democrat and Obama ideas. The American people have voted at the polls for Scott Brown and in Virginia and New Jersey. They don't want bipartisanship. They want to stop this! You have to become the "just say no" Republicans and wear that proudly. The "hell, no" Republicans! Don't be afraid of it. Trust me. (sigh) Scott Brown said he's the 41st vote against it, and look what happened: They lost the Kennedy seat! Do not be timid! Ahh! A little Howard Dean impersonation. Here's the next of this worthless sound bite.
OBAMA: -- another six months or eight months or nine months' worth of, uh, hearings in every single committee in the House and the Senate in which there's a lot of posturing. Let's get the relevant parties together. Let's put the best ideas on the table. My hope is that we can find enough overlap that we can say, "This is the right way to move forward, even if I don't get every single thing that I want."
RUSH: Well, that's BS because he's not going to move forward unless he gets every single thing he wants. That's what this whole exercise is about. He wasn't through.
OBAMA: But here's the point that I made to...uh...John Boehner and -- and Mitch McConnell. Bipartisanship can't be that I agree to all the things --
RUSH: (yawns)
OBAMA: -- that they believe in or want and they agree to none of the things I believe in and want --
RUSH: That's exactly what it is!
OBAMA: -- and that's the price of bipartisanship.
RUSH: That's exactly what it is!
OBAMA: Right? Eh, eh, eh -- B-but that's sometimes the way it gets presented. I'm willing to move off some of the press conference of my party in order to meet them halfway, but there's gotta be some give from their side as well.
RUSH: What give? They don't... (sigh) This is solely about your plan. Oops, sorry. You don't have a plan. This is solely about two competing Democrat plans, of which the Republicans played no role in crafting. There's nothing for the Republicans to give up. The only option is for them to join you in this, which is the trick, and they better not do it. This is not going to fool people. I am not going to let this fool people. This is just pathological. This is Saul Alinsky. They've gotta turn this stuff right aren't on them. Now, the last bite here, unidentified reporter: "Are you saying, are you saying...?" This from the press CORPSE. "Are you saying that the bill can't pass?"
OBAMA: What I agree with is that the public has soured on the process that they saw --
RUSH: No!
OBAMA: -- over the last year.
RUSH: Stop the tape! They've not soured on "the process"! They've soured on the substance! They have substance in their minds. They know exactly what this is. The process probably ticks them off, too, but it's not the process they've soured on, Mr. President. It is you! It's you -- and it's Harry Reid and it's Pelosi and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy, et al. It is you the public has soured on. Mr. President, the Gallup poll yesterday: 90% of the American people disapprove of the liberal Democrat Congress. They have soured on you. (sigh) Here's the rest of it.
OBAMA: That actually contaminates how they view the substance of the bills. This gives an opportunity not just for the Democrats to say, "Here's what we think we should do," but it also gives Republicans a showcase before the entire country to say, "Here's our plan, here's why we think this will work," and, you know, one of the things that John Boehner and -- and Mitch McConnell both said is they didn't think that the status quo was acceptable, and that's right there promising.
RUSH: (laughs) The status quo is your stupid two bills! The status quo is not "the process." This is a trick. This is an often-employed, Democrat trick to get the Republicans to cave in -- in this case to nonexistent pressure from the American people who "just want everyone to get along." The era of McCain is over, not the era of Reagan.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We have two more sound bites from President Obama as he hijacked the White House press briefing this afternoon, and here is the question I mentioned to you. It is from Jake Tapper of ABC: "According to business leaders, they say there's an uncertainty what they need to plan for because of the energy bill, because of health care, that's what they say. I'm not saying it's true or not, but that's what they say. What do you say when you hear that?"
OBAMA: The biggest uncertainty has been we just went through the worst recession since the great depression, and people weren't sure whether the financial system was going to melt down and whether we were going to tip into an endless recession. So, let's be clear about the sources of uncertainty in terms of business investment over the last several years. A huge contraction, trillions of dollars of losses in people's 401(k)s, people have a lot of debt coming out of the previous decade that they still haven't worked out, the housing market losing a whole bunch of value.
RUSH: There you go, blaming Bush, Jake Tapper says, look, these business guys are not expanding because they don't know what's coming at them down the road, what do you say to that? Blame Bush, blame Bush, blame Bush, blame Bush. And so Tapper said: "A small business, not affected by the regulatory reform, a small business. You have proposed, you would acknowledge, a bold agenda, and a small business might wonder, I don't know how the energy bill will affect me, I don't know how the health care reform bill will affect me, I better hold off on hiring."
OBAMA: The small businesses I've talked to and I've been talking to a lot of them as I have been traveling around the country, their biggest problem is right now they can't get credit out of their banks, so they're uncertain about that, and they're still uncertain about orders. You know, do they just have enough customers to justify them doing more? It's looking better at this point, but that's not the rationale for people saying I'm not hiring. Let me put it this way. Most small businesses right now, if they've got enough customers to make a profit and they can get the bank loans required to boost their payroll, boost their inventory and sell to those customers, they will do so.
RUSH: Oh, man, you don't borrow money to make payroll. He really does not have a clue. He is absolutely clueless. Of this I am certain. It's a dangerous double because he's got these people in his crosshairs but he is clueless, small business people -- I want to play this again. Recue it, Mike. Let me put it this way. "Most small businesses right now, if they've got enough customers to make a profit --" No, they don't. Where in the world does this come from? "-- and they can get the bank loans required to boost their payroll, boost their inventory and sell to their customers, they will do so." You don't borrow to meet payroll except as a last resort. You lay people off. This is dangerously naive, ignorant. Coupled with his overall view of business anyway, he doesn't like profit. Folks, the sheer ignorance combined with a cockiness and an arrogance is just unbelievable. "The small businesses I've talked to and I've been talking to a lot of them, they can't get credit out of their banks," and then later on he says they can get credit to boost payrolls. Here listen to it again, I mean you small business people, you need to hear this. This is a guy who's telling you, you don't know what you're doing. This is the president of the United States saying, no, you're wrong. It's not that you're waiting to see what punitive policies of his come down the pike, no, you just think you can't get credit. Here it is again.
OBAMA: The small businesses I've talked to and I've been talking to a lot of them as I have been traveling around the country, their biggest problem is right now they can't get credit out of their banks, so they're uncertain about that, and they're still uncertain about orders. You know, do they just have enough customers to justify them doing more? It's looking better at this point, but that's not the rationale for people saying I'm not hiring. Let me put it this way. Most small businesses right now, if they've got enough customers to make a profit and they can get the bank loans required to boost their payroll, boost their inventory and sell to those customers, they will do so.
RUSH: Some do. I mean, some have enough customers to make a profit, but most don't. And you don't borrow money to make payroll. That's business 101. That is tough to get a loan to do that. I mean you go into the bank, "I want to expand the payroll, can you get me a loan?" the bank will say, "No, no, no, that's not how it works. Grow your business and let your profits pay for new hires." I am aghast. I mean this is sheer unadulterated, undisguised idiocy. This is promoting, folks, the same tactic that put us in the mortgage crisis, the subprime mortgage crisis. Borrow money to make payroll and then go on the road to put yourself out of business and not pay the bank back, or loan money to people who have no hope of ever paying it back in the form of a mortgage because a government regulator is telling you you must and Janet Reno is promising you you'll be investigated if you don't, and then Barney Frank and Chris Dodd come along and say you better do this, this is affordable housing. And Obama wonders why the value of houses has plummeted, so many people are under water, it's because so many people, God love 'em, who had no business getting a mortgage, got them.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: New York state, we have Carol on the phone. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hello.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: Well, I just wanted to call in and say that I'm in agreement with the sentiments that small businesses are concerned about moving forward. I'm a small business owner, I've been in business for about the past ten years, and now I'm finally starting to realize some growth and potential, and I'm afraid to actually make the move that would make that enhanced because of the punitive measures that I may have to deal with down the line, and I don't know if I could survive those punitive measures. So you question whether or not you should go out on a limb and stick your neck out.
RUSH: All right. Have you heard the sound bite from President Obama we played about 20 minutes ago, 25 minutes ago?
CALLER: Yes, I heard it a couple times and that's what caused me to call.
RUSH: Okay. Because he says that what you just said, you don't know your own business, it's because you can't get loans. He's talked to people like you. If I were you, I would be livid. This level of ignorance, lack of understanding or whatever it is is just appalling, and it's really dangerous. Here you are on the cusp of growth and you're afraid to do it because of what's coming down the pike!
CALLER: Well, it certainly gives you pause. I'll probably do it anyway because that's what it's about to live in this country. But I certainly -- I'm not doing it without hg a squishy feeling in my stomach. No one has ever talked to me or asked me about, you know, my opinions on these matters from any political party. I will say that I am nervous, but I'm going to probably have to put that aside and do my best. I know that I can get a loan. The loan is not the problem. It's the concerns that are the problem.
RUSH: So are you going to try to build in some policies to dictate how you're going to run the business if the worst happens or if 50% of his agenda happens, or are you just going to go in and deal with it as it happens?
CALLER: I don't think you can completely prepare because no one knows yet exactly how this will all play out. You do your best to respond and be as nimble as you can be, but still the whole object here, if you're an entrepreneur, is to grow, it's not to recede and run away, and that's what I've dedicated myself, I've given up so much over the years, there's so much deferred income so much, you know, the grains of sand through my hourglass which are my life, and to think that they're going to be ultimately redistributed else-wise is so horrible for me.
RUSH: Join the club. You're right on the money. You said you're on the cusp of expanding. What is expanding? Is it hiring more people? What is it?
CALLER: It's hiring more people and buying a much larger facility to operate my business out of, and that would be the smart thing to do. And I probably will have to do it nonetheless. But I certainly am not doing it without wondering is this the noose that will hang me in the end because the expense of doing that will be something that will have to bear, in addition to whatever else may come along.
RUSH: And you are going to have to take out a loan to do it?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: But that's not a problem?
CALLER: No, no. We've always been extremely careful. I have no real debt, of any kind. We've always paid our own way all the way along and denied ourselves the income that you could pay yourself if you leveraged yourself more, in the hopes that when we finally were where we needed to be we would get that return back. Then to think that after all that time of being careful, not being risky, methodically denying ourselves when the point really came that we could grow that this would occur, it seems so punitive.
RUSH: I know. I know. God bless you, best of luck to you. Keep us posted on how things go once this agenda settles in and realize there are a lot of people doing everything they can to stop it.
END TRANSCRIPT
I loved today’s show.
STOP THE TAPE! LOL.
Thank you so much for all the work you put in to bring us the daily transcripts Monday through Friday. I love reading through them at night.
He can bitch, complain and accuse as much as he wants!
All we have to do is point to his, and the Dems recorded actions, tactics, and plots for America, and how they ignored and called the People names when they thought they could do anything they wanted...Things are different now.
They can *try* and accuse us all they want...
All it will accomplish is to demonstrate their incompetence and impotence.
You can fool some of the people all the time
All of the people some of the time.
But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
You're welcome, onyx!
Obama Plans to Undo Bush Rules on Oil Drilling on Public Lands, Among Others
http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/11/10/obama-plans-to-undo-bush-rules-on-oil-drilling-on-public-lands-among-others/ December 4, 2008 Obama may reverse Bush policies on stem cells, drilling, abortion
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/11/obama.executive.orders/index.html
Obama blocks offshore drilling Feb 11, 2009 ... Wednesday, February 11, 2009 ..
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/11/drilling-ban-revisited/
Ladies, would you use these words while describing your husband? It's very odd. We all know what this seems like.
Obama may reverse Bush policies on stem cells, drilling, abortion
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