All Episodes
Previous Next
May 10, 2006 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:22
May 10, 2006, Wednesday, Hour #1
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
It's unbelievable, folks.
It's unbelievable.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as lunatic leader of Iran, is being treated sympathetically by the American Left American Media.
Greetings, welcome back.
Great to have you, Rush Limbaugh.
And already Wednesday on the fastest week in media, we are back at the EIB Southern Command and firmly ensconced here at the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Telephone number if you want to be on the program 800-282-2882.
And the email address is rush at EIBnet.com.
Well, wound down a whirlwind trip to the left coast.
Let's just review.
I got out there on Friday night.
Got up Saturday morning and went over and played golf, played golf with Al Michaels and some buddies.
Saturday night, oh yeah, a big dinner Saturday night, followed by the drive down Wilshire Boulevard, the top down and a roadster at 65 miles an hour.
Also, we're going to go downtown.
Got downtown, there was this big, there's this, apparently, this building down there with a rooftop lounge and bar.
And yeah, accompaniment.
My friend wanted to show me this place.
So we pull in the parking lot after zooming down Wilshire Boulevard.
And the parking lot guy said, that's a 30-minute wait.
And my friend said, I don't want to wait 30 minutes.
I said, come on, let's go use the power of our celebrity and get in front of the line.
Friend said, nope, nope, don't want to put up with it.
So zoomed back up Wilshire Boulevard in another video game impersonation back to the fashionable hotel where I was supposed to be sleeping, but didn't do much of that.
Got up Sunday morning, went down to Burbank to play golf.
Sunday night, went over to Joel Cernow's place out in the West Valley.
All the 24 guys were there, had dinner.
Got up, let's see, Monday, 5 a.m. to work.
Went out and played golf with Al Michaels again Monday afternoon and went back to dinner at Cerno at the Grand Havana Club and some buddies, Howard Gordon, on Monday night.
Got up 5 a.m. to work on Tuesday.
I had some visitors at the hotel yesterday afternoon when I got back after doing the doing the program, a visitor and a dog.
Snuck the dog in.
And then went to the House Ear Institute, the House Ear Clinic's 60th anniversary dinner last night at a private home in Brentwood.
And it was just, it was a great, great time.
Jay Leno was the, it was in Brentwood yesterday.
I drove by Rockingham, and the house isn't there.
They've torn down O.J.'s house.
Whoever bought the property, leveled it, they've rebuilt some of the, it's, yeah, but I, I, I, uh, yeah, I was, I was, I got there a little earlier than I wanted to, so I told the driver, I said, show me Rockingham.
So we went by, looked at it, went back, and Debbie Reynolds was the MC last night.
It's funny as shit could be.
He's just hilarious.
And Jay Leno did a good, he did an hour worth of stand-up.
And I got out of there.
I was a guest of the surgeon that put my cochlear implant in, Dr. Antonio de la Cruz, and his lovely and gracious wife.
And we sped out of there back to back the airport, got wheels up at 11.
We had massive tailwinds.
We got back here at 4.05 this morning.
Well, 6.05 this morning.
We lost three hours.
So we left at 2 a.m. Eastern Time.
Got to 6.05.
And here we are behind the goal.
What's that?
Well, yes, I am.
I will admit it's caught up with me.
I am on fumes.
In fact, I could say that in the popular parlance, when I was growing up, I'm wasted.
By that, I just mean tired.
Don't.
I guess it does have a double meaning, right?
Okay, I'm just zapped.
And it doesn't stop.
I got to go to Dallas tomorrow because I've got a rush to excellence stop in Dallas on Thursday.
Now, in fact, we're going to have Roger Hedgecock doing the program tomorrow because I will be in Dallas getting ready for this sold-out performance for our big-time affiliate there, WBAP.
And then I'm flying out of town to play golf on Saturday morning.
Sunday is when I'm going to be able.
No, I'm not.
I got to thinking about this.
My parents would not believe this.
I mean, they would not.
They couldn't comprehend this.
And that's part of, you know, when I start talking to people about, you know, how prosperous and affluent our society has become and so forth.
It's just, I mean, I'm loving every minute of it.
Don't, don't, don't misunderstand.
I am not complaining.
Do I sound like I'm complaining?
No, of course I'm not.
I'm not, because I'm not complaining.
This is a hoot.
Having a great time can be exhausting.
The problem is the more I keep this up, the more I'm going to blow Newsweek's cover that I'm a hermit, that I stay at home all the time in my so-called mansion.
But regardless, ladies and gentlemen, Sunday is when I'm looking forward to catching my breath.
And I had to cancel something on Sunday just because I don't have, I just can't squeeze it in.
There's a party up at George Washington's place at Mount Vernon.
And they have these things now and then.
And I was scheduled to go, but it's on Sunday night.
And it's going to be too much.
So I'm tacking a limit on it here and be done with it.
So let's now get on with the business at hand I have here in my formerly nicotine stained fingers.
By the way, welcome to those of you watching on the DittoCam today.
It'll be up and running for all three hours at rushlimbaugh.com.
AP story about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter.
Letter shows Iran's president seeking religious bond.
This is sickening.
This story is a gag-me with a spoon story.
With his 18-page letter, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered U.S. President George Bush a history lesson, a philosophy lecture, and religious sermon laced with references to Jesus Christ.
This is insulting that this guy in Iran can be characterized as delivering George W. Bush a history lesson, a philosophy lecture, and a religious sermon.
The document gives rare insight into a man who has largely been a mystery to the West, showing him is fixated on a long list of grievances against the U.S. and seeking to build on a shared faith in God.
Here's an excerpt of the letter.
I have been told that your excellency follows the teachings of Jesus, peace be upon him, and believes in the divine promise of the rule of the righteous on earth, Ahmadinejad wrote.
If Prophet Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ishmael, Joseph, or Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, were with us today, how would they have judged such behavior as yours?
He wrote, as Ahmadinejad asked Bush to do some soul searching and atone for past U.S. transgressions.
The U.S. dismissed the letter as irrelevant and devoid of any concrete proposals whatsoever because these clowns are state-sponsored terrorists and warmongers.
I mean, the audacity here.
Ask Bush to do some soul searching and atone for past U.S. transgressions.
Hello, Shelby Steele.
So even Mahmoud knows how to push our buttons.
You need to feel guilty about your existence and what you've done in the past, and we need to talk about that, and you need to atone.
It's not an issue of whether we respond, said the White House spokesman Scott McClure.
Scott McClellan, when's Tony Snow taking over over there?
Monday.
They're doing double duty.
Okay.
It's not an issue of whether we respond.
It's an issue of whether the regime will respond to the demands of the international community.
The letter covers a list of grievances that have made Bush deeply unpopular among Muslims.
The Iraq war, the U.S. support for Israel, and the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Once again, it's a democratic talking point other than Israel.
And even there, yet it's a send-isheehan talking.
It is.
You're right.
It's a send-ish.
It's even some liberal Hollywood Jewish people talking point.
Oh, I'll tell you, the Shelby Steele thing explains a lot of it.
I have run into so many liberal Jews around the country that are pro-Palestinian, and I've never understood it.
And they've kind of given me indications.
Well, it's just not fair that there's just a minority and the UN gave these people a country and they push these other people.
It's all right.
It's wrapped up in Shelby Steel.
It's white supremacy.
It's white guilt, and it even is relevant in the Israeli-Palestinian issue when you have, how do you explain the New York Times constantly editorializing against Israel?
There you have the answer.
Ahmadinejad, a former engineer, a teacher, and Tehran mayor who took office last August, ranges even further afield, blasting the U.S. for its support of Latin American dictatorships and for looting Africa.
Now, get this.
I mean, you will never have the AP write such stories about one of our leaders if they are Republican.
In places, President Ahmadinejad strikes a soft, almost fatherly stance.
On its first page, Ahmadinejad strikes a tone of a man who is troubled by a friend's actions and decides to sit down and give him a little advice.
Just wants to bond, ladies.
Ahmadinejad just wants to bond.
Now, how is this playing in the drive by a media?
Well, we have a montage.
Matt Lauer, Charlie Gibson, Brian Kilveta Fox interviewing Secretary of State Rice.
Let me talk about this letter.
18 pages, the first such correspondence between the heads of these two countries in 27 years.
It called for the U.S. to give up its liberal democratic system.
It asked President Bush, quote, are you pleased with the current condition of the world?
Do you think present policies can continue?
You seem to have dismissed this letter rather quickly.
Why?
They pen an 18-page letter.
Did you get anything out of it?
Do you see the fact that the first time they tried to communicate in 27 years was a positive?
The Iranian president sends a long letter to President Bush, which is the first direct communication we've had at the top of government with Iran in 27 years.
So why dismiss it out of hand?
Isn't this at least something of an overture?
Folks, it's unreal.
This is just, it takes me back to the Cold War days.
We got to talk to them.
Doesn't matter who they are.
We're the bad guys anyway.
We just need to reach out and have some understanding.
Now, let's go to the political circle.
Let's go to die fight.
Number three here, Altamont.
This is last night on the Situation Room with the guest host John Roberts talking to Senator Feinstein.
He says, Senator, this letter that Mahmoud sent to President Bush, the White House basically dismissing the whole thing, should this be an opportunity for dialogue, or do you think they're right to dismiss it?
Well, I think we have to be very careful.
Iran has a history of being very tricky and not trustworthy.
However, I don't think we can turn down any overture.
I think bluster and arrogance does not befit the United States.
I think a willingness to talk and to negotiate.
You know, when you negotiate, you would negotiate with people who aren't necessarily your friends.
If they're your friends, there's often not the need for negotiation.
And so this letter basically is a lecture to George W. Bush about how rotten the United States has been, but that we can find common ground since Bush believes in Jesus, peace be upon him.
And DyFi and these media types, we've got to listen to this man.
We have to listen to this man.
Here's Condoleezza Rice on the Today Show today explaining why we're blowing it off.
Well, because that's not a serious diplomatic overture to say, by the way, your liberal democratic system is cratering.
It really was a kind of philosophical and indeed religious attack on U.S. policies.
There was nothing in it that suggested a way out of the nuclear stalemate.
There was nothing in it that suggested that there was a way to address Iran's policies.
This was not a letter that seriously addressed any of the concerns that the international community has.
Of course not.
It was a letter exactly what I told you.
The propaganda letter was designed to get Democrat talking points out there, get the media and Democrats softening up on Mahmood and purposely written to make the U.S. left blame George W. Bush for whatever happens down the road because he was arrogant and he didn't respect Mahmood and his letter.
We'll be back after this, folks.
Don't go away.
Hey, we're back.
El Rushball, the cutting edge of societal evolution.
And all the while, half my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair.
What did I do with the story that I put in the back of the Madeline Albright's out there saying that we need to have direct talks with Iran?
She says the nation's military force is overstretched.
The U.S. should seek direct talks with Iran instead of making threats.
The last thing we need is to invade another country, Albright told an audience of 800 people during his speech Tuesday night at Town Hall in Seattle, speaking of which you've got to listen to this last excerpt from Mahmoud's letter to President Bush.
He ends the letter with what appears to be a last-ditch plea to Bush, quote, how long must the people of the world pay for the incorrect decisions of some rulers?
Adding on the last page, undoubtedly, through faith in God and the teachings of the prophets, the people will conquer their problems.
My question for you is, do you want to join them?
I mean, it's a put-down.
It's just, and of course, all the Democrats on the left think that Bush ought to respond and take this seriously.
It's an opening.
They have serious dialogue.
Well, oh, is that right?
Is that right?
Mr. Sterdley told me something I didn't know that Mahmoud didn't clear this with the Mullahs and the Mullahs are a little okay.
Find out who I can't believe the Mullahs don't know about it because the Mullahs are really running Mahmood.
I mean, going on the truth, Mahmood's a puppet of the Mullahs.
If he did this and the Mullahs don't know about it, that's one thing.
If he did it and the Iranian Congress doesn't know about it and they're ticked about it, that's irrelevant.
Because the only people that matter who get ticked off in Iran are the mullahs.
Well, the terror masters, that's who these clowns are.
The Ayatollahs, the Ali Akbar Hashemi Robson John, that crowd.
If they're ticked at Mahmood, then we got a story.
But if it's just that puppet Congress, it doesn't matter.
Martin Frost, a former congressman from Texas, one of the most bitter ex-Democrat members.
He was routed after the Gingrich Revolution, is really one of the big partisans.
A piece on the Fox News website today.
Democrats message Mrs. Middle Class.
They've gone out and done, I guess, the Third Way, which is a center progressive think tank made up of former Democratic congressional White House staffers, has now addressed the issue with some real insight.
Lots of people bemoan the fact the Democratic Party doesn't connect with white middle class voters, but few of the complainers offer workable solutions.
So, in a study released on May 4th, Third Way notes that Democrats believe they are talking to middle-class voters, but that their message is all wrong.
The study then makes some very specific suggestions on how to solve the problem.
First, middle class is defined as household income between $30,000 and $75,000 a year.
Obviously, the figure could go higher in some parts of the country depending on cost of living factors.
In 2004, John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, lost middle-class white voters by 22 points, and Congressional Democrats lost middle-class white voters by 19 points.
Kerry lost all middle-class voters as a group, including whites, blacks, and Hispanics, by six points.
And this was not an aberration.
It was part of a trend.
In 2000, Al Gore lost middle-class white voters by 15 points, and Congressional Democrats lost them by 14 points.
Is there any wonder why they're making a move on the illegal immigrant front and on the felon front?
According to Third Way, Americans are optimistic about the nation's future and their own.
Democratic messaging is not.
Americans see.
Wait a second.
Wait just a second.
How can wait just a second?
Just one darn minute.
That can't possibly be.
Yeah, here it is.
New York Times today.
President Bush, Republican Congress showed nearly a record of low ratings while Democrats are viewed much more favorably in their performance on the issues that matter most to Americans, according to the latest CBS News New York Times poll.
What's this?
Who do we supposed to believe here?
By the way, have you noticed something about these polls?
We're getting presidential approval polls more frequently than we get campaign tracking polls in the middle of a presidential election.
I'm wondering if these networks and pollsters are coordinating their work so that every other day we get another poll.
We get two or three of these a week.
I can't remember this many approval polls coming out in such rapid succession, one after another.
But now who are we supposed to believe?
Martin Frost's group, a bunch of ex-Democrat congressional and White House staffers, or the CBS New York Times poll?
This is a stark difference according to Third Way.
And I'm going to tell you something, folks.
I would much rather trust Democrat internal polling because that's what they're going to believe.
Americans are optimistic about the nation's future and their own.
Democratic messaging is not.
Americans see our society as basically a fair one.
Hard work is rewarded.
Progressives, liberals emphasize obstacles to middle class success.
They're down-talking everybody, doom and gloom.
Seems like this third way bunch has figured it out, but how do you explain the New York Times CBS poll?
Easy, it's BS.
Okay, so Mahmoud didn't consult Parliament.
That doesn't mean anything.
If he hadn't consulted the Mullahs, then that would be one thing.
At any rate, just a couple more little bits here from Martin Frost's piece writing about this Third Way survey of the middle class, how Democrats are not connecting with the middle class.
It doesn't matter white, black, Latino, they're not connecting with the middle class.
They're losing the middle class across the board.
It's a trend.
In addition to the Third Way report, and it's a 20-page study.
Is that right?
20 pages.
In addition to it saying that Americans are optimistic about the nation's future and their own and Democratic messaging is not, the study also faults Democrats for always attacking the wealthy, noting the middle class aspires to wealth, doesn't see big business or the wealthy as enemies.
It adds that Democrats downplay the strengths of the American economy and fail to inspire conviction that America can continue to lead the world.
Stated another was this.
Let's be clear, no one can deny that there are serious and legitimate concerns about our economy.
The nation's federal budget deficits at a record high, and they don't care about that.
As I said yesterday, they're just upset because all this spending went on without them being in charge of it.
As is America's trade deficit around the world at a record high, manufacturing jobs have declined, blah, These are not trifling problems that should be glossed over by liberals, but for every piece of bad news, there's also good news about the economic health and future of America.
It is in the American nature to believe that America will prevail in an economic battle against China, Japan, and India, and that the American standard of...
Folks, they have to have been listening to this program because they have somehow swerved into capturing here the essence of America and being an American, which is optimism.
And the expectation of a better life, each and every day.
So you juxtapose this with this New York Times CBS poll.
And not only is the polling data in this thing bad for Bush and Republicans, the language in the story to describe it is hateful and mean-spirited while peppered with some glee and happiness.
So again, I ask you, which of these two stories are you going to believe?
You're going to believe the Democrats' own study into their problems and why they're losing the middle class and failing to connect.
Are you going to believe a standard CBS New York Times poll that is predictable in its criticism and result that Bush is hated, the Republicans are hated, American people have no faith in the country anymore, blah, You can throw that New York Times poll right where it belongs.
And that's in the bottom of your birdcage, in the toilet, or what have you.
To the phones, John in Connecticut, your first welcome to the program, sir.
Mega Ditto's Rush, how are you?
Thank you, sir.
Very, very good, and it's nice to have you with us.
Fantastic.
It's nice to be here.
I've been listening to you through four ministries and two wives a long time.
Well, I appreciate that.
Listen, the reason I was calling...
I couldn't say this between five wives.
We'll leave that alone.
The reason I'm giving you a shout is that I guess I'm at a point of celebrating because the left and the drive-by media has finally figured out how to interject religion in American life, and that's through a nut in the Middle East.
It's surprising to me somewhat that a Republican mentions God and he's excoriated in the press.
He's to be shunned and he's dangerous and we can't trust him.
But yet a lunatic mentions any type of religion and we need to go discuss this with him.
We need to talk about it.
He's absolutely right.
And Mahmood stresses that he understands that Bush believes in Jesus, peace be upon him.
Peace be upon him.
I chuckled at that.
Peace be upon him.
He didn't say peace be upon any other prophets, just Jesus.
Exactly.
Hell with Abraham and Ishmael and those guys.
But the peace be upon him.
No, no, no.
It only makes sense to do it this way.
And the funny thing about it is that the boy, the press is piling on the bandwagon about appealing to Bush's Christian nature.
I am dying to hear next how John Kerry, who, by the way, served in Vietnam, if you didn't know, is going to say yes or no about the nature of religion in dealing with how we're supposed to deal with it.
I'm just dying to hear him.
You know, I was a Christian before I stopped being one, or I believe in God before I stopped.
And now that Mahmoud has brought it up, I think we should address the Christian.
I just can't wait.
These people can't get the one foot that's not in the grave away from the other side of the grave.
You know, that's an excellent point.
I must tell you, in my highly fatigued state, that I had not caught that.
I appreciate you catching that because not only are they bending over backwards to praise old Mahmood and when he rips Bush, but now here comes Mahmood mentioning Jesus and God and religion, and these people are not freaking out.
They trust Mahmood.
It's okay when Mahmood brings it up, but let Bush talk about God or pray.
It was just a story the other day.
I forget where it was, that somebody was mischaracterizing.
Yeah.
It might have been Albright.
It was Albright.
It was Madame Albright.
She was complaining that Bush thinks God talks to him.
What do you think Mahmoud thinks?
Of course, we can't criticize Mahmood for that.
That's a great catch, John.
I appreciate it.
Arthur in Nevada City, California.
Welcome, sir.
Nice to have you with us.
Hey, Rush, thanks for taking my call.
I'm going to have a nervous breakdown here, so if you could just help me.
But I think Conda Leeza Rice is right on the money.
She's nailed it.
When this letter first came out, I was kind of concerned because this fits a pattern that these Twelver Muslims take when they make an authority claim.
They send out a letter calling world leaders to repentance and stuff.
And, you know, with these people thinking that this is some kind of diplomatic overture, it's almost like Mars attacks.
I love that movie, too.
I love that movie.
He's telling them, hey, the final day is about to come.
All you world leaders need to repent.
And I think that might be why the clerics are upset because this smacks of an authority claim, a religious authority claim.
Well, again, it's not the clerics that are upset, except that it's the parliament.
The clerics, by clerics, I mean the mullahs.
Yeah.
The mullahs, I'm sure they have their clued in on this probably behind it.
But you know, it is an excellent point.
I love the comparison to Mars attacks.
You've seen that movie, Mr. Snerdley.
You have these little Martians that show up and live in these bubbles and so forth.
And Jack Nicholson's the president.
And these Martians are destroying everything in the world.
And Nicholson thinks he can talk to them.
Come on, you little people.
We all want the book.
And the leader of the Martian bubble people just sits there and smiles and offers his hand, shakes his hand, and then nukes Nicholson.
When it's all over and the American flag ends up being buried in Nicholson's chest, that's a great call, too.
You callers are up to speed today.
This is incredibly good.
Thank you, Arthur.
Appreciate the phone call.
Who's next?
Let's just see if we can keep this roll going.
Stewart in Muraga.
Is it Muraga?
It is.
California.
Yeah, hi.
Hi.
You know, the letter from Adiminijah makes a very concrete proposal.
He concretely proposes that we can be friends between the United States and Iran if the United States adopts an Islamic theocracy like Iran's, and by the way, accedes to nuking Israel, getting rid of Israel off the face of the map.
Those are the two things that he concretely proposes in his letter.
Well, does he actually propose nuking Israel in the letter?
He proposes removal.
I mean, he devotes a whole page to Israel about how it's an abomination that should not have been created for 60 years.
It's been an injustice against humanity.
So the clear message there is that to be friends with Iran, we have to support removing Israel from the map, whether it's by nuking it or by moving everybody out of there to Germany as he proposed in the past.
Okay, here's another observation about this.
Here you got Mahmoud, you got his letter, and it's lecturing.
You got the press talking about takes a fatherly tone, wants to bond with the president over religion, tells the president he should apologize, blah, blah, blah.
Now, we just heard from Martin Frost here, the Democrats, third wave bunch, have suddenly swerved into the truth here that they don't connect with the middle class with all their messaging on the economy and on other aspects of America.
What do you think the American people's reaction to this is, those that are paying attention and learn what's in Mahmoud's letter, and then they go out and listen to Dianne Feinstein and these drive-by media anchors, do you not think the Democrats are missing the point again?
Do you think maybe they are failing to connect with average Americans when it comes to foreign policy?
There's no question.
This is why, ladies and gentlemen, I have not joined the panic attack crowd over the upcoming elections in 06 or even 08.
Brief time out.
Appreciate the call, Stewart.
Stick close to the radio, folks.
We're coming right back with much more.
You know something I was telling Mr. Snerdley here, one of the other reasons I love that Mars attacks movie is that despite our nuclear weapons, despite all of our armor and firepower, what kills these Martians is Slim Whitman music.
When Slim Whitman starts yodeling, their heads blow up.
All right, I want to change gears here.
I got a couple things here that have nothing to do with what we've talked about so far.
Well, one of them does in a related way.
It's a Ben Stein piece, an American Spectator, What You Need to Know.
He went and talked to his shrink.
What would you advise graduates today as opposed to graduates in the 60s?
But before we get to that, how many of you people have cable television?
All right, the vast majority of you do.
Some of you have satellite, but I'm speaking specifically now of cable television.
Now, I want you to think back over the period of time that you have had cable TV service.
During that period, whatever it is, five years, two years, 10 years, 15 years, whatever it is, you have heard time and again at decent intervals of time, politicians led by Senator McCain, who's on the Commerce Committee, saying, we're going to have new regulations on the cable companies.
Prices are getting out of hand.
We're going to make sure your cable prices go down.
These people have a monopoly and they're raping customers and we're not going to put up with it anymore.
You've heard all that, right?
Now, let me ask you, when was the last time your cable bill actually went down?
Well, yeah, if it went down when you canceled it, fine, but you go to a dish.
But, I mean, if you didn't cancel it, when's the last time, and you didn't, I mean, in other words, the service that you hoarded and you had did not go down unless you dropped some premium channels or did something like that.
It never has gone down, has it not?
Now, McCain's back was something called a la carte, cable a la carte.
And for those of you that have a system anywhere from 60 to 250 channels, McCain has this idea.
He's going to force the cable company.
He's going to introduce this bill soon.
He may do so next week or maybe even this week.
That would give cable companies regulatory incentives to offer their customers content on a channel-by-channel basis, which is known as a la carte because of its resemblance to a restaurant menus or smorgasbord that price entrees and side orders separately.
Now, it sounds good, and there's some people who are all for this because they don't like the smut and the perverted garbage that's coming into their home on channels that they don't watch.
And so they say, yeah, give me this a la carte and I won't have to buy that rot gut stuff and I will save money.
You won't.
That's the come on, but it's just like every other attempt to lower cable prices.
It ain't gonna happen.
Do you know what kind of technological upgrades cable companies are going to have to go through in order to serve every household a different menu?
I don't care about it.
You want to emulate Europe?
Go ahead and emulate Europe.
Let's get Europe's gasoline prices over here tomorrow, too.
Go ahead.
You want to emulate Europe?
And let's get their yellow-bellied spines.
Let's import some.
Well, we have a half country with that already.
See, we don't want any more of what Europe has to offer.
Besides, cable in Europe, give me a break.
Point is, ladies and gentlemen, by the time in your town, neighborhood community, with every household ordering something different, the cable company having to have the technology to direct only certain channels to every different house is going to cost them money and it's going to get passed along.
Second thing is it is anti-market forces.
If it made sense for the cable companies to do it, it would have already been done.
Here we have again, somebody, a bunch of people sitting in Washington who have never run a cable company, haven't the slightest idea, love to wield their power over them in regulatory fashion, but they have no clue how to actually do it.
The reason that cable companies offer 60 to 250 channels and the reason there is a basic tier and then the various levels of elective packages that you can buy is to simplify the purchase process for everybody.
And then there are ways to block certain channels, childhood blocks, child limits, and this sort of thing, that you can take these steps yourself rather than putting the onus on the cable company to keep it out of your house.
I don't want it in my house.
I didn't buy them.
Well, you did buy it when you made the deal with the cable company to order certain packages.
They offer certain programming because everybody's different and some people are going to want to watch the golf channel.
Other people aren't.
Some people are going to want, I mean, there's so much oddball stuff out there now, but all of it has some kind of an audience.
But the one area that could really shake things up if this were to happen, let's take a look at just the cable news channels.
CNN, their ratings and so forth, and then how many people, but they also go out and sell advertising on the basis that they are available in 90 million homes because that's cable's penetration in the country right now.
90 million homes using television at cable.
Rough figure.
Now, they may only get 300,000 of them at a time watching, but they can say we are available.
And if we do promotion and marketing, we can expand our audience.
If it gets to a la carte, then they're going to have each cable company is going to have to go out and sell you.
Each cable provider, each network's going to have to go out and sell you on signing up.
You're going to get harassed like you have never been harassed with direct mail, internet spam, and all the kind.
How come you don't have CNN?
And then everybody's going to know what you're watching because if you only have this a la carte business, your viewing habits, everybody at the cable company is going to know what you're buying and what you're not buying and what you're watching and what you're not watching.
But it's going to end up costing everybody a lot more money.
It is just, again, folks, it's a hugely bad idea.
A lot of social conservatives are for it because they don't like the smut and the garbage and the perversion that passes for mainstream entertainment.
They think it's a way to keep it out.
But if this made sense market-wise, if this were a way to provide the most product to the most customers at the best price, the people in the business would have already figured out the way to do it and they would be doing it and they're not.
And that ought to tell you something.
Big cable up next after big oil when this all starts.
Back after this.
Stay with us.
Try this from the state of Washington.
Cigarette sales are up despite a tax increase and a ban on smoking.
You simply cannot tax people out of a behavior.
What do you think is a stronger addiction?
Liberals to tax increases or smokers to tobacco?
▲
Export Selection