Posted on 03/18/2010 6:16:11 PM PDT by GOP_Lady
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On Today's Show... |
March 18, 2010 |
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"Obama, like every liberal, starves the golden goose while demanding more eggs.
Doctors, nurses, ambulances.
Anything connected with health will be depleted."
"We need to remain the party of 'No, hell no.'
There are no fixes to this bill, there's no streamlining it, there's no tweaking it.
There's just destroying it."
"I'm still waiting for somebody on Obama's side of this to call me and
tell me one thing he said about this health care bill that's true.
He's lying through his teeth about this, and he doesn't even care."
"Nonprofits, in many cases, are a giant scam in order to score money from the government
when you otherwise have no talent and can do nothing for which anybody will pay you."
"I don't want people to get sidetracked with the CBO show because ultimately,
as has been demonstrated this morning, the CBO number is a distraction anyway.
It's designed to take our focus off what is really wrong with this bill and that is everything."
"The guts of this bill are why it needs to be opposed, not the CBO number, not the deficit number,
it's all part of the same combination."
"If they're not cutting Medicare by $500 billion then this whole $940 billion number CBO has is
totally irrelevant because there's no $500 billion Medicare cut, they're spending it somewhere else.
It's like you shifting money from one pocket to the other and saying you just cut your budget.
It's irresponsible, it's silly."
"Stick with the EIB Network for the truth."
"Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16th. This is huge.
This is Obamacare before it's passed, a snapshot of what's going to be going on all over the country.
We don't have the money for this."
"I just had somebody quick scan the reconciliation bill that's posted, and the first thing
to report is that the word tax or some variation of it shows up 124 times in 159 pages.
So there you have it."
"Obama doesn't care about the process, whatever it takes, and Pelosi said the same thing.
They don't care. This is tyranny. It's right in front of you, folks, this is tyranny.
We've always looked at it from afar; we've looked at it in other countries.
Now we see it right in our own nation's capital."
"Let's assume Jason Altmire really believes that the Senate bill doesn't lead to single payer.
Has he not heard what his own speaker has said, that this is the first step?
Do you think Dennis Kucinich didn't get some promise that it's going to go single payer at some point down the line?"
"We know that the CBO numbers that Steny Hoyer put out this morning were fraudulent.
The CBO had not released anything when he put the numbers out."
"We have a $1.6 trillion deficit this year and we're going to spend another
one trillion that we don't have on Obama's health care scheme."
"There's no way you can register 30 million new people and give them insurance and save money.
There's no way you can reduce the deficit."
"The purpose of this bill is not health care.
The purpose is the growth of government, the attack on liberty and freedom."
"People do not want the federal government demanding, requiring by force of law, that they buy anything."
"Twelve thousand brand-new IRS agents will be hired under Obamacare. Why?
Because the IRS is responsible for the enforcement of the mandates that you either buy insurance or pay a fine if you don't."
"The same hoax that gave us the nonexistent, man-made global warming is now perpetrating itself
in the CBO because of Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, Steny Hoyer, and the rest. It's a hoax."
"We never see Obama's e-mails! We just hear about them.
He just says, 'I'm getting e-mails from small businessmen.'
Who the hell are they?"
"Everybody is asking me, 'Why do you think Obama went on Fox?' I'll tell you why he went on Fox.
The Cartoon Network has a larger audience than CNN or MSNBC.
In the cable TV universe, the Cartoon Network is number 13, MSNBC 26, and CNN 32."
"This is the same president who has run up tens of trillions of dollars in deficits in record time,
he has destroyed the private sector economy, and we're supposed to be excited that a phony
number comes in after a-two-day delay that's just magically $60 billion short of the $1 trillion figure?"
"Do you remember how getting out of the Iraq war was going to pay for health care?
Whatever happened to that?"
"How about if everybody FedExes or UPSes (or standard overnight; just make sure it gets
delivered the next day) one piece of paper to a member of Congress that says: 'VOTE NO.'"
"So to borrow a phrase: We are the ones we have been waiting for to stop this travesty!"
"Also in the bill is that if you have an accident or have a heart attack, you can buy insurance that day!
That's not insurance. No insurance company can stay in business doing that."
"I can easily accept the notion that constituents know more than their members of Congress.
We generally think of them as the experts.
We think of them as having access to more information than we have."
"What's in this bill is the fact that you either have to buy insurance or you pay a fine, and the fine is much less than having insurance."
"Folks, you keep those phone calls going to 877-762-8762 and 202-224-3121.
Your phone calls are actually taking the Easter break to Congress.
They are hearing today and yesterday and the day before, and they're going to hear tomorrow,
what they would have heard had they gone home and voted on this thing."
Continually repeat ...
It's not about me.
I'm the President.
Past editions of "Rush In a Hurry"
To be added or removed from the "Rush In A Hurry" Ping List, FReepmail GOP_Lady.
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: It's a total sham. It is a 100% fraud, a giant sham and it has once again, ladies and gentlemen, exposed the media and the Democrat Party who are aligned on the side of ruin of the United States of America. I'm talking about the CBO number that everybody started running with today before it had been officially released. Steny Hoyer just told the media, "Hey, our health bill comes in at $940 billion with $110 billion in deficit reduction," bam, every media outlet ran with it, they've been running with it all morning. The only problem was the CBO had not officially released anything and now they have.
Greetings, I'm Rush Limbaugh. This is the EIB Network, great to have you here. Our telephone number, 800-282-2882, the e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com.
This morning the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan, said, "What's everybody talking about? There has been no official release here by the CBO." That was about an hour ago, maybe 45 minutes ago. Well, the CBO has spoken, and all of these numbers are meaningless. Let me read to you from the first page of the letter from Doug Elmendorf, the director of the CBO, to Pelosi. "Although CBO completed a preliminary review of legislative language prior to its release, the agency has not thoroughly examined the reconciliation proposal to verify its consistency with the previous draft." Because there isn't one yet! The reconciliation proposal is the Slaughter solution. The CBO is saying, "We haven't seen that," because nobody's seen that. "Therefore," writes Elmendorf, "this estimate is preliminary, pending a review of the language of the reconciliation proposal, as well as further review and refinement of the budgetary projections."
So the numbers that have been put out today are meaningless. They are only for the purposes of depressing everybody, it's a giant PR scam run by Steny Hoyer, Pelosi and the Democrats and Obama and it's designed to get everybody depressed, designed to get all the wavering Democrats in the House giddy as James Clyburn said, but it's a fraud, it's a sham, there is absolutely nothing concrete in what the CBO has said. They clearly say these are preliminary estimates, because they haven't seen the guts of it. Essentially what they're doing here is simply redoing the Senate bill, which passed in December. But the reconciliation portion, the Slaughter solution, the deem-and-pass procedure, nobody has seen that. It has yet to be posted. Obama doesn't even know what's in his bill. This Bret Baier interview, we're going to dissect this as the program unfolds today. What a great, great job that Bret Baier did. That was the first time since Obama has been elected that anybody anywhere in the media challenged him on anything that he has said, and Obama clearly was uncomfortable with it. Obama was on the defensive. He was stuttering; he was aimless; he was angry. This upstart young little journalist, who does he think he is? Obama looked horrible in this thing; he sounded horrible in this thing; he didn't know what's in his bill and he doesn't care.
He is right out of Marx, folks, the end justifies the means. It doesn't matter what's in there, it doesn't matter about the process. When he says he doesn't care about the process it means the ends justify the means. Washington's a mess anyway, who cares, this is going to be a vote on health care reform, we're going to get it and he told Bret Baier yesterday, "This is not about my presidency. This is about the people." It is about his presidency and the Politico's even reporting it today, confirming, ladies and gentlemen, exactly what I have been painting all along. It's totally about his presidency; it's totally about saving him, and that's how he's approaching wavering members, particularly most recently the Hispanic caucus. It's about saving his presidency. It's about making sure that he has a future as a president to get things done. It's not about health care.
Now, we have quite understandably here a lot to do. I am a little excited, I'm speaking probably a little faster than I should because there's so much to say about what's going on, and I'm probably trying to say too much, too soon here. But I don't want people to get sidetracked with the CBO show because ultimately, as has been demonstrated this morning, the CBO number is a distraction anyway. It's designed to take our focus off what is really wrong with this bill and that is everything. The guts of this bill are why it needs to be opposed, not the CBO number, not the deficit number, not this or that, it's all part of the same combination. The one thing we don't know -- well, there's several things that we don't know even now from this preliminary report from the CBO. We don't know what tax increases are in this bill. We can guess. We know what's in the Senate bill but we don't know what's yet going to be in the reconciliation package, we don't know what spending cuts. We know that they're double counting Medicare and the president was asked about this by Bret Baier last night, he didn't even know what he was talking about when he answered that. He got off on a tangent about closing a doughnut hole for senior citizens on the latest Medicare entitlement. But he doesn't care.
They're double counting, and Brett Baier pointed this out, (paraphrasing) "Look, you can't say that you're taking $500 billion from Medicare and applying it to your new bill and say you've cut Medicare by $500 billion." So if they're not cutting Medicare by $500 billion then this whole $940 billion number CBO has is totally irrelevant because there's no $500 billion Medicare cut, they're spending it somewhere else. It's like you shifting money from one pocket to the other and saying you just cut your budget. It's irresponsible, it's silly. We don't know how many job losses are going to happen over this. Grover Norquist and a friend of his have a piece out today at National Review Online, David G. Tuerck, and they say that the health care legislation will cost up to 700,000 jobs by 2019 and that doesn't include the doctors and nurses who are probably going to opt out of this, stories about nurses wanting to quit and hospitals around the country trying to urge them not to quit.
Then we throw this on top of it. I don't know what this means yet 'cause this just happened. "The National Council of La Raza just issued their opposition to the health care bill, saying that the immigration restrictions (which disallow undocumented workers from buying coverage on the exchange with their own money) are too punitive to earn their support." So the La Raza gang says this is Kucinich all over; this is not liberal enough for us; there aren't enough transfer payments; there aren't enough giveaways for our people. Now, on the 21st, this Sunday the immigration crowd, the illegal immigrants are going to storm Washington and they hope to have a quarter million people there on a big March and rally demanding illegal immigration amnesty on the day they're theoretically going to be voting on the health care bill. And I still don't think they're going to be voting on the health care bill because I don't think they have the votes, and they don't have any actual numbers that they can take to anybody with the CBO. This is clearly preliminary. Everything about this, I told you, has been about dispiriting you, depressing you, making you think it's a lost cause, making you give up, making you think there's no way we can fight this.
Today they just doubled down on that with the phony fraud of the CBO number. But they're no closer than they were, and that's what all this means. All of this trickery, all this chicanery, all of this behind the scenes stuff, the effort to create momentum where it doesn't exist. They're asking the president to delay his departure Sunday to later in the week. And the reason they're doing that is because they know they don't have the votes by Sunday, and it's really going to complicate things now because what's happened is that everybody now knows that the CBO number that came out today is fraudulent. Everybody knows that what went on this morning now is meaningless, and more and more people are going to know it as the day goes on. In the old days, before there was an alternative media, before there was an Internet, before there were independent people who examined and analyzed the lies, the deceptions, and the frauds coming out of the Democrat Party, the White House, and the American left, this stuff woulda stood, there would not have been any alternate news, we'd have been stuck with $940 billion and they would have their vote. But they have been exposed again in a giant scam, a giant sham, exposed the media, exposed the Democrat Party who are joined on the side of ruin in the United States of America.
Let me read to you again from the cover letter from Doug Elmendorf at CBO to Pelosi. "Although CBO completed a preliminary review of legislative language prior to its release, the agency has not thoroughly examined the reconciliation proposal to verify its consistency with the previous draft. This estimate is therefore preliminary, pending a review of the language of the reconciliation proposal, as well as further review and refinement of the budgetary projections." In other words, whatever numbers you see in the following pages don't mean anything. This is a wild guess and it comes on the heels of Elmendorf saying, "We are overworked." And my heart bleeds. We're overworked and these guys keep sending stuff to us. We're working hundred-hour weeks here trying to get new scores for them. The numbers are all over the place. This is a fire drill. We have utter chaos happening, there is no organization, there is no leadership, the Democrats -- trust me on this -- contrary to the image that the media and the Democrats have put forth today, are in disarray. Buck up. You keep calling. There is no reason to stop the intensity.
This is going to go on and on and on, and even, folks, Fred Barnes has a piece I'm going to be sharing it with you as the program unfolds today, a pretty good piece in the Weekly Standard, even if it passes, it's nowhere near over. This is going to go on and on and on for years and years and years because nobody in this country wants it. The effort is going to be focused on repealing it and stopping it, rolling it back or what have you. Obama has succeeded in his primary objective, and that is dividing the people of this country. I mean even David Brooks, and I hate quoting Brooks here, forgive me on this, but even David Brooks in a blog at the New York Times -- got a little chat going back and forth with Gail Collins of the editorial page -- he thinks it's asinine for the Democrats to sign this. He thinks it's asinine to use the Slaughter solution. Chris Matthews thinks it's not a good idea to use the Slaughter solution. Mr. leg tingle himself. There are a lot of people that don't like what's happening here, even Lawrence O'Donnell. It's a tax increase; they don't have the votes; this is illegal. We got the sound bites coming up here. They are in total disarray, and don't think the opposite, don't think they're a well-oiled machine heading down the tracks. If they were a well oil machine this would have been passed last August. Buck up, folks, hang in there and be tough.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Once again, ladies and gentlemen, we know that the CBO numbers this morning that Steny Hoyer put out were fake, were fraudulent. The CBO had not released anything when he put the numbers out, the CBO then did put their PDF file out. They released everything, the letter to Pelosi. We know that all this is just a joke because it's preliminary. There's nothing official because there's no reconciliation bill to score. That's where we are. But again I want to stress: Let's not get caught up in the CBO aspect of this. I remember back in the 1995 budget bill between Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton, they got caught up in CBO numbers back then, what ten-year deficit projection numbers were going to be -- and that wasn't the issue. Clinton was happy for our side to get lost and caught up discussing CBO. The point of CBO and its relevance this morning is that we're being scammed. The numbers are irrelevant. The fact of the matter is: The number doesn't matter.
There's no way you can double count $500 billion in Medicare and save any money. There's no way you can register 30 million new people and give them insurance and save money. There's no way you can reduce the deficit. We have a $1.6 trillion deficit this year and we're going to spend another $1 trillion that we don't have. There's no way this does anything the CBO says. So the importance of CBO is it's just another lie. It's just another scam orchestrated by the Democrats and their buddies in the media. There's some people talking about also, "You know, we can get rehearse of the Cornhusker kickback and get rid of the Louisiana Purchase some of this other stuff maybe we could, you know, have something to talk about." No, no, no. There are no "fixes" to this bill. We need to remain the party of "No, hell no." There are no fixes to this bill, there's no streamlining it, there's no tweaking it. There's just destroying it.
Then for whatever reforms are necessary get started with the way Mitch Daniels is doing it in Indiana. Heritage has a bunch of great ideas; we've talked about them. There's a poll out there by a group that used to be called the Independent Women's Forum. Now it's IWV, and I'm having a mental block on what the "V" stands for. They published the results of their poll Monday on the Wall Street Journal, and this is very interesting data in their poll. As much as people really oppose the corruption of all of this, as much as people oppose the process of how the Democrats are getting this done, the thing that really irks people (and thus should be the focus of any continuing opposition to it) is the underlying approach to the whole thing, the fundamental framework of it, the purpose of it. The purpose of it is not health care.
The purpose is the growth of government, the elimination or the -- Well, I wouldn't go that far, but the attack on liberty and freedom. Its' the ability, with one bill, to regulate every aspect of human life under the auspices that it has an impact on the cost of health care. Obama doesn't know care what's in this. You'll hear this. If you didn't see the Bret Baier interview, even if you did, you could see by his answer, he doesn't care what's in this. He's speaking purely philosophically about "we need to insure people and give them health care." He was talking about... This bill is not about reforming the insurance industry. This bill's about destroying the insurance industry! (sigh) The point here is: People do not want the mandates. People do not want the federal government demanding, requiring by force of law, that they have to buy anything. Oh! And do you know, we have learned something?
Twelve thousand brand-new IRS agents will be hired. Twelve thousand! Why? Because the IRS is responsible for the enforcement of the mandates that you either buy insurance or pay a fine if you don't. Twelve thousand new IRS agents in a health care reform bill. It's that kind of stuff, when people learn about it, they want no part of. They don't like the penalties. They don't like the fines, the possibility of going to jail if you don't buy the insurance mandated by the government, which they also don't like. They don't like the massive government configuration. They don't like the Marxism in the bill, they don't like the socialism in the bill, they don't like the loss of freedom in the bill. They're sophisticated. The American people understand what this is about and that's why they oppose it in increasingly large numbers, and they're not running around saying, "Well, look at the CBO number, the CBO number."
They're not talk about the cost of the deficit as it relates to CBO number. They're talking about the cost of the whole thing as it relates to bankruptcy for their children and their grandchildren. The people of this country know we can't afford this, no matter what the CBO says. The CBO came out and said it's $1.5 trillion. So what? We know it's going to be more than $940 billion. We know that there's not one government entitlement that's ever cost less than projected. We know that there's not one government entitlement that's ever worked as advertised. The American people are fully aware of what they face in this, and it's the substance, the underlying foundation of this bill that they oppose. All of these unaffordable entitlements, the loss of choice, the cuts to Medicare Advantage, these are the things that people know in this bill they do not like and want no part of.
So go ahead and focus on the CBO number if you want, but focus on the fact that it's nothing more than the latest element of fraud and scam that is part of the sales job of this whole thing. So the media ropes you in. We've all been breathless waiting for...what? Two things this week: The reconciliation text, the actual words, and what the reconciliation bill will be? What are the fixes to the Senate bill? (We still haven't seen that.) And the CBO number. Oh, yes, we're waiting on the latest CBO score! We can't move forward 'til we get that." So the media, breathlessly in their horse race-reporting mentality, breathlessly (panting) waits for the CBO number, and before the CBO even puts it out Steny Hoyer comes out and says what he says. They run with it. "Oh, wow!" They got Juan Williams on Fox. "Oh, this is great for Obama! This is really going to put people over the edge. This is exactly what they want."
They go get Clyburn and Clyburn, says, "Oh, members are giddy over this!" They get an hour and a half out of this, maybe two hours out of this, and then all of a sudden Paul Ryan says, "Wait a minute. There is no official release here." Steny Hoyer was just making it up. Steny Hoyer is essentially the big editor today for the State-Controlled Media. So then we get the CBO numbers and then we get the cover letter which basically says: This is a preliminary estimate. It's like the weather forecast: It's a wild guess. Algore and the people at East Anglia may as well put the CBO process together. It's just as fraudulent, not because of the CBO people. The CBO people don't have anything concrete to work with. They're being asked to calculate estimates. So what's happened? We may as well get Michael Mann from Penn State and Phil Jones from East Anglia and James Hansen at NASA and Algore, put 'em over at CBO, and have them write the report.
That's essentially what's happened here. The same hoax that gave us the nonexistent, man-made global warming is now perpetrating itself in the CBO because of Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, Steny Hoyer, and the rest. It's a hoax. This number is a hoax. It's not real, because what they're going to be voting on isn't even real yet. It doesn't exist. Nobody has seen it. It was supposed to be posted last night. Obama said, "You'll know what's in it when it's posted. I'll know what's in it when it's posted." He doesn't know what's in it! He doesn't care what's in it. "It's going to be up there for 72 hours." No, it won't be. If they put it up tonight or tomorrow and the vote is Sunday, it's not going to be up for 72 hours. They're going to limit Republicans to 30 minutes of debate on Parker Griffith's idea of having a vote on not using the Slaughter solution. Just 30 minutes. They'll wipe that out. They're in trouble. They don't have the votes here, and it is patently obvious to anybody with an objective eye looking at this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, Pelosi continuing this fraud-sham here of the CBO numbers, had a little press conference to talk about the numbers out there. Here's first of two sound bites we have.
PELOSI: (haltingly) They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, a number is worth a lot, too. I love numbers, and today the number from the Congressional Budget Office that this health insurance reform legislation will save $138 billion in the first ten years and $1.2 trillion in the second ten years speaks very eloquently to the deficit-reduction that is in our package.
RUSH: What is she on? Did you hear the way she sounded there? Very hoarse and tentative. Madam Pelosi, your days of getting away with this kind of trickery are over. We have the CBO report ourselves, and it says all of this is a preliminary estimate. You don't love numbers 'cause you don't have any! You don't have the votes, you don't have an accurate CBO number. You've got nothing, Ms. Pelosi. You got nothing, right now. You don't even have a bill. She doesn't even have a reconciliation bill. "I love numbers, and today the number from the Congressional Budget Office" is a sham! Not because of them but because of Pelosi. There's nothing to score. It's an estimate -- and, of course, what Democrat press conference would be complete without a parade of victims?
PELOSI: I'm very pleased that we're joined by Ed Morris, Kim Muldovsky, Stella Johnson, and Carolyn Como (ph). Uh, their personal stories tell the eloquent story of why health care is needed, uh, to make America healthier, to lower the cost of America's families' budget while we lower the cost to the federal budget.
RUSH: See, this is where they're losing ground because people know that none of that's going to happen. We're not going to reduce deficits; we're not going to reduce spending. You know something else? We hear Pelosi and the Democrats talking about these numbers: $940 billion, $1.2 trillion. You know what they can't tell us? "What's my insurance premium going to be next year after this passes in relation to what it is now?" When Ronaldus Magnus went out there and started talking about tax cuts in the eighties, there was a workable number that everybody knew that would apply to them. If their taxes got cut by ten, 15%, they knew what that meant. It was there. Nobody, nobody on the Democrat side can tell anybody what their insurance premium's going to be the year after this thing goes into law.
And that's what people want to know. Now, they're giving us hints. Dick Durbin's out there saying, "Well, anybody who thinks these premiums are going to go down is not looking at this honestly. We hope to reduce the rate of increase, but health care premiums are going up." That's why they're not telling us what it is because it's not going to be what they say. I got e-mail. These are challenging days for your host because, you know, I'm working on prep to coordinate my own thoughts, and I'm getting drowned in e-mails from everybody who wants me to tell their thoughts. "No, Rush!" (interruption) Yes, it's real e-mail. You want me to show them? I'll put a couple of them on the website. I've got about 15,000 of them in the last week.
"Rush, what you need to be saying is we're going in the wrong direction."
"Well, you need to focus on X Y, and Z."
"I just want a new open. You open the program the wrong way."
"You need to do this."
Somebody said, "You just went past the CBO numbers too fast. You said they don't matter."
I said they don't matter in terms of reality. What matters is it's part a piece of a puzzle and it's the latest piece of a fraud. But, okay. If you want a specific reaction to the CBO number of $940 billion even though it means nothing, I'll tell you. We're supposed to be applauding this number? (clapping) Really? This is the same president who has run up tens of trillions of dollars in deficits in record time, he has destroyed the private sector economy, and we're supposed to be excited and that a phony number comes in after a-two-day delay that's just $60 billion magically short of the $1 trillion figure? What has this president said that's been correct or truthful through this entire process, or during his entire presidency?
There's more bad job news out there today, folks, and you have to remember this continues to be bad. People are upset. The nation's being laughed at by our enemies. We're trashing our allies. What's to celebrate with this number? What's to celebrate with this guy? He's wrong about everything! He's screwing up everything. And now we're going to say, "Okay, well, you've shown us what a failure and liar you are. We're now going to confer on you the power to destroy the health care system." Is that what we're going to do? And Pelosi, one of the most hateful and foolish people to ever serve as Speaker, she didn't have a single thoughtful idea or policy. I don't care what number the CBO puts out. The Democrats are involved. It's a fraud, it's a sham, it's a scam.
END TRANSCRIPT
PAUL RYAN: Great. It's good to be with you. First, longtime listener, first-time caller, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you. (laughing) That's great. Tell us what's going on with this. We know the CBO number is basically a fraud designed to persuade some wavering --
PAUL RYAN: That's right.
RUSH: -- Blue Dogs, but what's the real state? It seems to me like they don't have the votes; they're getting further away. It seems like a fire drill gone amuck.
PAUL RYAN: Right. So they needed to pile on some more spending to try and assuage, you know, the liberals and progressives. So they basically put the screws on more Medicare cuts, more tax increases to accommodate the extra spending they had to add on this thing. They got a new 3.8 tax on interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, and rents for people. They increased taxes on the Medicare payroll tax and they did more penalties on businesses if they don't offer the kind of health insurance Kathleen Sebelius tells them they have to offer. So more taxes, more Medicare cuts to pay for more spending to try and get these votes.
RUSH: Is there a reconciliation bill? Is there something you've seen, 'cause the CBO said they can't score it because it's an estimate.
PAUL RYAN: That's right.
RUSH: Is there anything to vote on yet?
PAUL RYAN: No. We have not seen anything. But because they started leaking out their numbers that they manipulated, CBO was forced to release their estimates. So we've seen a CBO estimate, but we've not seen the bill that they're estimating.
RUSH: Is there one?
PAUL RYAN: Well, they must have a draft of something for CBO to give these estimates. So we have not seen a bill but clearly they have a draft because the way it works is you send CBO drafts and they give you scores from it. So now we've seen the score of this draft and by looking at the CBO score, I'm able to tell you what the tax increases in the Medicare cuts are.
RUSH: Well, aren't they double counting Medicare anyway?
PAUL RYAN: Oh, yeah.
RUSH: Rendering that $940 billion number irrelevant?
PAUL RYAN: Correct, it's not. They double count CLASS act premiums, they double count Social Security taxes, they double count a half a trillion -- actually $522 billion -- in Medicare cuts to make this thing look as if it's adding up.
RUSH: Now, explain to people how that happened. When I say "double counting," when they're double counting $500 billion in Medicare cuts, what are they actually doing with it?
PAUL RYAN: So they're cutting a half a trillion out of Medicare. That's supposed to go to Medicare and make it solvent. But they're using it instead as a piggy bank to pay for this new program. So they're taking it from Medicare, but at the same time they're claiming they're extending Medicare's solvency. So they're counting those cuts twice, when in fact they're using this money to create a new entitlement. Then they have all these tax increases, which the dollars for these tax increases are already spoken for for Social Security, for this new entitlement, for long-term care called the CLASS Act which are spoken for those programs. But they're counting it to fund this new program. So they're basically saying, "We're going to spend in both places the same dollar," which the CBO is telling them, "You can't do that."
RUSH: Did I see...? There are so many people making estimates. Did I see you make statements saying that you think they're ten votes short?
PAUL RYAN: That's what we think. So it's really so fluid. It's basically they're at least a handful, maybe two handfuls short. This is a fluid situation. We've moved two people from the "yes" column to the "no" column. Arcuri from New York, Lynch from Massachusetts, we believe are two people who went from "yes" to "no," but as you know yesterday they put a couple from "no" to "yes." So it's a fluid situation. They're clearly down. They don't have the votes. The president wouldn't be postponing his trip if he didn't think that they were still shy.
RUSH: Yeah.
PAUL RYAN: He'd be overseas now.
RUSH: If he wanted to leave Sunday he could still leave Sunday if they were going to vote. So does this mean there isn't going to be a vote Sunday likely?
PAUL RYAN: I think there is going to be a vote likely. That's what our Democratic colleagues are telling us. But they know they don't have the votes and they think they can create sort of a pressure cooker situation to pressure their members to voting with the, quote, unquote, "team" and bring this over the finish line.
RUSH: The president said last night in his interview with Bret Baier that this whole thing is going to get posted, that he'll find out what's in it when it gets posted and we'll all be able to find out and it's going to be posted for 72 hours. That's I think you referred to these two votes that they gained yesterday, these two guys in Central Valley California, that they're going to turn their water back on for them.
PAUL RYAN: That's right.
RUSH: But you haven't seen the piece of legislation that does that.
PAUL RYAN: No.
RUSH: It can't possibly be posted for 72 hours if it's going to be voted on Sunday.
PAUL RYAN: That's exactly right. So something's going to have to give. Either they're going to violate their pledge of 72 hours or they're going to vote later than Sunday and the president, you know, will postpone his trip more.
RUSH: Well, he's already announced he's going to postpone the trip, and that's why a lot of people are thinking they're not going to vote Sunday, or at least they don't have the votes now to do it. Well, it does remain fluid and we're fortune we were able to get through to you with all the phones being clogged there.
PAUL RYAN: (laughing) I tell you it's amazing. And I just ran into a busload of seniors who came up here for one day from Florida to walk the halls and talk to members of Congress. People are engaged unlike anything I've ever, ever seen before. It's truly remarkable and impressive. They gotta keep the pressure on. They know if they let their members go home for this Easter recess they're done, and that means they gotta do it now and that's why they're trying to put this pressure cooker to try and get their members to do this. And they're starting to lose people, and they don't have the votes and they're going to try and break arms and muscle this thing through. And the next handful of days will determine the outcome as to whether or not, you know, this bill to basically nationalize the health care sector of our economy succeeds or not.
RUSH: Well, you're doing yeoman's work here in trying to stop it, and people are so proud of you with the meeting you had over at the White House. People loved what you said to Obama and the way he looked back at you at that.
PAUL RYAN: Rush, I appreciate it. I'm a representative, and the way I look at it is that's exactly what people in southern Wisconsin, would have wanted me to say to them.
RUSH: Well, you did, and keep it up everybody's proud of you and supporting what you're doing. That's Paul Ryan, who is a ranking Republican member on the House Budget Committee with the latest update on the real meaning of the CBO numbers today, what (as best anybody can determine) they mean, and what the future holds. Five to ten seats undecided is the best count so far, or votes undecided.
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| Read the Background Material... |
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| • CNSNews: Rep. Paul Ryan: Obama's New Budget Will 'Literally Crash the U.S. Economy' • HotAir: Paul Ryan to Obama: You Realize Your Bill is a Fiscal Disaster, Right? |
From The Politico, confirming, ladies and gentlemen, everything that I have been saying. "President Barack Obama had exhausted most of his health care reform arguments with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a White House meeting last Thursday when he made a more personal pitch that resonated with many skeptics in the room. One caucus member told POLITICO that Obama won him over by 'essentially [saying] that the fate of his presidency' hinged on this week’s health reform vote in the House. The member, who requested anonymity, likened Obama’s remarks to an earlier meeting with progressives when the president said a victory was necessary to keep him 'strong' for the next three years of his term." And yet it was only yesterday, last night, that Obama lied to Bret Baier. I'm still waiting for somebody on Obama's side of this to call me and tell me one thing he said about this health care bill that's true. Just one thing he said that's true. He's lying through his teeth about this, and he doesn't even care. Sometimes he can't help lying because he doesn't know what's in it.
A journalist, Bret Baier, knew more about what's in Obama's health care proposal -- and, by the way, Obama does not have a proposal. He kept talking last night about his proposal. He doesn't have one. They're putting it together in the House. He doesn't know what's in it. He doesn't care. A journalist knows more about what's going to happen here than Obama does. "Yeah, of course, Rush, Obama's a big-picture guy, he can't be side-tracked and distracted by minutia." It ain't minutia. So it's all about Obama. Politico again: "Nancy Pelosi's Biggest Test -- As President Barack Obama left a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon at the Capitol on Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi walked beside him, speaking softly. When the two came upon a Democrat who hasn’t committed to voting yes on the health care bill, Pelosi would tell Obama, 'We could use help on this one,' according to a person who saw the stroll. Obama, in turn, would tell the wavering Democrat, 'We’re counting on you.'" What is this, a dictatorship? We got the media reporting on how well the speaker of the House does in this? What about telling us about the underlying foundation fraud, dangerous ruination to the country if this thing passes, Politico? Why don't you go in there and roll your sleeves up and find out just what a disaster this is for the very country you live in. Instead of focusing on, wow, can Pelosi get this done, can Obama get this done?
Oh, another "no" vote, ladies and gentlemen. "Even one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s floor whips, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, says a proposed parliamentary move to pass health-care reform would be 'disingenuous' and harm the credibility of Congress. In a sign of how tough it’s been for Pelosi to round up votes for the massive bill ..." boohoo about that. "... Lynch - a South Boston Democrat who supported a House reform package last year - said he’ll probably vote against a key Senate version of the legislation, unless unexpected major changes are made soon." This is one of Pelosi's vote counters, and this is news from today, too. Here's two new "no" votes that we can tell you amidst all of this euphoria and fanfare over the CBO number.
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RUSH: Here is State-Controlled Media outraged, this a montage, outraged by the Bret Baier interview with Obama last night on Fox.
TAPPER: Giving an interview to his least favorite network, Fox News.
O'DONNELL: A contentious interview with Fox News.
REID: A very contentious interview.
MADDOW: The Fox News interview with President Obama definitely not interruption free.
SHUSTER: The broadcast world is buzzing today over a contentious interview Obama had with Fox.
BROWN: A very combative interview with Fox News.
VIQUEIRA: Wow, what a contentious interview on Fox News last night.
KING: He went into hostile territory. The host interrupted him.
O'DONNELL: Most news organizations tend to defer to the office of the President in matters of conversational decorum.
RUSH: Most journalists, when they get a chance to ask the man at the top, ask him questions to which we all want answers. For the first time in a year our young man-child president was challenged. For the first time in a year, these guys that you just heard in this montage ought to be profoundly professionally embarrassed and chagrined. These guys got a lesson in how journalism is supposed to happen. Do you remember Sam Donaldson interrupting President Reagan and being applauded by the press corps? Presidential interviews you're not supposed to interrupt? How about the way Rather interrupted Dick Nixon and how the media cheered? And how about how the press always ganged up and lined up on George W. Bush? Do you think you need to say you're sorry? Do you think you need to say you've made mistakes? So we have one legitimate interview of the president of the United States in a year, and the State-Controlled Media can't handle it, they just had their lunch handed to them.
There are a lot of things in the Bret Baier interview to highlight. It's tough to pick one, but I had to pick one. This next is my favorite. Bret Baier, early on in the interview, said, "Mr. President, I got 18,000 e-mails here. I asked our listeners, our viewers, to submit questions. I mean 18,000, Mr. President. And here's one. Lee Johnson from Spring Valley, California: 'If the bill is so good for all of us, why all the intimidation, arm twisting, seedy deals, and parliamentary trickery necessary to pass the bill when you have an overwhelming majority in both House and Senate?'" A great question that not one journalist can see fit to ask him. Bret Baier did. And Obama, you shoulda seen his face. He's bobbing his head up and down and smiling and so forth, because what Baier was doing here was turning a favorite Obama tactic around on him. He read another e-mail, Sandy Moody in Chesterfield, Missouri: "If the health care bill is so wonderful, why do you have to bribe Congress to pass it?" Here's Obama's answer.
OBAMA: Brett, I get 40,000 letters or e-mails a day.
BAIER: I know you --
OBAMA: And I could read the exact same e-mails --
BAIER: But these are real people. It's not just Washington punditry.
OBAMA: Listen, I've got exactly the same e-mails that I could show you that talk about why haven't we done something to make sure that I, a small businessperson, am getting as good of a deal as members of Congress are getting and don't have my insurance rates jacked up 40%? Why is it that I, a mother with a child with a preexisting condition still can't get insurance. So the issue that I'm concerned about is whether or not we're fixing a broken system.
RUSH: So refused to answer the question. I watched this thing in stunned disbelief. I have never seen Obama as rattled, as uncool, as uncalm, as uncollected, as uninformed. He was stuttering, he was trying to filibuster, (imitating Obama) "let me finish, let me finish. You're nothing but a student. I'm the professor here. You don't know anything." That's the attitude that he had. But what's great about this is that Bret Baier turned one of Obama's favorite tactics around on him, the sympathy play. "Oh, I've gotten all these e-mails," Obama talks about all these letters he gets and all these e-mails, and Bret Baier, "I got 18,000 here." And Obama, like a petulant, competitive kid, "Well, I get 40,000 a day, screw your 18, I get 40. I'm not going to answer anything that your 18 said, I'm going to go ahead and stay on message." But Bret Baier kept boring in on this, on the process aspect of it, and Obama clearly didn't want to talk about it because he doesn't care. The end justifies the means.
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RUSH: Another thing about these e-mails. The one thing about these e-mails is Bret Baier had his with him. We saw them. We never see Obama's e-mails! We just hear about them. He just says, "I'm getting e-mails small businessmen." Who the hell are they? What small businessperson is e-mailing Obama with a genuine concern? If a small businessperson's e-mailing Obama, it's got a "damn you" in front of it instead of a "Dear president." It says, "Stop screwing me!" No small business in his right mind is writing a letter begging Obama to do anything but stop what he's doing. I'll tell you something else. I'll tell you something else about this: These e-mails that Obama is getting are generated. Remember the name "Ellie Light," this woman that was getting letters to the editor printing papers all over the country? There's a machine, a computer out there generating all these e-mails. It's probably coming from his own website.
It's all fraudulent! Look, these people are liberals, socialists, whatever. They're frauds, they lie. There's nothing genuine about Obama. Zip, zero, nada. Everybody is asking me, "Why do you think he went on Fox?" I'll tell you why he went on Fox. The Cartoon Network has a larger audience than CNN or MSNBC. In the cable TV universe, the Cartoon Network is number 13. MSNBC is 26 and CNN is 32. Fox is #2 behind USA Network. So the Cartoon Network has more viewers than CNN or MSNBC probably combined. That's why he goes on Fox. It's the only place the audience exists.
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RUSH: This is Bret Baier and Barack Obama. Bret Baier: "Do you know which specific deals are in or out as of today?"
OBAMA: That's not going to be something that is going to be in this final package. Something that was called a special deal was for Louisiana. In fact, that provision, which I think should remain in, said that if a state has been affected by a natural catastrophe that has created a special health care emergency in that state, they should get help. Louisiana obviously went through Katrina, and they're still trying to deal with the enormous challenges that were faced because of that.
BAIER: Understand, but do you know which ones are still in...
OBAMA: But hold on a second. Hold on a second, Bret...
BAIER: ...is my question?
OBAMA: I'm giving you an example of one that I consider important. It also affects Hawaii, which went through an earthquake. So that's not just a Louisiana provision. That is a provision that affects every state that is going through a natural catastrophe.
RUSH: I can't wait for this, 'cause, folks -- (laughing) -- I don't know, I really don't know whether he's this ignorant or naive or he's just lying. It's a toss-up. The guy's not as bright as everybody thinks. What is this Hawaii earthquake crap? Do you know what the provision for the Louisiana Purchase is? You know how it's written? I'm going to have to paraphrase it, but it says if your state has had a natural disaster in the month of August or September of whatever year Katrina happened, then you qualify for an exemption from added Medicare mandates. It was written specifically to apply only to Louisiana. It did not apply to Mississippi. Mississippi got hit just as hard as Louisiana, but Mississippi has a Republican governor, Haley Barbour, and they ran around putting themselves back together on their own for the most part. They had a lot of help.
And it wasn't the hurricane that did in New Orleans. Everybody forgets this. It was the levees that failed, and we all know the corruption that led to that, the Corps of Engineers and so forth. The hurricane was long gone, the hurricane didn't cause the flooding, the levees broke after they'd supposedly been shored up. But this thing was written specifically for Mary Landrieu. Hawaii earthquake? It didn't allow for any other state, including Mississippi, to participate in this exemption. And he's out there telling everybody, "Well, if any state had a natural disaster, of course we want to help out." It was written specifically for Louisiana, specifically for Mary Landrieu. Next, Obama endorses the deem-and-pass. Bret Baier: "You've said at least four times in the past two weeks, the United States Congress owes the American people a final up-or-down vote on health care. So do you support the use of the Slaughter rule, the deem-and-pass rule, so the Democrats avoid the straight up-and-down vote on the Senate bill?"
OBAMA: I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or the Senate.
BAIER: Will you support this measure?
OBAMA: What I can tell you is that the vote that's taken in the House will be a vote for health care reform, and if people vote "yes", whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for health care reform and I don't think we should pretend otherwise --
BAIER: But Mr. President, this Monday --
OBAMA: Brett, let me finish. If they don't -- if they vote against it, then they're going to be voting against health care reform and they're going to be voting in favor of the status quo.
RUSH: So he said, "You support the deem-and-pass rule?"
OBAMA: I am not --
BAIER: You're saying that that's that vote.
OBAMA: What I'm saying is is that whatever they end up voting on, and I hope it's going to be sometime this week, that it is going to be a vote for or against my health care proposal. And that's what matters and that's what ultimately people are going to judge this on.
RUSH: He doesn't have a proposal, folks. Barack Obama has not submitted a proposal. There is no reconciliation bill to vote on, which is why the CBO said today that their guess is preliminary because they don't have any solid information. He would not answer the question about deem -- well, he did say, he doesn't care. He doesn't care about the process. He does not care what has to be shredded. He doesn't really care what's in this because he knows that it's not about health care. He knows what it's ultimately about is destroying the private sector insurance business and making the government the sole insurer, the sole provider, if you will, of health care, which expands government, limits freedom, puts all these mandates, costs, bankrupts the country. That's what he's interested in. Process? Ah, it's minutia to him. But he was clearly outclassed here and not nearly as prepared or knowledgeable as Bret Baier was.
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RUSH: This is Vickie in the Washington, DC, area, great to have you on the program, and I thank you for waiting.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. It's an honor to talk to you.
RUSH: Thanks very much.
CALLER: You know, God, I've been listening to you for, God, almost two hours now and so many things you said I want to comment on, but my initial reason for calling was about the Bret Baier interview last night and my outrage with Obama's talk about the constitutional process being ugly and tedious and not something that really America wants to focus on, that they're more interested in the outcome. I find that as a total dumbing down of our society.
RUSH: It is that, but what you're also hearing is somebody saying, "I don't care, the ends justify the means."
CALLER: Exactly. Right, it's his attempt just to tell the public, don't pay attention to the process, what comes out is the important thing in the long run, and, you know, this country was founded because we didn't want government intervention in our life. I'm so frustrated with it. And, you know, I'm a stay-at-home mom who is also running a small business, my husband works full time and with two jobs, starting this business, so he works full time to maintain our health insurance and he works full time to start the business that he hopes someday will be, you know, our business long-term.
RUSH: Uh huh.
CALLER: And, you know, we have never taken public money, we don't ever plan on taking public money. We've actually had in the past, years ago my husband worked for the electrical union and was injured, and he was not able to work for many, many months. And his insurance carried through for quite a few months, but he lost it and then got food poisoning and was hospitalized for four days over a long weekend. And we ended up having to foot that bill totally ourselves because he had no insurance. We weren't married at the time but he had no insurance, and the hospital charged us $6,000 for him just to room and board. And we fought them, we asked them to cut the price down, to be reasonable, you know, reasonable and customary charges of what they would reimburse an insurance company and they would not, but we never complained when they said no, instead of ruining our credit we took out a loan and we paid the hospital off. We believe that there is a need for reform, but not at the government's hands.
RUSH: Yeah. Exactly right, because that $6,000 is going to become 12. They can't run anything efficiently and you may not even have the legal right to pay for it yourself if they follow this through. I understand your frustration. Obama doesn't care about the process, whatever it takes, and Pelosi said the same thing. They don't care. This is tyranny. It's right in front of you, folks, this is tyranny. It's what it looks like. We've always looked at it from afar; we've looked at it in other countries. Now we see it right in our own nation's capital.
Shelly in Pittsburgh, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Oh, thank you Rush, it's so great to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I wanted to tell you that I live in Jason Altmire's district and we've been really hammering him with our position on this health care bill. He was interviewed yesterday morning on our local radio station Quinn & Rose. Two things he said that I think everybody really needs to know, he said that he doesn't believe the Senate bill will lead to single payer health care, and he also said when the radio host asked him, "Well, don't you think in the future it could?" And he told the radio host, "Well, I can't think about what's going to happen 30 years from now, I can only think about what's in this bill right now." That's what we're up against. I believe he really wants to vote "yes" for this bill and I think that we are really making it hard for him not to vote "yes" for this bill. Polls were done in our district that says only 26% of the people polled in his district want this bill passed as is.
RUSH: I want to give him the benefit of the doubt on something here. When he says to you, as he looks at the Senate bill he doesn't see it leading to single payer, let's give him the benefit of the doubt on that.
CALLER: Rush, according to my research, even the Congressional Budget Office said on December 7th, 2009, up to ten million people will lose coverage by their employers because the penalty is cheaper than covering.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: That paves the way, we all know that.
RUSH: No, no, no. I wasn't finished.
CALLER: Oh, I'm sorry.
RUSH: When I say give him the benefit of the doubt, let's assume he's not that stupid is what I mean.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Let's assume Jason Altmire really believes that the Senate bill doesn't lead to single payer. Has he not heard what his own speaker has said, that this is the first step?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Do you think Dennis Kucinich didn't get some promise that it's going to go single payer at some point down the line?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: This Altmire guy needs to have the truth pounded into him and you don't go, "Please, please, please, don't, don't vote yes." "Mr. Altmire, you're wrong. Congressman, you're wrong." The whole purpose of this is single payer. The whole purpose, that's all Obama wants, that's all Pelosi wants, and they're willing to get it if it takes 'em ten years, if it takes them five --
CALLER: Absolutely, and not only that, but the arrogance of the statement, "Well, I can't think about what's going to happen 30 years from now." I have to think about what's going to happen 30 years from now and so does every person in his district. He'll get his health care benefits and all of his federal pension, and he'll be able to withdraw Social Security --
RUSH: Well, there's all kinds of ways to answer -- (crosstalk)
CALLER: -- reelected in November.
RUSH: I'd keep pounding him. Your responsibility is to think about the long-term implications of what you're about to do here, congressman, it's that simple.
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| Keep Trying to Call If It's Busy (That's the Point!) •Dial: 877-762-8762 or 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 •Code Red: NRCC's List of Targeted Congressmen •Focus: Wilson (D-OH) | Cao (R-LA) | Altmire (D-PA) |
CORDES: Members are getting so many calls from constituents on both sides that House phone lines have been overloaded. We couldn’t get through to anyone.
RUSH: We couldn't get through to anyone. Now, they're really hearing from both sides, right? (laughing) They may be by now, actually. Once the fruitcake left understands the success we've had in bombarding the phone system, they're probably trying to get in on the act, too. Join us. Hey, go ahead and call, as many of you people on the left, here's one number: 877-762-8762. That's toll-free. The other is: 202-224-3121. We welcome all calls. We welcome anything that will shut the place down. Go for it.
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RUSH: Folks, you keep those phone calls going to 877-762-8762 and 202-224-3121. What's happening is your phone calls are actually taking the Easter break to Congress. They are hearing today and yesterday and the day before, and they're going to hear tomorrow, what they would have heard had they gone home and passed this thing, or not passed it. Your phone calls and what they think they're going to hear from you is what is keeping the vote from happening. So to borrow a phrase: We are the ones we are waiting for to stop this travesty! Your phone calls are taking the Easter break straight to Congress. Keep dialing.
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RUSH: Okay, I have a couple of names here for you to target on the phones, ladies and gentlemen. One's in Ohio and one is in Louisiana. But I'll tell you, we just heard from Paul Ryan who said that a busload of seasoned citizens just arrived in the Capitol from Florida and they off-loaded there and they ran down the halls and they started pummeling people (verbally) they ran into, about they don't want any part of this. Seasoned citizens all over the country are very up in arms. I'm going to tell you why, a very simple reason why they're up in arms. They are watching. We're talking Medicare here, and don't think for a moment they don't hear the words "Medicare cuts." Don't think for a moment they don't hear those words. They do hear those words.
They are watching a system that they think that they have paid into for 30, 40, or more years, and they're seeing it being changed right before their eyes. These people, who think they've paid for all of this, are going to have their benefits, their services reduced, benefits cut so that people who have never paid one damn dime can get the same coverage -- such as illegal immigrants? This is literally a matter of life and death for them. Medicare is life and death to these people. They believe that they've paid into it. To a certain extent they have. They have paid a portion of it. But now they're watching all this is going to be extended to 30 million uninsured, and then they hear Medicare is going to be "cut" to insure all these other people. Let me tell you, they are up in arms over this out there. That's why busloads of them are showing up in Washington without anybody asking them to.
Now, here are a couple of names. For those of you in Ohio and those of you in Louisiana, from the Columbus Dispatch blog: "Representative Charlie Wilson is one of a number of Democrats who's officially undecided about the final health care bill, but the St. Clairsville, Ohio, Democrat is giving off strong signals that he's headed toward a 'yes' vote. Wilson..." Is this dated today? Let's see. I don't have the date. It says "Wilson's scheduled to participate in a conference call with pro-life religious leaders to say that these leaders are encouraged that this historic piece of legislation upholds restrictions on federal funding of abortion." You know what? You religious people, you have got to stop this single issue stuff on this, because abortions are going to be paid for. Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute... Don't make me go get the story; I've got it here. The Guttmacher Institute is an arm of Planned Parenthood. It's their "think tank," and they're giddy.
What's...? I'm going to have to get the number, damn it. I want to get the number. I don't want to be wrong about this. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I just can't find it. But they're out there giddy because of all the new abortions that there are going to be. Because of this bill, federally funded abortions are going to happen. Remember, this is just "the starter house." So you people who live near Charlie Wilson's district in St. Clairsville, Ohio, need to call him and say whatever he's being told about abortion funding is wrong, that at some point everybody is going to be paying for taxpayer-funded abortions and here because Planned Parenthood wants it, and you need to ask Mr. Wilson: "How come Planned Parenthood's not objecting to this? How come NARAL is not objecting? How come the feminists are not enraged over what's in this bill?"
If this bill were actually going to cut funding for abortion, we wouldn't hear the end of it. But we're not hearing of a peep out of them because they know what's really in this. I'm going to find that story. My memory says they're looking forward to 30 million more abortions or a 30% increase in more abortions. I don't remember what it is, but I'll find it. So there's one. Charlie Wilson from St. Clairsville, Ohio, a Democrat leaning "yes" "because he's been reassured that pro-life religious leaders are encouraged that this historic piece of legislation upholds restrictions on abortion." He needs to call Bart Stupak to boot! Now, the next one. Joseph Cao, and I'm still confused as to how to pronounce it. It's not "cow." It's "gao" with a G. Okay. "Health Care Overhaul to Get Fresh Look from Rep. Anh 'Joseph' Cao, at Request of President Barack Obama."
This is from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. It's their website. "President Barack Obama on Wednesday asked Rep. Anh 'Joseph' Cao, R-New Orleans, to take a fresh look at the language on abortion in the Senate health care bill to see whether he could, in good conscience, support landmark health care legislation now days from a final vote. Cao, the only Republican to vote for the health care bill in either the House or Senate, said he would take another look. 'He's asked if I would restudy the Senate language and that I would approach it with an open mind. And I promised that I would go back and study the Senate language again,' Cao said after meeting with Obama in the Oval Office for about 10 minutes Wednesday."
It's the New Orleans Times-Picayune. It's their blog. So Charlie Wilson, St. Clairsville, Democrat -- that's in Ohio -- and Joseph Cao are being asked to look at the Senate bill again. Cao didn't even get Air Force One. Mary Landrieu got all the goodies from the Louisiana Purchase. Cao didn't get anything. He voted "yes" and he has said he's going to vote "no." And now Obama's putting pressure on him. "White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, whose powers of persuasion are famously expressed less delicately, was also in the Oval Office during their brief meeting." Joseph Cao said, "He did not whip me on the vote." That's "whip" with an H. So there are two people to focus on if you're making phone calls in Washington. Again the numbers are: 877-762-8762 or 202-224-3121.
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RUSH: Doug in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, hi, welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. You and I go back a long ways. I've been a listener since right after the first Gulf War.
RUSH: Wow. Thank you, sir.
CALLER: Yes, sir, you're welcome. I just wanted to tell you that what you're doing with giving out the Capitol Hill phone numbers is definitely working. I called yesterday and today, and both times it took me a bare minimum of 20 minutes just to get a hold of the switchboard operator. And yesterday I called my congressman, John Adler's office. We're about 20 minutes or so from Philadelphia here in Mount Laurel. Someone -- it sounded like a young lady -- answered the phone, and of course she gave me the song and dance about he was undecided on the vote and but he did vote "no" the first time and all this stuff. I came back at her and she got as frazzled as Obama did yesterday, when I questioned her about: "Why is it taking his 14 months to decide?" Her comeback was, "Well, he wants to make an informed decision." Well, you and I both know that's a bunch of garbage. He already knows he's going to vote "yes." I called Pelosi, tried to call Pelosi's office today, and again the same thing. It took me forever just to get the operator, and then when she tried to connect me to Pelosi's office, the lines were jammed.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: So this thing is working, and to reiterate what you said earlier in the program about Obama going for this single-payer system: I personally have seen the videotape several times where he very clearly stated to some union people, and I'll quote him: "I am a proponent of the single-payer system," so he is a flat-out liar and I'll call him that to his face. He's a liar.
RUSH: Of course. We have played that sound bite and others. We've played Barney Frank saying, "Single payer is where we're headed." That's what Jason Altmire in Pennsylvania... I don't want to irritate the guy, but, folks, it's entirely possible. I know this is hard to believe, but it's entirely possible that you know much more about what's in this than your member of Congress. Bret Baier knows more about what's in it than Obama does. That was obvious from the interview last night on Fox. It's obvious Jason Altmire does not know what's in this. He does not know that we're headed for taxpayer funded abortions. He does not know we're headed for single-payer, unless he's lying to his constituents when they call. But I can easily accept the notion that constituents know more than their members of Congress about this. We generally think of them as the experts. We think of them as having access to more information than we have.
That's not true anymore. Plus we're not browbeaten by leadership like they are. We're not bribed, we're not bought off, and we're not given talking points. You know, we just deal straight up front with the truth and the facts. These guys are into obfuscation. But it really stretches credulity for Congressman Altmire to say that he doesn't see a route to single-payer in the Senate bill when all he has to do is listen to Barney Frank and his own party, listen to his own Speaker of the House talk about it, or his own president talk about it. I mean, it's not all that complicated. It is what it is.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here's Patricia in Norfolk, Virginia, welcome to the program I have a minute-and-a-half but I wanted to get to you.
CALLER: Okay, real quick, Rush. Thank you so much. I'm a Rush Baby growing up, and I appreciate what you do for our nation. This is why I'm calling, is I want to let people know, number one, two years ago I had ovarian cancer and if I hadn't been treated as promptly as I had I wouldn't be alive today, so this health care fight, this is personal. I think if Obama and the Democrats pass this health care bill, this is going to affect my children's or my children's children and I'm not willing to let that happen. Number two, my husband is a health care worker, he's in occupational therapy assistant that works for a medium-sized health care organization that provides health care to people who receive Medicare, Medicaid. We just got a memo this past week that says: "Legislative sessions have seen significant reductions in both the Medicare and Medicaid daily rates we are paid, therefore we are cutting back on your benefits." So thank you very much President Obama and the Democrats. My husband's losing a paid holiday, they're eliminating bonuses, and pretty soon we're going to be looking at whether or not we have nationalized health care, we're going to be looking at health care increases.
RUSH: And this is before Obamacare is even the law of the land.
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: It is going to be even worse. That's the point of the Walgreens story. Walgreens, April 16th, in the state of Washington -- and this is just the beginning -- accepting no new Medicaid patients because they can't make money filling the prescriptions. The government reimbursement on the prescriptions being filled is not enough to cover it so no new Medicaid patient's. That's it. All this by design, by the way. That's just the forerunner and we could spend all day here with eyewitness accounts of how the health care system managed as it is by the government now is falling apart, but we don't have time.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • Financial Times: FedEx Profits Surge in Third Quarter |
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Laura in Minneapolis. You're first, and welcome. It's great to have you here.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Fine. Thank you.
CALLER: Okay, basically what I wanted to call and tell you is, I'm a 21-year-old young woman living in a predominantly Democratic state, and thanks to your daily e-mails I got the two phone numbers to call, and I probably wouldn't have called otherwise. So I called right away at eight a.m. and independent to get through, and the first day I got through, they were okay. They were kind of rude. But today when I called and got through, the gentleman that answered was completely rude.
RUSH: Who were you calling? Did you just call the switchboard number?
CALLER: Yep. I called the 202 number that you sent in your daily e-mail.
RUSH: Yeah. That's the Rush in a Hurry e-mail which is a freebie.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: I'll explain that in just a second. So this is switchboard operator you were talking to?
CALLER: Yes, so he answered, "Congress switchboard." So I was like, "Hi, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to give you my opinion or what on the bill," and he's like, "well, who are you trying to reach? What are you trying to say?" And I was like, "Excuse me?" I'm like, "I'm calling from Minneapolis. I don't know if you're supposed to transfer me to my, you know, people here in Minneapolis." He said, "Well, you should have just said that first when you called." I was like, "Excuse me? Like, "Okay. Well, I guess then I'm trying to reach Eric Paulson's office because that's the person in my district." "Well, you should have just told me that was who you were trying to reach when you called and I'll put you through. Thanks and have a great day," And I was like, "Wow. Well, you have a great day, too."
RUSH: Well, now Laura, you gotta understand something.
CALLER: (giggling)
RUSH: These people, do you realize the volume of calls they're getting? They're getting no... Think of it as... You're probably too young to remember Lily Tomlin's character Ernestine the phone operator.
CALLER: Eh, probably.
RUSH: Yeah. Back in the old days when the phone operators had to plug patch cords into various things to connect phone calls, and she was constantly busy. These people answering the switchboard are frazzled. They are frazzled.
CALLER: It sounded like he was having a pretty bad day.
RUSH: Yeah, they're frazzled, they're frazzled. That doesn't sound actually too bad.
CALLER: Well, it sounded worse than I can probably make it sound. His tone of voice wasn't exactly pleasant. He basically knew I was calling because when I initially said, "Well, I'm calling to voice my opinion against the bill," and actually the first time I got through I was so nervous I didn't know what to say! I actually read something, one of the little clips that you had in your daily e-mail.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: I just read something right off there, and the woman when I read it she kind of giggled after, like, "Huh, huh." She couldn't believe I was saying that she just thought it was so ridiculous and I wanted to say, "I'm reading this straight from Rush," but then I thought that would probably throw her even more overboard.
RUSH: Well, did you get connected?
CALLER: Yeah., Yep, I got connected twice.
RUSH: To Paulson?
CALLER: Yep. I got connected to his office, and I said -- the first time I got through, she didn't ask me my name, my ZIP code. She didn't ask me anything. She just laughed once I read her your clip. She thought it was hilarious. But today when I got through the guy was a lot nicer at the actual office. Not at it Congress office, but at Eric Paulson's actual office.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: He was a lot nicer and I was like, "Well, yesterday they didn't get any of my information." He's like, "Okay, well, today I'll take it all down." I said, "Are you guys actually like, you know, taking what we're saying into context? Like, I know you probably can't tell me if there's more noes than yeses, but I assume there probably is." He's like, "To be honest with you, there is," and I'm like, "Okay, if you're taking down what I'm saying, I would really appreciate it." So he took the time to write it down.
RUSH: Excellent. This is all good. This is exactly what you're supposed to do out there. Keep talking.
CALLER: Are we making a difference or is it too late?
RUSH: Damn right you're making a difference! Hell, yes, you're making a difference.
CALLER: (laughs) So should I keep trying to call?
RUSH: Absolutely you should keep trying to call!
CALLER: (giggles)
RUSH: Next time you call ask for James Oberstar.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: He's from Minnesota, and he's going to stick with voting "yes" for the bill. He's abandoning Bart Stupak's group. He's in the anti-abortion group that's going to still vote for taxpayer-funded abortions. So you need to call and next time ask for Oberstar and say, "How dare you vote for my tax dollars being used to kill babies in the womb?"
CALLER: James Oberstar?
RUSH: James Oberstar.
CALLER: Okay. I'm going to keep trying to call today. Can we call tomorrow or not?
RUSH: You can call 14 times each hour if you want!
CALLER: Now, I have one more question for you. I know your lines are still busy. Let's just say it gets passed tomorrow. What can we do then? What can I do as a young woman?
RUSH: Just stay tuned. I'm not willing to concede that it's going to get passed tomorrow Saturday or Sunday.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: But if it gets passed, don't worry. It's not over if it gets passed. I mean, the fun really just begins then.
CALLER: The fun?
RUSH: Well, you gotta look at it as fun.
CALLER: Well...
RUSH: I mean it's --
CALLER: If you say it's fun I'll go long with it. (giggles)
RUSH: Well, it's going to be tumultuous.
CALLER: I'm going into nursing, so this makes me extremely nervous.
RUSH: Well, it should.
CALLER: Yeah. Okay.
RUSH: It really should.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: All right, Laura, well, I'm glad you called.
CALLER: Thanks for your time.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • American Thinker: ObamaCare is Tyranny, Not Legislation • Heritage Foundation: What House Passage of the Senate Health Bill Means for America |
SCHOEN: If you combine reconciliation with deem-and-pass and basically play a con game with the American people for unpopular legislation, the reaction will be cataclysmic and unambiguous in the fall.
RUSH: Blue Dogs, we've been trying to warn you guys for the past year about your fate if you go along with this. Here's a Democrat pollster. This guy was in Bill Clinton's camp and he's saying if you Democrats do this it will be a cataclysmic event for the party. Unambiguous, no two ways about it, you are cooked, a landslide of historic proportions sweeping Democrats out of town. More Democrats than Obama will be able to have decent jobs for. Gloria Borger last night on CNN, The Situation Room -- remember, now, the Cartoon Network has more audience than CNN, which is why we're playing this for you. Wolf Blitzer said to Gloria, "Why would Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues even take that chance, the Slaughter solution, deem-and-pass, what would be the gain for them?"
BORGER: Clearly they don't have the votes yet and they want to win, and there is some thought that they don't care if they win on a technicality or if they win by casting one vote for essentially two bills. It makes the Democrats look, shall we say, a tad desperate or a tad arrogant, and I think this is a larger problem for them because people have been paying attention to the process of health care, and the American public knows Democrats are trolling for votes, and they're going to look at this and say, gee, isn't this a little underhanded?
RUSH: They don't have the votes. They look desperate. They lost two more "yes" votes today, Stephen Lynch in Massachusetts and Mr. Arcuri from New York. They were gonna vote "yes"; they voted "no." They changed their votes. Now we're hearing all this great news about the CBO number, oh, yip yip yip yip yip yip yahoo. The fact of the matter is now everybody is dumping on them on their side on the Slaughter solution and they've lost a couple of more supporters today, and last night on PBS Charlie Rose, he spoke with Lawrence O'Donnell, a Democrat political analyst about health care reform. And Rose said, "So you're eagerly waiting here for an announcement from the CBO, is that right?"
O'DONNELL: They are telling you you're waiting for CBO because what you're really waiting for is a large bloc of undecided voters in the House who aren't there yet, and you can't get your CBO estimate until you have all your votes lined up 'cause you're going to make deals to get those votes. My opinion is they don't have the votes; that's why they don't have CBO.
RUSH: He may be right, they still don't have CBO. They have an estimate. They have an estimate because they don't know what it's going to cost to pay these guys off or to bribe them and they don't even have the reconciliation bill. The news is out that they're going to vote on Sunday, but would Obama cancel his trip if they're actually going to vote on Sunday? I mean Air Force One doesn't leave 'til he gets on it. It doesn't seem to me that they have the votes. Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16th. This is huge. This is huge. This is Obamacare before it's passed, a snapshot of what's going to be going on all over the country. We don't have the money for this. More Lawrence O'Donnell last night on the Charlie Rose Show. After he said, "I don't think they have the votes," he added this.
O'DONNELL: It's the same thing as Clinton and health care. The loss happened at a worse time on the calendar. It happened in September before November elections. They had no time to recover from it. Here, if you had a loss in April of this thing, there's a lot that can happen in our world between now and then, including things that can happen in Afghanistan and Iraq and on airplanes that change everything about our dialogue.
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, is he saying if Democrats lose it won't be as bad as '94 because we might have a terrorist attack? Is that what he said? Why does he think a terrorist attack will help Democrats? Oh. Because we'll rally behind the guy who isn't doing anything to stop terrorist attacks. Yeah. So we'll rally behind Obama because he wants to put Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on trial in a New York courtroom, or we'll rally behind Obama because of the Fort Hood shooting, or we'll rally behind Obama -- really? Now, do you think they're not desperate? A terrorist attack could save Obama when they vote for this? My friends, do not think for a moment that what's happening in America this week around health care reform and the Democrats' willingness to ignore constitutional rights of Americans is not being discussed at Hillsdale College. I love this place, a school in Michigan that I have referenced, the place that turns out thousands of excellent undergrads, all suited to take on the world with a variety of degrees, but they all have one additional thing in common. They can argue the merits of the Constitution better than most.
Everybody at Hillsdale fully understands what is happening with the Slaughter solution, how unconstitutional it is, and they understand why, and every one of those students can tell you in a way that leaves no doubt. Hillsdale requires their students to attend classes to better understand the Constitution and our rights. "Require" may be too strong a word because these kids want to be there, they want to take these classes, they want to learn from some of the brightest and most articulate professors. They want to be challenged. They want to prove that they know what they know. They want to prove that they've learned it. These kids, these students as Hillsdale do not fear criticism. They welcome it. They welcome critics because it's an opportunity to teach what they've learned. Now, the debate in this country over the heart and soul of America is in full swing. Hillsdale is one place where the message of what's right and what's wrong is consistent 'cause when a student decides to attend this college they do so knowing that there's not a dime of government assistance, no GI bill access, nothing from the government. Hillsdale teaches their students from day one not to be government dependent and they don't want their curriculum to be guided or conditional on anything from the government.
There's a way you can see what goes on there, a way you can get involved. They have a monthly digest called Imprimis that captures speeches from some brilliant thinkers. Some of the brightest people in the world go to Hillsdale and speak. I have done so, of course. Imprimis is free with no strings attached. It's read by 1.7 million people every month, and you can get it rush4hillsdale.com, or if you're in the car you can use the phone, 1-866-HILLSDALE. You gotta wonder just how much fun of professors are having as they dissect the constitutional antics of Obama and Pelosi this week. You know what kind of crap your kids are learning. You know what kind of garbage your students are being exposed to, your own kids. The kids at Hillsdale, these professors this week are just ecstatic over the opportunity that's been presented them. They not only to teach how the Constitution works, but what happens when a bunch of leftists try to subordinate it.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here's Charlie Cook yesterday on MSNBC. Andrea Mitchell says, "What strategy should the Democrats use to try to prevent the Republicans from taking over the Congress?"
COOK: Whatever you're going to do on health care, get it out of the way as soon as possible, get back to a focus on economy and jobs. There's a limit to probably what government can actually do to affect the trajectory of the economy, but they have to be seen as focused on the economy like a laser beam, in the words of Clinton in 2002.
RUSH: That's why it's not going back to the Senate. If they deem the Senate bill passed and vote on this reconciliation thing, and in their words, voting on two bills at once and who says they can't do that, ahem, then the Senate bill's passed, folks, in their world, and it goes to Obama, he signs it, and that's the end of it, you're not going to hear one more word about health care for the rest of the year. Focus on jobs. So Conrad can say, "Well, I don't think this can work." Even better. Even better for Pelosi. She doesn't have to mess with the Senate on it. So the Senate's going to have to sit there and accept -- if I'm reading this right, journalists can't write anymore. I really don't know what Conrad is saying here. Is he saying that this can't happen? Try it one more time. "It is unlikely the Senate will be able to pass --" they're never going to have a chance to "-- a health care reconciliation bill unchanged from what the House passes," meaning they're gonna want to amend it. And then it has to go back to the House, but they're never going to see it, it's never going to get sent there, is the point, never going to get sent there.
Anyway, so they are working on this big rally again on Saturday, had one in December prior to the Senate voting on their health care bill. They had one earlier this week, and they're trying to round up another one with just tons and tons and boatloads and busloads of people showing up to in person express their opposition and displeasure to this.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • Poll: 50 Percent Less Likely to Back Congressmen Who Vote for Health Care • HotAir: PPP: People Disgusted with both Parties Favor the GOP by 20 Points |
COBURN: I want to send a couple of messages to my colleagues in the House. If you voted "no" and you vote "yes" and you lose your election and you think any nomination to a federal position isn't going to be held in the Senate, I got news for you, it's going to be held. If you get a deal for you or your district, I've already instructed my staff and the staff of seven other senators that we will look at every appropriations bill at every level, at every instance, and we will outline it by district and we will associate that with the buying of your vote. So if you think you can cut a deal now and it not come out 'til after the election, I want to tell you that isn't going to happen. And be prepared to defend selling your vote in the House.
RUSH: Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma throwing down a gauntlet. When he says your nomination will be held, he means: "We're going to stop it. If you're gonna get a plum federal job for selling your vote to Barack Obama or Pelosi, you ain't going to get the job. We're going to hold it and we're going to tell everybody what you got, because every nomination has to go through us in the Senate, we're going to tell everybody what you got before the election so you better be prepared to defend selling your vote in the House." This is Tom Coburn, Senator from Oklahoma, and he is a doctor.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • New York Times: Coburn Warns Vote-Switchers on Health Care |
BUY YOURS TODAY!
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Press conference, White House Rose Garden briefing. A reporter, unidentified, had this exchange with Gibbs.
REPORTER: Earlier this week both Rush Limbaugh and, uh, Michael Moore point out that the, umm, preexisting condition provision of the legislation doesn't take effect, uh, for another four years, and I'm wondering if you can tell us, umm, was that a concession and -- and -- and if so who fought for that and what did he get in return?
GIBBS: There are certain things that -- that cannot be instituted until you have everyone in the system. Obviously this is a piece of legislation that phases in over the course of many years those changes and as a result of that phasing in, when that's done, uhhh, preexisting conditions for adults will be outlawed. But understand this. When this becomes law an insurance company will no longer be able to discriminate against a child that has -- that they believe, uhh, or says it -- has a preexisting condition.
RUSH: (sigh) Where to start? That's total lie about why the benefits don't start for four years. The reason the benefits don't start for four years is so they can get this fraudulent CBO number under $1 trillion. Remember, the number really is $900 trillion because that's what Obama said was "wasted" on the Iraq war and, "If we just get out of Iraq, we can save that money and buy health care reform with it." So the reason why the tax increases start immediately and all of the coverage doesn't begin for four years is simply to get a ten-year cost under $1 trillion. It's not because it takes that long to get people in the system. They're going to do everything they can to wipe out the private insurance industry right off the bat, and he just said so.
"[A]s a result of that phasing in, when that's done preexisting conditions for adults will be outlawed. But understand this. When this becomes law an insurance company will no longer be able to discriminate against a child that has -- that they believe or says it -- has a preexisting condition," in other words, everybody, which is no longer insurance. This is smoke and mirrors. We all know what's in this bill. What's in this bill is the fact that you either have to buy insurance or you pay a fine, and the fine is much less than having insurance. Also in the bill is that if you have an accident or have a heart attack, you can buy insurance that day! That's not insurance. No insurance company can stay in business doing that, especially competing with a so-called public option with the government in the business as well. So it's more literal lies coming out of the White House, this time from Baghdad Robert Gibbs.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • Human Events: Democrats Touting 'Unofficial' CBO Score • National Review: What CBO Score? • Sweetness & Light: More (Fantasy) Numbers From The CBO |
Don’t bother calling Foster D. from Illinois. He has Hastert’s old seat. We have been calling him for weeks and his phone is never answered.
Got it on speed dial. Tried all day. Can’t get through.
Good for you, Balding_Eagle! :-)
Thank him kindly for me, that’s very considerate!
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